Kirk Herbstreit claims conference championships will decide the Heisman race
The Heisman Trophy will be handed out on Dec. 13 to the best player in college football. Heading into conference championship week, the race for the country’s most coveted individual prize hasn’t been locked up just yet.
ESPN College GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit broke down who he feels are the current finalists for the award. That includes the matchup he believes will decide the Heisman Trophy race this season.
“Absolutely, I think it does,” Herbstreit said. “A lot of talk about Diego Pavia, a lot of talk about, obviously, Notre Dame, they’ve had a great year. (Jeremiyah Love) had a great year. But it feels like after The Game, Julian Sayin had it at Michigan.
“Just to lead them to victory. I mean, he played with such poise, hit some big throws. The way (Fernando) Mendoza has been playing all year, it just feels like if one of those two quarterbacks goes off, I think they’re they’re going to really have an opportunity on a big stage as kind of an exclamation point to their season. Whichever one of those guys wins the game, and if they play well, I think that that could be the guy.”
Mendoza’s and Sayin’s teams will meet in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday night in a matchup that will likely decide more than just the Heisman Trophy race. All signs point toward the winning team being the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff.
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To Herbstreit, it’s hard to bet against the QB1 of the nation’s top-ranked team. Not to mention their team, whether it be Indiana or Ohio State, will be 13-0 heading into the playoffs, and in turn, the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
Herbstreit’s co-host, ESPN’s Joey Galloway, believes Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love has done enough to win the award. Love has rushed for over 1,300 yards and 18 touchdowns during the regular season and has the Fighting Irish on a 10-game win streak. Galloway argued that the Heisman Trophy has become a quarterback award, and Love should be the one that helps break that spell.
The four Heisman finalists will be announced on Monday, Dec. 8. After that, the ceremony is set to be held at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 13 on ABC. Last year’s winner Travis Hunter won the award over RB Ashton Jeanty and QBs Dillon Gabriel and Cam Ward.