College football teams around the country are nearing the midway point of the season entering Week 8, and the Heisman Trophy race continues to take shape. Jeremiah Smith still leads the way, but Oregon State’s star players are making some noise.
One of the most chaotic Saturdays in modern college football history sent the AP Top 25 Poll and College Football Playoff picture into a tizzy, but the Heisman Trophy conversation largely stayed the same despite a relatively quiet game for Jeremiah Smith (by his standards), in large part because a lot of the other leading candidates also either didn’t impress or didn’t win at all.
With Smith racking up touchdowns even on days where the yardage isn’t otherworldly, the opportunities for another candidate to steal the award are dwindling. However, with Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin out for the season, perhaps a window has opened for another frontrunner to emerge.
Intriguing possibilities include Oregon State star QB Braden Atkinson and WR Jesse Legree, who are running laps around the rest of the country with their passing and receiving statistics.
Ole Miss signal caller Trinidad Chambliss remains a crucial part of the conversation amid another big season for the Rebels. And of course, Miami’s stud QB Darian Mensah, who has the Hurricanes poised for an undefeated regular season.
Without further ado, here’s the ladder in Week 8 of the college football season.
Ranking The Heisman Trophy Race Top Contenders Through Week 7
Recent Rankings: Last Week | Oct. 8 | Oct. 1 | Sept. 24
WR Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State
Ohio State scores on the "Jeremiah Smith down there somewhere" play call pic.twitter.com/hDqL6uWFva
— Underdog CFB (@UnderdogCFB) October 17, 2026
The betting odds aren’t as overwhelmingly in favor of Smith’s Heisman Trophy chances as they were a week ago, which makes sense after a mortal performance against Indiana and a likely season-ending injury to his starting quarterback. Still, Smith is such a transcendent talent at the wide receiver position that I think he could probably post 8 catches, 100 yards and touchdown if I were throwing him the football.
I actually think Smith’s importance to this team will be amplified without Sayin available, because whoever starts at QB for the Buckeyes (either Luke Fahey or Tavien St. Clair) can essentially throw the ball up without looking with the implicit trust that Smith is going to catch it and take it for a touchdown. And if you can’t get him the ball downfield, just throw him a bunch of screens and watch him work. I’m not worried about Smith’s candidacy, with or without Sayin.
QB Darian Mensah, Miami
#Miami QB Darian Mensah.
Sixth sense type of play. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/QFPSkYtozx
— Kyron Samuels (@kyronsamuels) October 19, 2026
Mensah threw his first pick of the season in a double overtime win against Florida State on Saturday, but the fact it took him until midseason to cough the ball up is a feat in itself. We knew Mensah could put up crazy numbers and thrive when the matchup was decidedly in Miami’s favor and the Hurricanes were playing ahead, but how he’d handle adversity was still a real question. I’d say Mensah put those questions to rest Saturday, overcoming his most human performance of the season to beat a Florida State team that’s better than advertised.
QB Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
TRINIDAD CHAMBLISS BELONGS IN THE HEISMAN CONVERSATION 🔥
20/36, 241 YDS, 3 TDS, 0 INT vs Missouri
Three TDs in the first half against No. 13 Missouri, and he beat his old teammate Austin Simmons to do it. pic.twitter.com/gLcJTXp4KT
— CFB Performances (@performancesCFB) October 17, 2026
I haven’t been the highest on Chambliss’ candidacy since the Florida loss, mostly because his passing statistics haven’t been as impressive as I’d like to see. Still, he’s operating on a level above any other quarterback in college football not named Darian Mensah at the moment and his tape is frankly, much more impressive than Mensah’s when breaking down the individual throws.
In a game against Missouri and former teammate QB Austin Simmons, who Chambliss lost the quarterback competition to before eventually serving as the injury replacement, Chambliss ran Simmons off the field and led the Rebels to a 31-3 victory over what was a red-hot Mizzou group going into that game. Regardless, I don’t think there’s a quarterback in the country I’d want to face less than Trinidad Chambliss.
WR Jesse Legree, Oregon State
JEREMIAH SMITH WITH A HEISMAN MOMENT pic.twitter.com/f39jMUunTK
— College Football Report (@CFBReport) October 17, 2026
Now that the Jesse Legree hype train has left the station and even made a few stops, we can move him up to fourth and make room for his exceptional quarterback at fifth. No two players have been more valuable to their teams success than Legree and Atkinson, but I’d argue Legree deserves a slight nod ahead of his teammate because of how often he leaves his defender in another zip code. Legree leads the nation with 14 touchdowns and 1,040 yards on 43 receptions, meaning he averages 22.6 yards per catch. Don’t sleep on an Oregon State playoff run either, if the Beavers can beat Boise State in their regular season meeting en route to a Pac-12 Championship Game victory.
QB Braden Atkinson, Oregon State
Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson leads the FBS with 2,604 passing yards.
That's 559 passing yards more than any other QB. pic.twitter.com/8IoeBBidS9
— Underdog CFB (@UnderdogCFB) October 19, 2026
Now let’s talk about Atkinson, because I may have undersold the kid a bit when explaining the dominance of his favorite target. Not only is Atkinson leading the nation in passing yards, his 2,649 yards are 599 more than the next closest player, USC’s Jayden Maiava. Atkinson also leads the nation in passing touchdowns with 24, four ahead of second-place Connor Weigman from Houston. The Beavers average 42.7 points per game this season, which ranks third nationally overall, and like Legree, Atkinson’s Heisman Trophy stock has great potential to rise if Oregon State wins out and earns a College Football Playoff berth.
