Marcel Reed's Heisman hype is only continuing to build after a massive comeback against the South Carolina Gamecocks, but there are still far too many people discounting what he has done for this Aggie team. There's a lot of excitement about guys like Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin, but Reed has gotten less of the shine.
Maybe that's symptomatic of the general lovefest that the media has been having with those two Big 10 teams this year, but whatever the case, Reed has not gotten the flowers he should have yet this year. However, when you compare the cases between the three quarterbacks, it becomes clear that one is head and shoulders above the rest.
As you may have been able to guess, that one is Marcel Reed. He has been absolutely stellar when the Aggies have needed him to be, and has faced down much tougher competition than either of the other players. The numbers bear this out, however painful they may be for Big 10 fans to look at.
Marcel Reed is head and shoulders above other Heisman hopefuls in the important stats
Just take a look at this comparison of Sayin, Mendoza, Ty Simpson, and Reed that College Football Nerds put up on Twitter:
When you do just the most basic filtering for quality of opponent, it's amazing how similar Sayin, Simpson, and Mendoza look. While Reed is clearly a different profile. pic.twitter.com/IJHTNbPefG
— College Football Nerds (@CFBNerds) November 17, 2025
First of all, it's striking that both the SEC quarterbacks have faced 5 top-30 defenses each, while the Big 10 quarterbacks have faced 3 total between them. Second, Reed rising to the big moment is clear here: his YPA is by far the highest, as is his QB rating.
These are important considerations to bring in when you're comparing these quarterbacks. YPA is a good catch-all metric that penalizes for incompletions and shows how big the gains actually are that a QB is making. QB Rating is also a good measure of a quarterback's overall performance (though it should be distinguished from ESPN's QBR metric).
The story is clear: Reed is the only one stepping up to the plate and delivering for his team in these big moments. This even includes the Auburn game, which was the worst game of the year for the Aggie offense. Reed is top dog in this race, and it shouldn't be close— hopefully, the voters begin to actually recognize that.