Ohio State football Justin Fields’ Heisman campaign dead before it starts
By Alex Austin
The Ohio State Buckeyes had to fight to even have a season, but the delay in playing games has all but killed any chance for star quarterback Justin Fields to win the Heisman Trophy.
The Heisman Trophy is supposed to go to the best player in college football. It is not supposed to matter what position that person plays, and the voting should not come down to solely looking at stats.
In reality, 9 times out of 10 the award goes to the quarterback with the best stats on paper. In a year that will forever be defined as “weird” when talking about sports, the Heisman Trophy voting will also take on this “weird” quality and rule out conferences before they ever play a snap.
Justin Fields showed last year that he is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. The Ohio State star was one of the early favorites to win the award before seasons started shutting down. The Buckeyes phenom showed that he can beat teams with his arm or his legs and that he has what it takes to lead his team through difficult games.
The problem for Fields is that he is starting the season behind the eight-ball. The Buckeyes are getting ready for their first game of the season on Saturday while the ACC and SEC have already completed upwards of 5 games. While Fields will likely shine this season and show that he is every bit deserving of the award, “missing games” will come back to hurt him.
The biggest roadblock is that Trevor Lawrence is going to put up better stats. Even if the only reason is that he played more games, Lawrence is going to have an edge on Fields. Last year, Chase Young saw what missing games did to his Heisman stock, as he ended up coming in fourth in a year where he should have finished second. Fields will face a similar fate this year by just not having enough games on his record to pass other players who play well for an entire season.
Next. Ohio State is ready to make a statement. dark
The Big Ten mismanaged this season by canceling and reinstating games for the whole conference. While it is exciting Ohio State now has the chance to earn a National Championship, individual awards could still suffer the delay in start time by not giving enough on-paper stats to make the case for deserving Buckeyes.