The 2018 Heisman Trophy, recognising the performance of the best player in college football, was won by Kyler Murray of Oklahoma, a deserving winner, ahead of the other two final contenders: Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins.
Murray was not rated among the favourites for the trophy, according to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site, but he finished the season strongly, playing his best football of the campaign in the final month, which included a pivotal role in a victory over Texas to win the Big 12 title. That strong finish was enough to give Murray the edge over Tagovailoa, whose form had tailed off at the end of the SEC Championship. But the final decision was still in doubt right up to the date of the announcement in the closest Heisman race since 2000 when Mark Ingram won the trophy.
And it wasn’t the last time during the 2018 season that the two star quarterbacks would be in direct rivalry. They met again in the Orange Bowl at the end of December, and this time it was Tagovailoa who prevailed as Alabama beat Oklahoma by 45 to 34.
Until his dip in standards at the end of the campaign, Tagovailoa had been in sensational form all season. In fact, he didn’t throw his first interception until a game against LSU at the start of November, and only gave up three more in the remaining weeks. Game after game, the Red Tide were blowing opponents away, with Tagovailoa leading the way, and for a long time it had seemed as though he would be a certainty for the Heisman Trophy.
But as the season went on, Murray began to earn more attention. From November onward, he recorded an impressive 1,724 passing yards and 418 running yards, with 17 touchdowns altogether, and he also benefitted from playing most of every game, whereas Tagovailoa was often rested in the final quarter, his work invariably done by that stage.
Murray’s win means that Oklahoma have now recorded consecutive Heisman Trophy wins, after Baker Mayfield won it in 2017, the first time that has been achieved since 2005. The irony is that Murray will almost certainly not be following in Mayfield’s footsteps as he has already signed up to play for the Oakland A’s in 2019. Murray will be hoping to emulate Bo Jackson and Vic Janowicz who both made it to the MLB after winning the Heisman Trophy.
The third contender, Dwayne Haskins was particularly unfortunate to come up against Murray and Tagovailoa, who recorded the top two highest passer ratings in college football history. But his performances in 2018 were extremely impressive, helping to sustain an OSU passing game that was one of the most successful in college football, and which ultimately played a major role in the promotion of offensive co-ordinator Ryan Day to the head coach position.
