STILLWATER — The Ollie G. Show is coming to Florida this week.
Oklahoma State sophomore running back Ollie Gordon II exploded onto the college football scene with a six-game stretch in which he averaged 215 yards from scrimmage with 11 of his 13 total touchdowns.
And the national conversation turned to hardware.
Pan-American recognition. The Doak Walker Prize. And of course, the biggest.
The truth is that it would take something pretty special over the next few weeks to Gordon will win college football’s most coveted individual award.
But as he and the Cowboys, 15th, embark on a 2:30 p.m., Saturday’s game against Central Florida at FBC Mortgage StadiumGordon has another opportunity to rise to the national stage.
Even though the trophy is far from being won, a runner-up spot and a trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony is not.
Let’s take a look at Gordon’s case for the Heisman Trophy in several crucial areas of consideration:
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Production
Gordon’s numbers are the strongest part of his resume so far. Despite carrying the ball 19 times for 109 yards in the first three games, Gordon took the national lead with 1,225 yards. His 12 touchdowns are tied for second-most.
On top of that, he leads the country in runs of 20+ yards, 30+ yards and 40+ yards. As for 30-plus carries, Gordon has 13, while no other player in the country has more than seven.
When you add in his receiving yards, Gordon has 219 more and a touchdown, bringing his total yards from scrimmage to 1,444, which is over 100 yards better than anyone else.
Moving forward, Gordon’s chances of increasing his numbers are strong. At this point, he’s faced five of the top six defenses in the Big 12. OSU’s last three opponents — UCF, Houston and BYU — are in the bottom half of the league in defending the run. UCF is dead last, giving up 212.0 yards per game.
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Team success
The rough start, with September losses to South Alabama and Iowa State, obviously knocked OSU out of the College Football Playoff race. But with this five-game winning streak, the Pokes have put themselves in the driver’s seat to advance to the Big 12 title game.
The national media has started to focus on OSU as one of the hottest teams, so people will be paying attention over the next three weeks as the regular season comes to a close. And OSU will be a constant talking point in the Big 12 title race as long as it keeps winning.
Some of the competition Gordon is challenging for Heisman recognition are in the playoff race, so that will count against him, but the Cowboys are good enough to keep him in the conversation.
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Heisman moments
There are two criteria for this, and Gordon meets both.
First, if you think of a “Heisman moment” as a highlight or an individual play, Gordon owns them.
A few that jump out are a Central Arkansas defender’s scramble in the season opener and the stiff arm followed by a step-over against Kansas State. And don’t forget the 9-yard touchdown run against Cincinnati in which he appeared stuck at the line of scrimmage, but worked his way through, then appeared to be contained again, but got out of the way. a tackle and dove for the score.
And many other longer series with their own highlight value.
If you interpret a Heisman moment as a great performance, he has that too.
Three consecutive weeks at least 280 yards from scrimmage. Consecutive games of at least 250 rushing yards – joining Heisman winner Barry Sanders as the only Cowboy to accomplish that goal. In fact, he and Sanders are the only two OSU players to have two games with at least 270 rushing yards in a game. career.
There’s West Virginia’s 141-yard, three-touchdown fourth quarter, which ultimately could be seen as the launching pad for its national accolades campaign.
Value
Every Heisman voter has a different scale to judge what matters to them. Some will only look at overall talent. Some will turn to the big matches. Some will look at the importance of the player to his team.
Gordon performs well in all three, but the last one might be his strongest category of the bunch.
Imagine this Cowboys team without Gordon touching the ball more than 25 times per game? Are they undefeated in the last five games? Are they one of the hottest teams without his crazy production?
Gordon’s value to his team is off the charts. Sure, he’s competing against a lot of quarterbacks who have some intrinsic value that a running back has trouble replicating.
And that brings us to our next category.
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Position
There are two big negatives weighing against Gordon, which we’ve already discussed: the absence of OSU in the CFP conversation.
The second is the fact that the Heisman has become almost exclusively a quarterback award.
The running backs had a great run to end the 1990s, winning four of the last six Heismans, with just one quarterback during that span.
But since 2000, QBs have won all but three games. And running backs only took two, Alabama backs Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry in 2009 and 2015, respectively.
Only one running back – Stanford’s Bryce Love in 2017 – has finished in the top three in voting over the past six seasons.
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Sympathy
Let’s be honest, there is always an element of popularity contest in Heisman voting.
Gordon may not be in a blue blood program to get that support, but he’s more than comfortable in the public eye.
He has the personality that attracts people. He smiles, makes jokes and shows humility when the cameras are in front of him.
He plays to the crowd, like with his quick Heisman pose after his touchdown against OU last week, but he also diverts the attention to his offensive linemen when given the chance, as he did several times in his recent interview with ESPN.
So Gordon has a lot of qualities that will keep him in the Heisman chatter. Can he win it? Maybe not. But with what he’s accomplished and what he has the potential to do in the coming weeks, a trip to New York next month could be on the itinerary.
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Do you have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at[email protected] or on Twitter at@ScottWrightOK. Register forthe Oklahoma State Cowboys Newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoma journalists by purchasinga digital subscription today at Subscribe.oklahoman.com or using the link at the top of this page.
