Mid-Season Heisman Race: Who Is Delivering, Who has Underperformed, and Who Has Surprised

College football is in full swing as we enter week six of the 2022 season. Now that almost every team in the country has played five games, we are beginning to see the big picture unfold. We are starting to see teams establish themselves as possible contenders and players establish themselves as possible Heisman candidates.

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With college football in mid-season, we can take a look back at a pre-season polls and rankings to see who is performing as expected and who took a step back. With that, let’s focus our attention on the Heisman race. We will compare the pre-season Heisman odds to the present Heisman odds, and see who is staying strong and who is surprising us.

The top ten pre-season candidates according to Sportsbook went as followed below.

Notable names just outside the top ten: Hendon Hooker and Spencer Rattler.

10. QB Quinn Ewers-Texas
11. RB Jahmyr Gibbs- Alabama
12. WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba- Ohio State
13. RB Treyveyon Henderson- Ohio State
14. QB Dillion Gabriel- Oklahoma
15. RB Bijan Robinson- Texas
16. LB Will Anderson- Alabama
17. QB Caleb Williams- USC
18. QB Bryce Young- Alabama
19. QB C.J. Stroud- Ohio State

It’s interesting to note that a hand full of these players have moved far out of the top ten in BetMGM’s updated Heisman odds. Before we get to the updated odds, let’s take a look and see who is no longer on this list based on performance through six weeks.

Quinn Ewers looked well on his to proving his pre-season Heisman odds in the first two weeks of the season. The Texas QB was looking sharp in minimal time against number-one ranked Alabama before suffering a shoulder injury that has kept him on the sidelines and out of the top ten since.

Oklahoma QB Dillion Gabriel had a lot of hype around him coming into his first season as the Sooners QB. His odds have gone way down after back-to-back losses to unranked opponents in which he did not play his best football.

Texas RB Bijan Robinson is another Longhorn player who has seen his odds drop. This is not due to poor performance as the third-year ball carrier looks like one of the best RBs in the nation so far this season. It’s mainly due to his team dropping two games, one of which came to an unranked Texas Tech. Sadly, the Heisman race depends heavily on your team’s record as well as your stats.

Here are the updated Heisman odds according to BetMGM.

10. LB Will Anderson- Alabama
11. QB Jalon Daniels- Kansas
12. RB Jahmyr Gibbs- Alabama
13. QB Stetson Bennett- Georgia
14. RB Blake Corum- Michigan
15. QB Adrian Martinez- Kansas State
16. QB Hendon Hooker- Tennessee
17. QB Bryce Young- Alabama
18. QB Caleb Williams- USC
19. QB C.J. Stroud- Ohio State

The top three haven’t changed as Young, Williams, and Stroud have all led their teams to 5-0 starts and have their offenses ranked in the top ten.

Will Anderson continues to hang on as the only defender in the top. Anderson has been deemed the best defender in college football dating back to last season. He’s off to a great start again this year as he anchors that Tide defense.

One major surprise on this list that no one, and I mean no one saw coming, is Jalon Daniels. The Kansas QB has been lighting it up on the field and has propelled his team to a 5-0 start and the program s first AP Poll ranking since 2008. Whether Daniels captures the Heisman or not, I think we can all agree he has been the best surprise of the 2022 season.

Blake Corum is another surprise name that was nowhere near the top ten at the start of the season. The Michigan RB has carried his Wolverines to the number 4 ranking in the latest AP Poll and has been the reason why this Michigan offense is so hard to stop. The third-year RB already has 611 rushing yards through 5 games.

Hendon Hooker comes in at number four after being left out of the top ten to start the season. Hooker has led Tennessee to a top ten ranking while leading a top-five scoring offense in the country. Hooker has been electrics for the Vols and is picking up speed as a dark horse Heisman favorite.

The season is nowhere near finished and these odds are surely not set in stone. With seven weeks left to play in 2022, who do you think will make a push for the Heisman trophy when it’s all said and done?