2023 Heisman Tracker: Michael Penix Jr. leads, but race tightens

Welcome to November, that most precious of college football months when falling temperatures mean the heat around the competition is turning up. And this year, the torridity around the Heisman Trophy race is at a downright boil.

Earlier this year, we, 15 ESPN college football writers, gifted you with our preseason Heisman Tracker. It was no shock to see who we had atop our 2023 expectations, as Caleb Williams was returning to USC with a stiff arm trophy in his cabinet and had a supporting cast that placed the Trojans as preseason Pac-12 favorite.

But as ESPN’s Chris Berman has reminded us since 1979, that’s why they play the games. And with eight or nine of those games in the books for every team in the land, it’s time for us to make our monthly revisit to the Tracker and see who we believe has the best chance to be sitting in the front row in New York six weeks from now.

Points awarded: 5 for first-place votes, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth. Odds by Caesars Sportsbook (through Nov. 2).