Lane Kiffin weighs in on Matt Corral, Heisman Trophy voting system

Although Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral saw his Heisman Trophy odds take a slight dip from +210 to +250 this week, head coach Lane Kiffin believes his signal caller should receive college football’s greatest individual honor.

Corral has put together a Heisman-worthy campaign in 2021 with both his rushing and passing abilities, but this past week hardly helped his case, despite playing through a knee injury against LSU. Although he didn’t make many mistakes against the Tigers, Corral’s 185-yard, one-touchdown performance through the air and 24-yard, one-touchdown performance on the ground wasn’t enough to make up any ground against the favorite, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (+185).

Corral figures to be in the conversation by season’s end, but Kiffin acknowledges that the Heisman voting system might not favor an Ole Miss quarterback.

“I can understand that,” Kiffin said, when asked why it seems that national media is shying away from considering Corral a favorite to win the Heisman. “I’m not being critical, but it’s hard for anybody to watch all the games. They play at the same time and all of that stuff, so I think a lot of people read stats. So they don’t know who’s injured, who he’s not playing with, what he has to do, how he has to make plays — that’s just part of it. The thing that usually has to happen is you have to keep winning, too.

“There’s a lot of variables that go into [the Heisman Trophy]. That does not make it, every year, necessarily the best player in college football.”

Corral, through seven games, has led Ole Miss to a 6-1 record and a No. 10 ranking in the AP poll with his play. He’s amassed 1,913 passing yards on a near 68% completion rate, throwing for 15 touchdowns with just one interception. On the ground, Corral seems almost as effective as in the air; he’s run for 474 yards on 100 attempts, along with nine touchdowns. Against AP top-25 opponents, Corral has been even better, completing 70 percent of his passes for 500 passing yards and three touchdowns, along with 97 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.

“This guy plays really well, really competitive, arm strength there are no questions,” Kiffin said of Corral. “And you’ve seen him under center last week, at times, doing pro-style stuff. So, I would think he’s going to be a very high pick [in the NFL Draft].”

Winning can certainly make or break a Heisman Trophy campaign, and Corral has helped one-loss Ole Miss amass the same record as Young at Alabama. However, Corral might have to win out to solidify his campaign, and the Rebels have two extremely tough matchups in the next three weeks: first, this weekend, Ole Miss travels to face No. 18 Auburn on the road; then, after a nonconference game against Liberty, they’ll face No. 14 Texas A&M at home.