EUGENE, Ore. — There aren’t many things left to complete the Heisman Trophy resume of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. Unless you count beating Arizona.
How about a Pac-12 championship? And a berth in the College Football Playoff?
It’s all out there for the Oregon junior this week as he leads the Ducks into the Pac-12 title game, a rematch with Arizona and a chance for the Ducks to avenge their one loss this season. And a win on Friday over the Wildcats would almost certainly propel Oregon into a playoff berth.
Mariota looked about as ready for all that as any quarterback could be, leading the Ducks to a 47-19 win over Oregon State on Saturday night for their seventh consecutive victory. He compiled 406 yards of total offense, completing 19 of 25 passes for 367 yards, passed for four scores and ran for two others.
“We’ve got so many dynamic players and so many guys out front, it makes my job easy,” Mariota said.
Mariota raised his season totals to 3,470 passing yards with 36 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of better than .680 (704-of-1,056) and he’s also rushed for 636 yards. His team also hasn’t lost since that 31-24 defeat to Arizona, when he had perhaps his worst game of the season with 276 passing yards and a net rushing total of one yard behind an offensive line that was whipped handily as injuries thinned the ranks.
Mariota has company in the push to the Heisman Trophy finish line. The chase includes Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon and reigning Heisman winner Jameis Winston, who has Florida State undefeated and in the ACC championship game.
Gordon, who rushed for 151 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries Saturday against Minnesota, broke the Big Ten and Badgers’ single-season rushing record. The junior has rushed for 2,260 yards, fourth-best in FBS history. He trails Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders (2,268 in 1988), Central Florida’s Kevin Smith (2,567 in 2007) and USC’s Marcus Allen (2,342 in 1981).
Gordon entered the game tied with 1999 Heisman Trophy winner and former UW standout Ron Dayne with 2,109 yards. This week he’ll look to add to his total in the Big Ten championship game against Ohio State.
“He was unbelievably tough-minded in some tough sledding,” coach Gary Andersen said of Gordon, who has scored 29 touchdowns (26 rushing, three receiving) this season.
Heading into the game against Minnesota, Gordon led the nation in rushing at 191.7 yards per game, and paced the nation in scoring with 27 touchdowns.
He had 155 yards on 29 carries and one touchdown against the Gophers. Gordon surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the 10th straight game, and 11th time this season.
Gordon rushed for 408 yards on 25 carries two weeks ago against Nebraska to break LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-game rushing record, a 15-year-old mark. Last week, the record was broken by Oklahoma freshman Samaje Perine, who rushed 34 times for 427 yards. The victory against Minnesota also put a spotlight on Badgers seniors in their final game at Camp Randall Stadium. The game also was expected to be the last one before the home crowd for Gordon, who most expect to declare for the NFL draft. NFLDraftScout.com rates Gordon ahead of injured Georgia junior Todd Gurley as the No. 1 running back prospect for 2015.
“I’ve watched Montee (Ball) and James (White) both go out the wrong way on senior day,” Gordon said. “And this class, I wanted to win this for them, especially, to send (those) boys out right. I grabbed the axe (trophy) and that was supposed to be for seniors only, but I didn’t care. I just tried to soak it all in.”
Winston is a mind-boggling 25-0 as a starter since coming to Tallahassee and has the Seminoles on a 28-game winning streak with another ACC championship in the Seminoles’ path Saturday against Georgia Tech in Charlotte.
Winston’s passer efficiency, touchdown passes and yards per game declined, all while his interceptions rose.
He threw four picks Saturday against Florida — a career-high — but still managed to come away with a win. And while his 125 yards on 12 of 24 passing won’t do much to impress Heisman voters heading into next week’s announcement of college football’s most coveted individual award, there’s no denying he should be in the conversation once again.
“He had one bad game,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher laughed when asked about Winston’s ‘penchant for mistakes.’
“I mean, he played maybe his best game he’s played all year last week (against Boston College). So, no, not worried.”
Winston has passed for 3,250 and 20 TDs in 2014, but after Saturday he has 17 interceptions — seven more than last season, when he also had 40 touchdown passes while running the most prolific offense in college football history that set the single-season scoring record.
In 2013, Winston made winning look easy. He’s still winning, but it hasn’t been pretty.
Oddsmakers list Winston as the fifth-favorite to repeat as the Heisman winner behind the favorite, Mariota.
“The Heisman has no bearing on our team,” Fisher said when asked if it bothered him that Winston wasn’t being widely considered for the award this year, despite being the leader of the No. 1 unbeaten team in the nation. “And I guarantee you, Jameis doesn’t care about it either.”
OTHERS TO WATCH
Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett
The season is over for Barrett, the redshirt freshman who stepped in as Ohio State’s starter when preseason Heisman Trophy candidate Braxton Miller injured his shoulder. Barrett fractured his ankle in Saturday’s win over Michigan. He has 34 touchdown passes and 11 rushing touchdowns.
TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin
With 34 total touchdowns (26 passing) and 3,850 total yards, Boykin is overlooked in the Big 12 where offensive numbers are at a record pace.
Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott
Compared to Tim Tebow — who ran the same offense with MSU head coach Dan Mullen calling the plays at Florida — because of his size and dual-threat ability, Prescott is 61 yards shy of 1,000 rushing yards with 2,996 yards passing and 37 total touchdowns.