The college football regular season has ended with rivalry week. This was highlighted by the anticipated battle between the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 3 Michigan Wolverines and the Iron Bowl between the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide. With that dust settled, teams have now found out whether they qualified for a bowl game or if they will compete in a Conference Championship Game next week.
With the regular season over, there are now two weeks left until the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York City. How did the favorites and candidates fare in Week 13 of the season? Let's rank the top 10 candidates to win the Heisman with our power rankings.
Heisman Trophy Power Rankings 2023, Week 13 edition
Caleb Williams' season ended last week, due in part to them playing in Week 0 in late August. But this wasn't the season that the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and the USC Trojans had envisioned. Instead of contending for the College Football Playoff, their season ends with a 7-5 record, and watching the Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks competing for the Pac-12 Championship.
Williams' season ended throwing for 3,633 yards, 30 touchdowns, and five interceptions while completing 68.6 percent of his passes. Additionally, Williams ran for 142 yards and 11 touchdowns on 97 carries.
It's rare that a player on a team with four or more losses wins the Heisman Trophy. Given the play of the other quarterbacks in the Pac-12, Williams' chances of repeating are zero.
Did the North Carolina Tar Heels ever drop the ball this year. They were in prime position to face the Florida State Seminoles in the ACC Championship Game. But their final stretch of the season had bee a miserable one. Entering the final week of the regular season, they had lost three of their last five games. They had the chance to at least end the season on a high note with a win over the in-state rival North Carolina State Wolfpack.
For Maye and the Tar Heels, they lost 39-20 to the Wolfpack. It was a game to forget for Maye, who watched North Carolina State jump to an early 23-0 lead just before halftime. Three of those points came after Maye fumbled on a 16-yard run. While Maye would score touchdowns on his first two drives of the second half, it just wasn't enough for them to keep up with the Wolfpack.
Maye finished his night throwing for 254 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions while completing 22-of-38 pass attempts. Maye also ran for 106 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
Given that the Tar Heels missed out on the ACC Championship Game to the Louisville Cardinals and have four losses on the year, Maye falls down our rankings.
Dillon Gabriel was a top contender for the Heisman earlier this season when the Oklahoma Sooners beat the Texas Longhorns. But since, the team couldn't win the games necessary to ensure they had another shot at the Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship Game and to fight for a College Football Playoff spot. This weekend, the Sooners needed to win and for the Oklahoma State Cowboys to lose to face off against Texas.
While the Sooners picked up the 69-45 win over the TCU Horned Frogs, the Cowboys beat the BYU Cougars 40-34 in double overtime to clinch a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.
As for the TCU game, Gabriel had a strong showing, as he threw for 400 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception while completing 24-of-38 pass attempts. Gabriel also ran for 36 yards and one touchdown.
While it was an overall great season for Gabriel, there were just players ahead of him that are more deserving of the award.
Welcome back to the Heisman Trophy power rankings, Jalen Milroe!
What is one thing that college fans should know -- never count Alabama out of the College Football Playoff picture. Yes, they did lose to the Texas Longhorns this year and looked far from dominant as compared to their previous teams. But in not shocking news, they have a chance to make it to the Playoff and have a spot in the SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs. In Week 13, that is thanks to quarterback Jalen Milroe.
The Crimson Tide trailed 24-20 on a fourth-and-goal from Auburn's 31-yard line with less than one minute remaining. Milroe stood in the pocket, waited, and threw a Hail Mary to the back corner of the end zone. His pass fell right into the waiting hands of wide receiver Isaiah Bond for the touchdown to silence the crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium. That was enough to give Alabama the stunning 27-24 win.
Milroe completed 16-of-24 pass attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 107 yards on 18 carries.
Now, Milroe and the Crimson Tide will look to pull off the upset against Georgia next week and wait things out to see if they have a legitimate chance at the Playoff.
The biggest game of the weekend just so happened to kickoff the day. Of course, that's "The Game" between the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 3 Michigan Wolverines. Could the Wolverines make it three wins in a row against the Buckeyes for the first time since the 1995-97 seasons? Or would Ohio State end their losing streak and solidify their spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and in the College Football Playoff.
