The voting deadline for this year’s Heisman was moved to Dec. 21 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The trophy will be awarded in a virtual ceremony on Jan. 5, with the finalists appearing via satellite. (The number of finalists typically ranges from three to as many as five and is determined by the final vote totals.)
It’s not uncommon to have two players go down to the wire in the Heisman race. The competition in 2018 between Oklahoma‘s Kyler Murray and Tagovailoa wasn’t settled until championship weekend, when Murray pulled ahead. Baylor’s Robert Griffin III and Stanford’s Andrew Luck were separated by just 280 points in 2011, and roughly 300 points separated Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M from Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o the following season.
Three contenders split the vote in 2008 and 2004. Nebraska’s Eric Crouch’s 62-point advantage on Florida’s Rex Grossman in 2001 is the fifth-closest Heisman; even his 132-point edge over Miami (Fla.) quarterback Ken Dorsey in third is smaller than any margin of victory in the past decade.
To have four neck-and-neck contenders this late in the regular season is mirrored by the 2009 race, which resulted in the closest voting in Heisman history — Alabama’s Mark Ingram (1,304 points) narrowly edged out Stanford’s Toby Gerhart (1,276), Texas‘s Colt McCoy (1,145) and Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh (815).
The 2009 voting was heavily influenced by conference championships. Stanford missed out on the Pac-10 championship game after losing to rival California. Suh’s dominant performance in a narrow loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship boosted his case at McCoy’s expense. Ingram ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns in leading Alabama past Florida for the SEC championship to become the first Heisman winner in program history.
As in 2009, this weekend should determine the Heisman winner. Regardless of his own performance, a Florida loss to Alabama would drop Trask from contention. On the other hand, an upset could move Trask back into the lead and eliminate Jones, who would then become the second choice among SEC quarterbacks.
And while Lawrence’s quiet Heisman campaign has rested on the perception that he’s simply the best player in the country — and perhaps the most anticipated quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning — that could change against Notre Dame, should Lawrence mean the difference in the Tigers’ reversal of last month’s overtime loss.
“I don’t really care what anybody says, and there’s a lot of great players out there, but the best player in the country is Trevor Lawrence. That’s just the way it is,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. “He doesn’t need to win the Heisman for that to be the case. Most logical people out there know that. That’s why he’ll be the first pick in the draft, and it won’t be close.”
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