Wait, Is Mason Rudolph a Heisman Candidate?

That’s the very question I had when one of ESPN’s 350 Sunday shows dedicated to re-living all of Saturday’s madness mentioned No. 2 as a candidate for the No. 1 award in the country. Bovada has seven players listed and Rudolph isn’t one of them (thought two other Big 12 players — Trevone Boykin and Corey Coleman are).

Here’s the thing. I wouldn’t normally say, “oh yeah, Rudolph is definitely a Heisman candidate,” but recent history has shown us that if you go 12-0 in a Power 5 conference, somebody from your team is going to finish in the top 10.

2014: Florida State (Jameis — 6th)
2013:  Florida State (Jameis — 1st)
2012: Notre Dame (Manti Te’o — 2nd) and Ohio State (Braxton Miller — 5th)
2011: N/A
2010: Auburn (Cam — 1st) and TCU (Andy Dalton — 9th) and Oregon (LaMichael James — 3rd)

There’s an allure to going 12-0 that’s difficult to ignore. Rudolph’s obvious problem is that J.W. Walsh, in making the team better, has vultured a whole bushel of his touchdowns. Rudolph’s numbers compared to, say, Deshaun Watson who is probably going to end up being the QB on a 12-0 Clemson team (he’s the second-ranked QB on ESPN’s Heisman watch and the No. 1 QB candidate according to Vegas).

Rudolph: 64% | 318 YPG | 18 TD | 8 INT
Watson: 70% | 250 YPG | 21 TD | 7 INT

But look at this …

RT @jteel24 Mason Walsh's Heisman case:
Boykin: 3,970 tot yds 37TD/9INT
Rudolph/Walsh: 3,365 tot yds 35TD/8INT // MW pic.twitter.com/Je9bx4BEHd

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) November 10, 2015

I wouldn’t trade it, of course, because I think Walsh has won Oklahoma State some games, but it’s unfortunate for Rudolph that Walsh has 18 total TD on the season because that greatly hurts any sort of late-season push Rudolph might be able to muster.

The upshot is that with a strong finish, No. 2 will be in the top five on a LOT of lists going into 2016.