USC’s Caleb Williams wins Heisman after leading Trojan turnaround

NEW YORK (AP) — Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams, the catalyst for the Trojans’ turnaround season, won the Heisman Trophy Saturday night, making USC the first school to take home college football’s most prestigious player of the year eight times .

Williams received 544 first-place votes and 2,031 points to easily outperform TCU quarterback Max Duggan (1,420).

Ohio State’s CJ Stroud finished third in the voting after finishing fourth last season. Georgia quarterback Stetson finished fourth. The top-ranked Bulldogs will face Stroud and the fourth-ranked Buckeyes on December 31 in the College Football Playoff.

Duggan and the third-placed Horned Frogs will take on No. 2 Michigan in the other CFP semifinals on New Year’s Eve.

Williams and No. 8 USC missed out on the Pac-12 championship and a playoff berth, but it was nonetheless a rebirth for a college football blues who has had only brief streaks of success over the past decade.

The last time USC had a Heisman winner was in 2005, when running back Reggie Bush became the second of consecutive Trojans players to win the award. Matt Leinart won the 2004 Heisman en route to a national championship.

Bush’s Heisman win, the Trojans’ seventh, was later vacated over NCAA violations that started USC’s relegation.

Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma each have seven Heisman wins.

Heisman Trophy finalists Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, TCU quarterback Max Duggan, Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud and Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams, from left, pose for a photo with the trophy before attending the awards ceremony on Saturday, December 10, 2022. in NYC. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)