Analyzing the Top 5 Heisman Candidates in the Power 5 Conferences

Each year when the college football season starts one of the hot topics and big questions that is always brought up is who will win the Heisman Trophy. This year is no different and the list of candidates is very intriguing as we enter the 2014 season.

Last year, Jameis Winston, from Florida State, won the Heisman Trophy award and became the second consecutive freshman to take home the honor. Winston followed Johnny Manziel as the only two freshmen to win the award.

The question is will another freshman come out of nowhere to win the award for a third straight year, or will someone else already on the radar live up to the hype and take home the prestigious award in 2014.

I have decided to take a look at the top candidates in the power five conferences of the SEC, Big Ten, PAC 12, Big 12 and ACC. The award almost guaranteed will come out of one of these five conferences based on history.

First, from the SEC the top candidate to win the Heisman Trophy is Nick Marshall. Marshall is the quarterback for the Auburn Tigers. The one big reason I believe Marshall will be the leading candidate to take home the award from the SEC is because of the offensive chances and numbers he will put up in 2014.

Marshall plays in the spread attack of the Auburn offense, which means he will have more opportunities to rack up numbers in both the run and pass game. Auburn’s Head Coach Gus Malzahn runs an up tempo offense that allows his quarterback lots of chances to score and gain huge yardage in a single play. This will suit Marshall perfectly on his quest for a Heisman Trophy.

Malzahn led the 2010 Auburn offense that saw their quarterback Cam Newton win the Heisman, so it could very well happen again in 2014. This will be the first time in Gus’ college coaching career that he has had a second year with his starting quarterback. This could be scary for opposing defenses and a great opportunity for Marshall to take home the 2014 Heisman Trophy.

Next, from the Big Ten our top candidate is Braxton Miller. Miller is the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Miller, much like Marshall, will have tons of opportunities to accumulate huge yards, touchdowns and not to mention the media attention that Ohio State generates.

Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer was the head coach for the Florida Gators in 2007 when Tim Tebow took home the Heisman Trophy award. Like Tebow in 2007, Miller will play in a spread offense that offers him the chance to gain huge yardage and account for a large amount of touchdowns, both passing and throwing.

Miller’s biggest challenge in winning the Heisman will be staying healthy all season. He has had his troubles with that in the past, but must play all 12 regular season games to have any shot at the award in 2014. Miller is our leading candidate from the Big Ten entering the 2014 season.

With the news that Miller may miss the 2014 season this obviously changes the landscape of the entire Big Ten. It is not clear whether or not he will for sure miss the 2014 season, but by all accounts he is likely to miss a significant amount of time. If the injury proves not to be as serious as some think he will be the top candidate from the Big Ten to win the Heisman Trophy and will make the Buckeyes the favorite to win the 2014 Big Ten championship.

Our next Heisman candidate comes from the ACC and his name will sound familiar. Jameis Winston, quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles, is the defending Heisman Trophy winner and our favorite to win the award from the ACC in 2014.

Winston put up remarkable numbers last year in his red-shirt freshman season as he led Florida State to the national title and won the 2013 Heisman Trophy award. It will be hard to top what happen last year for Winston, but now that he has experience on his side the award could be his to keep.

The only person to win back to back Heisman Trophy awards is Archie Griffin from Ohio State in 1974 and 1975. Winston will look to join that elite company, but his biggest roadblock may be off the field issues.

Winston has been well documented on his off field issues and the question of whether Heisman voters would vote for him again is very debatable. I doubt that they would put him in that elite class of a back to back Heisman Trophy winner, but if he puts up the numbers he did last year it will be hard not to vote for him.

I feel he will not repeat in 2014 in winning the Heisman Trophy, but he is certainly the leading candidate from the ACC. He will now be the hunted and not an unknown name as he was entering the 2013 season. It will be tough to repeat for Winston, but he has the tools and ability to do so.

The next candidate is from the Big 12 and it is an unknown name to most. Bryce Petty is the quarterback for the Baylor Bears and he is our leading candidate to win the Heisman in the Big 12.

Petty, much like Marshall and Miller we talked about earlier will have a ton of opportunities to accumulate yards and touchdowns because of the offense he plays in with Baylor. Baylor runs an up tempo offense where the ball is thrown 30, 40 and sometimes further down the field on a single play. This allows Petty to gain tons of yards in a short amount of time, which allows for more plays throughout the course of a 60 minute game.

Petty has a great receiving core to help his cause and a great Head Coach in Art Briles to lead the way. Petty can thank Robert Griffin for putting Baylor on the map and allowing him to even be in the Heisman conversation. Griffin won the 2011 Heisman Trophy and put Baylor in a bright spotlight that they have never seen before.

Petty will have a shot to do the same and lead Baylor to the first ever final four playoffs all in the same year. It will be tough for Petty to win the Heisman, but if he puts up video game like numbers that he and this offense is capable of then anything is possible. Petty is our top candidate from the Big 12 to win the 2014 Heisman Trophy award.

Last, but not least our final Heisman favorite from a power five conference is Marcus Mariota. Mariota is the starting quarterback for the Oregon Ducks out of the PAC 12. Mariota has been well documented as one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football the past several seasons.

Mariota plays in an offense that is wide open and puts up yards and points like no other team in all of college football. The Ducks’ offense revolves around Mariota and he is the engine that keeps it going.

Mariota is a humble guy with great leadership, which helps leads this Oregon team on a week to week basis. He has tons of weapons around him on offense and his Head Coach Mark Helfrich knows he can trust Mariota to basically run the game on his own.

Mariota has seen his national title hopes and Heisman Trophy hopes both go out the window against the Stanford Cardinal. He has to overcome that hurdle if he wishes to win the Heisman Trophy and a national title.

One other issue Mariota must overcome is staying healthy. He has had injury problems the past couple seasons and in order to win the Heisman he must stay healthy all 12 games in the regular season. The issue of staying healthy is crucial to any player to win the Heisman, but for Mariota it is even more crucial because of his history of getting hurt late in the season.

So, Mariota is our leading candidate from the PAC 12 to win the 2014 Heisman Trophy award. I believe Mariota will enter the 2014 season as the favorite to win the award because of the talent around him and the experience he has gained the past couple seasons. Mariota has this award in his grasp, but only if he and his Ducks live up to the hype.

These are our top five Heisman Trophy candidates entering the 2014 season. Once again they are Nick Marshall from Auburn, Braxton Miller from Ohio State, Jameis Winston from Florida State, Bryce Petty from Baylor and Marcus Mariota from Oregon.

I wouldn’t be shocked the least bit if our 2014 Heisman Trophy winner is on the list of five names we just discussed. It is a challenge to win this prestigious award, but these five guys have the coaches, team and talent to get the job done and take home that award. The quest for the 2014 Heisman Trophy starts from week one and will be a season long experience and journey like none other in all of sports.