Heisman Trophy Power Rankings, Week 7: Milroe struggles, Gabriel shines

Week 7 of the college football season is in the books. There were plenty of stories that will follow us into next weekend. After all, No. 7 Alabama survived a near-upset loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks, No. 1 Texas blew out No. 18 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, No. 4 Penn State defeated USC in a comeback, overtime victory, and No. 3 Oregon pulled off a huge victory over No. 2 Ohio State.

With each passing week, we are going to be focusing on which teams will be in contention for a College Football Playoff spot. However, there is also the individual awards watch. Of course, the most prestigious individual award is the Heisman Trophy, which is given to the best player in college football. Let's just say that after Week 7, there were some changes across the Top 10. But what about the No. 1 spot?

Here are our Heisman Trophy power rankings after Week 7.

Heisman Trophy Power Rankings, Week 7

Carson Beck makes it back onto the rankings list, due in part to some disappointing performances for previous contenders. Beck showcased why he is considered the top quarterback prospect in the 2025 class in the second half against Alabama in Week 5. This weekend, Beck had a career-game.

Yes, Georgia faced off against Mississippi State, one of the underperforming teams in the SEC, but a win is a win, and Beck looked impressive. Beck threw for 459 yards and three touchdowns after completing 36-of-48 pass attempts. Beck did throw for two interceptions, but one of them was deflected.

Next up for Beck and Georgia are the Texas Longhorns, who defeated the Oklahoma Sooners with ease.

What a game for Shedeur Sanders. Facing off against the No. 18 Kansas State Wildcats, Sanders had to overcome quite a bit. In the first half, Sanders watched his top two receivers, Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr. both exit due to injuries, and neither returned for the remainder of the game. Yet, that didn't deter Sanders, as he stepped up big time.

Late in the fourth quarter, Sanders put Colorado up 28-24 on an 11-yard touchdown pass to LeJohntay Wester following an interception by Colton Hood. Unfortunately for Sanders, Colorado couldn't pick up the win, thanks to a 50-yard touchdown pass from Kansas State's Avery Johnson to Jayce Brown three plays later.

Overall, Sanders was nearly flawless in the passing game. Sanders threw 34 completions for 388 yards and three touchdowns on 40 attempts, while throwing one interception.

Sanders showcased that he can put the team on his back and make the throws needed to keep Colorado in games, especially against ranked teams.

The Ole Miss Rebels faced another situation in which an SEC counterpart struggled against a team they defeated with relative ease after Alabama narrowly beat South Carolina 27-25. But for Ole Miss and quarterback Jaxson Dart, they had to focus on their big game against the LSU Tigers.

Ole Miss struggled to hold off LSU, as evidenced by the Rebels being unable to reach the end zone late in the fourth quarter to ice the game. Instead, they kicked a field goal to put themselves up 23-16, only to watch the defense surrender 13-play, 75-yard drive culminating in a 23-yard touchdown reception by Aaron Anderson to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Dart couldn't overcome two costly penalties in overtime, as Ole Miss settled for a field goal to start things off. Unfortunately for him, LSU scored an immediate touchdown on a 25-yard touchdown pass by Garrett Nussmeier to Kyren Lacy to win the game 29-26.

Overall, Dart threw for 284 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while completing 24-of-42 pass attempts.

The Ohio State Buckeyes faced off against the Oregon Ducks in a gigantic matchup in Week 7. This would very well determine who could be heading to the Big Ten Championship Game. While Ohio State ended up on the losing end, falling 32-31, Ohio State can take solace in the fact that they have a true game-changing wide receiver in Jeremiah Smith.

Smith has been stellar this season, as he never recorded under 70 receiving yards in a single game. That streak continued after he logged exactly 100 yards on the night. In fact, Smith scored a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter on a six-yard pass from quarterback Will Howard.

On the year, Smith now has 32 catches for 553 yards and seven touchdowns through six games.

