Ohio State’s 20-year drought frames the Big Ten pick
Twenty seasons have passed since a Buckeye lifted the Heisman Trophy. Troy Smith did it in 2006, and Ohio State has produced contenders almost every year since without producing a winner. Julian Sayin is the name Field Level Media puts forward to end that run in its conference-by-conference breakdown published today.
The Alabama transfer went his first five Big Ten games as a starter without throwing an interception, and he returns with what may be the deepest receiving corps in the country. Ohio State open the season ranked No. 1, which matters more than it should: the Heisman rewards production, but it rewards production attached to a national title race far more readily.
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Four power-conference names to track
Arch Manning carries the SEC entry. A preseason favourite in 2025, written off by at least one national outlet by midseason, then strong enough over the closing stretch to suggest the hype was premature rather than misplaced. Texas face Ohio State in Week 2, which will settle that argument quickly.
Miami turn to Darian Mensah, their third high-profile quarterback transfer in three years after Cam Ward and Carson Beck. Mensah led the ACC with close to 4,000 passing yards and a conference-best 34 touchdowns at Duke in 2025.
Arizona’s Noah Fifita is the most experienced quarterback in the Big 12 field, entering a fourth year as a starter with more than 9,400 total yards and 73 touchdown passes behind him. Notre Dame’s CJ Carr already answered the expectation question as a first-year starter, with 24 touchdown passes and a 10-game winning streak.
The Group of Six ceiling
No player from outside the power conferences has won the Heisman since Ty Detmer at BYU in 1990. Thirty-six years. Ashton Jeanty’s runner-up finish for Boise State in 2024 showed both how high that ceiling sits and exactly where it stops.
The candidates exist anyway. Nick Minicucci threw for 3,683 yards and 23 touchdowns while helping Delaware handle the jump from FCS to FBS. San Diego State’s Lucky Sutton ran for almost 1,300 yards in 2025 at a programme that produced Marshall Faulk and Rashaad Penny. Marshall’s Carlos Del Rio-Wilson accounted for 23 scores in his first season with the Thundering Herd, 17 through the air and six on the ground.
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