When a program captures the national title nobody really wants to hear any crying over spilled milk but the reality of last year's magical season is that if Heisman voting were conducted following the postseason, Ezekiel Elliott would be toting a Heisman Trophy.
Last season, Elliott, as a true sophomore, amassed a ridiculous 1,828 rushing yards on 6.9 yards per carry and 125.2 yards per game as the Buckeyes forged their way from a ranking of 16th in the opening CFP rankings on October 28th to 4th on December 7th to earn a spot in the playoff.
This fall, Elliott will be back as a junior looking to not only repeat as a national champion but earn Ohio State's 8th Heisman Trophy in school history which would vault the Buckeyes to the top of the list.
Elliott will enter the season with the hype needed to sway voters but is it possible he can repeat last season's production and/or get the respect he deserves on a team loaded with stars?
The reality is that with a three-headed QB monster, that story will most likely be the biggest in college football in the early part of the season. Regardless of which storylines emerge as the biggest, Elliott could use a faster start to the 2015 campaign than he had a season ago if he wants a legit shot to capture the Stiff Arm Trophy.
Last fall, as Urban Meyer, Tom Herman and the offensive line were figuring out exactly what they had, Elliott failed to rush for at least 100 yards in his first three outings and in five of his first eight before catching fire to close the season.
To his credit, while Elliott was held to less than 100 yards in those first three games, he carried the rock no more than 12 times in a game and was held to single-digit totes in three of his first five Saturdays.
From there, however, EZE ran for at least 100 yards in six of his last seven games, averaging 7.95 yards per carry over the span totaling 1,169 rushing yards with 13 touchdowns. Even better, over the three game stretch including the B1G championship and wins over Alabama and Oregon in the College Football Playoff, Elliott rushed for 696 yards on 9.16 per carry with eight touchdowns to help the Buckeyes hoist the crystal.
Even with his ridiculous stats from last year, Elliott is far from a lock to hoist the Heisman this coming December.
| YEAR | GAMES | ATT | GAIN | LOSS | NET | AVG | TD | LONG | AVG/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 15 | 273 | 1925 | 47 | 1878 | 6.9 | 18 | 85 | 125.2 |
| 2013 | 11 | 30 | 267 | 5 | 262 | 8.7 | 2 | 57 | 23.8 |
For some perspective, while running backs have claimed the Stiff Arm Trophy 42 times in 78 seasons (54%), quarterbacks have won 13 of the last 14 awards including five straight instances.
In fact, the last running back to win the Heisman, Alabama's Mark Ingram, did so in 2009 as he rushed for just 1,304 yards in his sophomore season.
Those numbers are garbage in comparison to Elliott's 2014 body of work, signaling just how much preseason hype and early production can be in putting a player on the hype map.
This fall, Elliott will run behind a seasoned offensive line but could the drama surrounding the starting quarterback dilemma cause him to be somewhat lost in the media spotlight?
That much remains to be seen but it is certainly an arguable hypothesis to say Elliott's best shot to win the Heisman occurred last year with the potential for Cardale Jones, J.T. Barrett or Braxton Miller to steal some of the spotlight in 2015.
On the other hand, even with Ohio State's plethora of weapons, my belief is that Meyer will ride Elliott behind what should be another dominant offensive line, giving him every opportunity to put up numbers similar to what he closed with last year which will put him in position to claim the Heisman Trophy.
