Grier Answers The Heisman Call But Now Has Serious Competition

Tua Tagovailoa

For the past few weeks, the hype around Tua hasn’t matched his stats. We all have seen the talent that this there since his “walk-off” throw in the national championship game but splitting time with Jalen Hurts, coupled with Alabama’s straight up dominance has meant that Tua will have a game where he goes 11/15 for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns but Alabama would win by 5 touchdowns. Against the Texas A&M Aggies, Tua went off. Tua completed 22 of 30 passes for 387 yards and 4 touchdowns. He added 4 rushes for 10 yards and another touchdown. TAMU, who went toe-to-toe with the Clemson Tigers found themselves down 45-16 when Tua threw his fourth touchdown of the game and was pulled.

Season Stats: 58/80 (72.5%) 1,033 yards, 12 touchdowns, 18 rushes, 103 yards, 2 touchdowns

Dwayne Haskins

Haskins has made short work of teams that aren’t in Ohio State’s class, which is the first step for Heisman hopefuls. Through four games, Haskins has faced: Oregon State Beavers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Tulane Green Wave who are a combined 3-9 on the young season. In those games, he has thrown for 850 yards and 14 touchdowns. To the Buckeyes’ credit, they also played a “neutral” site game against TCU and Haskins threw for 344 yards and 2 touchdowns. Haskins didn’t win the TCU game, as the Buckeyes defense exerted themselves on the Horned Frogs in the third quarter. Haskins had no let down against Tulane this week, throwing for five touchdowns and 304 yards all in the first half.

Season Stats: 87/115 (75.7%), 1,194 yards, 16 touchdowns, 1 interception, 10 rushes, 28 yards, 1 touchdown

Will Grier

Grier was off to begin this game as he and Marcus Simms misread a coverage and that miscommunication led to Grier’s first interception. The Mountaineer quarterback responded with three touchdowns in the first half including a beautiful fade to David Sills at the end of the half. The score put the ‘Eers up 21-0 and sealed the game essentially. Grier almost had his Heisman-moment in the second quarter when the shotgun snap went over his head. Grier ran back and picked the ball up with one hand, eluded a defender and then fired a pass to Trevon Wesco that should have been a touchdown. If it had, that is a play that is replayed on loop in New York. Grier finished with five touchdowns and 356 yards.

Season Stats: 71/95 (74.7%), 1,117 yards, 14 touchdowns, 3 interceptions

Kyler Murray

Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners struggled to defend the Army triple option. Army held the ball for 3/4ths of the game, yet when the Sooners did have the ball they made it work. Murray accounted for all four Oklahoma touchdowns in their 28-21 win, but he struggled overall. Murray finished 11/15 for 165 yards and three touchdowns. He did throw his second interception of the season. Murray added 7 rushes for 71 yards and a touchdown. Murray, like Dwayne Haskins at Ohio State, hasn’t faced the toughest competition but has two games under 210 yards passing on the young season. Oklahoma is so much better than 95% of their competition that it may not matter but Murray hasn’t always been lighting up the stats columns through the air. On the ground, Murray remains electric which will keep him in the conversation all season.

Season Stats: 60/88 (68.2%), 1,028 yards, 11 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 36 rushes, 240 yards, 3 touchdowns.

Rest of the field: No, I didn’t forget about Jonathan Taylor at Wisconsin. Taylor ran 25 times for 113 yards but didn’t score a touchdown while the Badgers won by 11. Taylor’s problem is that he is a running back and is dependent on his offensive line. He also now plays for a one-loss Badgers team that lost to BYU. The Badgers may have cost themselves a playoff spot and with the current play of the quarterbacks, Taylor is on the outside right now. Ed Oliver and the Houston Cougars loss against Texas Tech looks bad right now and for Oliver to make it to NYC, he needed to come up massive in that game.