Caleb Williams

USC's Caleb Williams, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Georgia's Stetson Bennett and TCU's Max Duggan will be heading to New York City for the 2022 Heisman Trophy ceremony after being named finalists Monday.

By this point in the season, the consensus has typically coalesced around one player as the Heisman favorite. Perhaps the voting will ultimately be pretty one-sided, but this seems to be a somewhat open race, especially after a topsy-turvy final few weeks.

Stroud's candidacy might have suffered a fatal blow with Ohio State's 45-23 loss to Michigan, a game that saw him finish 31-of-48 for 349 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

It's not often a player finishes significantly higher on the Heisman ballot—Stroud was fourth in 2021—after posting worse numbers than the year before.

In the same number of games, the Buckeyes star has 1,095 fewer passing yards (3,340), fewer touchdowns (37) and worse efficiency (66.2 percent completion rate and a 176.2 passer rating).

Williams became the front-runner with Stroud's campaign losing steam, only for USC to fall in the Pac-12 title game and miss out on a College Football Playoff berth.

The sophomore shouldn't shoulder much blame for the 47-24 defeat. He played through a hamstring injury and went 28-of-41 for 363 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, and he was a bystander as the Trojans defense allowed 533 yards to the Utah offense.

If anything, the outcome underscored Williams' value to the team and how much his performance helped compensate for a suspect defense. In 13 games, he threw for 4,075 yards, 37 touchdowns and four interceptions and ran for 372 yards and 10 scores.

Of the players still in the Heisman discussion, Bennett unquestionably had the best championship week. He threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns as Georgia dropped 50 points on LSU in the SEC title game.

It might have come far too late to change the minds of the voters, though. The Bulldogs quarterback didn't put up gaudy numbers (3,425 passing yards and 20 touchdowns) overall.

The same goes for Duggan.

The senior quarterback undoubtedly played a massive role in TCU finishing 12-1 and reaching the CFP semifinals, but it's tough to make a case for why he was the most outstanding player in FBS. Duggan posted 3,321 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and a 165.5 passer rating in the regular season.

The Heisman will be handed out Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams suffered a "significant" hamstring injury in Saturday's 47-24 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters Sunday.

"It's probably good we're not playing for the next 2-3 weeks," Riley said. "We'll rehab him hard and hope to have him available."

Riley told reporters after Saturday's game that Williams suffered the injury on a 59-yard run in the first quarter.

"He was not even 50 percent," Riley said, per The Athletic's Stewart Mandel. "I thought about taking him out but he wouldn't let me ... maybe the gutsiest performance (at that position) I've ever seen."

Williams was a bit more candid when explaining his injury.

"You ever have an old rubber band? That’s kind of what it felt like," Williams said, per Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde.

Williams, who was seen limping by the start of the third quarter, played through the injury, completing 28-of-41 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns against one interception in the loss. He also rushed for 21 yards on 12 carries.

The 20-year-old entered the Pac-12 Championship Game as the Heisman Trophy favorite, and he's likely still the front-runner. In 13 games this season, he has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns against four interceptions, in addition to rushing for 372 yards and 10 scores.

Williams followed Riley to USC after beginning his collegiate career as a freshman at Oklahoma, where Riley had been the head coach before accepting a deal to join the Trojans.

With a win in Saturday's championship game, USC might have been selected for the College Football Playoff. Instead, they dropped to 11-2 on the season and watched as the 11-1 Ohio State Buckeyes were picked for the four-team playoff.

Despite not being selected for the CFP, USC will face Tulane in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2. If Williams is unable to play, Miller Moss would be in line to suit up.

The USC football team will not be going to the College Football Playoff after falling to Utah 47-24 in the Pac 12 Championship Game on Friday evening in Las Vegas.

The No. 4 Trojans were guaranteed a postseason berth with a win over the No. 11 Utes, but a disastrous defensive effort led to USC's second defeat against Utah this year.

Utah rolled for 533 total yards, with quarterback Cameron Rising completing 22-of-34 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns. His 60-yard toss to tight end Thomas Yassmin gave the Utes a 33-24 lead in the fourth quarter.

The Utes steamrolled the Trojans on the ground as well with 223 yards and three scores on 35 carries (6.4 YPC).

After the Yassmin touchdown and a R.J. Hubert interception of USC quarterback Caleb Williams, Utes running back Ja'Quinden Jackson rushed for a 53-yard touchdown for a 39-24 edge.

The Utes defense then forced a turnover on downs before a Micah Bernard score put the game away for good.

The USC offense did all it could with Williams, the clear Heisman Trophy favorite, hobbled with a midgame lower-body injury that briefly sent him to the medical tent. He still impressed with 363 passing yards and three touchdowns.

However, the Utah offensive line dominated the trenches, allowing the skill-position players with more than enough room to dissect the USC defense through the air and on the ground.

That enables Utah to finish the evening on a 44-7 run after falling behind 17-3 in the second quarter, and Twitter noted the team's significant defensive struggles as a result.

Utah will now be heading to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-12 representative. USC will await its bowl fate following Saturday's conference championship games.