With the regular season nearing its end, Saturday flipped the Heisman race on its head. Favorites fell, and forgotten contenders roared back into the spotlight. Over the past few weeks, names like IU’s Fernando Mendoza and Alabama’s Ty Simpson have sounded like favorites, but Georgia’s 35-10 win has prompted Kirk Herbstreit to name an SEC QB as the frontrunner.

QB Gunner Stockton’s play this week convinced Herbstreit to firmly place him in the Heisman race.  “What a night for Georgia. I’m not big on, like, he (Gunner Stockton) had a good game getting the Heisman,” said Herbstreit. “The Heisman is just, it’s so wide open. And it just feels like, the last few years, it comes down to who gets hot at the end of the year. You know, we saw today some great performances. Gunner Stockton has stepped up.”

Then came the praise following Stockton’s five-TD performance against Texas. “This kid, he’s played so well in these big games, five total touchdowns tonight and five incompletions against Texas, top 10 team,” stated Herbstreit. But not only in Texas, against Ole Miss, Stockton recorded 4 passing TDs. Besides, in the season opener, he led Georgia to a 45-7 win against Marshall with 2 TDs. He has +3000 odds on DraftKings.

Here, Herbstreit also mentioned Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Love’s performance put him at the forefront of the Heisman race. In their game against Pittsburgh, Love finished with 147 total yards with a TD, while ND dominated the Panthers 37–15. But what about OSU’s two favorites: QB Julian Sayin and WR Jeremiah Smith? If they’re out, are they still on Herbstreit’s list of favorites?

Herbstreit didn’t name OSU’s Julian Sayin as a frontrunner, but ABC’s Chris Fowler did, and he agreed. Fowler even tipped Mendoza as the favorite last week. These two were co-favorites last week in Heisman odds, according to BetMGM. Now, while Sayin stayed clean against UCLA, avoiding costly mistakes, Mendoza kept the race tight. In a 31–7 win against Wisconsin, he recorded 299 passing yards and four TDs, which many called his ‘Heisman Moment.’

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Now Sayin is at +225 for the Heisman, trailing only Mendoza at -115 on BetMGM, while Smith has +6600 odds after managing four passes for 40 yards against the Bruins despite an undisclosed injury. But initially, Smith has +1700 on FanDuel. Referring to the wide-open nature of the race, perhaps that’s why Fowler said, “I don’t see a clear group of 4 finalists at this point.”

Then Fowler doubled down on his take, saying, “You go from being the favorite to being not even a finalist if you have a disastrous game in the conference championship game, who knows.” But while there’s still time left in the Heisman race, is Stockton’s performance truly Heisman-worthy?

Georgia QB’s Heisman chances

Gunner Stockton turned heads in Georgia’s win over Texas, as the redshirt junior completed 24 of 29 passes for 229 yards with four TDs. But that’s not all, as he also added 29 rushing yards. Still, it wasn’t Stockton’s highest yardage or most completions.

He had 26 for 289 yards and four touchdowns against Ole Miss. However, the opponent matters, especially with Arch Manning on the other sideline. While Manning’s Heisman odds are currently +1200, Stockton has chances to touch that. But could he catch Mendoza or Sayin?

Maybe, if not for that three-point loss to Alabama. If he made a couple more completions, Stockton might be sitting atop the Heisman odds. But he has everything you want in a Heisman hopeful. Of Georgia’s nine wins this season, his performance in three stands out: Texas, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. Now, with two games remaining, we will see whether he becomes a Heisman finalist or not.