Williams wins Heisman
Caleb Williams brought sizzle, excitement and star power back to USC football. And now the Heisman Trophy, too.
Williams, the dynamic quarterback who was the catalyst for the Trojans’ turnaround season, won the Heisman on Saturday night to make USC the first school to take home college football’s most prestigious player of the year award eight times.
Williams received 544 firstplace votes and 2,031 points to easily outpoint TCU quarterback Max Duggan (1,420).
Williams, who played last season at Oklahoma, is the fourth transfer to win the Heisman in the last six years, joining Baker Mayfield (2017) and Kyler Murray (2018) of Oklahoma and Joe Burrow (2019) of LSU.
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud was third in the voting after coming in fourth last season. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett finished fourth. The topranked Bulldogs will face Stroud and the fourth-ranked Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff on Dec. 31.
Duggan and the third-ranked Horned Frogs will play No. 2 Michigan in the other CFP semifinal on New Year’s Eve.
“I may be standing up here today, but y’all get to the College Football Playoffs. Guess you can’t win ’em all,” Williams said as he started his acceptance speech by thanking the other finalists.
San Mateo wins junior college state title: Game MVP Ezra Moleni rushed for 232 yards and two touchdowns, including a 33-yard TD run less than two minutes into the game that got the Rams started; J’Wan Evans added 148 yards rushing and two TDS and Brendan Dyole added two receiving TDs as host College of San Mateo defeated Riverside City College 55-0 to win the California Community College Athletic Association championship.
Moleni broke the Rams’ season rushing record with 1,400 yards, surpassing future Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman’s 1,253 yards in 2005.
Briefly: Navy fired head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who went 10983 in 15 seasons, a day after the Midshipmen lost to Army 20-17 in overtime and finished 4-8 for the second straight year. Defensive coordinator Brian Newberry was named interim coach . ... With a chance for the third 10win season in school history coming Saturday in the Las Vegas Bowl against Florida, Oregon State agreed on a six-year, $30.6 million contract with head coach Jonathan Smith.