Heisman Straw Poll: Cam Ward is plummeting so…are the quarterbacks actually out?

The AthleticsThe Heisman Heisman poll is reaching for, um, ideas. Throwing things against the wall. Darts, even.

Jaxson Dart, welcome. The Ole Miss quarterback makes his debut this week with a second-place finish after throwing for 199 yards and running for 50 yards on a drifter in a schedule-defining win over Georgia. Bryson Daily, welcome. Army’s quarterback also makes an appearance, picking up a pair of third-place votes after running for 153 yards and two touchdowns at North Texas to keep his team undefeated and in the College Football Playoff race.

That means there are five quarterbacks among the nine players who received votes this week, and that sounds good. Except none of them are considered serious contenders for the award, not based on our mood, not right now.

You have to go back to 2015, the year Alabama running back Derrick Henry beat Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, to find a pre-Thanksgiving pool of contenders without a quarterback making a serious effort. The only other non-quarterback winner since then was Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith in 2020, and Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence stayed there until the end (ultimately losing 1,856 to 1,187).

We’re on the cusp of a third non-quarterback winner in the last decade. And for this era of football? That’s a pretty good decade for non-quarterbacks.

Miami’s upset loss at Georgia Tech severely damaged Miami quarterback Cam Ward’s momentum in the straw poll. He was the only signal caller hanging with Colorado receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter – the poll leader by a growing margin – and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. That loss dropped Ward from 41 points to 13, from 25 ballots to 10, from third to fourth, behind Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel (one first-place vote, 14 points).

The Athletics follows the same voting protocol as the Heisman: 3 points for a first-place vote, 2 points for a second-place vote, 1 point for a third-place vote. Hunter overtook first place a week ago and had a slim 57-51 lead over Jeanty, but that’s a maximum margin of 69-54. Hunter rose from 12 first-place votes to 18, and Jeanty dropped from 11 first-place votes to eight — even after Jeanty ran for 209 yards and three touchdowns against Nevada.

Hunter had nine catches for 99 yards and a touchdown in a comeback win at Texas Tech, and he reminded everyone of his dominance on defense with an acrobatic interception that was taken off the board by a Colorado offsides penalty. The Buffs are seriously in the hunt for the Big 12 title – and a top-four seed and a College Football Playoff that will likely come with it – and that should be a big boost for Hunter. A boost that was completely unforeseen a few weeks ago.

Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke is the fifth-ranked quarterback in the poll, and he’s gained slightly from last week and is in fifth place with 6 points. Rourke and the Hoosiers were their dominant selves in the first half of a win over Michigan on Saturday, then sputtered for the first time all season and held on for a 20-15 win. Of course, a gaudy stat line and defeat would have helped him more.

He has Nov. 23 at Ohio State. Daily has Nov. 23 against Notre Dame. Gabriel has an expected Big Ten title game title. Ward has an ACC title game hopeful. And Dart is like most quarterbacks in the SEC in that it’s possible he could play in the league.

Opportunities are scarce. The quarterbacks are almost done. So The Athletics voters throw names around. What about Penn State tight end Tyler Warren? He got a third-place finish, as did Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson, with the two tied for eighth.

BYU kicker Will “Big Game Bill” Ferrin received an honorable mention after his clutch performance to keep BYU undefeated at the expense of rival Utah. Ole Miss linebacker Suntarine Perkins was considered for a vote but didn’t get it, but he also deserves a mention.

Many others have certainly earned that. What about Tennessee taking back Dylan Sampson? Or Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, a guy who got a lot of votes early after what he did with LSU?

The pool of players with a shot at New York may be expanding. The list of real contenders seems to be down to two, on the way to one.

(Photo by Ashton Jeanty: Loren Orr/Getty Images)