Week 11 of the college football season is over. That means there are two more weeks of the regular season remaining before qualified teams compete in their respective conference championship games. From there, the focus will be on bowl games.
But ahead of said bowl games, will be the Heisman Trophy ceremony, which will take place on Saturday, Dec. 9, live from New York City. Finalists will receive their invitations to the ceremony, where it will be revealed which nominee will win college football's "Most Outstanding Player" award.
With the Week 11 games in the books, let's unveil our power rankings of the 10 candidates to win the Heisman Trophy, and who are the favorites to win the award.
Heisman Trophy Power Rankings Week 11
The time has come. Carson Beck has made the Top 10 of the Heisman Trophy Power Rankings. The Georgia Bulldogs are a Top 4 team in the nation, per the College Football Playoff selection committee. While they haven't played dominant football like they have in their previous two national championship seasons, the Bulldogs are showing how dominant they can be in Week 11.
Entering their game against the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels, Beck had thrown for 2,716 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 72.2 percent of his passes. On Saturday, Beck and the Bulldogs picked up a dominant 52-17 win.
Beck completed 18-of-25 throws for 306 yards and two touchdowns while throwing one interception. The junior quarterback also picked up 30 yards on four carries.
Last year, Stetson Bennett was named a finalist for the Heisman despite not putting up high numbers. That was mostly because Bennett was the quarterback for the undefeated Bulldogs. If Beck leads Georgia to another SEC Championship, it would not be entirely shocking if he were to receive an invitation to the ceremony in New York City.
The Florida State Seminoles are looking to win-out the rest of the season to ensure they have a chance to be in the College Football Playoff. On Saturday, they took on the in-state rival Miami Hurricanes. They were facing quarterback Emory Williams instead of Tyler Van Dyke, who was benched for the game.
Travis' lone touchdown of the game was a six-yard pass to wide receiver Keon Coleman to extend Florida State's lead to 27-13. He finished the game completing 19-of-31 pass attempts for 265 yards.
When it comes to Jordan Travis, he didn't necessarily put the team on his back to pick up the win. Instead, it was running back Trey Benson, who ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.
The Ohio State Buckeyes entered Week 11 with the first-overall ranking by the College Football Playoff selection committee. While Michigan and Penn State did battle to see if a potential three-team tie in the East division of the Big Ten conference would remain intact, the Buckeyes took on the lowly Michigan State Spartans. What is there to say? This game went exactly as you would have expected it to.
Wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. showed once again that he's a playmaker at the collegiate level and could potentially translate it to the NFL. In the 38-3 victory, Harrison caught seven passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. As if that wasn't enough, Harrison had one carry, which he took 19 yards for a touchdown. A three-touchdown performance by the surefire Top 5 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Harrison has now gone three consecutive games with multiple receiving touchdowns.
The North Carolina Tar Heels rebounded last week with a massive win over Campbell, but this came after losing back-to-back games against Virginia and Georgia Tech. In Week 11, the Tar Heels and quarterback Drake Maye faced off against their hated rivals -- the Duke Blue Devils.
While Maye's numbers weren't at the level of his fellow quarterbacks this weekend, he did make some ridiculous plays. There was his lateral to running back Omarion Hampton while he was being brought down by defenders on a scramble, and his two-point conversion throw to tight end John Copenhaver in double overtime.
In the 47-45 win, Maye threw for 342 yards, one touchdown and one interception while completing 28-of-43 pass attempts. Maye also ran for 22 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
Dillon Gabriel and the Oklahoma Sooners had a rough couple of weeks. After sitting undefeated on the year, the Sooners lost in back-to-back weeks to Kansas and Oklahoma State. The Sooners looked to end their skid against West Virginia.
Well, it was a rather easy day for the Sooners and Gabriel, as they bulldozed their way to a 59-10 win over the Mountaineers.
Gabriel accounted for eight touchdowns in the game, throwing five and running for three. The senior quarterback completed 23-of-36 pass attempts for 423 yards, while running for 50 yards on 11 carries.
It was a great day for Oklahoma.
