Heisman straw poll: Ashton Jeanty sprints into the lead, Dillon Gabriel makes an appearance

Travis Hunter got hurt, left early and watched his team lose a close one. That’s no reason for anyone who thought the Colorado cornerback/receiver was the best player in college football entering Saturday to think otherwise coming out of Saturday.

But the Heisman Trophy can’t just be about being. It’s about doing, and no one is doing more on a weekly basis to make voters notice than Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. So as the pool of candidates expands in The Athletic’s Heisman straw poll — to a season-high nine this week — Jeanty also boasts the most points a candidate has earned.

After rushing for 217 yards and a touchdown, plus catching a touchdown, in Boise State’s 28-7 win at Hawaii, Jeanty received 20 first-place votes and 74 points. That’s up from 10 first-place votes and 58 points a week ago. Hunter came in second with six first-place votes and 52 points, after he led the poll with 15 first-place votes and 67 points last week.

The Athletic follows the same voting protocol as that of the Heisman: three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, one point for a third-place vote.

Miami quarterback Cam Ward remained in third place with 21 points, again getting a lone first-place vote, after an off week for the Hurricanes. The new name this week is Dillon Gabriel, the Oregon quarterback who came up huge in a top-five battle that lived up to the billing — 341 yards passing and two touchdowns, plus a 27-yard touchdown run, to beat Ohio State 32-31.

He was spectacular, for what is now the No. 2 team in the country, and he has games ahead against Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington that can strengthen his case. The case could be made in a potential Big Ten Championship Game rematch with Ohio State, if Gabriel can maintain a high level of play until then and engineer a second win against the Buckeyes.

Ward doesn’t have as much opportunity available in the regular season but has been the more dynamic player, and a potential ACC title game matchup with Clemson could be a big moment for him.

Those two are joined by three other quarterbacks in the straw poll: Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, who followed up a shocking upset of No. 1 Alabama by controlling the game in another upset win, at Kentucky; Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who could give himself a bump this week at Tennessee; and Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke, whose 6-0 Hoosiers have an enormous opportunity at home against Nebraska.

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Ohio State freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith got a vote after another splendid performance, nine catches for 100 yards and a touchdown in the dramatic loss at Oregon. He had a late catch that might have led to a winning field goal wiped away for offensive pass interference, but a freshman doing that to a defensive back will still land on a highlight tape.

Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson is a first-time vote-getter after rushing 21 times for 166 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-16 rout of Washington. Johnson is second nationally with 937 rushing yards and 156.2 yards rushing per game. Jeanty leads both of those categories, 1,248 yards and 208.0 per game. He also leads the nation with 17 rushing touchdowns and is averaging a ridiculous 9.9 yards per carry.

As The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel pointed out, Jeanty is on pace to for 2,704 yards if Boise State can reach the Mountain West title game. That would beat Barry Sanders’ FBS record of 2,628 yards, set in 1988. Yes, Sanders did it in just 11 games and against powers such as Oklahoma and Nebraska. But Jeanty shredded Oregon for 192 yards and three touchdowns, and anything close to the record will make him tough to beat. Unless a quarterback has a run of dominance, in terms of individual and team success, from here. Or if Hunter does some great things to remind everyone what a great, and unique, player he is.

(Photo: Marco Garcia / Imagn Images)