Jackson, Watson likely to be among Heisman finalists

The Heisman finalists will be announced Monday at about 6:15 p.m. EST on ESPN.

In UofL’s last two games, losses to decided underdogs Houston and Kentucky, Jackson’s teammates let him down. The offense averaged 44.6 points and 526.2 yards and his quarterbacks completed 69.2 percent of their passes, threw for 356.6 yards per game and a total of 131 touchdowns. This year, he leads the ACC with 3,914 passing yards and 37 passing touchdowns.

The front-runner remains Louisville’s Lamar Jackson with Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers and the Oklahoma duo of Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook getting invites.

Once last season ended, Watson was elevated to the face of college football, a favorite for the Heisman who would command a deep, talented Tigers attack that had potential to be the best in the game.

“If postseason football is a major factor, the only plausible alternative to Jackson is Deshaun Watson”, Oddshark said. “I understand what I’m doing, and my teammates do, too”, he said.

“I have to give all my credit to my mother”, Jackson said onstage after accepting the award.

The Heisman Trophy is given to the best player in college football, and nearly every year the selection makes sense.

“I have a lot of confidence in the way I’ve played over the course of the season”, said Watson, who finished third in the Heisman race a year ago behind victor Derrick Henry of Alabama and runner-up Christian McCaffrey of Stanford. “He is our first, and he’s very deserving”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement. The ballots of more than 900 voters, which included previous Heisman winners, were due Monday. Yet the practical downside of both players surfacing as legitimate candidates for the award should take a back seat to the reality that they indisputably qualify as the nation’s best offensive duo.

Watson passed for 306 yards and five touchdowns and had 91 rushing yards in the game while throwing three interceptions. Westbrook had 1,465 yards receiving and 16 total touchdowns to rank No. 4 nationally in receiving yards per game (122.1).

The first time the Heisman conversation became real was when U-M coach Jim Harbaugh dropped it after the 78-0 win in Piscataway, N.J. Though Louisville lost its final two games to put a damper on its season, Jackson ended up with the ACC single-season total touchdown record with 51 and became the first player in FBS history with 3,300 yards passing and 1,500 yards rushing. The greatest outcry came with the snub of Texas running back D’Onta Foreman, 20, who had the NCAA’s best rushing season with over 2,000 yards, but that wasn’t enough to get him a Heisman nod. “I had a great time a year ago being around all the former Heisman winners and all the people that was a part of that whole weekend”.

The presentation comes less than a week after 1994 Heisman victor Colorado running back Rashaan Salaam was found dead at a park in Boulder, CO.

When the two met on October 1 at Clemson, Watson threw for 306 yards and five touchdowns, ran for 91 and was picked off three times.