College football teams are guaranteed at least one more game this season, and the top Heisman Trophy contenders had better use Week 14. This weekend’s rivalry games will decide which teams play for conference supremacy, which teams can expect to play in the College Football Playoff and which players have the best chance to earn an invitation to a prestigious awards ceremony in New York.
In The Game, Ohio State quarterback Julian Cynon leads the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes into a battle against a No. 15 Michigan team that has been ranked No. 1 for four years. In the Lone Star Showdown, Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed seeks revenge on No. 16 Texas as he guides the No. 3 Aggies to a state clash. And these are just two extremely interesting matchups that headline a stacked rivalry week slate.
Resume-building wins are at stake, and for many Heisman hopefuls, a win this week means they’ll have another opportunity in conference championship games to impress voters and stake their case for the game’s highest honor.
Here’s a complete Heisman Trophy outlook for the final week of the college football regular season.
Heisman Trophy likely to enter Week 14
Odds via FanDuel
Stock up: Jeremiah Love reaches new heights
Jeremiah Love already had a strong case to be a Heisman finalist, but after his latest blowout, he may be poised to win the entire competition. As part of No. 9 Notre Dame’s greatest scoring output in modern program history, Love needed only eight carries to gain 171 yards and three touchdowns in a 70–7 destruction of Syracuse. That’s right – Love averaged 21.4 yards per touch for the game.
Love’s candidacy has been somewhat quiet, possibly because Notre Dame has been out of the national spotlight for most of the past month. But while the Fighting Irish lacked schedule strength in the latter half of the campaign, Love rose to the occasion in his team’s biggest spots. Try the 265 scrimmage yards against No. 17 USC for size. Or maybe 167 total yards against No. 22 Pittsburgh. Notre Dame’s running backs have been simply unbeatable since the calendar flipped to October and the Fighting Irish arrived.
The numbers are eye-catching, but what really separates Love from other running backs are the great plays he makes to earn those yards. Very few players in the game have the ability to make defenders miss, and this is evident when he blocks would-be tacklers or forces them to the ground.
Notre Dame will be inactive during conference championship week, which will hurt Love’s ability to make a last-minute statement to Heisman voters, so instead, he needs another monster game on Saturday against Stanford.
Stock down: SEC scheduling hurts Gunner Stockton, Ty Simpson
From a Heisman perspective, the SEC takes a risk in buying its late-season games. On the one hand, they give stars a chance to present their figures. On the other hand, these are contests that are winless and receive less attention than conference games. And for Gunner Stockton and Ty Simpson, wins last week over Charlotte and Eastern Illinois, respectively, did nothing to help them improve their individual stock.
The No. 4 Georgia and No. 10 Alabama quarterbacks combined for a touchdown and three interceptions in the win. His teams won easily, but they did so by being far more talented than their counterparts across the board.
If they had a few more regular season games ahead of them or – like players from other conferences – they had an entire league slate left to play after an FCS or Group of Six victory, this data point would have been considered after the voting deadline. Instead, it’s fresh in everyone’s mind and takes away their momentum with only one or two opportunities to get it right.
There is a lot of disappointment at Georgia Tech after their second loss in three weeks, the No. 23 Yellow Jackets’ ACC championship and CFP hopes have been completely dashed. Haynes King was not particularly sharp in the loss to Pittsburgh and threw two interceptions in a two-possession game. As a result his secret horse Heisman hopes took a major blow.
But what if King strikes back this week? What if he leads the Yellow Jackets to an upset win over Georgia? After all, he led the Bulldogs to eight overtimes a year ago and scored five touchdowns in the process. It will take another tough individual effort to scare or defeat the Bulldogs this time, and if successful, the season-long numbers and accomplishments could be strong enough to propel King to New York.
Week 14 performance worth watching
Rivalry week will never lack for spectacle, nor will it ever shed light on the implications of the Heisman. A slate full of top-25 matchups provides real CFP chaos this year and the potential for the country’s best players to shine on the biggest stage. But rivalry games also hold surprises every year, and no one is safe from an untimely loss.
Julian Sayin vs. No. 15 Michigan
Just ask Ohio State what can happen when things go wrong on rivalry week. Julian Sion saw firsthand last season what not to do against Michigan. If he can be the quarterback who breaks a four-game losing streak for the Wolverines, he will punch a ticket to the Big Ten title game and secure a spot at the Heisman ceremony. The Buckeyes would be wise to let Sine do his thing, dial up the passing play to his star receivers and forget about proving his toughness by leaning too heavily on the run game.
Marcel Reed vs. No. 16 Texas
The first time Marcel Reed saw the Texas defense, he threw an interception in his most inefficient start to date: a seven-point outing in the 2024 regular season finale. The Longhorns have been strong defensively again this year, but something is off as they have given up at least 31 points in each of their last four contests. Between that trend and the lack of a path to the playoffs, they may not have the juice to stop Reid and the Aggies.
Diego Pavia vs. No. 19 Tennessee
Should Diego Pavia be a Heisman contender? An argument remains to be made in their favor. He is arguably more important to his team than any other player to Vanderbilt’s success. The problem for the Commodores is that their last three wins over ranked opponents have not been good. Beating Tennessee would be a more legitimate accomplishment than beating South Carolina, LSU or Missouri, and it could be the kind of win that puts Pavia in the Heisman driver’s seat.
gunner stockton vs haynes king
Stockton had not yet been Georgia’s starter when the Bulldogs nearly lost to Georgia Tech a year ago, so this will be his first taste of the rivalry, and not from the sidelines. Meanwhile, King has already proven capable of defeating his opponent. Although neither team has any control over the destiny of their conference with this non-league contest, they still have a lot to play for in the CFP race and Heisman context.
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