A singular, indifferent Saturday can often cause tectonic shifts in the CFB dynamic. Let alone the penultimate one of the regular season. This time last week, Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter were enroute to the playoffs. Now, they’re peeking over the proverbial horizon to see what’s next on the cards. For players of this ilk, that would be awards season. The Heisman is inadvertently now an even bigger focus.

Travis’ dues for the unprecedented nature of what he was doing came late, but people caught on. Ashton Jeanty was leading the race for the Heisman for major parts of the season. However, Travis Hunter is now the massive favorite. With the hotly contested tussle now looking one-sided, Ashton’s tremendous season perhaps needed some reassurance. A vote of confidence of sorts. That has come from an unlikely source.

Shedeur was on the periphery of the discourse himself at points. However, he has continually maintained his stance that Travis is the most deserving candidate. Yet, there is no love lost between him and his running mate’s adversary. In a video posted to his 2Legendary YouTube channel, Shedeur was asked who he thinks will win the accolade between Travis and Ashton. He replied, “I think [Travis] for sure. He’s the Heisman winner. I’ve tweeted that, week in, week out”. Shedeur still made sure to give Ashton credit- something Travis has refrained from doing for his competitor.

Shedeur continued by saying, “The thing is, Ashton Jeanty- he’s a great player, you know. He’s a great running back. That’s why I hate that people have to tear down one man to build for the next man…They both could be great players, you know. It’s based [on] opinions. Based [on] who that person thinks and all the votes and all that type of stuff. But that shouldn’t take away from what he’s doing at running back. Because what he’s doing, he’s doing a great job…and it’s very hard to do what he’s doing also. So I just don’t like when people take away from what [Travis] does, I hate when people take away from what Ashton Jeanty does. Because they got real influence on youth. They got real influence on college football and everybody look up to them”. Spoken like a future franchise quarterback!

Ashton and the rest of the contenders have fallen well behind Travis in the pecking order. He’s a -800 favorite to win, according to oddsmakers. While it isn’t a foregone conclusion yet, the race appears over. Travis Hunter is likely the successor to Jayden Daniels’ throne. The Sanders banged on the drum in unison and got their wish. This begs the question, “Why did Shedeur never quite rally for himself to win”?

Shedeur Sanders talks about why he boosted Travis’ campaign at his own expense

Shedeur Sanders has had quite the season, so what if it’s blemished by Colorado’s CFP campaign likely falling short? Forget thwarting partisan allegations of nepotism. He’s pretty much the consensus best QB in college football. With the star power and fanfare he garnered, the Heisman was not out of the question for himself. Yet he has stayed ten toes down all along- Travis is the one.

During the aforementioned video, Shedeur spoke about why he didn’t think he should win the Heisman instead. He spoke about how Travis was doing “things he hasn’t seen”. That’s essentially verbatim what every CFB fan thinks. But Shedeur spoke about how he wants to give people their flowers at the moment. He even talked about how he goes up to opposition players after games to tell them how great they played. This is perhaps one quality the multifaceted Travis Hunter hasn’t displayed.

During the whole ordeal, Travis has avoided lauding the likes of Ashton or any other adversaries. Perhaps it is necessary in the heat of battle, as the masses may perceive that as weakness. Once this battle is over, it’ll be curious to see if Travis does give Ashton some plaudits. Shedeur has now paved the way for that.