2015 Heisman Watch: Fournette, Boykin, McCaffrey, Russell, Cook

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Christian McCaffrey in Heisman conversation now



Christian McCaffrey rushed his way into the Heisman conversation on Thursday night as Stanford routed UCLA, 56-35.

McCaffrey had 369 all-purpose yards including 243 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Not a bad night for the sophomore out of Castle Rock, Colorado.

But given McCaffrey's genetics, it's not a huge surprise to see him putting up this kind of performance (especially considering this is his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game). McCaffrey's grandfather, David Sime, won silver in the 100-meter dash at the 1960 Olympics. His dad, Ed, is a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Broncos. His mom, Lisa, played soccer at Stanford.

In 1998 she joked to Sports Illustrated that the reason she and McCaffrey's father married was "so we could breed fast white guys."

Well, it worked (and not just for Christian ... his younger brother Dylan holds offers from the likes of Michigan and LSU).

But McCaffrey isn't just another fast white guy. After Thursday night, he's getting Heisman buzz from Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel, FOX Sports' Bruce Feldman and Yahoo! Sports' Graham Watson.

Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel wrote a great feature about McCaffrey earlier this week and the similarities between him and his father in the 1998 Sports Illustrated piece are pretty similar.

"During his eight-year career he has been kicked off a team bus for impersonating a player, ordered to pick up towels by a locker room janitor," Michael Silver wrote in that 1998 Sports Illustrated piece.

"A lot of times I got confused for a kicker," the younger McCaffrey told Mandel.

But, chances are that after Thursday night fewer people are going to mistake McCaffrey for a kicker. His play (along with the rest of his team's) has many giving Stanford a good look at a possible playoff spot and McCaffrey a good look as a possible Heisman finalist.

Not bad for the kicker. We mean, McCaffrey.

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Halfway Heisman Watch: LSU RB Leonard Fournette leading field



LSU’s sophomore has been the most dominant player in the country, and thus he wins the most sought-after imaginary award in college football. On Saturday, in a 35-28 win over Florida, Fournette delivered against his toughest opponent yet by rushing a career-high 31 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns. The running back now has at least two touchdowns in five of the Tigers’ first six games this season.

Only one running back—Alabama’s Mark Ingram (2009)—has won the Heisman in the last 15 years, but Fournette’s first-half performance has exceeded expectations for run-first Heisman contenders. The Tigers’ star ranks first nationally with 1,202 rushing yards, the eighth-most of any player through six games in FBS history. Fournette paces the country with a 200 yard-per-game average, sits tied with Houston’s Greg Ward Jr. for the national lead in rushing touchdowns (14) and averages 8.01 yards per carry.

The future could be even brighter for Fournette if quarterback Brandon Harris continues his recent surge. Harris, who was a virtual non-factor through the first few weeks of LSU’s schedule, has thrown for more than 200 yards in his last two games. Harris could force defenses to respect LSU’s passing game instead of loading the box against Fournette. If that happens, Fournette could snap the recent quarterback-heavy Heisman era.

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TCU's Boykin owns 3 of top 9 total-offense games in nation



Trevone Boykin is separating himself from the nation's other prolific quarterbacks. He's the only one to go over 500 yards in total offense three times. No other QB has done it more than once.

The TCU quarterback's latest 500-yard game came in Saturday's 45-21 win over Iowa State.

He now owns three of the top nine single-game totals this season. His 527 yards against Texas Tech ranks No. 5, his 510 against Iowa State is No. 7 and his 504 against SMU is No. 9.

Boykin's average of 425.6 yards ranks second to Bowling Green QB Matt Johnson's 428.3.

The senior from Dallas has recorded seven of the top 10 total-offense games in TCU history.