Paul Finebaum reveals his Heisman Trophy 'lock' following end of regular season

Caleb Williams has already won the Heisman Trophy, according to Paul Finebaum. The USC superstar is fated for the award, and Saturday’s win over Notre Dame solidified it.

“I’ve never been one for hyperbole but lock it up. It’s over. He has won the Heisman Trophy,” Finebaum said Sunday morning on SportsCenter. “Really, he’s been doing it all year. Let’s not forget, this is a young guy that was at Oklahoma a year ago, followed Lincoln Riley out west – that turned out to be a pretty good coaching hire. He brought some of the key players and put them in the right spot and now Southern Cal is not only in the playoff contention, short of just an absolute disaster is championship game, I think we have a Heisman Trophy winner a week early.”

If Williams were to win, Riley would now have coached three of the last six Heisman Trophy winners – Williams, Kyler Murray (2018) and Baker Mayfield (2017).

It’s no secret that Williams has been one of the best players in the country this season. That continued to be the case Saturday against Notre Dame, defeating the Fighting Irish 38-27. He finished the game 18-of-22 passing for 232 yards and a touchdown, but did most of his scoring on the ground where he totaled 35 yards rushing and three touchdowns – the first USC quarterback in history to do so.

In fact, Williams is certainly hearing the buzz about his Heisman hopes. The USC star quarterback even struck the iconic Heisman pose after one of his touchdowns Saturday. Still, Williams was humble after the game.

“Nothing tonight I felt like was Heisman,” he said. “It was just, my teammates kept telling me to do it so I ended up just doing it on one of the touchdowns.”

Even if Saturday wasn’t his so-called ‘Heisman moment,’ he’s had a season worth of them already. He’s thrown for 3,712 yards, 34 touchdowns, three interceptions, a top-five QBR (86.8) and has added 351 yards and 10 more touchdowns on the ground as well.

Williams and USC are set to compete in the Pac-12 Championship Game against Utah – the only team that has defeated the Trojans this season – at 5 p.m. PT on Friday in Las Vegas. If they can win that one, they’ll have a great shot to make it in the College Football Playoff, especially after a couple of big upsets this weekend.