McGee's midseason awards: From Chase Brown to Mike Leach to John Daly

Making the turn. Yes, that's a play term. But today, it is besides apropos arsenic it pertains to assemblage football. For, arsenic evidenced by each the teams with records of something-and-something that adhd up to astatine slightest a half-dozen games played, and arsenic proven by the information that the leaves successful the trees are present the aforesaid brownish and reddish hues arsenic Nick Saban's look astatine Neyland Stadium past weekend, the 153rd play of the top athletics connected Earth has conscionable crossed implicit the halfway point.

Whenever idiosyncratic makes the crook connected the links, they usually plaything done the clubhouse and the 19th Hole, wherever a radical of Judge Smails-looking gentlemen are leaning connected the bar, overserved, watching assemblage shot and declaring who is the best, worst and successful betwixt that the crippled has to offer. They person those conversations amid shelves of dusty trophies commemorating member-guest tourney champs, closest-to-the-pins and holes-in-one.

So, with that existent making-the-turn tone successful mind, let america to determination a solid of amber liquid and manus retired immoderate brass and particle committee hardware from the section trophy shop, arsenic we contiguous our 2022 ESPN.com Midseason College Football Awards.

The Peyton Manning October Heisman Award

Hendon Hooker, Tennessee. No 1 ever had a bigger pb successful the midseason Heisman Trophy contention than the archetypal Tennessee Sheriff did successful 1997, but arsenic we cognize now, Manning finished 2nd successful December, conscionable arsenic chap Vols Hank Lauricella, Johnny Majors and Heath Shuler did earlier him. Hooker outdueled reigning stiff limb king Bryce Young successful Neyland Stadium, but erstwhile the ballots are formed astatine season's end, Hooker volition inactive person to flooded Vols' Heisman past and besides the caller past of guys winning the crippled but losing the trophy. See: Deshaun Watson vs. Lamar Jackson (Clemson 42, Louisville 36 successful 2016). Then again, Hooker and his squad would 100% instrumentality Watson's '16 consolation prize close now. Celebrating a natty successful January.

Side note: Hooker should person bonus points due to the fact that helium wrote a children's motivational publication with his brother, NC A&T QB Alston Hooker, during the offseason. Side enactment No. 2: Could idiosyncratic delight region each the vigor supplements from RGIII's room cabinet?

Heisman Front Runners
1-@Vol_Football QB Hendon Hooker
2-@OhioStateFB QB CJ Stroud
3- @TCUFootball QB Max Duggan
4-@GoJSUTigersFB QB S. Sanders
5- @IlliniFootball RB Chase Brown
6- @UIWFootball QB Lindsey Scott Jr pic.twitter.com/l458v8MTv0

Honorable mentions: Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Caleb Williams, Blake Corum, Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

The Guy You'd Most Want With You successful One Those Weird Mall Escape Rooms Award

Tre'Shaun Harrison, WR, Oregon State. Harrison lone has 3 touchdown receptions this season, but whenever helium hauls 1 in, it's a large one, the latest being the crippled victor vs. Stanford 2 weeks ago. But his champion effort was a 17-yard surface drawback against Fresno State erstwhile helium managed to look from 8 would-be Bulldog tacklers similar helium was Boba Fett emerging from the Sarlacc pit.

play

0:35

Tre'Shaun Harrison bounces extracurricular connected a surface walk and goes 17 yards for an Oregon State touchdown.

Honorable mention: The back justice and tract justice from the Alabama-Tennessee game.

The David Blaine 'Now You See Me, Now You Don't' Award

Texas A&M. The Aggies started the play ranked sixth successful the AP Top 25 and person since vanished quicker than my brother-in-law erstwhile the waitress puts the meal cheque connected the table. That exit from the canvass began Week 2 aft A&M was stunned astatine location by Appalachian State and the Aggies are present 3-3, spared a 2-4 grounds lone by mode of a doinked extremity headdress would-be game-winning tract extremity by Arkansas backmost successful Week 4. The Aggies' disappearing enactment comes with truthful overmuch powerfulness that it adjacent rubbed disconnected connected the squad that derailed them.

Honorable mention: Appalachian State. The Mountaineers bushed A&M, hosted College GameDay and won a last-second thriller implicit Troy but person been 2-2 since and are mired successful the mediate of the Sun Belt East. Still, they are up of Marshall and Georgia Southern, some of whom person battled the .500 enactment aft knocking disconnected Notre Dame and Nebraska connected the aforesaid time App State bushed A&M.

The Cole Trickle 'Remember Me?' Award

TCU. As A&M has dropped retired of the preseason apical 10 similar a ceramic connected a heap of molten marshmallows, it has been replaced successful those lofty rankings by a erstwhile Southwest Conference rival successful the Horned Frogs. TCU received precisely zero preseason AP Top 25 votes and was picked to decorativeness seventh successful the 10-team Big 12. Now it is 6-0, ranked No. 8 and, according to ESPN's FPI machine, has a 23.6% accidental to triumph the conference, 2nd to lone Texas astatine 55.1%. The Frogs question to Austin connected Nov. 12.

Honorable mentions: Tennessee, Syracuse, Illinois (wow, wearing orangish seems to beryllium moving well, doesn't it?), the Pac-12, Tulane, Chip Kelly.

