After another week of college football, our Heisman front-runners are beginning to separate themselves as a new player enters the picture.
Here’s who to watch in Week Six:
Tua Tagovailoa — Quarterback, Alabama
Another week down, another dominating performance from the Heisman favorite. Alabama’s star performed up to par in last week’s game against Mississippi before sitting out the final minutes of the fourth quarter — again. With their second 20-point victory over an SEC opponent this season, Tagovailoa has yet to complete a full game due to the nature of Alabama’s blowouts. But the dominant way the Tide has won hasn’t affected Tagovailoa’s stats whatsoever.
The junior has still thrown for over 1,700 yards and 23 touchdowns without an interception while holding the second-highest quarterback rating at the FBS level (96.2).
Up next? A home contest following a bye week against a sputtering Texas A&M team coming off of a nail-biting 31-27 win against Arkansas, one of the worst teams in the SEC. Don’t be surprised if Tagovailoa doesn’t play into the fourth quarter this week either.
Jalen Hurts — Quarterback, Oklahoma
The Sooners blew by an untested Texas Tech defense in Week Five behind an explosive 485-yard performance from Jalen Hurts, adding to an already ridiculous season for the Alabama graduate transfer. Oklahoma hasn’t scored fewer than 48 points in a game this season behind Hurts, who currently holds the highest quarterback rating in the FBS — 97.5 — to go with 1,738 total yards and 17 touchdowns.
Don’t be shocked to see Hurts churn out another 500-yard performance and overwhelm a rebuilding 2–3 Kansas team.
Joe Burrow — Quarterback, LSU
LSU was off with a bye last week, but that doesn’t take anything away from Joe Burrow’s incredible year. Burrow’s incredulous start to the year took another step in the Heisman race last week when the stud senior made six passing touchdowns against Vanderbilt to break LSU’s single-game record. Burrow finished with 398 passing yards, just two yards shy of becoming the first LSU quarterback to throw for 400 yards twice in a season.
This week, the Tigers welcome the Utah State Aggies to Death Valley. They open as 26-point favorites. Have fun, Utah State.
Justin Fields — Quarterback, Ohio State
While Sam Ehlinger was receiving some much-needed rest during Texas’ bye week, sophomore Justin Fields was making a Heisman statement of his own.
Fields went off for 212 yards and three touchdowns, mostly in the first half, in Ohio State’s 48-7 thrashing of Nebraska on Saturday night.
Although Fields’ yardage totals don’t immediately compare with the likes of Tagovailoa, Hurts and Burrow, one statistic does stand alone: his 95.4 quarterback rating.
Fields’ performance was masked by limited playing time in the second half — he lacks total yardage because he doesn’t need to throw for 400 yards in order to beat his opponent by 40-plus points. Ohio State’s offense averages over 52 points with Fields under center, all while Fields has yet to throw for more than 234 yards in a single game. Much like Tagovailoa, the sophomore stud hasn’t completed a game as the Buckeyes have led by at least 25 points in each game thus far.
The Georgia transfer has been the third-most efficient quarterback in the nation, trailing only Hurts and Tagovailoa.
At this efficiency rate, Fields is only a close game away from a 500-yard performance.