Michigan got the last laugh, as they picked up the 30-24 win in a tightly contested matchup, securing it on a second interception secured off Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord.
As for Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, he did throw a 22-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to wide receiver Roman Wilson to take a 14-3 lead. Other than that, it was another game in which the Michigan running backs dominated the plays on offense (39 carries). McCarthy finished the afternoon completing 16-of-20 pass attempts for 148 yards.
McCarthy and the Wolverines now head to Indianapolis, Ind., to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game.
The Georgia Bulldogs entered the final week of the season with a spot in the SEC Championship Game secured. But that doesn't mean they were looking to take things easy. With how crowded the College Football Playoff picture is, Georgia wanted to keep their undefeated season intact.
In Week 13 against the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets, the Bulldogs picked up the 31-23 win. While the score was close, the game was really all Bulldogs, as the Yellow Jackets scored 10 points in garbage time to pad the score.
Carson Beck didn't have the type of performance like he's had in recent games. The quarterback threw for 175 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while completing 13-of-20 pass attempts.
Beck has the chance to increase his Heisman stock with an impressive performance against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game.
There's no denying that the Ohio State Buckeyes wouldn't be the team they are without wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. While their defense is dominant and able to keep the Buckeyes in the game, quarterback Kyle McCord's play throughout the season has been iffy at best. But when he targets Harrison, all is well for the Buckeyes.
But on Saturday, Harrison's presence wasn't enough, as Ohio State lost 30-24 to the Michigan Wolverines. Midway through the fourth quarter, Harrison caught a 14-yard pass from McCord to pull Ohio State to a 27-24 deficit.
All in all, Harrison caught five passes for 118 yards on the day. Now, we wait and see if Harrison will compete in a bowl game with the Buckeyes. Now, they are in wait-and-see mode.
Michael Penix Jr. falls one spot in the Heisman Trophy power rankings this week, mostly due to the performances of the other two favorites to win the award. Penix and the Washington Huskies looked to end their regular season undefeated with a win over the Washington State Cougars in the Apple Cup.
Penix orchestrated a 12-play drive at the end of the game, highlighted by a 23-yard run on a fake handoff from the quarterback on fourth-and-one. In the closing seconds, Grady Gross kicked a 42-yard field goal to give Washington the 24-21 win, the Apple Cup and their undefeated record.
In the game, Penix threw for 204 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception while completing 18-of-33 pass attempts.
Penix will now play Bo Nix and the Oregon Ducks for the second time this year, which may very well determine the Heisman Trophy winner.
Jayden Daniels is going to be invited to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, that's a given. Daniels certainly qualifies as "Most Outstanding Player," given his ability to change the momentum of the game with a pass or a run. He has been dubbed the "Human First Down."
The LSU Tigers trailed 24-21 to the Texas A&M Aggies after the third quarter, but Daniels changed that after a 23-yard touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr. and a 21-yard scoring pass to Malik Nabers to take the 35-24 lead. After Texas A&M cut their lead to 35-30, Daniels shut things down with a 15-yard pass to Kyren Lacy.
Daniels finished the game completing 16-of-24 passes for 235 yards and four touchdowns while running for 120 yards on 11 carries.
Even though LSU won't be participating in Conference Championship Weekend, he still has a strong chance of lifting the Heisman on Saturday, Dec. 9.
Maintaining the No. 1 spot in our Heisman Trophy power rankings is Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix. As we said in previous editions of our power rankings, Oregon has played inspired and motivated football following their narrow loss to Washington in October. Nix has certainly been playing at that level, sometimes throwing more touchdowns than incompletions in games.
To close out the regular season, the Ducks faced off against the in-state rival Oregon State Beavers, the 16th-ranked team in the nation. This was a game in which the Ducks defense played a huge role in the win, as they held the Beavers offense to just 273 yards and seven points. The Ducks offense, meanwhile, put up 31 points, 21 of which coming from Nix. The quarterback threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Irving, a 41-yard scoring pass to Troy Franklin, and ran for a 16-yard touchdown.
Overall, Nix completed 33-of-40 pass attempts for 367 yards, while running for 31 yards on six carries.
Nix could very well clinch the Heisman Trophy if he has a strong showing and leads Oregon to a win over Michael Penix Jr. and Washington in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
