With only a few games remaining in the college football season, the race for the Heisman Trophy is heating up. After a tough 16-13 win against the Wisconsin Badgers on the road, it appears that the No. 1 Oregon Ducks’ quarterback Dillon Gabriel is falling behind the other three Heisman candidates.

Gabriel’s betting odds to win the Heisman Trophy average from +2200 to +2500. Ahead of Gabriel is Miami senior quarterback Cam Ward (+1400), junior running back from Boise State Ashton Jeanty (+350), and Colorado’s junior cornerback and wide receiver double-threat Travis Hunter (+100). Hunter is favored by every available betting odds website to win the Heisman entering Week 12.

Gabriel falling behind in the Heisman race can be directly attributed to Oregon’s game against the Badgers, which was Gabriel’s worst performance of the season. For the first time this season, Gabriel did not throw for a passing touchdown. Gabriel completed 22-31 passes for 218 yards and an interception. He also struggled with mid to deep ball targets, only hitting 43% of targets over 15-yards. 

Typically known for his legs, Gabriel’s rushing attempts fell flat due to the Badgers’ defense. Gabriel picked up seven yards on 11 rushing attempts, with his last four rushing plays of the game all picking up negative yards.

 “I thought we moved the ball really well early,” Gabriel said in his post game press conference. “Thought we had some good things going early. And getting the first first [down], and moving it that way, but just struggled sometimes in third downs and then taking negatives on my end. So all that doesn’t help in playing efficient. But I think you look at certain drives when we needed it, I thought we played really well.”

Where the Oregon offense and Gabriel really struggled was converting third downs. Oregon was 5-15 on third downs, with three of those failed attempts coming on incompletions from Gabriel. Though the third down conversion problem can also be traced to the shut-down of the run game by the Badgers, those three incompletions were crucial.

However, there were still some amazing plays made by the Heisman hopeful this game. Entering the fourth quarter, the Ducks were on a fourth down on Wisconsin’s 41-yard line. Instead of punting, coach Dan Lanning trusted Gabriel to convert on a fourth down.

Gabriel scrambled left to find a target, sent a pass flying through three different Wisconsin defenders, and landed it right in the hands of tight end Terrance Ferguson for a 15-yard first down. This conversion directly set up a Jordan James 11-yard rushing touchdown three plays later, the Ducks’ only touchdown drive of the game.

“Find a way,” Gabriel said during the postgame broadcast on FOX. “Whatever it takes. We had a bunch of unselfish players that want to win. It didn’t look the way maybe people thought it would, but that ‘W’ on the scoreboard is all that matters.”

The Wisconsin game was Gabriel’s 60th career start, the most amongst current FBS quarterbacks. He also broke the NCAA total touchdown record against Maryland with 179 touchdowns. 

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