The Clemson Tigers offense has been on fire ever since their dud showing against the Georgia Bulldogs in the season-opener. The offense under coordinator Garrett Riley is thriving, and quarterback Cade Klubnik is playing up to the hype he's had since being a five-star recruit out of high school.

In Week 7, Clemson easily defeated Wake Forest 49-14. Klubnik had himself a day, completing 31-of-41 pass attempts for 309 yards and three touchdowns, while picking up 30 rushing yards on seven carries.

Don't overlook Clemson this year, as they are probably the biggest threat to Miami to win the ACC this season. Klubnik is playing well, and as we know, the quarterback of a top program usually does get a Heisman Trophy ceremony invite.

The Alabama Crimson Tide tried their best to lose a winnable game this weekend, but luckily, South Carolina bailed them out. Alabama held on to win 27-25, after South Carolina failed on a game-tying two-point conversion and LaNorris Sellers threw a game-ending interception after a successful onside kick.

Jalen Milroe didn't help Alabama win. In fact, it was more of a case of South Carolina losing. Milroe threw for 209 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions while completing 16-of-23 pass attempts. However, Milroe did run for two touchdowns.

Milroe's play in the past two games were shaky. Let's see if he can rebound next week against Tennessee.

The big game of the Week 7 slate was between the No. 3 Oregon Ducks and the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes. The winner of this game would be in the driver's seat in the Big Ten. The loser, well, would have to play extra harder and hope for other teams to lose the rest of the way.

Oregon picked up a 32-31 win over Ohio State after Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard forgot how much time was left on the clock and slid in the middle of the field.

Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel led the way, putting his team up 29-28 on a 27 yard touchdown run, and put them up 32-31 after leading the team on an 11-play, 74-yard drive to set up a 19-yard field goal by Atticus Sappington.

Gabriel completed 23-of-34 pass attempts for 341 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 32 yards on four carries.

With Oregon undefeated and Milroe and Alabama struggling against South Carolina, Gabriel moves up to the No. 4 spot.

The Colorado Buffaloes entered the late slate on Saturday in a pivotal Big 12 matchup against Kansas State. Given how well the Buffaloes have rebounded since their Week 2 loss to Nebraska, certainly, they'd have better odds of pulling off an upset. It certainly helped that they would have superstar Travis Hunter playing.

Unfortunately, Hunter would only play in 44 of the team's first 45 snaps of the game before beign spotted exiting the game and heading towards the locker room. Hunter would return to the sidelines, but was listed as questionable to return due to a shoulder injury. Hunter ultimately didn't return for the remainder of the game.

Hunter recorded three receptions for 26 yards on offense, while putting up one total tackle defense.

We'll see how serious Hunter's injury is and if he'll miss any additional time.

The Miami Hurricanes are on a bye week after they picked up a comeback, 39-38 win over the California Golden Bears last year. It was a true Heisman moment for quarterback Cam Ward, who helped guide the team back from a 35-10 deficit.

In terms of quarterbacks, Ward is the Heisman favorite in that position group. This season, Ward recorded 2,219 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, and five interceptions on a 69.2 completion percentage.

Ward returns next week to take on the Louisville Cardinals.

It's going to be hard to remove Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty from the No. 1 spot on our rankings. Jeanty is the epitome of a dominant, game-changing player. When he touches the football, it spells disaster for the defense.

In Week 7, the Broncos took on the Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors. While the game was close by Boise State standards, Jeanty still put up insane numbers on the stat sheet. Jeanty received 31 carries and ran for 217 yards and a touchdown. This is now the third game this season that Jeanty recorded over 200 rushing yards. This is also Boise State's sixth game played this season.

Jeanty also made an impact in the passing game, hauling in three passes for 20 yards. One of those catches was a five-yard touchdown to put Boise State up 21-7.

Jeanty will have Week 8 off, but when the Broncos return from the bye, they have a huge matchup against the UNLV Rebels.