Can you believe that the 2024 season will be over in half?
Week 7 marked the official halfway point of the season. In 2024, each team will have a two-week bye week, leaving just seven weeks of the regular season before conference championship week.
We’ve already learned a lot, but things are about to get even wilder in the final seven weeks of the season. Now that we’re halfway through October, we’d like to introduce you to our midseason awards.
Heisman: Ashton Giunty, Boise State
This is very simple. Giunty was unstoppable through the first six games of the season. Yes, Boise State is not in a power conference and the Broncos don’t play a super tough schedule. But Janti is really funny.
The junior has 1,248 yards rushing so far in 2024. That’s more than 300 yards more than the nation’s second-leading rusher, Iowa State’s Kaleb Johnson. Giunty’s 217 yards on 31 carries against Hawaii late Saturday night was his lowest per-carry performance of the season. Still, he averaged 7 yards per attempt.
This season, Giunty is averaging 9.9 yards rushing and 18 total touchdowns through six games. Three of those came in Week 2 against No. 2 Oregon, where he gained 192 yards on 25 carries in the Broncos’ 37-34 loss. It’s hard to justify a Heisman case against another player at this point.
Best QB: Jalen Milroe (Alabama)
You could make a case for Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, especially after the Ducks beat Ohio State on Saturday and Milroe threw two interceptions against South Carolina in Alabama’s close victory. But we’re going with a player who has made incredible progress since being benched in Week 3 of the 2023 season and a QB who may play the most important role for a first-team offense. It will be.
Milroe totaled 23 TDs through six games and completed 73% of his passes. Gabriel’s success rate is good, but Oregon’s offense plans on making throws with a higher success rate. He wasn’t that important as a runner either. Milroe is Alabama’s second-leading rusher with 319 yards and more than twice as many rushing TDs as running back Jam Miller. Milroe’s excellence will be a big reason why Alabama returns to the playoffs.
Best WR: Tre Harris, Ole Miss
Harris is having the best season of his career. He has appeared in just seven games so far this season. Harris had 65 catches for 935 yards in 2022, his final season at Louisiana Tech. In his first season at Ole Miss, Harris had 54 catches for 985 yards.
This year, Harris has 59 catches for 987 yards through seven games. He also has six receiving TDs and is on pace to surpass his career high in TD catches. Harris has played in more games than almost anyone else in college football, but he leads the nation in receiving yards (San Jose State’s Nick Nash is second with 806) and is second in receptions.
Oh, and he also made a great catch Saturday night against LSU.
Defensive Player of the Year: Travis Hunter (Colorado State)
Hunter understands this because he may be the most valuable player in football. He played 44 of 45 snaps on Saturday as Colorado lost to Kansas State in the first half. He is the only player who regularly plays both offense and defense, and he excels at both. Hunter is the Buffaloes’ top cornerback and receiver with 49 catches for 587 yards.
We also selected Hunter for this award knowing that his abilities may be limited in the near future. He was unable to play at all in the second half due to an apparent injury to his right shoulder. If Hunter is out for an extended period of time, Colorado will be hit hard. Especially if WR Jimmy Horn is also sidelined for several weeks. He was also injured in the first half against the Wildcats.
Coach of the Year: Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Bryant Vincent, Monroe, Louisiana;
We declared this a tie because we were torn between two coaches in our first year at a new school. Cinetti comes to Indiana from James Madison, and the Hoosiers are 6-0 through seven weeks. Since becoming head college football coach in 2011, Cininetti’s teams have never had a losing season at any level. This losing streak will continue until 2025 unless the Hoosiers end the season with seven straight losses.
Former UAB interim coach Vincent is doing a great job at ULM. The Warhawks defeated Southern Miss on Saturday to move to 5-1 and two wins away from the school’s first winning season since 2012. If Louisiana-Monroe can win eight games in 2024, it will match its win total from 2020-2023. season. Not bad for a guy who was dealt Trent Dilfer at UAB.
Biggest surprise: BYU
The Cougars are one of only two teams in the Big 12 to be undefeated all-time. BYU went 5-7 in its first year in the conference, but has already surpassed that number of wins this season. The Cougars are outscoring opponents by an average of 34-16 as their defense forces approximately 2.5 turnovers per game. This turnover rate may not be sustainable, but it’s hard to imagine BYU falling out of Big 12 title contention late in the season. The Cougars have no ranked teams on their schedule for the remainder of the season.
Biggest disappointment: Florida State
This isn’t all that surprising. The preseason ACC favorites are 1-5 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. The Seminoles have had a disastrous start to the season, making a bowl game seem nearly impossible. FSU needs to go 5-1 just to play its 13th game, with games remaining this season at Miami and Notre Dame. Coach Mike Norvell has never been in the spotlight, but the fall from an undefeated regular season in 2023 is hard to understand.
