College football midseason awards: Best players, hottest seats, biggest surprises and disappointments

With the 2023 college football season already halfway over, it's a great time to dole out some midseason awards. Here are our picks for the best of the first seven weeks of the season.

Best coach

Sam Cooper: Oklahoma coach Brent Venables

For me this came down to Venables and Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, but I ultimately sided with Venables here because I did not anticipate this much improvement from the Sooners. I knew they’d be better than the 6-6 team we saw in Venables’ first season, but I still had concerns about the defense and the holes the offense needed to fill on the line and at receiver. The defense just looks so much more physical and in sync as a unit that it’s hard not to be impressed by the turnaround. The win over Texas was obviously the high mark of the season.

I also want to give recognition to two Group of Five coaches — Curt Cignetti from James Madison and Troy Calhoun from Air Force. For Cignetti to have JMU playing at this level in Year 2 as an FBS program is incredible. And for Air Force to lose the second-leading rusher in program history and a three-year starter at QB and be even better than last year is mighty impressive.

Nick Bromberg: Washington coach Kalen DeBoer

This is DeBoer’s fourth season as a head coach and his teams have finished .500 or better in each of those four seasons. He quickly turned Fresno State around in 2020 and 2021 after the Bulldogs went 4-8 in 2019 and has made Washington fans forget the Jimmy Lake era with a seven-win improvement in 2022 and dreams of a national title this year. If Washington is able to successfully navigate November and win the Pac-12 title, it’s hard to see anyone challenging DeBoer for coach of the year honors.

Midseason Heisman

Sam: Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.

It’s got to be Michael Penix Jr., right? Penix has been incredible as Washington is off to a 6-0 start and up to No. 5 in the AP poll. He’s averaging 383.5 passing yards per game and has thrown 20 touchdowns with only three interceptions while completing 72.1% of his throws. He led Washington to a thrilling victory over Oregon on Saturday, throwing for 302 yards and four touchdowns. And to put in context how good his season has been, that was the low mark in passing yards for Penix this season. Penix is on a ridiculous pace and has the chance to have a historic season.

Nick: Penix

It’s hard to pick anyone but the consensus favorite for the award at this point in the season. There’s a good chance other players will emerge over the second half of the season and make a late Heisman run, but this isn’t about projecting what will happen in November. Penix has been the best QB in the country so far this season and his story of persistence is remarkable to play at this level after all of the injuries he’s sustained in his college career.

Best offensive player

Sam: LSU QB Jayden Daniels

He won’t get the same amount of shine as Penix because his team has lost two games, but Jayden Daniels is worthy of an abundance of praise for the way he’s been playing. LSU’s defense has been horrific this season, leaving Daniels and the offense to shoulder a massive load. He’s almost always been up to the task. Daniels is third in the nation with 2,294 passing yards and second with 22 touchdowns. He’s got a completion percentage of 73.1, has thrown only three interceptions and has also rushed for 515 yards and four scores. And while LSU’s national title hopes are remote at best, Daniels could still lead the Tigers to another SEC West title if they can beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in a few weeks.

Nick: Daniels

I have to agree with Sam here. LSU would be in a world of trouble without Daniels. He single-handedly beat Missouri in the second half after he got dinged up on a huge hit and is the best dual-threat quarterback in the country. Defenses know that Daniels is LSU's best rushing threat and he still finds ways to create big plays with his legs. LSU's path to the SEC title and its over-reliance on Daniels is a big reason why the former ASU QB is still in the thick of the Heisman race. I just wish he could figure out a way to not be on the receiving end of an NFL Blitz-level hit every game.

Best defensive player

Sam: Utah DE Jonah Elliss

There are a lot of worthy candidates here but the first person who came to mind for me was Utah edge rusher Jonah Elliss. Maybe it’s because he jumped off the screen with a ridiculous 10 tackles, five tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in Utah’s win over UCLA back on Sept. 23. He followed that up with six tackles, 2.5 TFLs and two sacks against Oregon State and then he had four tackles, 2.5 TFLs and another sack and a half in Saturday’s win over Cal. For the season, he’s up to 13 tackles for loss and nine sacks for a stacked Utah defense that hasn’t gotten much help from the offense. Elliss is having a tremendous season.

Nick: Old Dominion LB Jason Henderson

I’m going a little off the radar with this award because Henderson is having another exceptional season. He has 92 tackles through six games after he had an astonishing 186 tackles as a sophomore in 2022. After getting 11 stops in ODU’s season-opening loss to Virginia Tech, Henderson had at least 15 tackles in each of the following five games. He’s also making plays in the backfield. In addition to leading the country in tackles, Henderson also leads the nation in tackles for loss with 13.

Best freshman

Sam: Alabama DB Caleb Downs

When you lead Alabama in tackles as a true freshman, accolades are going to come your way. Caleb Downs has lived up to his billing as a five-star recruit, holding down a key role at safety for Nick Saban. He’s been versatile for the Tide. He’s been good in coverage and has also been a sure tackler near the line of scrimmage. For the season, he’s up to 54 tackles and two interceptions, including a crucial one in the second half of the win over Texas A&M.

Nick: Downs

Downs is already playing a bigger role as a freshman than the likes of Patrick Surtain II and Kool-Aid McKinstry. That’s a big accomplishment in an Alabama secondary that’s known for its complicated coverages. Downs was the No. 9 recruit in the country and the No. 2 defensive player in the class of 2023 when he enrolled at Alabama and he’s already living up to that ranking. With Alabama’s offense still figuring things out, Downs and the Alabama defensive backfield is the reason why the Tide still have a College Football Playoff shot.

