On Saturday night, one of the most anticipated games of the young 2026 college football season will take center stage as No. 1 Ohio State travels to Austin to face No. 4 Texas.
The game will obviously have major ramifications on early-season polling and the playoff seeding picture. But could it play a role in the Heisman Trophy race as well? The star power for both teams is off the charts. Thirty percent of the 10 players with the highest preseason odds to win the award will be on the gridiron at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, with Arch Manning at quarterback for the Longhorns and quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith teaming up in the passing game for the Buckeyes.
According to ESPN Research, the high-profile nonconference clash will mark just the fourth game in the past 10 seasons in which three or more players in the top 10 of the Heisman odds list squared off in August or September.
So how did those games play out, and did successful campaigns for the players involved follow? Does winning a head-to-head matchup filled with Heisman hopefuls give prospective award contenders a leg up down the road?
The answer ... isn't definitive. We're working with a sample size of three. But there isn't zero evidence either. Here's how those previous matchups played out.
Ohio State vs. Texas, 2025
Déjà vu, anyone? The last time at least three players in the top 10 Heisman odds list matched up was last year, when the Buckeyes and Longhorns met in Week 1, with the same trio of Manning (favorite at +650), Smith (fourth, 11-1) and Sayin (tied for eighth, 22-1) all drawing preseason buzz.
So how did that go? Well, the game itself didn't prove to be particularly entertaining -- Ohio State came out on top 14-7 in a defense-minded affair. The two players on the winning sideline did enjoy superior success in December's Heisman voting. While neither Sayin nor Smith won the award, Sayin made the trip to New York and finished fourth in voting, while Smith finished sixth -- Manning didn't land in the top 10. Colorado's Travis Hunter won the award.
Alabama vs. Texas, 2022
When the Crimson Tide and Longhorns squared off in Week 2 of the 2022 season, the Heisman hype on the field was through the roof -- four players ranked among the top 10 betting favorites, with Bryce Young (co-favorite) and Will Anderson Jr. (T-sixth) representing Alabama and Bijan Robinson (eight) and Quinn Ewers (T-10th) suiting up for Texas.
The two teams traded go-ahead field goals in the game's final two minutes, with Alabama's kick in the game's dying seconds -- set up by a clutch scramble by Young -- giving the Crimson Tide the last laugh.
Young, the reigning award winner, didn't take home a second consecutive Heisman, though he did finish with the most votes of anyone who played in the game -- landing in sixth place in final vote count, with Robinson the next best finisher at ninth. Caleb Williams of USC took home the Heisman.
Ohio State vs. Oklahoma, 2017
This 2017 early season blue-blood clash featured a trio of players in close proximity to each other in the middle of the top 10 favorites list: the Buckeyes' J.T. Barrett (T-fifth) and J.K. Dobbins (T-fifth) and the Sooners' Baker Mayfield (fourth).
Oklahoma posted a 31-16 victory in Columbus as Mayfield opened eyes during (throwing for 386 yards and three touchdowns) and after (famously planting a Sooners flag at midfield) the game.
And Mayfield's star performance indeed portended a successful Heisman campaign -- the senior quarterback captured the award that December. Neither Barrett nor Dobbins finished among the top 10's highest vote-getters.