Ashton Jeanty will have the Heisman stage to himself this weekend.

It (probably) won’t matter.

Jeanty is a distant second in Heisman odds behind Colorado’s Travis Hunter. The Buffaloes defeated Oklahoma State on Black Friday to cap their season at 9-3, but missed a chance to advance to the Big 12 title game because they were on the wrong side of a four-way tie for first place at the top of the conference the tiebreaker stood.

Hunter will not play at all during conference championship weekend. But that likely won’t impact his Heisman chances. According to the betting odds, Hunter is a real looker. Hunter is -10,000 at BetMGM to win the award. Jeanty is the only other player with a chance of +2500.

Damn, there are only two other players on the board. And both can kindly be viewed as distant long shots. Both Dillon Gabriel in Oregon and Cam Ward in Miami are at +25000. Gabriel will play Saturday when Oregon faces Penn State for the Big Ten title. Miami lost its chance to play for the ACC title in the final week of the regular season when the Hurricanes jumped to a 21-0 lead at Syracuse and then suffered a 42-38 loss.

Jeanty heads into Friday’s Mountain West title game with a chance to reach 2,500 rushing yards before Boise State begins its College Football Playoff journey. The Broncos are in the playoffs with one win and Jeanty has rushed for 2,288 yards in the first 12 games of the season.

Jeanty’s 2024 season already ranks fifth all-time behind Barry Sanders (1988), Melvin Gordon (2014), Kevin Smith (2007) and Marcus Allen (1981). If Boise State makes the playoffs, Sanders will be within striking distance with 2,628 yards. There’s a chance Jeanty could end up with the most rushing yards in a single season in college football history.

Of course, Sanders only played 11 games when he put up his historic numbers. Jeanty could play 14 or 15 games in 2024. But Jeanty’s yards-per-carry average isn’t far off that of the former Detroit Lions.

Sanders rushed 344 times in 1988 and averaged 7.6 yards per carry. So far, Jeanty has completed 312 carries and is averaging 7.3 yards on each run with the ball.

In many other seasons, Jeanty would be a clear Heisman favorite. Derrick Henry, the last running back to win the Heisman, had 395 carries for 2,219 yards in 2015. He averaged 1.7 fewer yards per carry than Jeanty. In 2009, Mark Ingram won the Heisman rushing for 1,658 yards.

Instead, he has little chance thanks to Hunter’s unparalleled performances on both offense and defense. But don’t let Jeanty’s lack of a Heisman overshadow his performance so far this season.

Here are the other players we’ll be keeping an eye on come Conference Championship weekend.

Colorado DB/WR Travis Hunter: Well, we’re not really looking at Hunter this weekend since Colorado isn’t playing. But it’s at least worth taking another look at his stats before he likely wins the Heisman on December 14th. Hunter finished the regular season with 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 TDs, while also recording 32 tackles, four interceptions and 11 passes defensed.

Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel: The former UCF and Oklahoma QB will be a Heisman finalist, but nothing more. Gabriel was 16 of 23 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns and also went for another in the Ducks’ blowout win over Washington in Week 14. Gabriel’s Heisman chances dwindled over the last three weeks as he didn’t throw for more than 218 yards in any of those games.