Malachi Toney’s injury has blown the Heisman race wide open, and the ripple effect reaches well beyond one player. It changes the College Football Playoff conversation, too. For Miami, it also removes the receiver who looked destined for New York and forces the spotlight onto the players left standing around him.
The biggest beneficiary might be Toney’s own teammate, quarterback Darian Mensah. The pairing was set to split attention and votes, but with Toney sidelined, Mensah suddenly has a clearer lane to make his case.
That starts Saturday night against No. 11 Notre Dame, where a road win would go a long way toward turning his season into a full-blown Heisman push.
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr is chasing the same kind of breakthrough. He has sat just behind the top tier of contenders for a while, and this matchup gives him a chance to crash the front of the race.
The Irish haven’t forced him to pile up massive numbers, and the loss to BYU dinged his standing, but he has still been efficient, throwing for 8.3 yards per attempt with 18 touchdowns and one interception. Miami’s defense has already shown cracks, too, after North Carolina’s Billy Edwards Jr. threw for 341 yards against it.
Carr now gets a stage where a big performance could finally move voters.
One of these two quarterbacks will need a Heisman moment to win the game. Whoever finds it may have the upper hand going into the last few weeks of the season.
Jeremiah Smith is back in the thick of it as well. Before Julian Sayin’s injury, Smith had been the clear Heisman favorite.
Then Sayin went out indefinitely with a throwing-arm injury, and freshman Luke Fahey’s limitations showed against USC. Smith still posted a respectable line in that game, but he was mostly quiet until the Trojans softened up with a two-score lead.
That didn’t exactly scream “Heisman run.”
Now the door is open again. Smith is once more the favorite to win the award, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
If Ohio State keeps feeding him targets, the numbers should follow, even if the efficiency isn’t always perfect. That process begins this weekend in a top-25 matchup with Oregon, and Smith will have chances to make his mark against quality opponents the rest of the way.
The catch is simple: Ohio State has to avoid one of two more losses down the stretch, or Smith’s path gets messy again.
The SEC still has a couple of quarterbacks hanging around the edge of the conversation, too. Trinidad Chambliss and Sam Leavitt remain long shots, but Toney’s injury has at least cracked the door for both.
Chambliss didn’t fully seize his chance against Texas, but he gets another shot this weekend when No. 2 Georgia visits Oxford in a primetime game.
If he can handle Kirby Smart’s defense and help pull out a win, he can keep himself in the New York conversation.
Leavitt is the more intriguing name. The Arizona State transfer started the season with some solid outings, but turnovers kept undercutting him.
Lately, though, he has cleaned things up and played better without the costly mistakes. With LSU heading into the most critical stretch of its season, Leavitt has a chance to keep building momentum while the Heisman field keeps shifting around him.
In Other News...
CJ Carr Is Giving Notre Dame Fans A New Reason To Watch 2027
The early look at the 2027 quarterback class has already given Notre Dame fans a reason to keep one eye on the future, and CJ Carr is a big part of it. The latest evaluation of the group puts Carr in the mix with some of the sports most closely watched names, alongside Drew Mestemaker, Darian Mensah and Arch Manning, while also stressing how much can still change as those players keep building their rsums.
For Notre Dame, the intrigue is obvious because Carrs progress is not just about draft boards, it is about what kind of quarterback the Irish may have on their hands in the seasons ahead. The broader class still comes with plenty of uncertainty, from who will declare to who will stay in school, but Carrs place in the conversation is enough to make 2027 feel like more than a distant calendar date in South Bend. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Fans Are Tired Of This CFP Schedule Double Standard
The latest round of College Football Playoff talk has put Notre Dames schedule back under a microscope, and the familiar debate over independence is flaring again. CFP chair Hunter Yuracheks comparison of Notre Dames slate with Indianas only added fuel, especially for fans who have watched the Irish get judged by a standard that seems to shift depending on the week and the team involved.
Joining the ACC is being floated as the easy answer, but the reality is more complicated than that. Notre Dame already has a scheduling agreement with the league, and a full move would not automatically turn the Irish into a schedule-strength juggernaut, especially if it came at the expense of the non-conference games that help define the programs identity. For a fan base tired of hearing the same criticism, the real frustration is that the fix being suggested may not fix much at all. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Defense Faces Its Toughest Test Without Its On-Field Leader
Notre Dames defense is heading into its biggest challenge of the season with a major piece missing, as senior captain and middle linebacker Drayk Bowen will sit out against No. 1 Miami because of a lower body injury. Bowen has been the on-field leader of the unit, so his absence shifts both the structure and the voice of a defense that has already had to navigate a string of injuries this season.
Senior linebacker Jaiden Ausberry is expected to shoulder more of the communication and leadership load in Bowens place, a significant responsibility in a matchup that will demand sharp alignment and quick adjustments. For a defense that has leaned on depth and experience all year, this is the kind of test that can expose every weakness, especially against an opponent with the speed and firepower Miami brings into the game. [Read more 🡒]