We’re starting to get to that point of the season where every week, it feels like something wild happens to really shake up the landscape of the college football rankings. Texas A&M went down this week. Clemson went down this week. Penn State suffered their first loss of the season after James Franklin did James Franklin things. Indiana is 9-0. The Big 12 is wide open. Army is 8-0 and pushing Boise State for that Group of Five spot in the College Football Playoff. It’s sheer pandemonium, and I am absolutely here for it. But, in a week when the College Football Playoff race seemed chaotic race, the Heisman race was, by and large, maintained by the usual suspects.
Heisman Watch: Week 10, 2024
5. QB Kurtis Rourke, Indiana – Back from a thumb injury like he never left, Rourke continues to prove he’s the perfect quarterback for what the Hoosiers are trying to run. Rourke was 19/29 for 263 yards and four touchdowns in his return to action as Indiana has now jumped out to its first 9-0 start in program history.
4. RB Ashton Jeanty, Boise State – Jeanty has crossed the 1,500-yard mark with 1,525 yards on the season. With four games to go, 2,000 yards is still very much on the table. In the 56-24 win over San Diego State, Jeanty rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his total touchdown number to 21 on the season.
3. QB Dillon Gabriel, Oregon – Gabriel turned in another efficient performance as the Ducks improved to 9-0 on the season, defeating Michigan 38-17 in Ann Arbor. Gabriel was 22/34 for 294 yards and a touchdown, with another score on the ground. In my estimation, he’s really starting to make a late season push as a legitimate Heisman contender.
2. QB Cam Ward, Miami – I certainly have my reservations about Ward in the NFL, but we’re talkin’ Heisman today, not the NFL Draft. The box scores certainly dazzle when you’re looking at Ward’s production, and his addition to the offense has made the Hurricanes a legitimate National Championship contender. Against a solid Duke defense, Ward went 25/41 for 400 yards, five passing touchdowns, a fumble lost, and an interception.
1. QB Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss – I’ll admit I thought Ole Miss should’ve been on upset alert after seeing how the Razorbacks played Tennessee at home. Don’t I look foolish? Dart has quietly strung together a couple of really nice games in SEC play the last couple of weeks, throwing seven touchdowns to zero interceptions against Oklahoma and Arkansas. He’s still a long shot in this year’s Heisman race, but a 25/31, 515-yard, six-touchdown, and no-turnover performance in a hostile environment against a defense that has proven they can hang with offenses like this has bought him a little more credibility late in the season.
Heisman Watch 2024 Standings
- Cam Ward – 25 (total points)
- Ashton Jeanty – 19
- Dillon Gabriel – 15
- Jalen Milroe – 11
- Jaxson Dart, Travis Hunter, Kaleb Johnson – 9
- Tetairoa McMillan – 6
- Quinn Ewers – 5
- Abdul Carter, Bryson Dailey, Garrett Nussmeier, Shedeur Sanders, Dylan Sampson – 4
- Will Howard, Jam Miller – 3
- Luke Altmyer, Rocco Becht, Luther Burden III, Miller Moss, Diego Pavia, Ryan Williams – 2
- Tahj Brooks, Ethan Hampton, Avery Johnson, Arch Manning, Marcel Reed, Kurtis Rourke – 1
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, third on Football & Other F Words, co-host of The Hot Read Podcast, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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