Week 9 Heisman Rankings 2026: Jeremiah Smith Ahead of Darian Mensah, for Now

Ohio State lost at USC, and Ian Cummings still has Jeremiah Smith at the top of the Heisman race. On PFN’s YouTube channel, the PFN college football analyst kept the Buckeyes wide receiver at No. 1 in his Heisman top five after Week 9. He also said Miami quarterback Darian Mensah has never been closer to passing him.

Behind Smith and Mensah, Cummings ranked Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney third, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss fourth and Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker fifth, just ahead of Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr. Several of those spots could change Saturday, Nov. 7, when top-ranked Miami visits Notre Dame and Ole Miss hosts Georgia.

Why Jeremiah Smith Stays No. 1 After Ohio State’s Loss

Second-ranked Ohio State fell 30-18 at USC on Oct. 31. Cummings said some sportsbooks responded by moving Mensah ahead of Smith, and he isn’t going along with it. “I’m not going to be the person who’s that reactive to one week, one result that wasn’t even that dependent on Jeremiah Smith,” he said.

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Smith caught 10 passes for 83 yards and a 1-yard touchdown against the Trojans, according to ESPN’s box score. Cummings blamed the loss on Ohio State’s quarterback situation without Julian Sayin. In his view, the offense couldn’t sustain drives with an inexperienced passer while Smith kept moving the chains. Cummings named that quarterback as Lincoln Kienholz, but ESPN’s box score credits Luke Fahey with all 38 of the Buckeyes’ pass attempts.

Cummings’ bigger point was about what the trophy is supposed to measure. He argued that “moving Jeremiah Smith out of the number one spot because of that loss is the equivalent of using QB wins as a legitimate stat,” since the circumstances behind a result matter. For him, the question is still who the best player in college football is.

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Cummings judges a Heisman candidate on three things: elite production, a dominant way of winning and big performances against top opponents. He said Smith meets all three better than anyone. He pointed to Smith’s games against Iowa and Indiana and to the Texas loss, noting that “he was incredible against Texas, even though they lost that game.” He also said Smith now holds the Big Ten record for career receiving touchdowns.

He did leave room for a change. If Mensah plays well and Miami wins at Notre Dame, Cummings said he would consider moving him up. Until then, he is “still keeping Smith in my spot until someone else earns it against elite competition.” Ohio State, now 6-2, hosts Oregon on Nov. 7.

Darian Mensah’s Case, and the Notre Dame Test

“It’s as close as it’s ever been for the number one spot in the Heisman rankings,” Cummings said of Mensah, though he still has Smith “ahead by a thread.”

Mensah completed 22 of 29 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions, as unbeaten Miami held off North Carolina 38-35 in Chapel Hill. By Cummings’ count, Mensah has more than 2,400 passing yards, 25 touchdown passes and one interception this season, plus two rushing touchdowns. He said Mensah came into the game with a PFN QB Impact score of 99.9. If it held through the end of the season, Cummings said, that would be the best score in the metric’s history, and he called it “certifiably insane.”

Cummings also praised Mensah’s composure along with what he called “the hyper-elite, almost-generational efficiency that he’s shown as a thrower.” North Carolina pushed Miami late, but Mensah stayed “cool, calm, and collected,” and Cummings said it was hard to picture this Miami team losing its footing with him at quarterback.

Even so, Cummings isn’t making the switch. “I’m not moving him to the number one spot yet because I still don’t trust the schedule,” he said. In his view Miami hasn’t been tested the way a Heisman contender should be. That makes the Nov. 7 trip to 7-1 Notre Dame, which Cummings called another top-five team, the biggest game of Mensah’s season.

He wants to see Mensah lead the win himself. Toney’s role won’t count against Mensah much, Cummings said, unless Toney is clearly lifting him by making plays Mensah wouldn’t make otherwise.

Why Malachi Toney Is Locked Into the Top Three

Cummings sees three players above everyone else. He said “there’s a big gap, in my opinion, between Toney and the next best on the list,” whether that next player is Chambliss, Carr or Mestemaker. He also said “it’s a lot closer between two and three than it is three and four.”

