College Football Awards 2022: Start Time, Date, TV Schedule and More

Now that the College Football Playoff semifinals and 43 bowl games are set, it's time to roll out college football's biggest awards.

The most prestigious prize is the Heisman Trophy, which will be awarded Saturday, but there are other honors that need to be given out to recognize the best players in the country at their respective positions.

The Chuck Bednarik Award spotlights the Defensive Player of the Year, the Biletnikoff Award is for the most outstanding receiver, the Doak Walker Award marks the nation's premier running back, and the Maxwell Award will pinpoint the best overall player, to name a few.

This Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, ESPN will air the 32nd Home Depot College Football Awards, where players will be honored for their outstanding play this season in a two-hour special.

For a full list of awards and finalists, please click here.

Here's how to watch the ceremony and a few predictions on who should win.

Date: Thursday, 8 December

Start Time: 7 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

There are those who believe Will Anderson Jr. should have won the Heisman Trophy for his defensive exploits last season, even those outside of Alabama.

And they had a point, considering he had a nation-leading 34.5 tackles for loss to go along with 17.5 sacks.

In the end, though, the 21-year-old didn't even make it to the four finalists for the coveted award.

This season, his numbers are down (17 tackles for loss, 10 sacks), but he's clearly still the best defensive player in college football. That will translate pretty soon into a possible top-three selection in the NFL draft.

Before he gets to that important phase of his career, he's up for some well-deserved hardware, namely the Check Bednarik Award.

Also nominated are Cincinnati linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. and USC defensive tackle Tuli Tuipulotu, who are both deserving contenders when voters consider their numbers.

Cincinnati Bearcats star Pace tallied 19.5 tackles for loss, 120 tackles and nine sacks; and USC Trojans stopper Tuipulotu, who already won the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year award, had 12.5 sacks and 1.6 TFLs per contest.

While both players' statistics are impressive, this is Anderson's year. He's already repeated as the Bronko Nagurski Award winner, so this one's likely in the bag, too.

Blake Corum missed the cut as a Heisman Trophy finalist, which was likely due to his season-ending injury. But with that snub comes a larger shot at the Doak Walker Award.

Before going down with a knee injury against Illinois, the 22-year-old was on pace to be a legitimate threat to take home the top honor because of his 1,463 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns.

What made him so impactful, though, is that he had a TD every time he stepped on the field for the Michigan Wolverines this year.

Not to be outdone are the other two Doak finalists: Illinois running back Chase Brown and Texas rusher Bijan Robinson.

The former has the second-most rushing yards (1,643) in the nation, and the latter owns the fifth-most (1,580).

Brown has the total yardage, but Robinson has 18 rushing TDs, which is the same as Corum.

Simply put, this is a tight race, and there's a legitimate case for each of these three backs to win.

In the end, though, it will be Corum running away with it.

Without question, Caleb Williams had himself a year.

Despite the disappointing 47-24 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, which cost the USC Trojans a place in the College Football Playoff, the 20-year-old still had the kind of season worth multiple awards.

Williams already took home the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year award and is up for the Maxwell Award (best overall player), the Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback) and the most coveted award, the Heisman Trophy.

The oddsmakers have the USC quarterback as the favorite to win in New York on Saturday, but it looks like he's going to snag a couple of additional prizes before then.

For the Maxwell, he's up against Ohio State's C.J. Stroud and Tennessee's Hendon Hooker, both sensational QBs who had excellent years.

Additionally, he's up for the Davey O'Brien against Stroud and TCU's Max Duggan, players who are equally deserving of the honor.

However, Williams has managed to separate himself from the rest of the pack.

His 37 passing touchdowns is tied three ways for the most in college football (Stroud and Houston's Clayton Tune), and his 4,075 passing yards is fourth-most in the nation.

What's different for the Washington D.C. native is that he only had three interceptions, 10 rushing TDs and the fact that he took a USC team with a 4-8 record in 2021 to its current 11-2 record and No. 8 ranking in the AP Top 25.

All things considered, Williams should get all three awards as the exclamation point to a banner year in southern California.