OSU’S Stroud in Heisman discussion
’Bama QB Young still front-runner for award
The hype heading into the Alabama and Ole Miss game deflated by halftime, when the Crimson Tide pulled into the locker room up 28-0 in an eventual 4221 win.
Amid another blowout from the defending national champions, the hotly anticipated quarterback matchup between Bryce Young and Matt Corral was not quite as lopsided. While Young was the star of the game, giving the sophomore a big lead for the Heisman Trophy, Corral's performance will keep him in the mix for postseason hardware.
Unlike the race for the national championship, which has centered on the Tide and Georgia, the competition for which quarterback will be crowned the best in the Football Bowl Subdivision goes five or six deep, including Buckeyes freshman C.J. Stroud.
Here are the USA TODAY Week 5 rankings:
1. Bryce Young, Alabama
Young has thrown multiple touchdowns in each of his five starts and gone for at least 240 yards in each of the four games against FBS competition, leaving him second among Power Five quarterbacks in touchdowns and efficiency rating. While he's had an interception in each of his last two games, those are the only two turnovers in 148 attempts.
2. Matt Corral, Ole Miss
Alabama ran Ole Miss out of the building and Corral was largely held under wraps until midway into the third quarter, when the Tide had already run up a 35-0 lead. But the junior ended up completing 21 of 29 attempts for 213 yards and two scores, one on the ground. Since 2014, the only quarterbacks to complete at least 65% of their throws with at least one touchdown and no interceptions against Alabama are Joe Burrow and Corral, who has done so in each of the last two meetings.
3. Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
Ridder did the heavy lifting in a 24-13 win over Notre Dame. He had 323 yards of total offense, averaged 9.3 yards per attempt and scored three times. Two wins against Power Five competition and a chance to break into the playoff are the linchpins of Ridder’s Heisman case.
4. Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh
The Panthers’ most productive quarterback since Dan Marino ranks in the top five nationally in touchdowns, efficiency rating, passing yards and total offense. In Saturday’s romp of Georgia Tech, Pickett broke Marino’s program record for touchdown passes in a threegame span with 15.
5. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State
Stroud bounced back from last month’s loss to Oregon and missing the Akron win with a shoulder injury to throw for 330 yards and five touchdowns against Rutgers, by far the best performance of his young career. For all the attention paid to the Buckeyes’ underwhelming defense, the offense has delivered under the first-year starter: Ohio State leads the FBS at 8.6 yards per play while Stroud tops all Power Five quarterbacks at 10.4 yards per pass.
6. Sam Howell, North Carolina
Howell has been off and on. He is completing 59.2% of his attempts on 7.2 yards per throw with three touchdowns and three interceptions in UNC’S two losses. In the Tar Heels’ three wins, the junior is hitting on 64.6% of his throws on 12.0 yards per pass with 11 touchdowns and just one interception.
7. Grayson Mccall, Coastal Carolina
Mccall completed all 13 of his attempts for 212 yards and two touchdowns before exiting with an ankle injury at halftime of the Chanticleers’ 59-6 rout of Louisiana-monroe. He leads the FBS in completion percentage at a whopping 80.2%, as well as in quarterback efficiency and yards per throw by a sizable margin. Mccall’s efficiency rating sits at 224.9, ahead of the FBS single-season record of 203.1 set last year by Alabama’s Mac Jones.