Biggest surprise

Sam: Rutgers

Rutgers is 5-2! The Scarlet Knights haven’t finished with a record at or above .500 since 2014 and they need just one more win to potentially snap that skid. Rutgers hasn’t exactly faced a murderer’s row of opponents, but taking care of business against teams with close to equal levels of talent hasn’t exactly been a strong suit for Greg Schiano’s program. So far this year, RU has posted wins over Northwestern, Temple, Virginia Tech, Wagner and Michigan State. The back half of the slate is far more difficult with Ohio State, Iowa and Penn State still to come, but Rutgers can clinch bowl eligibility on Saturday with a road win over Indiana. Rutgers clinching bowl eligibility in October? Strange times indeed.

Nick: Missouri

The Tigers are 6-1 and are one of just three teams in the SEC who are already bowl eligible. The Tigers’ offense has been much better than expected this season thanks to a massive step forward from Brady Cook and the excellence of WR Luther Burden III. The former five-star recruit is playing almost exclusively in the slot and is the second-leading receiver in the SEC behind LSU’s Malik Nabers. The Tigers have South Carolina at home in Week 8 before an off week ahead of games vs. Georgia and Tennessee. Missouri’s chances of beating Georgia are slim. But it’s worth keeping in mind that Mizzou gave Georgia its toughest game of the season in 2022.

Biggest disappointment

Sam: Baylor

Baylor was a team I thought could be sneakily competitive in the Big 12 this year, but that has been far from the case. The Bears are 2-4, and that includes their ridiculous come-from-behind win at UCF. Before that game, BU got blown out at home by Texas State, blew a lead in a loss to Utah and got blasted by Texas. And after the UCF miracle, Baylor promptly laid an egg at home and lost 39-14 to a mediocre Texas Tech team. Dave Aranda led BU to a Big 12 title game in 2021. The Bears are 8-11 in conference play since then and have an uphill climb just to get to a bowl game this year. This is on the heels of Baylor closing out the 2022 season with four consecutive losses. Yikes.

Nick: Minnesota

There are a lot of contenders for this award. Baylor’s a great answer. Texas Tech. Illinois. But I’m going with a Minnesota team that has a collapse against Northwestern on its resume and has already taken itself out of contention in an extremely winnable Big Ten West. The Gophers could get back on the periphery of the division race with a win against Iowa on Saturday, but the Minnesota is a lesser version of the Hawkeyes at the moment. The Gophers are averaging just 22 points per game and the offense is averaging less than five yards a play as Athan Kaliakmanis has thrown for 133 yards per game so far.

Hottest seat

Sam: Indiana coach Tom Allen

Tom Allen has a great reputation and has done admirable work at one of the hardest jobs in the Power Five, but it might be time for the school to go in another direction. The Hoosiers went a combined 14-7 and 11-5 in Big Ten play between 2019 and 2020. Things have fallen apart since then. IU went 2-10 and didn’t have a conference win in 2021 and then went 4-8 with a 2-7 Big Ten mark last year. Through six weeks of the 2023 season, IU has rarely been competitive. The Hoosiers are 2-4 and their wins came over Indiana State and Akron. And the Akron game went into quadruple-overtime. IU has been outscored by a combined margin of 119-27 in three Big Ten games. It’s hard to see how things get better without a change.

Nick: Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher

It feels like the clock is ticking on Fisher’s tenure with the Aggies. Stellar recruiting classes have not turned into stellar seasons. That’s a coaching problem. Fisher’s conservative game-management is also becoming a problem. He’s making strategic decisions like it’s 1993, not 2023. QB Conner Weigman’s season-ending injury is significant, but are the Aggies really 5-2 or 6-1 instead of 4-3 if Weigman is healthy? I don’t think so. Throw in the inflated expectations that exist in College Station and this feels like an increasingly untenable situation.

Best transfer

Sam: Florida State WR Keon Coleman

A spring addition from Michigan State, Keon Coleman has helped Florida State’s offense take off to another level. His FSU debut was incredible as he posted nine catches for 122 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-24 win over LSU. And then, over the weekend, Coleman went off for nine catches, 140 yards and a touchdown against Syracuse while Johnny Wilson was sidelined. FSU has some big games coming up, and Coleman is the kind of difference-maker who can lead the Seminoles to a CFP berth.

Nick: Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders

Coleman was on my short list; he’s been phenomenal. But it’s impossible to ignore what Sanders has done in his first season at Colorado. Yeah, he has a tendency to take too many sacks. But Colorado’s offensive line is still a massive work in progress and defenses can tee off on Sanders because they know that running the ball is next-to-impossible for the Buffs. Sanders leads the country in passing yards and Colorado could be staring at a 3-9 season or worse if it simply had an average quarterback under center.

Best game

Sam: Washington 36, Oregon 33

Oklahoma’s dramatic win over Texas and the three crazy Colorado games (the wins over TCU and Colorado State and the loss to Stanford) all warranted consideration, but the Washington-Oregon game over the weekend was just too much fun. These were two rivals who are legitimate national title contenders going at it in their final regular season meeting (Pac-12 title game rematch, please) before departing for the Big Ten. And it had everything. The game ultimately came down to fourth-down decisions. Washington converted its first two before failing at the goal line in the fourth quarter but Oregon going 0-for-3 proved costly. Not only did Dan Lanning’s decisions (two of the three were easily defensible, by the way) take points off the board, but his last fourth-down call gave the ball back to Washington on a short field. That led to the winning score. What a game.

Nick: Colorado 45, TCU 42

We're going to look back and laugh at the end of the season at the overreactions from this game, especially if both TCU and Colorado fail to make a bowl game. But it's my pick for game of the year because it was a genuinely exciting game between a team playing its first game since a national championship humiliation and a three-score underdog coming off a 1-11 season. We got to see just how fun and chaotic Colorado can be in Deion Sanders' first season and it's a game that helped make Colorado the phenomenon that it was over the first month of the season.