Let’s look at what the writers are saying after week 4
Happy Monday everyone! It was a bit of a slower week in college football as a couple of the top 4 were idle (ahead of their big game this weekend) and most of the other teams in our rankings won easily. I say most as we had a Big Ten game featuring a pair of vote-getting teams, one who was in the top ten, though UM came out on top of last week’s #9 USC to ensure we would have at least one new team in the SB Nation Top Ten. Here’s how the rankings shape up after week 4.
10. Utah – 13 points
9. Oregon – 18 points
8. Penn St. – 28 points
7. Miami – 35 points
6. Ole Miss – 53 points
5. Tennessee – 55 points
4. Alabama – 73 points
3. Georgia – 79 points
2. Ohio State – 88 points
1. Texas – 94 points
Texas maintains it’s position at the top, though by a much tighter margin than a week ago. Indeed, USC fell from the top ten, as did Missouri. Penn State and Utah return to the list after falling short last week. I’ll go ahead and predict we will have a new number one next week, that going to the winner of the #3 Georgia at #4 Alabama game.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
In the Player of the Week category, we went off the beaten path this time. In case you did not see it on the ticker, the football game between North Carolina and James Madison turned into a basketball game, and Sun Belt member James Madison put the beating on the Tar Heels, winning 70-50. In that game, the Dukes’ quarterback, Alonza Barnett III threw for 388 yards and 5 TDs and also ran for 99 yards and 2 more TDs. Congrats to Mr. Barnett on being the Player of the Week for week 4. Honorable mentions go to Michigan RB Kalel Mullings, Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson, Navy QB Blake Horvath, and Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.
HEISMAN WATCH
We are adding a new category to our weekly panel and voting on our Heisman Trophy frontrunners to this point. We have had enough games at this point where top candidates have had a chance to differentiate themselves from players who are just a flash-in-the-pan for a game or two. For this, each writer gives their top 3 candidates. A 1st place vote is 3 points, 2nd is two, and 3rd is one. Our initial rankings are:
4. Ashton Jeanty – RB, Boise St. – 9 points
3. Travis Hunter – WR/DB, Colorado – 11 points
2. Jaxson Dart – QB, Ole Miss – 12 points
1. Cam Ward – QB, Miami – 16 points
What do you guys think about these three sets of rankings? How do you have the teams ranked? Did we miss any great performances from week 4? Do you have someone else on your Heisman list? Let us know in the comments.