Tagovailoa leads parade of quarterbacks in balloting

By the impossibly high standard he set for himself over his first eight games, Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had his worst outing of the season Saturday night at LSU.

Of course, it was still quite good — 25 of 42 for 295 yards and two touchdowns as well as a 44-yard scoring run — against clearly the most formidable defense he’d faced all year. He was intercepted for the first time all season, but his performance in the Crimson Tide’s 29-0 statement win was more than enough to keep him in a comfortable lead in the weekly USA TODAY Network Heisman Trophy survey.

He was named first on 14 of the 15 surveys and second on the other for 44 points.

Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray remains in second place in the quarterback-heavy race, receiving 28 total points and the remaining first-place mention after leading the Sooners to a 51-46 shootout win at Texas Tech. Murray overcame a pair of interceptions that put the Sooners in an early 14-0 hole to throw for 360 yards and three scores with another touchdown by land.

Will Grier of West Virginia is back in the discussion, moving into third place with 11 points thanks to his late-game heroics that got the Mountaineers past Texas. His 33-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds remaining capped a 346-yard, three-score passing day with no picks, and his two-point keeper for the win provided the exclamation point.

Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State and Gardner Minshew of Washington State were the only other players mentioned.