2023 NCAA College Football: Week 5 Heisman Candidate Rankings

Steven Resnick

Oct 1

Week five of college football for the Heisman trophy contenders in 2023 has ended. The Inscriber Magazine will now look at the top candidates for the award.

There has been a change, Michael Penix of the University of Washington drops a spot and Caleb Williams from USC moves up. He is now the front-runner for the Heisman. Against the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday the Trojan star quarterback threw for 403 yards, six touchdowns and an interception. One of his highlights was a side armed delivery of the football to Tahj Washington.

So far Williams has thrown for 1,603 yards, 21 touchdowns and one interception.

Penix Jr who was leading the way for the Heisman throughout the first four weeks of the college football season. Still played well throwing for 363 yards against the University of Arizona, He did not throw a touchdown pass the 31-24 victory. On the young season he has thrown for 1,999 yards, 16 touchdowns and two interceptions.

With Washington State on a bye this week Bo Nix moves to the third spot in the Heisman conversation. The Oregon Ducks shook off a slow start to trounce Stanford 42-6.

Nix threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns. He now has thrown for 1,459 yards, 15 touchdowns and only one interception.

This means that Cameron Ward falls to fourth in the rankings. He has thrown for 1,390 yards and 13 touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception. Next week the Cougars will face the UCLA Bruins.

Remaining in the conversation is Dillon Gabriel of the University of Oklahoma. In a 50-20 victory over Iowa State, he threw for 366 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. For the 2023 season he has thrown for 1,593 yards, 15 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Now the reason Ward is ranked ahead of Gabriel even though he has played in one less games is because the Cougars have beat two ranked teams in 2023 while Oklahoma has yet to play one.

Also, on social media did see mentioning University of Georgia tight end Brock Bowers as a possibility for the Heisman. Unfortunately it is not really a conversation at this point as he has only three touchdowns receiving, 30 catches, and 413 yards. Over the last two games he has gone over 100 yards receiving, yet he has a game where he only caught one pass for three yards and another one where he caught seven passes for only 54 yards.