Dan Mullen lauds Stetson Bennett’s ‘Heisman performance’ in Week 1

Former Florida and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen has entered the media world entering the 2022 college football season and has already proved his willingness to ruffle feathers with his picks. After releasing a preseason list of Heisman candidates, the ESPN personality has chosen the most Heisman-worthy performance from Week 1 and again created talking points.

Stetson Bennett’s Week 1 win over No. 11 Oregon in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff took top prize as Dan Mullen provided high praise to the oft-overlooked signal caller from Georgia.

“In every situation showed he can win games not just manage them,” wrote Mullen on Twitter.

Bennett certainly put up a worthy effort in the 49-3 win over Oregon, posting 368 passing yards and two touchdowns on 25-of-31 passing while adding a rushing touchdown. In addition, Mullen points out that he completed 5-of-5 against the blitz and 4-of-4 on third down.

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However, despite offering some earned hype to an SEC quarterback who put on a show, Mullen has drawn criticism for spurning not only his former school but a former player who put up big numbers against a highly ranked opponent on Saturday.

Although he included Anthony Richardson in his list of Heisman sleepers before the season, fans could not believe there was no mention of Florida’s 29-26 win over No. 7 Utah. After all, Richardson finished 17-of-24 for 168 yards while adding 106 rushing yards and three touchdowns in addition to a highlight-reel two-point conversion.

Dan Mullen names Heisman favorites, sleepers

Dan Mullen dropped his Heisman favorites on Wednesday, and his three choices at the top weren’t surprising: Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Will Anderson.

The order, on the other hand, is where things get spicier. Mullen has Anderson, the Alabama edge rusher, as his favorite ahead Ohio State’s Stroud, the betting favorite, and Young, the reigning winner of the Heisman.

In terms of counting stats, Young just beat out Stroud in 2021 — albeit with more games — but also guided Alabama to the playoff and SEC title, while Ohio State went 10-2 in the regular season. There’s no doubt that this award could come down to these two quarterbacks and that the final margin could be razor thin.

He also named his sleepers — and his second choice in that group leads to a fair bit of intrigue. In addition to Richardson, Mullen included Utah quarterback Cam Rising and UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee.