Yesterday, we looked at what history said about Ole Miss’ chances at earning a College Football Playoff bid after losing to Florida by 24 points.
It’s not unprecedented for a team to suffer that big of a loss, early in the season or not, and make the CFP field. It would be unprecedented as an at-large team, but it’s entirely possible.
Today, let’s look at something that has a more favorable history.
Among the many goals the Rebels had this season, one is for either Trinidad Chambliss or Kewan Lacy to become the school’s first-ever Heisman Trophy winner.
For Lacy, unfortunately, that dream may already be over.
According to the Heisman Trophy’s own website, the last player to win the award in a season they missed a full game was Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward in 1993.
In sports, anything can happen, but history certainly isn’t on Lacy’s side.
It is, however, very much on Chambliss’ side.
Going back to 1998, the first year college football used the BCS format, there have been 28 Heisman winners. Of that group, seven suffered at least one loss of 20 points or more and here’s the list.
1998: Ricky Williams
- Kansas State 48, Texas 7 – Williams had 25 carries for 43 yards and one catch for six yards without any touchdowns.
2001: Eric Crouch (Nebraska)
- Colorado 62, Nebraska 36 – Crouch completed 13-of-28 passes with two interceptions and ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
2003: Jason White (Oklahoma)
- Kansas State 35, Oklahoma 7 – White had two interceptions while completing 27-of-50 passes for 298 yards.
2011: Robert Griffin III (Baylor)
- Texas A&M 55, Baylor 28: Griffin was 28-for-40 with 430 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
- Oklahoma State 59, Baylor 24 – Griffin was 33-for-50 with 425 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also had a rushing touchdown.
2016: Lamar Jackson (Louisville)
- Houston 36, Louisville 10: Jackson completed 20-of-43 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown while also running 25 times for 33 yards.
2022: Caleb Williams (USC)
- Utah 47, USC 24: Williams completed 28-of-41 passes for 363 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
2023: Jayden Daniels (LSU)
- Florida State 45, LSU 24: Daniels completed 33-of-37 passes for 346 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
Against Florida, Chambliss completed 25-of-34 passes for 298 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also had 44 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
So, as you can see, a blowout loss isn’t detrimental to a player’s Heisman chances. Even a second blowout loss isn’t a deal-breaker for the voters.
What helped keep most of the Heisman winners listed above in the running was their performance in the game. Griffin had over 400 yards passing in both of his losses. Williams and Daniels threw for over 300 yards in their losses. Couch had 162 rushing yards as a quarterback.
As long as you played well in the loss, the Heisman voters haven’t eliminated a player because of a team’s big loss. But also a bad performance isn’t entirely a deal-breaker either. Williams had easily the worst performance of the list above. He averaged 1.7 yards per carry against Kansas State and no touchdowns in 1998.
For Chambliss, he is very much still in the running for the Heisman. He has the fifth-best odds according to FanDuel Sportsbook. He has multiple big-time games against top-ranked teams on the schedule.
If Chambliss keeps playing as well as he’s been playing, he should at least get an invite to New York. And if the Rebels win a game or two against higher-ranked teams, he could very well hear his name called in December.
