Halliday for Heisman?

Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday’s passing numbers right now are absurd. He’s leading the country in passing by nearly 1,000 yards and he’s thrown for four more touchdowns than any other quarterback. Halliday’s 252 passing completions are more than any teams other than Bowling Green, Texas A&M and Western Kentucky have even attempted.

Want more? OK, he’s passed for 3,052 yards already, that’s more passing yards than 67 FBS teams finished with last season.

The inimitable stats are one thing, but is Halliday a candidate for the Heisman Trophy?

At least one voter seems to think so. USA Today publishes an anonymous survey of Heisman voters (sports journalists and former winners) asking who they plan to vote for, and Halliday received a vote for third place . That gets him one point and ties him with Baylor’s Bryce Petty for eighth place.

I should also credit Lisa Horne who began lobbying for Halliday’s Heisman candidacy before anybody.

For anyone to seriously consider the WSU QB the Cougars need to go on a long winning streak. They’re 2-4 right now, and the last time the Heisman Trophy winner failed to make a bowl game was Oklahoma’s Steven Owens in 1969 and that team was still 6-4 (In 1989 trophy-winner Andre Ware didn’t play in a bowl game because Houston was on probation but the team finished 11-2 and ranked No. 14 in the country) .

More links are after the jump.

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— John Blanchette tracked down one of WSU’s greatest quarterbacks to get his thoughts on the schools finest passing performance.

— Our notebook looks at Power 5 autonomy, Colorado’s coach getting fined and a pair of Cougars who were added to an impressive list.

— There’s a new team atop our Pac-12 Power Rankings .

— CougCenter names its player of the week .

— The Pac-12 Blog profiles the man tasked with stopping the WSU passing offense on Friday.

— Washington will try to slow Cal’s passing attack by pressuring the quarterback .

— Arizona is getting a big boost from its walk-ons .

— Former WSU walk-on Jordan Simone’s 20 tackles fell under the shadow of Arizona State’s game-winning Hail Mary.

— How young is Cal’s roster? Well 41 players have made their major-college debut this season for the Bears.

— Marcus Mariota says his health is not an issue .

— Oregon State’s defensive coordinator Mark Banker has been with coach Mike Riley for a long time.

— UCLA sophomore Myles Jack is doing his best to mentor his similarly youthful teammates.

— USC’s Steve Sarkisian is focused on getting his offense to make plays like the one that beat the Trojans lost on last week.

— Utah’s freshman offensive lineman played well in his first start .