For the second year in a row, C.J. Stroud made it to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist but watched someone else lift the trophy.
After finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy race in 2021, Stroud finished third in this year’s Heisman race, behind USC quarterback Caleb Williams (the winner of this year’s Heisman) and TCU quarterback Max Duggan.
Stroud, who earned his second straight trip to New York after completing 66.2 percent of his passing attempts for 3,340 yards and 37 touchdowns for an FBS-best passer rating of 176.25 during the regular season, received 37 first-place votes, 119 second-place votes and 190 third-place votes. (By comparison, Stroud received 12 first-place votes, 118 second-place votes and 127 third-place votes in 2021.)
All of the top six and eight of the top 10 players in this year’s Heisman balloting were quarterbacks. The only non-quarterbacks to finish in the top 10 of this year’s Heisman vote are Michigan running back Blake Corum (seventh) and Texas running back Bijan Robinson (ninth).
| Rank | Player | School | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CALEB WILLIAMS | USC | 544 | 168 | 63 | 2,031 |
| 2 | MAX DUGGAN | TCU | 188 | 357 | 142 | 1,420 |
| 3 | C.J. STROUD | OHIO STATE | 37 | 119 | 190 | 539 |
| 4 | STETSON BENNETT | GEORGIA | 36 | 65 | 111 | 349 |
| 5 | HENDON HOOKER | TENNESSEE | 17 | 47 | 81 | 226 |
| 6 | BRYCE YOUNG | ALABAMA | 17 | 28 | 34 | 141 |
| 7 | BLAKE CORUM | MICHIGAN | 8 | 25 | 51 | 125 |
| 8 | MICHAEL PENIX JR. | WASHINGTON | 9 | 20 | 47 | 114 |
| 9 | BIJAN ROBINSON | TEXAS | 4 | 12 | 39 | 75 |
| 10 | DRAKE MAYE | NORTH CAROLINA | 3 | 6 | 21 | 42 |
Stroud finished third in voting behind Williams and Duggan in every region except the South, in which Stroud finished fourth behind Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, who finished fourth in every other region except the Midwest, in which he finished sixth.
With his third-place finish in this year’s voting, Stroud becomes just the third player in Ohio State history to finish in the top four of the Heisman race twice, joining Archie Griffin (1974 and 1975) – who remains the only two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy – and Hopalong Cassady, who finished third in the Heisman race in 1954 before winning the award in 1955.
In total, Ohio State has had five top-four finishers in the Heisman race in the past five years. Dwayne Haskins finished third in the Heisman vote in 2018 while Justin Fields and Chase Young finished third and fourth in Heisman balloting in 2019.
