Butterfly Effect: What if Joe Burrow never transferred from Ohio State to LSU?

Who wins the Heisman Trophy?

Burrow winning the Heisman was a no-brainer decision. There were four finalists but there was no only option to vote for after the records Burrow destroyed and the impact he made on LSU.

That leaves the Heisman Trophy open if he stayed at Ohio State where I’m assuming he has a very fine season but not a Heisman-caliber season.

Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts and Ohio State defensive end Young remain finalists in this scenario. I’d also include Fields under the assumption he is at Penn State. Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor and Dobbins would have been in the running to be finalists.

Hurts finished as the runner-up to Burrow with 762 votes to Fields’ 747 but both trailed Burrow’s 2,608 by a record margin. Without Burrow getting the votes, those first-place votes go to Hurts who had 3,851 passing yards and 32 passing touchdowns in addition to 1,298 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. Those are Cam Newton-light numbers and he would have made it three straight Oklahoma quarterbacks to win the Heisman.

Hurts, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield going three-for-three would make Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley the official quarterback master and ask for a massive raise to put him behind Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney for the highest-paid coaches in the country.