Oklahoma football: Is WVU game a Heisman eliminator?
By Chip Rouse
For all practical purposes, the candidate list for the 2018 Heisman Trophy is down to three viable contenders, and two of the three will be on full display in primetime in the West Virginia-Oklahoma football game on Friday night.
Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and his counterpart for West Virginia, Will Grier, are two and three currently, in the opinion of most college football experts, among the top contenders to win the 2018 Heisman Trophy. That adds another element of drama and interest to the top-15 matchup between the Sooners and the Mountaineers.
Murray leads the nation’s No. 1 offense and is No. 3 in the country himself in total offense, averaging 368.1 of Oklahoma’s 576.1 yards per game. Grier averages 326 yards of offense every game, which places him eight spot in the national rankings.
Both quarterbacks’ numbers are very similar, although Grier’s stats are all passing related while Murray is more of a dual threat. His passing efficiency rating is actually better than Grier’s (205.8 for Murray; Grier is at 174.2), and Murray also averages 67 rushing yards per game.
Murray is averaging almost 17 yards per pass completion, second best among FBS teams; Grier is averaging just over 14 yards per completion.
The Sooner quarterback has one more passing TD than Grier (34 to 33), and he has 10 more rushing to bring his touchdown total to 44 this season.
Murray is No. 2 in the country in points responsible for per game. The OU redshirt junior averages 24 points a game. Grier ranks sixth nationally in that category, contributing 21.2 points per game.
Not only will college football experts be watching the Oklahoma-West Virginia game with interest to see which team punches its ticket to the Big 12 Championship game, but the game will also serve as a Heisman showcase between two of the best quarterbacks in college football this season.
Interestingly, neither Murray nor Grier began their college careers with their present team. Murray started at Texas A&M, while Grier began at Florida.
Both Murray and Grier will likely receive invitations to the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony in New York City two weeks from Saturday The stock of the QB for the winning team in Friday’s showdown game, however, will probably rise higher than the signal caller on the losing side in terms of gaining Heisman votes.
Statistical information that appears in this article was obtained from NCAA.com and the Big 12 Conference.