On paper, this weekend of college football action didn't look all that great on paper. Yet, we had Georgia and Alabama on upset alert, Kansas State losing to Missouri on a walk-off, 61-yard field goal, and Tennessee losing decisively to Florida. Again, not great matchups on paper, but the entertainment factor was certainly there.
This week was an opportunity for many Heisman candidates to showcase why they deserve to win the award. That's because the favorite, USC quarterback Caleb Williams, was on a bye week. Did anyone help their case to take away the No. 1 ranking? Or does Williams remain the favorite while on a weekend of relaxation?
Let's take a look at the Heisman Trophy power rankings after Week 3.
Heisman Power Rankings 2023, Week 3 edition
There is a new name that holds the No. 10 ranking in the Heisman Power Rankings, and that's LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.
In the season-opener, Daniels threw for 346 yards and a touchdown but threw one interception and was sacked four times in the 45-24 loss to the Florida State Seminoles. He would rebound the following week, throwing for 269 yards and five touchdowns while completing 18-of-24 pass attempts in the 72-10 blowout win over the Grambling Tigers.
This week, Daniels faced his first SEC opponent of the season in the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and it was a thrashing. Daniels threw 30 completions and just four incompletions for 361 yards and two touchdowns while running for 64 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
Daniels' main target was Malik Nabers, who caught 13 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns.
Next week, LSU faces off against an Arkansas team that 38-31 to the BYU Cougars.
Talk about a rough outing. J.J. McCarthy put up good numbers through his starts against East Carolina and UNLV. This week, the Michigan Wolverines faced the Bowling Green Falcons, and McCarthy had a rough time.
The junior quarterback threw three interceptions against Bowling Green. One of them was a throw right into the hands of cornerback Jalen Huskey in the end zone, while his third was a forced pass under pressure that went over the head of tight end Colston Loveland, which linebacker Avi McGary leaped into the air to grab.
Even with the three interceptions on his record, McCarthy threw for 143 yards and two touchdowns while completing 8-of-13 pass attempts in the 31-6 win.
McCarthy will look to put this game behind him, but he faces a tough Rutgers defense that allowed 272.7 yards of offense through the first three weeks of the season.
Through the first two games of the season, Drake Maye didn't put up insane scoring numbers that many had expected. After all, he is a hyped quarterback prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft class alongside Caleb Williams of USC. Yet, he hasn't done so. In Week 1, he threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in a win over South Carolina. Last week against Appalachian State, Maye didn't throw a single passing touchdown.
This week, Maye threw for over 400 yards for the first time this season. Yet, he threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in a game for the second time this year.
There was the good, such as his 46-yard dime pass to Nate McCollum for a touchdown to give the Tar Heels a 7-0 lead over the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Then there was the bad, such as his pass right into the hands of defensive back Jack Henderson.
Next week, Maye and the Tar Heels take on the Pittsburgh Panthers, who are coming off a 17-6 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have done nothing but win big against their opponents. Sure, their opponents may not have been the toughest on paper, but they are not sending their fanbase into panic mode like in the past. Quarterback Sam Hartman is a reason why that's the case.
Hartman made easy work of the Central Michigan Chippewas, completing 16-of-26 pass attempts for 330 yards and three touchdowns in the 41-17 win. One of those touchdown passes was a beautiful 76-yard pass to Chris Tyree.
Notre Dame notably had issues at the quarterback position, especially last season. They were able to get the best signal caller in the transfer portal in Hartman, who was a record-breaker during his time at Wake Forest. Now, the Fighting Irish hope that he can help lead them to their first victory over Ohio State since 1936.
Last week, Ewers jumped up from the No. 10 spot to fifth overall after a great showing against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Ewers threw for 349 yards and three touchdowns while completing 24-of-38 pass attempts in the 34-24 victory. Ewers had the chance to build off this game throughout the season and increase his stock in both the Heisman Trophy and NFL Draft rankings.
Instead, Ewers had a less flashy performance against the Wyoming Cowboys. In the first half of the game, Ewers had just 57 yards passing against the Wyoming defense. However, he would leap back onto the scene in the fourth quarter with a pass that wide receiver Xavier Worthy took 44 yards to the house and took a carry for himself for a five-yard touchdown.
