Ohio State vs. Wisconsin: Justin Fields, Jonathan Taylor can make Heisman statement

It’s not just Big Ten bragging rights on the line in Columbus this week, it’s a Heisman Trophy elimination game for either Justin Fields or Jonathan Taylor.

Saturday in The Horseshoe was supposed to be the biggest game of the Week 9 slate in college football. Though it’ll still be a great game in Columbus, unfortunately, the Wisconsin Badgers didn’t get it done against the lowly Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign last week. Regardless, it’ll be a marquee game between the No. 13 Badgers (6-1) and the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0).

The thought a few weeks ago was that this would be a prequel for the 2019 Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis in early December, with Wisconsin coming out of the Big Ten West and Ohio State coming out of the Big Ten East. Of course, this is still in play, but Wisconsin’s embarrassing loss to the Illini certainly took some wind out of this game’s sails.

While Wisconsin has to win to keep its College Football Playoff dreams alive, Ohio State can afford a home loss to the Badgers and still make the four-team tournament at regular season’s end as a one-loss Big Ten champion. However, this game will decide which Big Ten superstar player will get invited to the 2019 Heisman Trophy ceremony and who will not: Justin Fields or Jonathan Taylor?

Through eight weeks, both players have been sensational for their respective football programs. Fields has completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 1,492 yards, 22 touchdowns and one interception, as well as carried the ball 63 times for 291 yards and eight rushing touchdowns in his first year as the Buckeyes starting quarterback. He’s been huge in Ohio State’s 7-0 start this year.

Taylor continues to make Wisconsin running backs proud, as he has rushed for 957 yards on 157 carries for 15 touchdowns. He also has 16 catches out of the Wisconsin backfield for 138 yards and four additional trips to pay dirt. The junior running back now has over 5,000 career rushing yards after going for 132 in Wisconsin’s shocking road loss to Illinois last week.

One would think that both players are locks for First-Team All-Big Ten this year. While that looks to be the case, there might not be enough chairs to accommodate both players at the Heisman Trophy ceremony in December. How is that even possible? Here’s why.

Well, three superstar quarterbacks are playing their way into a Heisman Trophy invite at this point. LSU Tigers signal-caller Joe Burrow is leading the charge with his team’s high-octane offense down on the bayou. Burrow has already cemented himself as the best passer in any season in LSU history. Will he be the greatest quarterback the Tigers have ever seen at the end of the day?

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa might miss a game with a bum ankle, but he was runner-up a year ago to the Oklahoma Sooners’ Kyler Murray. Tagovailoa was the front-runner for the Heisman a year ago before playing terribly against the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship and had it snatched away from him from Murray in the last possible second.

And let’s not forget about the guy replacing Murray in Norman in Jalen Hurts, Tagovailoa’s former teammate in Tuscaloosa. Could Hurts make it three Sooner winners in a row? It’s certainly in play at this point. Baker Mayfield to Murray to Hurts is about as good of a three-year quarterback run any program could ask for. That has to make Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley very happy.

Have there been five Heisman finalists before? Sure, but we’re more likely to see a trio of battle-tested talents or even a quartet of qualified contenders than a fearsome fivesome of fantastic football players in New York. The odds of getting all five to New York are slim, so someone will be eliminated from the race in a matter of weeks. This feels like a game where elimination happens.

If Wisconsin loses to the Buckeyes in The Horseshoe like many expect the Badgers will, who will vote for a star tailback of a two-loss team that hasn’t played the Iowa Hawkeyes or the Minnesota Golden Gophers yet? Taylor may be the runaway leader for the Doak Walker Award, but he may get slighted by the Heisman voters because of the position he plays and his team’s overall record.

But let’s say Ohio State stumbles at home to Wisconsin. That is a possibility, but not a likely one. Should Ohio State fall, this would mean that the Buckeyes would have suffered a home loss to a Wisconsin team that lost the previous week to Illinois on the road. That’s not great for their standing in the top-four of the future college football rankings.

Fields would fall back in the NCAA quarterbacking hierarchy for sure with a loss to Wisconsin. Ohio State still has big games versus the Penn State Nittany Lions and an end-of-the-season affair against the reeling Michigan Wolverines. Those games won’t be easy in the slightest.

The point of it all is this: Burrow will make it to New York. Tagovailoa will return to New York, especially if his Crimson Tide beat Burrow’s Tigers in a few weeks. If the Sooners win the Big 12, of course, Hurts will be the third quarterback invited to the ceremony. So whoever ends up losing in Columbus on Saturday should expect their star player’s Heisman odds to plummet accordingly.

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