Heisman Watch: QB Greg Ward Jr. (Houston)

When you think of the top teams in college football, you think of programs such as Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, and so on. All of those teams play in the best conferences in the nation. But the Houston Cougars, led by senior quarterback Greg Ward Jr., are here to put an end to the reign of the best programs in college football today. The Cougars started off the year at #15 in the nation after going 13-1 (W-L) last year, capping off their season with the American Athletic Conference championship and a victory over heavily favored Florida State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. All of this was accomplished by Greg Ward Jr., the quarterback of the mediocre Houston Cougars program in the mediocre American Athletic Conference. Ward Jr., went 177/263 with 2,828 yards passing, and 38 total touchdowns. No one ever expected that out of an American Athletic Conference quarterback, but for some reason, he wasn't a Heisman Trophy candidate. Now this year during the first week of the college football season, Houston opened up against #3 Oklahoma, and everyone had their money on Oklahoma, led by star quarterback Baker Mayfield. Ward Jr., put on a Heisman worthy performance, going 23/40 with 321 passing yards and 2 touchdowns to lead #15 Houston to a huge upset over #3 Oklahoma with the score being 33 to 23. The Cougars, now ranked #6 in the nation, have everyone's attention now and are actually favorites to win the College Football Playoffs. The Cougars played last night against conference foe Cincinnati Bearcats and despite a sloppy first half, Ward Jr., led the Cougars to a comeback, to win the game. Houston was down only 10 to 7 in the second quarter, but Ward Jr. scored 2 rushing touchdowns to give them and the defense added 2 more touchdowns with 2 interceptions to give the Cougars another victory with the final score being 40 to 16, in favor of the Cougars. Despite the sloppy first half, Ward Jr. kept his composure and delivered for his team. Houston faces an easy schedule against mediocre teams until they play another heavily favored team, the Louisville Cardinals (who we've talked about before), who at the moment are ranked #10 in the nation. That game will be played on November 17th at 8pm. It will be not only the battle of two great teams, but the battle of two great quarterbacks, both favored to win the Heisman Trophy. And it could possibly just be the Game of the Year.