{"id":80427,"date":"2025-09-24T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=80427"},"modified":"2025-09-23T22:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:00:15","slug":"where-is-the-sec-bias-week-4-heisman-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/09\/24\/where-is-the-sec-bias-week-4-heisman-poll\/","title":{"rendered":"Where is the SEC Bias? Week 4 Heisman Poll"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leave the SEC Bias to the mothership in Bristol! Our Week 4 Heisman poll is well-represented with B1G, Big 12, and SEC teams; sorry, ACC. But come on, only one SEC team? We even have a guy from Indiana. We thought it just meant more?<\/p>\n<h2>Where is the SEC Bias?: Week 4 Heisman Poll<\/h2>\n<div>The Last Word on College Football\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/\" target=\"_self\">braintrust<\/a> has spoken. Let\u2019s get to our Week 4 Heisman list. We\u2019ve also charted which players\u2019 stocks are on the rise and which are slipping.<\/div>\n<h3>Honorable Mention: Josh Hoover QB TCU Horned Frogs<\/h3>\n<p>Fear the <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TCUFootball\/status\/1969492235772104878\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hypnotoad<\/a>. We still don&#8217;t know what is happening with TCU&#8217;s postgame social media, but we are here for it. On the field, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/josh-hoover-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hoover<\/a> is tearing it up. Hoover led the Frogs over SMU and returned the <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TCUFootball\/status\/1970202249591992565\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iron skillet<\/a> to Fort Worth. The Frogs&#8217; TCU quarterback had a big day, finishing with 379 yards passing and five touchdowns. Hoover now leads the nation in passing yards and touchdowns. TCU heads out west to take on Arizona State on Saturday to start <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/09\/23\/week-five-big-12-power-rankings-re-evaluating-expectations\/\" target=\"_self\">Big 12<\/a> play.<\/p>\n<h3>#5 Marcel Reed Texas A&amp;M (NR)\u00a0 &amp; Dante Moore Oregon Ducks (NC)<\/h3>\n<p>Welcome to the Last Word weekly Heisman Poll, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/marcel-reed-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcell Reed<\/a>. Stay as long as you can. Reed and the Aggies borrowed just enough luck from The Irish to escape with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/09\/14\/notre-dame-continues-slide-against-texas-am\/\" target=\"_self\">41-40<\/a> win in South Bend two weeks ago. His numbers weren&#8217;t great, but he made the most of his competitions. Reed finished the game, completing 17 of 37 passes for 360 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning score. He also had 7 rushes for 37 yards. With a defense that seems to have difficulty stopping anybody, Reed will be called on a lot to make big plays.<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/dante-moore-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dante Moore<\/a> spends his second straight week in the #5 position. Moore has continued to look comfortable in Eugene. He helped lead the Ducks in a big win in the Civil War over Oregon State. Moore finished the game throwing for a career-high 305 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-31 passing, while also rushing for a career-high 53 yards. The Ducks will face their biggest test of the season this Saturday when they travel to a White Out on Saturday night in Happy Valley.<\/p>\n<h3>#4 Jeremiah Smith The Ohio State Buckeyes (\u2b07\ufe0f 1)<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jeremiah-smith-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremiah Smith<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/09\/23\/understanding-matt-patricias-ohio-state-defense\/\" target=\"_self\">Buckyes<\/a> were on a bye last week. Big Ten play is now in full swing. Ohio State travels to Seattle this week to face <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/09\/20\/washington-stays-relentless-apple-cup-returns-to-seattle\/\" target=\"_self\">Washington<\/a>. Smith will need to have a big day in what can be a very hostile environment for opposing fans.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_76359\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-76359\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-76359 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26781695_168400536_lowres-1024x661.jpg\" alt=\"indiana quarterback\" width=\"640\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26781695_168400536_lowres-1024x661.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26781695_168400536_lowres-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26781695_168400536_lowres-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26781695_168400536_lowres.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-76359\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: Rich Janzaruk\/Herald-Times \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>#3 Fernando Mendoza Indiana Hoosiers (NR)<\/h3>\n<p>Who needs the Maple Missile? Welcome to the party, Fernando Mendoza. Mendoza and the Hoosiers announced their presence with authority on Saturday night. After easily dispatching a less-than-stellar non-conference slate, Indiana came out and hammered Illinois 63-10. Mendoza earned AP Player of the Week honors by completing 21 of 23 passes for 267 yards and five touchdowns. Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers are out to prove that 2024 was no fluke. Mendoza is a big part of the continued resurgence of the Hoosiers.<\/p>\n<h3>#2 Carson Beck\u00a0 Miami &#8220;The U&#8221; Hurricanes (NC)<\/h3>\n<p>Guess who&#8217;s back? Back again. Carson&#8217;s back. Tell a Cavinder twin. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/carson-beck-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carson Beck<\/a> is back and putting his name atop the Heisman watch list in 2025. Beck continues to demonstrate that taking his talents to South Beach was a wise career move. Beck moved to 3-0 all-time as a starter against the Florida Gators on Saturday night. He fought off a rainy night and some sluggish drives to lead the Hurricanes to victory. His numbers were not great, but he made just enough plays to outlast the Gators&#8217; anemic offense. Beck finished the gam,e completing just 17 of 30 passes for 160 yards with one interception.<\/p>\n<h3>#1 John Mateer Oklahoma Sooners (NC)<\/h3>\n<p>What a Tuesday for Oklahoma sports. First, Mike \u201cI\u2019m a man\u201d Gundy was shown the door at Oklahoma State. Then, late in the day, came the gut punch: <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/john-mateer-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Mateer<\/a> will miss a few weeks with a broken hand. That\u2019s tough news for Sooner fans. Mateer has sparked life into the offense and given Brent Venables\u2019 squad real hope. On Saturday in Norman, he gutted out a 24\u201317 win over Auburn, going 24-of-36 for 271 yards and a touchdown through the air, plus another score on the ground that proved to be the game-winner.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leave the SEC Bias to the mothership in Bristol! Our Week 4 Heisman poll is well-represented with B1G, Big 12, and SEC teams; sorry, ACC. But come on, only one SEC team? We even have a guy from Indiana. We thought it just meant more? Where is the SEC Bias?: Week 4 Heisman Poll The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":69654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35572,7,6,5,2,35605,35634,17,35609,35581,3,35661],"tags":[6734,8945,34364,33159,34142,32741],"class_list":["post-80427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heisman","category-acc","category-big12","category-bigten","category-featured","category-indiana-hoosiers","category-miami-hurricanes","category-news","category-ohio-state-buckeyes","category-oklahoma-sooners","category-sec","category-tcu-horned-frogs","tag-carson-beck","tag-dante-moore","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-jeremiah-smith","tag-john-mateer","tag-marcel-reed"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80427"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80433,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80427\/revisions\/80433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}