Caleb Williams Wins the Heisman Trophy

Despite finishing his sophomore season as college football’s most outstanding player, Williams didn’t start out as the favorite. Late-night television starts for West Coast teams, in conjunction with a Pac-12 conference that historically has been lackluster, may have kept Williams’s name off early-season Heisman favorite lists.

But after a game against rival U.C.L.A., then ranked No. 18, in which Williams willed his team to victory by amassing 503 total yards (470 passing, 33 rushing), along with three total touchdowns, he seemed to have the Heisman secured. (The game also began at 8 p.m. Eastern time.)

“It took an entire season for the rest of the country to catch on,” said Carson Palmer, the former U.S.C. quarterback and the 2002 Heisman winner.

It was the second year that Stroud smiled and clapped as another finalist won the Heisman Trophy. Last year, Stroud was a finalist, but he finished last in the final round of voting, as Alabama’s Bryce Young took home the award. Young was not a finalist this year, and Stroud was the favorite to win for most of the season, especially after a game against Michigan State in which he threw for 361 yards and six touchdowns. But Stroud struggled over the final stretch of the season, including in a 45-23 loss to Michigan.

This might have been Stroud’s last chance at the Heisman. He will be eligible for the N.F.L. draft after this season, and he is projected to be a first-round pick.

Of the finalists, Duggan seemed the most improbable before the season. He was a three-year starter, but he was benched in favor of the redshirt freshman Chandler Morris, then thrust back into the starting lineup after Morris was injured in the first week. Duggan led Texas Christian to a 12-1 record and a College Football Playoff berth, and his numbers were stellar — 3,321 passing yards, 36 total touchdowns — yet still a step behind Williams.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/sports/ncaafootball/heisman-caleb-williams-usc.html