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Making the Heisman case for Ohio State’s Justin Fields

By Nick Villano

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 07: Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields (1) looks to the sidelines during the Big Ten Conference Championship football game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Ohio State Buckeyes on December 7, 2019, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 07: Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields (1) looks to the sidelines during the Big Ten Conference Championship football game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Ohio State Buckeyes on December 7, 2019, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Justin Fields has a chance to join Troy Smith as a Heisman-winning quarterback from Ohio State.

Justin Fields exceeded the hype en route to 50 total touchdowns and is deserving of being a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Fields joins teammate, Chase Young, Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts and LSU quarterback  Joe Burrow who is the prohibitive favorite to win, but does Fields have a chance at pulling off the upset?

Fields threw for 2,953 yards, 40 touchdowns and one interception to put together one of the finest seasons in program history and one of the best in the Big Ten or any conference for that matter. He’s third in the country in touchdowns behind Burrow and Washington State’s Anthony Gordon.

While Burrow has shown he’s more than capable of making plays with his feet, he isn’t the same type of runner like Fields who had 10 touchdowns on the ground to go with his 471 rushing yards.

Fields steps up in the situations when he’s needed most. He had three touchdowns in the Big 10 Championship game while having no turnovers. Against Michigan, Ohio State’s biggest game of the year, he had four passing touchdowns with a 96.4 QBR.

Against Penn State, he rushed the ball 21 times because he wasn’t able to kill them through the air. Fields was great against great defenses. Fields faced a trio of top-10 defenses and the Buckeyes torched all of them.

What can hurt Fields is he’s got his teammate who is going to steal some votes from him. Young was awfully deserving of being a finalist with 16.5 sacks despite missing two games for a suspension but two Buckeyes will mean the vote gets split among the two.

That could be a big reason if Fields finishes in third place behind Burrow and Hurts.

Another knock on Fields is he didn’t have to play in the fourth quarter too often, much like Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama last year. That could have cost him vs. Kyler Murray last year and it could hurt Fields from challenging for the Heisman.

Are we really going to discount a player that has one fewer touchdown that Burrow, but he lacks the five touchdown performances against Georgia Southern and six touchdowns against Vanderbilt? Against Auburn, the Tigers’ closest game of the season, Burrow only had one touchdown and one interception. Fields never had a game without multiple touchdowns.

Fields combined for 50 touchdowns to only one interception and while he lost a few fumbles, that type of production is good enough to win the Heisman in most years.

This could be one of those years where the numbers just aren’t quite good enough to satisfy Heisman voters.

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