Week 1 of the 2026 season has already given the Heisman race some real shape, and the top of the board looks familiar.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss stays in front after opening with the kind of late surge that can define a candidacy. Against AP preseason No.
24 Louisville in a 41-38 win, he was shaky early, finishing the first half with 75 passing yards, one interception and nine completions. Then he took over.
Over the final 30 minutes, Chambliss went 12-of-19 for 261 yards and three touchdowns, and he also helped set up the game-winning 48-yard field goal by hitting an 18-yard completion on 3rd-and-6 with less than a minute left.
It was the kind of finish that echoed what he did in last season’s College Football Playoff, when he flashed against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and later came close to pulling off a semifinal win over Miami. Chambliss keeps showing he can rise in the biggest moments, and close games are quickly becoming his stage.
A trio of players sits behind him after big opening weekends of their own.
Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney made the loudest statistical statement. The sophomore, who turns 19 next week on Sept. 17, piled up 12 catches on 13 targets for a Miami-program record 234 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-6 win over Stanford.
He got rolling immediately, picking up 48 yards on Miami’s first snap before finishing the drive with a 23-yard touchdown. Miami’s schedule may not offer many headline games beyond a Week 10 trip to No.
4 Notre Dame, but Toney may not need many more chances if he keeps posting numbers like that. He’s already acting like he knows where this is headed.
Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith answered with a strong start of his own in the Buckeyes’ 56-3 win over Ball State. Smith finished with eight catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard score that put No.
1 Ohio State ahead 7-0. He later added a three-yard touchdown to close out a 28-3 first half, and he celebrated with his own Heisman pose.
Week 2 brings a major test at No. 5 Texas, giving Smith a chance to make an even bigger early push.
Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Heintschel was the surprise name in the mix, but his numbers were impossible to ignore. In a 59-14 win over Miami (Ohio), the sophomore completed 31 of 41 passes for 453 yards and an ACC-record seven passing touchdowns.
He also became the first FBS quarterback to throw for at least 450 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions since Joe Burrow did it in 2019, during his Heisman season at LSU. Heintschel will need more performances like that to stay in the conversation, and a Week 2 outing against UCF would help.
There’s also an early dark horse worth watching in LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt. LSU’s 51-10 win over Clemson was a blowout, but Leavitt wasn’t especially clean.
He threw an interception on his second pass and was 8-of-18 before settling in and completing eight of his final 10 attempts. Even so, he was the only FBS quarterback in Week 1 with at least 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards.
LSU’s last dual-threat quarterback, Jayden Daniels, turned that profile into a Heisman trophy in 2023, and Leavitt is at least putting himself on a similar path.
In Other News...
Clemson Gets A Needed D-Line Boost Before Its First ACC Test
Clemsons defensive front got a much-needed lift this week with the reinstatement of tackle Vic Burley after a suspension tied to a public disorderly conduct arrest. Burley still will miss the upcoming game against Georgia Southern, but his return is lined up for a far more important moment, with the Tigers expecting to have him back for their ACC opener against North Carolina.
That matters because Clemson is also bracing for the likely loss of defensive tackle Markus Strong, who is expected to be out for the season after suffering a lower-leg injury in a recent game. Between Burleys return and Strongs injury, the Tigers interior line picture has shifted quickly, and the next few weeks will tell just how much depth they can piece together before conference play starts to sharpen the stakes. [Read more 🡒]
Clemsons Ugly Opener Put Dabo Swinney Under An Unwanted Spotlight
Clemsons season-opening loss to LSU did more than drop the Tigers into an early hole. It also put a sharp light on the parts of the roster that did hold up, especially in the secondary, where cornerback Ashton Hampton and safety Corey Myrick drew the kind of attention that can matter as the schedule tightens. For a team that came in expecting a cleaner start, there was at least some proof that a few individual pieces can still compete at a high level even when the overall performance falls short.
The bigger issue, though, is what the opener said about where Clemson stands around its head coach. Dabo Swinney is used to having the benefit of the doubt, but this one invited more questions than answers, from the way the game was handled to how much work remains before the Tigers look like a finished product. The next few weeks will say plenty about whether the loss was just a bad night or the first sign that Clemson has more fixing to do than anyone wanted to admit. [Read more 🡒]
Clemsons Home Opener Comes With A Price Fans Will Notice
Clemsons home opener comes with a familiar kind of college-football cost, and this one is a hefty one. According to a contract obtained through public records, the Tigers will pay Georgia Southern for Saturday nights game at Memorial Stadium, a matchup set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on the ACC Network.
The deal also spells out the usual logistics that come with bringing a road team to town, including ticket allotments and access for Georgia Southerns team and staff. It is the sort of behind-the-scenes bookkeeping that rarely gets much attention on game day, even though it helps shape the business side of a September Saturday in Death Valley. [Read more 🡒]