Henry and McCaffrey will be trying to break a streak of five straight quarterbacks winning college football’s top honor when the trophy is presented Saturday night in NY.
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Henry and Watson were viewed as second-tier candidates throughout the offseason.
McCaffrey is now more than 1,000 yards ahead of second place this season. A toss-up. And in such cases, I tend to favor the guy who does more things well.
Even when he lost two of his primary blockers to season-ending injuries and when defenses began stacking the box to stop him, because they correctly assessed LSU’s passing game wasn’t effective enough to win games, Fournette didn’t blink while trucking head-on into piles of waiting tacklers.
Sanders’ 1988 season is considered by many to be the most impressive in college football history.
Even if the voting doesn’t fully reflect it when it’s revealed on Saturday night, all three of these players – McCaffrey, Watson, and Henry – have put together incredible seasons.
With the Rose Bowl against Iowa still to come on New Year’s Day, McCaffrey is second to Oregon’s Royce Freeman in the Pac-12 rushing race by the thinnest of margins.
Watson, who is Clemson’s first Heisman finalist, averaged 331 yards of total offense to lead Clemson to a 13-0 record, including three wins over top 10 teams, and a No. 1 national ranking.
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound junior carried the Tide (12-1) to the College Football Playoff, setting an SEC record with 1,986 yards and nation’s best 23 touchdowns. New Orleans Saints tailback Mark Ingram is the school’s lone Heisman victor, capturing the trophy in 2009. He had 1,847 yards and eight touchdowns rushing, 540 yards and four touchdowns receiving and 1,042 yards on kickoff returns.
McCaffrey, a dynamic sophomore running back for Stanford, was named a finalist for college football’s most prestigious award on Monday. No one who watched him play could, in good conscience, pick someone else to win the Heisman Trophy Saturday in NY. He reminded us what a workhorse running back was as the Tide rode him to the SEC title. Needless to say, he is the nation’s leader in terms of all-purpose yards, but Henry is the nation’s leading rusher.
Clemson’s Watson missed half of last season with injuries but has emerged as the best player on the top-ranked and only undefeated team.
The Heisman selection show is certainly a gaudy, exasperating affair for viewers, but it means the world to the players selected to attend.
Henry scored a touchdown in every game this season and had seven games in which he recorded multiple touchdowns. He finished the season by throwing for at least 275 yards in his last six games (three 300-yard games) and rushed for at least 100 yards in four of his final five games.
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Over the 2015 season, Deshaun Watson has completed 69.5% of his passes, throwing for 3,512 yards and 30 touchdowns to 11 interceptions, while also running for 887 yards on 163 attempts and 11 touchdowns.
