Heisman rankings, Week 4: K.J. Costello enters the chat

K.J. Costello crashed the party for not only LSU but the Heisman rankings after Week 4 as the Mississippi State quarterback exploded on Saturday.

With the SEC finally getting underway in Week 4 of the 2020 college football season, there were always going to be big things and high excitement expected to happen on Saturday. But even with those expectations, what felt like the first real full slate of action this year was even more calamitous than most could’ve expected. And that includes some Heisman Trophy storylines starting to take form.

At the top of the list is the Mississippi State Bulldogs upsetting the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge. Not only did any sleeper stock for Myles Brennan take a hit but a potential star emerged with Bulldogs quarterback K.J. Costello lighting up Bo Pelini’s defense. It’s clear he’s taken to Mike Leach’s offense quickly and could be in line for massive things — particularly, a Heisman run.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Spencer Rattler was one of the Heisman Trophy favorites coming into the year and looked the part in his debut. And while that continued early against Kansas State, a second-half collapse by the Sooners and the young signal-caller caused his award stock to take a big early hit.

Plenty of candidates out of the SEC showed they are ready to step into any voids in the Heisman race, though. Whether it was a duo from the Florida Gators or Alabama Crimson Tide, or the aforementioned Costello, the most-hyped conference in the country getting on the field means this race and these rankings can really start to take shape.

So after a wild, upset-filled Week 4 in which several dark horse candidates made big jumps while some other bigger names floundered a bit, let’s check in on the early race as we run through the top 10 of our Heisman rankings.