My Top 3 Heisman Candidates

 

As we approach the end of the college football season and inch closer to bowl season, that means its time to address who is going to win the most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy. My top three candidates as of now are Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix, and Bo Nix. In a race, where just a couple of months ago I thought would be dominated by Caleb Williams, has totally turned upside down. 

1. Jayden Daniels

It's hard to argue against the LSU quarterback who just put up over 600 total scrimmage yards by himself against the Florida Gators. Those stats are unheard of and it makes it even more impressive that it was put up against an legitimate and competitive Division I school. Daniels has shown that he is the best dual-threat quarterback in the sport approaching 1,000 rushing yards on the season with over 3,000 passing yards to add onto that. The only flaw to Daniels' case to win the trophy is the loss column for the LSU Tigers sitting at three. Aside from the three losses, Daniels is putting up historic numbers and has my vote for the Heisman as of now. 

Remaining schedule:

vs Georgia State, vs Texas A&M (Easiest remaining schedule)

2. Michael Penix Jr.

From starting off at Indiana, after going through so many brutal injuries, and transferring to Washington, it is great to see how far Penix has come throughout his college career. He is having the dream season finally in his senior season and currently at the helm of the number 5 team in the country. Adding to how impressive Penix has been, Washington is currently playing in the toughest conference in the sport. The PAC-12 has been no joke in its final year of existence and Penix has embraced this with unbelievable numbers. The one thing that gives the upper edge to Daniels in this race though is that Penix is a solely one dimensional quarterback, not being able to do anything with his legs. Penix is currently my number two in the Heisman race. 

Remaining schedule:

@ #11 Oregon State, vs Washington State (Hardest remaining schedule)

3. Bo Nix

Along with the rest of these quarterbacks, Nix himself is also a transfer and having the best season of his career up in Eugene. Nix along with Penix plays in the PAC-12, but in their one and only meeting, Penix came out with the victory giving him the edge in this Heisman race. Nix also has his team in a top ten spot in the country along with his impressive passing numbers. Similar to Penix, he is also a one-dimensional quarterback, once again giving the edge to Daniels. Nix has certainly been impressive, but at the end of the day I believe Penix and Daniels both have an advantage over him, placing him at third in my Heisman rankings as of now. 

Remaining schedule: 

@ Arizona State, vs #11 Oregon State (2nd hardest remaining schedule)

CJ Stroud is an MVP Candidate

 

The rookie out of Ohio State, CJ Stroud, has emerged as one of the league's newest premier quarterbacks displaying his immense talents week in and week out. His most recent stellar performance came on the road in a victory over the Bengals and further proved why his name deserves to be in the MVP conversation. 

Stroud entered the NFL as the second overall pick in this previous draft to the Houston Texans. The Texans came in with the purpose of getting their quarterback for the future, surrounding him with a very young team with no legitimate thoughts of possibly winning now. The Texans just recently moved on from their previous franchise quarterback, Deshuan Watson, and honestly I don't think they imagined picking another talent as good as him this soon. 

Stroud has now turned something that seemed hard to achieve into a feat that he is slowly climbing up just nine games into his rookie season. Stroud is currently the leader by far in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race and also has been the most impressive rookie quarterback as well. If he continues to play like this, the Panthers will be strongly regretting their decision of being the only team to pass on him for years to come. 

Not only did he just come off an outstanding win on the road in Cincinnati, but he also threw for 470 yards and 5 touchdowns just a week before that in a massive win at home over Tampa Bay. What makes it even more impressive is that CJ is doing all of this with a rookie head coach as well in DeMeco Ryans. 

Ryans was my favorite head coach signing from this past offseason after spending the past couple of years as the 49ers defensive coordinator. It's not every season you see a rookie head coach come in and draft a rookie quarterback and succeed at this rate this quickly. What Ryans and Stroud are doing down in Houston is special and should not be overlooked. 

In a league where there is a ton of great quarterbacks, Stroud definitely deserves to have his name in contention for the MVP award. Awarding the MVP to a rookie is a very rare occurrence, but this is how good CJ Stroud has been. If Stroud can keep this up it will be regarded as another great story coming out of the NFL. 

Thoughts on the In-Season Tournament

 

The NBA began its inaugural in-season tournament on November 3rd where all thirty teams compete for the new NBA Cup. The NBA is trying to add more intensity and competitiveness from this brand new tournament but what is the real point of it?

At the end of the day, no trophy in the NBA will top the Larry O'Brien Trophy that is given to whatever team wins the NBA Finals. Personally, I am not a fan of this in-season tournament. For starters, a lot of the players aren't well informed about the rules and format of this tournament itself. 

Another thing that I do not like is the courts that are being played on. For every single tournament game, each home team designs their home court to a style which has never been seen before, but for fans and some players it is absolutely blinding. 

Even for myself as a fan, I do not fully understand the format of which this tournament consists of. Every regular season there is 82 games with lots of heated matchups and rivalries to go around, but the NBA wanted to add a tournament on top of that. 

I strongly dislike this new tournament and I believe the NBA should have left the regular season the same and maybe established something new for the offseason. The players will never take this tournament as seriously as if they were competing in the NBA Playoffs for a shot to take home a championship. So again I ask, what's the point of the in-season tournament?