Barstool Breakdown's Coach Day with THE Heisman & MVP Rankings: Vol. 2

Another week of football has been completed. In college, the crazy season continues with another top-5 undefeated team falling. For the NFL, we’re seeing the elites coming into form as the Chiefs and Eagles right the ship with wins. But in here we’re focusing on the individual performances in this blog. We’re all about me before team right now. Let’s start with the college game and see who’s sticking out as the leaders to hear their names called as the best player in the sport.

This week saw some shake-ups, but still, the top two remain the same, and really, at this point, have a huge lead toward being finalists in December for the Heisman Trophy. Those two, you ask? Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza & Alabama QB Ty Simpson. Both of them have been either solid or shown us elite performances every game. There’s a clear gap between these two and the rest of the rankings. It will take either a streak of bad games or a Carson Beck–style collapse to pull them out of contention.

The next group that has a good advantage in my eyes is 3–5. Two QBs...Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed, sandwich the top non-QB contender in Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love. Sayin & Love had ridiculous games, with Love’s coming against a ranked P4 team, over 260 all-purpose yards. Since his first game of the year, he’s clearly shown he’s far above any other skill-position player.

You then have, at this point in the season, maybe “longshots” at 6–10. There are some guys who are having really good seasons but not getting the early buzz. This includes Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby, Navy QB Blake Horvath, and Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy. All of them are having great years and deserve a little more attention than they’re getting, so check them out this Saturday!

Now onto the NFL. With their season still a couple of weeks away from the midway point, this list still feels more volatile. Baker Mayfield looked to have a stronghold until a very meh performance Monday night. That doesn’t mean he’s out of contention, but he really does need all of his weapons back.

Last year it was Saquon Barkley...well, this year it’s Jonathan Taylor who’s looking unstoppable. The list maybe gets even a little more controversial with a WR in second, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been on an insane tear, so he deserves some love right now. The top three rounds off with the most unexpected of the bunch in Dak Prescott, as he’s been a machine early on in the season. It isn’t his fault there’s no defense on the other side of the ball for his squad.

As you go down the list, you start to see the “bigger” names, with Patrick Mahomes starting to assert himself, Matthew Stafford quietly having himself a year, and Josh Allen, who went from one bad game into a bye week but still remains in the running.

The last maybe shocker on my list is the arrival of Ja’Marr Chase, and it’s more than deserving as he deals with a QB dilemma, though Flacco has shown he can sling it in the meantime as well. With Flacco being enough to get him the ball, Chase could find himself climbing up these lists over the next few weeks.

The year of uncertainty continues for award season, as players who look to have the advantage soon fall while others push their names into the conversation. Now we wait and see if Baker and Allen can recover from bad weeks...or, in the college game, will Ty Simpson survive the gauntlet in front of him? Also, don’t forget to check out some of these guys who are lurking in the shadows.