Toney caught seven passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns at North Carolina. That included a 9-yard score with 2:33 left that put Miami up 38-28, a cushion it needed once the Tar Heels scored again a minute later. Cummings said Toney has 73 catches for 1,027 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, passing 1,000 yards in eight games.

For a receiver to win the Heisman, Cummings said, he needs big volume and has to be the player his team leans on in the biggest moments. He believes that describes Toney better than almost anyone in the country. Cummings pointed to Toney’s elusiveness after the catch on short, designed throws and his body control at the catch point for his size. “They simply have to get Malachi Toney the ball. It’s a necessity,” he said. He also said Mensah, “if he doesn’t have Malachi Toney, probably doesn’t pull this one out.”

Being teammates helps and hurts both of them. Cummings called the two Miami stars “kind of handcuffs for each other in the Heisman conversation,” because Toney’s big games and Mensah’s big games tend to be the same games.

Trinidad Chambliss at No. 4, With Georgia Next

Chambliss threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns in a 45-15 win over Auburn, completing 22 of 34 passes. He also ran seven times for 65 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown. His second-quarter interception came off a tipped pass, Cummings said. After Auburn pulled within 17-15 in the third quarter, Ole Miss scored the game’s last 28 points.

Cummings put Chambliss’ season at more than 2,000 passing yards, 18 touchdown passes, eight interceptions and seven rushing touchdowns. He said the higher turnover rate compared with last season is partly bad luck and partly Chambliss taking chances that don’t always pay off.

Cummings thinks Chambliss is doing more with less. He said the defense under Pete Golding hasn’t been as good as expected, running back Kewan Lacy hasn’t been consistently available and the receiver group behind Deuce Alexander is thinner than it was in the Lane Kiffin years. “Trinidad Chambliss really has a lot less going for him this year and still has the Ole Miss Rebels in the CFP playoff conversation,” he said. Even in the loss to Texas, Cummings said, Chambliss “still had NFL-level throws, where he’s dropping it into the bucket against single coverage down the field.”

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Ole Miss came into Week 9 ranked 12th and is now 6-2, third in the SEC by record. Cummings said beating Georgia at home on Nov. 7 would be a big boost to Chambliss’ Heisman case. In his words, “he’s locked outside of the top three pretty safely, but a win against Georgia can get him there.”

Drew Mestemaker Edges CJ Carr for No. 5

Mestemaker completed 27 of 42 passes for 323 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, but No. 24 Oklahoma State lost 51-49 at Iowa State and dropped to 5-3. Cummings said Mestemaker now has more than 2,600 passing yards, 25 touchdown passes, six interceptions and two rushing touchdowns. He listed losses to Tulsa and Houston alongside the Iowa State game.

Cummings argued that Mestemaker is playing well despite his team. He said Oklahoma State has offensive weapons, naming receiver Justin Bowick, who caught seven passes for 124 yards and two scores in Ames. The problem has been a defense that has given up a lot of points over the past three games. “Drew Mestemaker has been keeping them in these shootouts time and time again and proving that he not only has the high-end talent to separate himself as one of the best players in the league, but also the high-end volume production at the QB spot,” Cummings said. He added that Mestemaker is a potential QB1 of the 2027 NFL Draft on his board, but that he still needs statement wins and likely has to win out to have a real shot at the Heisman.

Carr made it close. Cummings called Notre Dame one of the most consistent teams in the country, but he said Carr hasn’t been tested like a Heisman candidate should be. He also said the loss to BYU was Carr’s most uneven game of the season. Cummings said Carr doesn’t have the statement wins either, so Mestemaker’s volume decided it for now. “If he wins against Miami next week, then that is a feather in his cap and that gets him above Mestemaker for the fifth spot,” Cummings said of Carr.

That puts three of the six players Cummings discussed on the same field in South Bend on Nov. 7. Mensah’s shot at No. 1 and Carr’s chance to move into the top five both depend on that one game.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.