Ewers' night ended by completing 11-of-21 pass attempts for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
We'll see how Ewers performs against the Baylor Bears next week.
Moving back up the rankings is Bo Nix. This really has more to do with Ewers not building off of his incredible performance against Alabama last week.
The Oregon Ducks faced off against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday afternoon, and it went as you thought it would have. While not a complete thrashing like against the Portland State Vikings, the Ducks cruised to a 55-10 victory.
Nix completed 21-of-27 pass attempts for 247 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions while running for 14 yards on two carries. Take a look at one of Nix's three touchdown passes, a 49-yarder to Tez Johnson.
Nix will move on to a big matchup next week when they take on the Colorado Buffaloes.
The Colorado vs. Colorado State game was a must-watch, given the drama in the lead-up to the big game. This was again an opportunity for Buffaloes stars like Travis Hunter to show why he is at the top of the Heisman rankings.
Unfortunately for Hunter, his night ended early due to concerning circumstances.
In the first half, Hunter ran along the sidelines to get open for a pass from quarterback Shedeur Sanders. While the pass was overthrown, Hunter was hit late by Colorado State safety Henry Blackburn. He remained on the sidelines in pain, while Blackburn was issued an unnecessary roughness penalty.
While Hunter would play in the game after the hit, the ESPN broadcast announced in the second half that he was transported to a local hospital to be evaluated and was ruled out for the remainder of the game. As of this writing, there has been no update on Hunter.
In the game, Hunter caught two passes for 21 yards.
Shedeur Sanders had a great first two weeks of the season, as he was able to torch the pass defenses of the TCU Horned Frogs and Nebraska Cornhuskers. Due to these performances, Sanders earned the second overall spot in the Heisman Power Rankings, right behind Caleb Williams.
But this week, he drops one spot.
The Colorado Buffaloes were highly motivated by comments made by Colorado State Rams head coach Jay Norvell. As it turns out, the Rams were ready to bring the hype of the Buffaloes to a halt, as they showed up and showed out. Well, until they blew a late lead and committed endless penalties that ultimately cost them.
Sanders was unable to do much through the air until the end of the game, where he tied the game up 28-28 on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Horn Jr. He would throw two touchdown passes to Michael Harrison in both overtimes to pick up the 43-35 victory.
Sanders completed 38-of-47 pass attempts for 348 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. Sanders didn't do much in the rushing attack, picking up just three yards on nine carries.
We'll see if Sanders can have another magical performance next week in perhaps his biggest game of the season so far -- against the Oregon Ducks.
Michael Penix Jr. moves up one spot in the Heisman rankings after an incredible showing against the Michigan State Spartans.
In the first half alone, Penix completed 20 passes for 375 yards and four touchdowns on 25 attempts. Again, that's not the end-of-game stats. Those are the numbers Penix put up in the first two quarters! That helped Washington enter the visiting locker room at Spartan Stadium with a 35-0 lead. Penix was given the rest of the game off after the third quarter, finishing the game with 473 passing yards and four passing touchdowns while completing 27-of-35 pass attempts.
This is now the third game in a row this season in which Penix threw for over 400 yards. Again, the Pac-12 is where the top Heisman candidates reside, so catch some games. For those who haven't watched a Washington game yet, please do so, because you can see how special Penix is and why he should be one of the top favorites to win the Most Outstanding Player award.
Even on a bye week, Caleb Williams maintains his No. 1 ranking on this list.
The USC Trojans didn't have the strongest of opponents to start the season, but Williams was performing like he was playing an online opponent in a video game. The defenses of San Jose State, Nevada, and Stanford stood no chance against Williams, who picked them apart and put up some Heisman-caliber plays against them.
So far this season, Williams completed 55-of-70 pass attempts for 878 yards, 12 touchdowns, and zero interceptions while running for 61 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
Williams will fall down the list if he has a bad performance compared to the likes of Penix and Sanders. If that doesn't happen, it's hard to knock the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out of the No. 1 spot.