The Michigan Wolverines had quite the 24 hours. On Friday on their flight for their game against Penn State, head coach Jim Harbaugh was banned for their final three games of the regular season due to the sign-stealing scandal involving former analyst Connor Stallions. The Wolverines were motivated and exuded the "Michigan vs. Everybody" mantra for their game against the Nittany Lions.
For McCarthy, he didn't have a great game. He didn't have a bad game for that matter. He, quite frankly, didn't have to do much. McCarthy threw just eight passes, completing seven of them for 60 yards. Michigan offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who prioritized running the football, which was the right move. The team ran for 227 yards on 46 carries. McCarthy picked up 34 rushing yards on eight carries.
McCarthy didn't do much to really catapult him up our rankings. But he's more focused on winning a national championship and continuing Michigan's undefeated season.
The time has come. Caleb Williams falls down our Heisman Trophy Power Rankings. The USC Trojans flpped in the past month, when they had national championship aspirations. Most of it can be attributed to the defense. It was hard to point blame at Williams, as he did everything he could to keep the Trojans in games. But with four losses on the season, it's hard for him to be considered a favorite for the Heisman.
Willams and the Trojans lost 36-27 on Saturday night, picking up their fourth loss in the past five weeks. Last year's Heisman winner tried his best to bring USC back in the game, leading the team to touchdowns on their final two drives of the game. But, Oregon was able to pick up a first down on a 10-yard pass from Bo Nix to running back Bucky Irving, and they kneeled out the clock.
In the loss, Williams completed 19-of-34 pass attempts for 291 yards and a touchdown while running for one touchdown.
Expect Williams to fall further down the list, especially if J.J. McCarthy has some impressive performances in his last two regular season games against Maryland and Ohio State.
Yes, the LSU Tigers are 6-3 on the year entering Week 11. But Jayden Daniels playing straight out of a video game. This week, Daniels did something that no other quarterback can say they did.
On Saturday, LSU took on the Florida Gators and picked up the 52-35 victory. Daniels was electric, completing 17-of-26 pass attempts for 372 yards and three touchdowns while running for 234 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries! That's right, he picked up an average of 19.5 yards per carry against the Gators.
According to Pro Football Focus, Daniels is the first player in FBS history to throw for over 350 yards and run for over 200 yards in a single game. That's right, no other player has ever done that.
Daniels needs to seriously be given an invitation for the Heisman ceremony in a few weeks. He deserves it.
Bo Nix is now one of the two favorites, in our eyes, to win the Heisman. The Oregon Ducks have been an absolute powerhouse since they let a victory against Washington slip away. They were motivated, and never let up against their opponents, even if they had a sizable lead.
On Saturday, Nix took on the USC Trojans and had probably the perfect start. His first two pass attempts were completed for 162 yards and two touchdowns to give Oregon an early 14-0 lead. Not bad, right?
Oregon put points on the board on all but three drives -- a three-and-out in the third quarter, a missed field goal in the fourth, and the final drive to close out the game. It was that kind of night for the Ducks.
Nix completed 23-of-31 throws for 412 yards and four touchdowns.
The Heisman Trophy may very well be determined by the winner of the looming Pac-12 Championship Game between Oregon and Washington. There are two more weeks to determine if that will be the case, but both teams look like they're not letting up any time soon.
Nix is deserving of the Heisman this year. Last year wasn't an anomaly. He's the real deal.
The Washington Huskies quarterback continues to hold the No. 1 spot in our Heisman Trophy Power Rankings. Penix had two really good performances against Stanford and USC, with both being close contests. This week, Penix and Washington faced off against the Utah Utes, the team that the Oregon Ducks decisively beat 35-6 back in Week 9.
Much like his previous two games, Penix was caught up in a back-and-forth matchup. The difference was that the quarterback had to deal with high winds in Seattle. But, he was still able to throw for 332 yards and two touchdowns while completing 24-of-42 pass attempts. Penix also picked up his first rushing touchdown of the season.
One of Penix's touchdowns was a 33-yard, go-ahead score to wide receiver Rome Odunze.
Penix's play is helping Washington win, and they have now gone 10-0 in a season for just the second time. If Penix keeps it up and wins the Pac-12 Championship Game, the Heisman should be his.
