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...
LSU's SEC Fight Just Put Ole Miss In An Awkward Spot
A new legal fight around LSU has quietly put Ole Miss in an awkward position, because the Southeastern Conferences move to amend its federal lawsuit now goes beyond the school itself and into the broader question of how the league can police its own membership. The SEC is asking for authority to expel LSU and seeking a temporary restraining order to protect its governance rights, a sign the dispute has escalated from a simple personnel issue into something that could affect the way the league operates.
For Ole Miss, the uncomfortable part is obvious: Lane Kiffin is already part of the picture, LSU has recently played a game under his coaching, and the case has pulled in former NFL players who are not currently on the roster as part of the ongoing disagreement. With the SEC also scheduling a meeting to consider terminating LSUs membership, the Rebels are watching a fight that is no longer just about one program, but about the leagues leverage, its rules, and how much mess it is willing to absorb before this is settled. [Read more 🡒]
Viral Ole Miss Fan Just Changed How Everyone Sees That Moment
ESPN cameras caught one Ole Miss fan in a tense moment during the Rebels game against Louisville, and the clip took off fast on social media. The reaction belonged to Sara Smith, an Ole Miss alumna whose stressed look became the kind of fleeting sideline shot that the internet cant resist turning into a whole story.
Smith later leaned into the attention with a humorous TikTok response, which only added to the fascination around the viral moment. Her quick online follow-up gave the clip a second life, and the discussion around it has stretched beyond the game itself, with viewers even picking apart a video screenshot that appears to show a wedding ring. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Keeps Giving Ole Miss Fans A Reason To Boil
Lane Kiffins exit for LSU arrived at the worst possible time for Ole Miss, landing just before the Rebels were set to compete in the college football playoff and prompting his removal from program access. For a fan base that had already spent years living through Kiffins combustible style, the timing only sharpened the sting, turning what could have been a routine coaching move into another messy chapter in a relationship that never lacked drama.
Since then, LSU has wasted little time acting like a program built around its new coach, ranking No. 2 in the transfer portal with 43 new players, including several former Ole Miss players. Kiffin has also remained a lightning rod off the field, from a profane halftime speech to public criticism from media voices like Paul Finebaum, which means Rebels fans have had plenty to monitor even after he left Oxford. [Read more 🡒]