Ohio State Football: C.J. Stroud still has a shot at the Heisman

Way back on September 11th, I couldn’t fathom that I would write an article like this. The Ohio State football team looked flawed and looked worse than anyone could have imagined when they fell to Oregon in the Shoe. C.J. Stroud looked timid and had a very poor performance.

Fast forward a month and everything has changed. Stroud is healthier, and that has translated to him playing much better football. He’s not afraid to throw the ball down the field. He’s also not terrified to run the ball anymore, even if he still doesn’t tuck and run it a lot.

Even though the competition hasn’t been the strongest in the past few weeks, Stroud has put up some incredible numbers. In fact, they are good enough numbers for him to still be considered for the Heisman Trophy at the end of the year. He’s been that good.

I wrote about how Stroud’s teammate has a chance to be a Heisman contender as well. In fact, both have top 8 odds to win it according to WynnBET. Stroud has the third-best odds out of everyone in the country, likely due to the fact that this is mainly a quarterback award.

The toughest part of the schedule is just around the corner. We are going to find out very soon just how good this team really is. Stroud has a chance to cement his Heisman status with continued good play. He just has to stay healthy and stay away from turnovers.

This is not how I saw the season going after that Oregon game. I give all the credit in the world to Stroud for fighting through adversity and working hard to get better. He could have just let the injury become an excuse and shriveled up from the limelight. Instead, he’s done the exact opposite.

I was dead wrong about C.J. Stroud and I’ve never been happier to have been wrong.