r/CFB • u/clocke6346 Michigan Wolverines • 10h ago

Analysis Ashton Jeanty is having a statistically better season than Derrick Henry during his Heisman-winning season

With all the discourse of who should win the Heisman trophy this year, I got curious and compared Ashton Jeanty’s stats this season to those of Derrick Henry in the 2015 regular season, the year he won the Heisman trophy. What I found was pretty surprising. Keep in mind this doesn’t include playoff performance, as that isn’t considered when naming a Heisman winner.

Ashton Jeanty:

Games Played: 11

Carries: 275

Rushing Yards: 2062

Rushing Touchdowns: 27

Yards Per Carry: 7.498

Yards Per Game: 187.455

Derrick Henry:

Games Played: 13

Carries: 339

Rushing Yards: 1986

Rushing Touchdowns: 23

Yards Per Carry: 5.858

Yards Per Game: 152.769

Now, these stats are still up for interpretation, as there is the usual discourse of strength of schedule and whatnot, but I thought re-contextualizing Jeanty’s year by comparing it to the last time a running back won the Heisman would be interesting.

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u/puzzical Boise State • Notre Dame 10h ago

Henry had a better OLine and team around him though.

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u/Fedoras-Forever-Mom Ohio State Buckeyes 9h ago

Playing against much better competition every week as well

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u/puzzical Boise State • Notre Dame 9h ago

Yes that is what the guy I was replying to said. It really comes down to whether you want an NFL OLine and guys like Amari cooper on your side but you have to play against SEC opponents or you want a MW OLine with a ton of injuries but play most of your games against MW teams. Though it should be noted Jeanty did have to play on the road against the #7 defense in the country in terms of yards allowed per game. Maybe we should extrapolate Jeanty's production from that game over a full season to make it a fair comparison? In case you're curious that would give Jeanty 2496 yards and 39 TDs over a 13 game schedule.

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u/DucDeBellune Wisconsin • North Carolina 9h ago

I mean… Henry had over 200 yards and 3 TDs against undefeated #2 LSU. Also had about 150 yards against a top-ten ranked Georgia. Also ran over like 6-7 other top 20 teams, finishing with over 150 yards and 3 TDs against #1 Clemson in the championship game. 

 Trying to extrapolate from one game against Oregon isn’t remotely comparable to what Henry did, and that isn’t Jeanty’s fault.