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A narrative that has been building over the last decade or so is that it’s become harder for players on the west coast — particularly in the Pac-12 conference — to win the Heisman Trophy due to east-coast bias. The notion that many Heisman voters are from either the mid-west or on the east coast makes it so, often times, much of the country is asleep by the time Pac-12 players are on the field in the late-night window.
We saw this impact guys like LaMichael James, Andrew Luck, Bryce Love, and most notably Christian McCaffrey. However, every now and again you will get a player that is so transcendent out west that he can overcome the east-coast bias. We saw it almost a decade ago with Oregon Ducks’ QB Marcus Mariota winning the award, and it happened once again this past season with USC Trojans’ QB Caleb Williams taking down the prestigious trophy.
It’s starting to look like the Heisman Trophy could be staying out west once again in the 2023 season.
With guys like Williams, Bo Nix, Michael Penix, Cam Rising, DJ Uiagalelei, and Cam Ward all lining up to play in the Pac-12 this season, there’s a good possibility that at least a handful of those guys are in the running to make it to New York for the awards ceremony at the start of December. Last season, we saw Nix among the top contenders before an injury derailed his campaign, and both Penix and Rising flirted with contention as well.
When making predictions for the 2023 season, 247Sports recently stated the case that it will be a Pac-12 QB who is named Heisman winner this year:
Get your popcorn ready for the Pac-12’s jam-packed October, a month that is filled with quality games pitting top 15-caliber competition throughout. I would expect Oregon and Washington to both go into their Seattle showdown with matching unbeaten records and College GameDay in town. It’ll mark a midseason look at two potential Heisman frontrunners as well between Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. When it was all said and done last season, the Pac-12 was college football’s most competitive Power Five league at the top of the standings and that may not change in 2023 given the talent returning at quarterback for the conference’s title contenders. USC’s Caleb Williams, Nix or Penix will be the last man standing in New York.
Of course, it’s not a sure thing that Oregon, Washington, USC, and Utah are all going to be ranked among the top teams in the nation come season’s end, but with how the rosters are shaping up, it’s not a bad bet to make. If any of those team can make it to the College Football Playoff, there’s a good chance that the QB of that team will be a Heisman candidate.
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