Ashton Jeanty will have the Heisman stage to himself this weekend.
It (probably) won’t matter.
Jeanty is a very distant second in the Heisman betting odds to Colorado’s Travis Hunter. The Buffaloes demolished Oklahoma State on Black Friday to cap a 9-3 season but lost out on a chance to go to the Big 12 title game because they were on the wrong side of tiebreakers in a four-way tie for first atop the conference.
Hunter won’t be playing at all on conference championship weekend. But that’s likely not going to have any impact on his Heisman chances. According to the betting odds, Hunter is a shoo-in. Hunter is -10000 at BetMGM to win the award. Jeanty is the only other player with a shot at +2500.
Heck, there are just two other players left on the board. And both of them can kindly be considered distant long shots. Both Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Miami’s Cam Ward are at +25000. Gabriel will play on Saturday when Oregon takes on Penn State for the Big Ten title. Miami lost its chance to play for the ACC title in the final week of the regular season when the Hurricanes coughed up a 21-0 lead at Syracuse on the way to a 42-38 defeat.
Jeanty enters Friday’s Mountain West title game with the opportunity to hit 2,500 rushing yards before Boise State begins its College Football Playoff journey. The Broncos are in the playoff with a win, and Jeanty has 2,288 yards through the first 12 games of the season.
Jeanty’s 2024 season already ranks fifth all-time behind Barry Sanders (1988), Melvin Gordon (2014), Kevin Smith (2007) and Marcus Allen (2,342). If Boise State makes the playoff, Sanders is within striking distance at 2,628 yards. There’s a chance Jeanty could end up having the most rushing yards in a single season in college football history.
Of course, Sanders only played 11 games when he put up his historic numbers. Jeanty could end up playing 14 or 15 games in 2024. But Jeanty’s yards per carry average isn’t that far off the former Detroit Lions great.
Sanders rushed 344 times and averaged 7.6 yards a rush in 1988. So far, Jeanty has 312 carries and is averaging 7.3 yards every time he runs the ball.
In many other seasons, Jeanty would be a clear Heisman favorite. Derrick Henry, the last running back to win the Heisman, had 395 carries for 2,219 yards in 2015. He averaged 1.7 yards less per carry than Jeanty. In 2009, Mark Ingram won the Heisman rushing for 1,658 yards.
Instead, he hardly has a chance thanks to Hunter’s unprecedented achievements playing both offense and defense. But don’t let Jeanty’s lack of a Heisman overshadow just how good he’s been so far this season.
Here are the other players we’ll be watching on conference championship weekend.
Colorado DB/WR Travis Hunter: Well, we’re not really watching Hunter this weekend since Colorado isn’t playing. But it’s at least worth looking at his stats again before he likely wins the Heisman on Dec. 14. Hunter finished the regular season with 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 TDs while also having 32 tackles, four interceptions and 11 passes defensed.
Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel: The former UCF and Oklahoma QB will be a Heisman finalist but nothing more. Gabriel was 16-of-23 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for another in the Ducks’ blowout win over Washington in Week 14. Gabriel’s chances at the Heisman faded over the past three weeks as he hasn’t thrown for more than 218 yards in any of those games.