How Does Stetson Bennett Stack Up Amongst the Heisman Finalists?

How does Georgia's Stetson Bennett stack up against the other Heisman Finalists?

Jonathan Williams | Dec 6, 2022

Georgia's quarterback Stetson Bennett became the first Bulldog to be announced as a Heisman finalist since Garrison Hearst in 1992 and the first Georgia quarterback to be nominated for the award. He now has the opportunity to win the award since Herschel Walker in 1982. So now that Bennett has locked down a seat at the Heisman trophy ceremony, how does he stack up against the other finalists?

Bennett was selected as a finalist along with USC's Caleb Williams, TCU's Matt Duggan, and Ohio State's CJ Stroud. Four different college quarterbacks have a shot to take home the most prestigious award in the sport and there's a case for every single one of them.

This season, Bennett threw for 3,425 yards, completed 68% of his passes, and scored 27 total touchdowns. He also led his team to an undefeated record in the regular season, a conference championship, and the top seed for the college football playoffs. Bennett is the only player amongst the finalists to have claimed a conference title and remains without a loss this season.

The rest of the pack may not have accomplished as much as Bennett has this season, but they padded their stat sheets.

Williams this season threw for 4,075 yards, scored 47 total touchdowns, and completed 66 percent of his throws. Moving over to Duggan, he racked up 3,321 passing yards, scored 36 total touchdowns, and completed 65 percent of his passes this season for the Horned Frogs. And Stroud finished with 3,340 yards, 37 touchdowns, and a 66 percent completion rate.

So Bennett leads all finalists when it comes to completion percentage and outside of Williams, he is also right in the thick of things regarding passing yards. The only thing he lacks compared to the other names on the list is touchdowns.

What Bennett lacks in passing touchdowns though, he makes up for with how he performed against some of the nation's top teams.

This season, Bennett faced five teams who finished in the top 25. Williams is the only other finalist to have faced that many top-ranked teams. In those games, Bennett won all five games, completed 73 percent of his passes, threw for 1,472 yards, and scored 17 total touchdowns. Williams was the only player with more yards than Bennett against top 25 teams. In every other stat listed, Bennett leads the pack. He also was the only player to finish with a flawless record against those teams.

Oftentimes, a quarterback's ability is determined by how they performed in the biggest games of their career. Did that player show up when his team needed him most? That question is easy to answer for Bennett and nobody played better this year during the brightest moments of the season than the Georgia quarterback.

The winner of the Heisman Trophy will be announced on Dec. 10 and while it may still seem like Bennett is on the outside looking in for his chances to win the award, he holds a very strong case amongst the final four names who still remain in the mix.

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