The Donnel Pumphrey Offensive Player We Should Be Making a Bigger Deal Out of Than We Are Award

Chase Brown, RB, Illinois. Named for the erstwhile San Diego State moving backmost who successful 2016 acceptable the NCAA FBS single-season rushing people and someway everyone figured retired a mode to cheapen and/or disregard it. The 6-1 Fighting Illini are receiving plentifulness of props for their defence and different Big Ten moving back, Michigan's Blake Corum, is garnering the Heisman hype. But Brown is the nation's lone 1,000-yard back, with 1,059 yards implicit 7 games, and has yet to beryllium held nether 100 yards successful a game.

Honorable mention: Kyle Vantrease, QB, Georgia Southern. Dude has thrown for 2,512 yards, 2nd lone to Washington's Michael Penix Jr. Quick reminder: These aren't your granddad's triple option-running Eagles. Clay Helton is successful complaint successful Statesboro and helium brought his USC violative playbook with him.

The Jaylon Ferguson Defensive Player We Should Be Making a Bigger Deal Out of Than We Are Award

Jackson Mitchell, LB, UConn. Named for the erstwhile Louisiana Tech antiaircraft extremity who successful 2018 acceptable the NCAA vocation sacks grounds and everyone, again, someway figured retired a mode to disregard it. Chances are you haven't been paying attraction to the turnaround that's happening successful Storrs, but the Huskies person 3 wins, which already matches the combined full from their past 2 seasons. The anchor of that effort is Mitchell, who has 88(!) tackles. He has 4 double-digit efforts successful 8 games and a combined 35 implicit 3 weeks against a triumvirate of AP Top 25 teams successful Syracuse, Michigan and NC State.

Honorable mentions: Jason Henderson, LB, Old Dominion (84 tackles) and Eastern Michigan DL Jose Ramirez, tied with USC's Tuli Tuipulotu with an FBS-best 7 sacks.

The Ricky Bobby 'I Don't Know What to Do With My Hands' Sideline Interview Award

Mike Leach connected weddings. The Pirate has had the Mississippi State Bulldogs moving up and down the tract each season, sitting 5-2 and spending astir of the twelvemonth ranked. But everyone knows that Leach's champion enactment is erstwhile helium is successful a shot concern and doesn't really speech astir football. Anyone who has ever gotten joined and/or has kids who are getting joined knows that determination are zero lies successful what helium had to accidental to SEC Network's Alyssa Lang aft MSU's immense Week 5 triumph implicit Texas A&M.

Honorable mention: Sam Pittman, man of the people.

The Tim Gunn Rock the Runway Best Special Uniform Award

BYU vs. Notre Dame, Oct. 8. This has been the play of blackouts erstwhile it comes to one-off uniforms, from North Texas flipping the Mean Green and UCF's "Space U" to Oklahoma's "Unity" threads and Rutgers with the "Dark Knights." But nary 1 has pulled disconnected the operation of complementing its school's signature look with a swath of achromatic similar BYU did erstwhile it countered Notre Dame's all-white Shamrock Series acceptable for their matchup successful Vegas. The Cougars adjacent employed a UFC combatant and a magician to assistance with the reveal.

"IT'S TIME!!" pic.twitter.com/e9TqeCb0sw

Honorable mentions: Yale's 150th play solemnisation throwbacks, Texas State Bobcats embroidering "Eat 'em up" crossed their backs and "Come and instrumentality it" wrong their collars.

The Bugo Hoss/Guiccy Knock-off Clothing Brand Award

Gardner-Webb. The Runnin' Bulldogs are an Under Armour schoolhouse and person ever had an underrated look. Trust me. I grew up there. When they spell all-white connected the roadworthy it looks amazing. But during their Week 3 showdown with Mercer, astatine slightest 1 subordinate appeared to beryllium wearing immoderate Blunder Armor britches picked up astatine the outlet promenade successful adjacent Gaffney, South Carolina.

Honorable mention: The Indiana fans who were ripped connected societal media for misspelling their school's sanction successful the stands, but were really paying tribute to that glorious time successful 2021 erstwhile the Hoosiers took the tract arsenic Indinia University.

The Col. Miles Rick Quaritch Tree Wrecker Award

Eugene PD. With the Cardinal down 45-17 astatine Oregon, I curse if you perceive intimately capable you tin perceive the googly eyed "Charlie Brown Christmas Special"-looking Stanford Tree saying to this Eugene, Oregon, constabulary officer, "I cognize y'all emotion trees astir here, but please, just enactment maine retired of my misery already."

The Bette Midler 'But Enough About Me. Let's Talk About You. What Do You Think of Me?' Award

John Daly connected 'Marty & McGee'. I co-host this small amusement Saturday mornings connected SEC Network and we got disconnected to a tipsy commencement during Week 1 and we've been stumbling on ever since. Plus, this clip brings america backmost to the making the turn/19th Hole taxable we started with. Enjoy the 2nd fractional of the play y'all.

.@PGA_JohnDaly speechmaking Hillbilly Headlines is the contented you didn't cognize you needed 🤣@MartySmithESPN x @ESPNMcGee pic.twitter.com/asuUfnhyJ7