The 2024 Heisman Trophy finalists were announced on Monday, and two frontrunners are officially in the mix. 

Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter and Boise State’s bruising running back Ashton Jeanty are considered the two favorites to win the award, while quarterback Dillon Gabriel of Oregon and Cam Ward of Miami round out the quartet.

This has been a thrilling college football season in the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff. But while his Buffaloes won’t be playing for a national title, Hunter’s efforts alongside the potential first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders, has led to a successful Colorado season. 

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Hunter is the heavy favorite to win the Heisman, as he’s simply doing something that no one in college football has: play on both sides of the ball. 

Hunter played full-time on offense and defense, and he finished in the top five in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and passes defended. Pro Football Focus also gave him the top coverage grade this season as well.

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On offense, Hunter had 92 receptions for 1,152 yards and 14 receiving touchdowns over 12 games, averaging 96.0 yards through the air per game. And on defense, he defended 11 passes while collecting four interceptions and 32 combined tackles over the same set of games.

Despite Hunter being the overwhelming favorite, it’s simply been a blast to watch Jeanty lead the Broncos all the way to a Mountain West Conference title while earning a bye in the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 seed.

Jeanty led college football in rushing yards (2,497), rushing touchdowns (29), total touchdowns (30) and rush attempts (344) as the Broncos’ offense truly ran through the junior, who is also projected to be a first-rounder come April. 

His argument for winning the award over Hunter is the fact that he took a Group of Five school to a CFP bye in his historic season. If he breaks Barry Sanders’ all-time rushing record (2,628), who knows how the voting should shake out. 

But there’s only a single No. 1 seed this year in the CFP, and Gabriel’s Ducks are it as his sixth collegiate season has led to more elite production. 

Gabriel had 3,558 passing yards and 28 passing touchdowns over his 297 attempts through the air to help the Ducks to an undefeated regular season at 13-0. 

The Hawaii native’s best game came against No. 2 Ohio State, where he had 341 yards passing and three total touchdowns, proving Oregon was the team to beat in the Big Ten in its inaugural season in the conference. Oregon went on to beat Penn State to win the Big Ten, and now they’re looking for an undefeated season with a national title attached to it. 

Ward, another potential first overall selection in 2025, is about as cool and collected as a quarterback can be in the pocket, which has led to numerous come-from-behind victories for the Hurricanes this season. 

He’s also a fantastic college football story, starting at Incarnate Word out of high school, his only offer, and ultimately leading college football with 36 passing touchdowns and finishing second with 4,123 passing yards this year.

Miami wasn’t able to make the CFP this year, but an argument can be made that Ward was the best quarterback in the game this season, which earned him a trip to New York.

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Dillon Gabriel felt he and Oregon were a "perfect" match when he decided to transfer there, and Saturday night proved his instincts correctly.

The top-ranked Ducks remained undefeated, despite a heck of an effort from No. 3 Penn State, to win the Big Ten, 45-37.

The Ducks led by as many as 18 in the first half, scoring touchdowns on four of their first five drives. Penn State chipped away to get back to within four, but after getting back up 14 midway through the third quarter, Oregon seemed to have all the momentum with a 38-24 lead.

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The Nittany Lions weren't dead yet, though, as Kaytron Allen had runs of 32 and 26 yards on a drive, finishing the job with a one-yard score. James Franklin opted to be aggressive, though, and go for two, but their version of the Philly Special was unsuccessful.

Oregon's offense did their usual thing afterward, going on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a Jordan James touchdown, his second, to go up 45-30 with 7:28 to go.

But Penn State stayed alive – on 4th and 10, Drew Allar narrowly escaped a sack and zipped one into the end zone for a score to make it an eight-point game – then, they forced a three-and-out. But Allar went deep, and he was picked off. Oregon was able to get a first down, as Penn State was out of timeouts, to clinch the title.

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Tez Johnson had himself a day, caught 11 passes for a Big Ten championship record 181 yards and a touchdown. Dillon Dabriel completed 22 of his 32 passes for 283 yards and four scores.

Oregon will, in all likelihood, be the one-seed in the playoff, and despite the loss, Penn State is certainly in the running to host a game in the first round. They will find out their fate early Sunday afternoon.

As for the Ducks, it's their first conference title since winning the Pac-12 in 2020, and they now get set for their first playoff appearance since 2014, the year the playoff was born.

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