Time to check in with our “ongoing” MNC Wednesday miniseries entries scrutinizing Heisman Trophy votes, as the 2023 winner was announced a few days ago. We have not agreed with the voters since the 2018 season, and considering how badly the College Football Playoff fucked up again this year—even drawing scrutiny from public officials—we’re not sure what to expect here in this space. Hang on; it might get bad.

2023 Heisman Trophy winner: Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU (original); Ollie Gordon, RB, Oklahoma State (revised)

The LSU Tigers went 9-3 to finish as an also-ran team in their SEC division, and two wins came over really bad cupcakes by a combined 128-24 score. So this was really just a 7-win team, led by quarterback Jayden Daniels—who, like a prior LSU “winner” before him, somehow boosted his QB rating from 144.5 in 2022 to 208.0 in 2023. We’re guessing playing that schedule had something to do with it, even without a CFP fix.

Overall, Daniels put up 4,496 total yards with 50 TDs, 4 INTs, and that crazy-high QB rating against the No. 20 SOS. As usual, we have to explore as many different options as we can with this kind of analysis. This is our final list of firmly vetted Heisman candidates, and it’s an intriguing list which includes multiple guys who have stayed in school too long, including the winner:

  • Michael Penix, QB, Washington: 4,218 passing yards for 36 TDs, 9 INTs, and a 161.4 QB rating (No. 4 SOS)
  • Bo Nix, QB, Oregon: 4,373 total yards with 46 TDs, 3 INTs, and a 186.2 QB rating (No. 44 SOS)
  • Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama: 3,186 total yards with 35 TDs, 6 INTs, and a 177.5 QB rating (No. 11 SOS)
  • Ollie Gordon, RB, Oklahoma State: 1,940 scrimmage yards with 21 TDs (No. 27 SOS)
  • Kaidon Salter, QB, Liberty: 3,814 total yards with 43 TDs, 5 INTs, and a 182.4 QB rating (No. 124 SOS)

The Huskies won the Pac-12 with a 13-0 record to get a CFP invite, and that SOS is impressive. But Penix is in his sixth year of college football, and we can’t reward that kind of garbage; he should be in the NFL by now. As should Nix, who lost to Washington twice, when the Ducks should not have. As for Milroe, his numbers aren’t as flashy, but he led his team to the SEC title against a pretty tough schedule. That’s key in our minds.

Gordon carried a mediocre Cowboys team to the Big XII title game before losing, so we will toss him in our final review below, along with Milroe. Salter played the worst schedule imaginable, so despite leading his team to a 13-0 season with a Conference USA title, we’re not even going to bother legitimizing Liberty’s accomplishments. So, we have a three-way showdown at the end with Daniels, Milroe, and Gordon:

  • LSU: one 600-yard rusher, two 1,000-yard receivers, No. 80 scoring defense (ouch)
  • Alabama: one 800-yard rusher, one 700-yard receiver, No. 17 scoring defense
  • Oklahoma State: QBs with 120 QB rating, one 800-yard receiver, No. 94 scoring defense (not a typo)

Well … Gordon’s SOS pales, but it’s still a pretty solid schedule that he carried his less-than teammates through to the Big XII Championship Game. Remember, too, the Tide beat the Tigers by two touchdowns, so we should put Milroe ahead of Daniels, anyway, even though Milroe’s defense is superior—and Daniels’ supporting cast is the best of the bunch, by far. But the lack of a decent QB really tilts this in Gordon’s favor.

(Remember, too, that Daniels played his first three seasons at Arizona State before transferring to LSU for his final two seasons—and the crazy jump in production for 2023 is pretty inexplicable. He’d played 43 college games already before this season, and like Nix and Penix? Daniels should have been in the NFL already. We can’t reward that so easily like the sheep voters did in bandwagoning for another SEC player.)

Congratulations to Ollie Gordon, the real Heisman Trophy winner for 2023. That means in 68 seasons of review, we have confirmed just 19 winners of the trophy’s vote. Think about that for awhile … and question why the public puts up with more corruption in the voting for the Hypesman Trophy every year.