Nick Saban Says Team Success Drives the Heisman Race

Nick Saban has a simple theory about the Heisman race, and it has very little to do with highlight reels. The seven-time national champion, who finished his coaching career 292-71-1 and now works as a co-host on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” said Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show” that the best thing a player can do for his Heisman chances is help his team keep winning.

“I think the most important thing in this is if you win, if your team wins, that gives everybody a better chance to get accolades, and it’s no different with the Heisman Trophy,” Saban said. “Because you’re gonna play in bigger games, you’re gonna get more exposure, and my focus with our players was always it’s all about playing good.”

Saban has the résumé to make that more than a coaching cliché. Alabama had never produced a Heisman winner before he arrived, and four of his players won it during his time in Tuscaloosa. None of them played for a team with more than one loss when the votes came in.

• Mark Ingram, running back, 2009 (Alabama was 13-0)
• Derrick Henry, running back, 2015 (12-1)
• DeVonta Smith, receiver, 2020 (12-0)
• Bryce Young, quarterback, 2021 (12-1)

The Heisman race odds are close at the top

The DraftKings board shown Friday gives his logic a serious test. Miami quarterback Darian Mensah is close behind at +170 for an 8-0 team, and his numbers look like the kind Saban was describing. He has thrown for 2,425 yards and 25 touchdowns, completed 80.7% of his passes, and leads the country with a 90.3 QBR.

Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith sits first at +150 with 62 catches for 1,067 yards and 13 touchdowns. His production has not slowed, and he is still the favorite despite Ohio State’s two losses and the arm injury that has sidelined quarterback Julian Sayin. The Heisman race tends to punish that kind of team setback, but Smith has held his place for now.

Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr is third at +500 for a 7-1 team, and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss follows at +1000 for a 6-2 team. Smith led the Heisman power rankings late last month, and he still leads this board, but Mensah’s undefeated team has moved the Miami quarterback close enough to challenge him.

Saban’s second point shows up in those same numbers. He told his players not to chase plays that are not there, especially at quarterback.

“If you go out there and execute and play well, don’t force plays, don’t try to take plays that aren’t there, especially a quarterback, running back,” Saban said. “Just do what you’ve always done. That’s what’s got you to this point at this time.”

Mensah and Carr have thrown one interception each. Chambliss has accounted for 25 touchdowns, the same total as Mensah’s passing touchdowns, but he has also thrown eight interceptions, and he sits fourth on the board.

History still leaves room for exceptions

To be fair, the Heisman has not always followed Saban’s rule. LSU’s Jayden Daniels won in 2023 for a 9-3 team, and Colorado’s Travis Hunter won in 2024 after Colorado also finished the regular season 9-3. Daniels joined a short list of winners from three-loss teams that includes Louisville’s Lamar Jackson in 2016 and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III in 2011.

Those exceptions came with numbers big enough to make the record look like a footnote, and Smith is trying to build the same kind of case in the Heisman race. Receivers rarely win the award at all. When DeVonta Smith won it for Saban in 2020, he became the first receiver to take it home since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991.

Saban’s advice for Heisman contenders

As it stands, Saban’s advice to his old players sounds less like a campaign strategy and more like a weekly routine. He wanted them focused on the next practice and the next game, not the trophy at the end of it.

“So you got to still focus on what’s in front of you each and every day,” Saban said. “So be where your feet are. You guys have heard that one before is what I used to try to tell guys, and I said don’t think about that. That’s an outcome-oriented thing. Let’s think of what we got to do for you to play, have success in this game and for this team to have success, because that will enhance your chances of having a chance to get recognized.”

Before Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2007, Alabama had never produced a Heisman winner. He left with four.