With Week 7 over, we have reached the halfway point of the college football season. Now, ESPN has looked back at the first half of the campaign, including the players who have accumulated the most points in their voting system to win the Heisman Trophy.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly released the season recap to this point in an article on Sunday, including the midseason winner of their points race for the Heisman Trophy. He does it in a Formula 1 style of voting, with first place of the week getting 10 points, second place getting 9 points, and so on through a Top-10. But, as Connelly noted, “things are obviously still pretty uncertain” as to who will be at the Heisman ceremony come December.
Here is that ranking of the Midseason Top-10 in total points to win the Heisman in this voting at ESPN:
Coming off another solid performance in a win over Mizzou, which earned him five more points from this week’s voting, Simpson is ahead of the race here in the top spot for ESPN at 29 points. That’s with Simpson posting 70.9% completion for 279.7 yards per game with 18 total touchdowns and two total turnovers, and with plenty more big-time games left for him with ‘Bama to extend this lead from down in Tuscaloosa.
“Simpson’s consistently steady performances have put him in front in the points race,” Connelly wrote. “The second half of the season always carries far more weight than the first when it comes to awards and whatnot, but Bama needed Simpson to raise his game after the trip to Tallahassee, and he has very much done so.”
(Saul Young | News Sentinel | USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
There are several quarterbacks from the Southeastern Conference that, in the preseason, you would have expected to be in this spot at number two. However, few would have thought it would have been Green, and yet here he is after a performance that earned him seven points in a three-point loss on Rocky Top.
Green is on pace for a career-best campaign by far, with 63% completion while posting 359.7 overall yards of offense per game with 17 total touchdowns and seven total turnovers. That has him as one of the lone bright spots in this fall so far for the ‘Hogs, and has him, at least in this system by ESPN, in consideration for the Heisman.
Williams may not have even been on this list for the Heisman had his last game not taken place. However, Williams topped this week’s voting with 10 points from his outing against Rutgers, where he had an incredible game with 77.8% completion and posted 538 total yards and four touchdowns overall in a 38-19 victory against the Scarlet Knights.
“Granted, he did it against Rutgers’ increasingly listless defense…but Demond Williams Jr. did something we almost never see late Friday night,” Connelly wrote of his best showing from last week at ESPN.
Altmyer has steadily been one of the better quarterbacks in the country. That continued this weekend, despite an 18-point loss to No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday.
Altmeyer completed 68.2% of his passes for 248 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in the loss, bringing him to 72.4% completion for 260.1 passing yards per game with 13 touchdowns and now his lone pick of the year. It wasn’t one of his better performances of the year, but, against that defense for the Buckeyes, that’s still fairly solid by the Illini’s quarterback, which kept him in the top-five here at ESPN.
(Petre Thomas | Imagn Images)
This one remains an interesting case at Ole Miss considering the emergence of Chambliss in the absence of QB Austin Simmons. However, regardless of who the actual starter is for the Rebels, this candidate for the Heisman took a bit of a hit based on their last game.
In a near upset loss coming off the bye to Washington State, Chambliss was 20-29 (69%) for 253 passing yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for another score. Still, posting 65.4% completion, an average of 261.1 total yards per game, and having 10 touchdowns to two turnovers, this backup-turned-starter has earned his spot in the top-five for ESPN.
Maiava has played this season like the latest quality quarterback for Lincoln Riley. That was on display again in a massive moment for Southern Cal on Saturday.
Maiava was 25-32 (78.1%) for 265 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in a 31-13 win for USC over No. 15 Michigan this weekend. Now, he, being just outside the top-five here at ESPN, could earn even more of a Heisman case if he were to play well again this weekend in taking the Trojans to South Bend.
Coleman is your second candidate here for the Huskies. He took a bit of a backseat this past week to what Williams did, but he too has played like one of the best backs in the country.
With 44 rushing yards and a touchdown, along with a 20-yard reception, Williams is up to 761 yards from scrimmage, or 126 total yards per game, with a dozen touchdowns scored, including a nation-leading total of 11 rushing scores. That has now earned Heisman consideration here at ESPN for both players in Washington’s backfield, with ten points having him in a five-way tie.
(Brendan Mullin | Imagn Images)
There was no way that Iamaleava would have been on this list two weeks ago. However, the Bruins’ season has turned completely in that time with a new playcaller, and has the play of their well-known transfer quarterback.
During the 2-0 turnaround for UCLA with wins over No. 7 Penn State and at Michigan State, Iamaleava has completed 68.8% of his passes for 173 yards per game with five touchdowns, while also rushing for 128 yards and three more scores alone against the Nittany Lions. Not much can be said for how he and his team played through September, but, through two outings in October, Iamaleava earned the ten points needed to end up on this list by ESPN.
If Indiana wasn’t believed in before this weekend, they certainly are now. And, similarly, if Mendoza wasn’t considered a Heisman candidate before now, he is this week with what he helped do on Saturday in Eugene, as he earned an honorable mention in this week’s voting results at ESPN.
In the 30-20 road win for the Hoosiers over No. 6 Oregon, Mendoza was 20-31 (64.5%) for 215 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Now, trending to be the quarterback of a possible undefeated team out of the Big Ten, this case makes itself, assuming he continues to play at this pace, out of Bloomington.
The last time that we saw him, Pavia did not have his best performance in his second shot at taking down Alabama. He, in the Top-20 matchup in Tuscaloosa, was 21-35 (60%) for 198 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, while also rushing for 58 yards but losing a fumble as well.
Still, Pavia has been behind the turnaround for Vandy the past season and a half, averaging 293.5 total yards per game this season with 16 touchdowns overall and six turnovers. That has him in contention for the Heisman in this poll by ESPN, with the Commodores in this tie towards the back at ten points apiece.
(Chris Jones | Imagn Images)
Robertson has been slinging it since the very start of the season. That earned him the final spot here, in what’s really more of a Top-11 than a Top-10 at ESPN, among the voted on contenders for the Heisman.
Through the first half of the season in Waco, Robertson is completing 63.7% of his throws for 2,058 passing yards, at an average of 343 per game, with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions. The passing yardage, passing yards per game, and passing touchdowns are all leaders in the nation, as he’s been as productive as anyone at the quarterback spot this fall.