Todd Gurley Must Take Georgia to SEC Title Game to Remain Heisman Frontrunner

Todd Gurley embarked on his 2014 season aiming to fight recent history and threaten to become the first non-quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy since Mark Ingram in 2009. As long as he keeps winning and gets No. 12 Georgia into the SEC championship, he has much more than a fighting chance.

The hype has closely followed the star junior rusher around Athens, Georgia, but injuries have always tempered said hype. Those who hadn't hopped on the Gurley-wagon by the opening weekend, however, likely did so after watching him on Week 1 against Clemson.

Gurley had exactly the debut he needed to claim frontrunner status in the Heisman race. He took his first 15 carries for 198 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-21 win, and returned a 100-yard second-quarter kickoff for a touchdown to tie the game just for good measure.

Most importantly, he passed the eye test. Larger than life and running angry, Gurley looked like the finished product for whom so many Bulldogs fans had their fingers crossed all summer long.

When the last Heisman winner from your school is Herschel Walker, you better pass the eye test.

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Even when his team came out flat after its bye and fell to South Carolina, making things interesting again atop the SEC East, Gurley still looked monstrous with 131 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. In fact, the biggest critique of Mark Richt amid the loss was not giving his stud back the ball on the 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter.

His stats tapered off somewhat in limited duty against Troy last weekend, but he did take his six carries for 73 yards—including a 48-yarder. Heading into that game, Tom Hart of the SEC Network noted Gurley's dominance after contact:

Failing to post a dominant stat line didn't do anything to hurt his Heisman chances, either, as Seth Emerson of The Telegraph (Macon) explained:

Heading into the SEC gauntlet, Gurley won't have many second halves off and will need to make the most of it. But most importantly, he just has to keep the Bulldogs in the win column.

Georgia welcomes Tennessee to Samford Stadium on Saturday, then hosts Vanderbilt before traveling to Missouri and Arkansas. After that, the Bulldogs have a bye before facing Florida and visiting Kentucky. 

It will be much, much easier said than done for Georgia to make it through that six-game stretch unbeaten. But Gurley and the Bulldogs will likely need to, as they face No. 5 Auburn on Nov. 15. 

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Recent history is somewhat on their side. The last time they fell to South Carolina was 2012, and they rallied to make it to Atlanta before falling to Alabama yards shy of a national title appearance.

Marcus Mariota might not be able to be caught should Oregon win out, but the Ducks face a gauntlet themselves. Texas A&M has freshman sensation Kenny Hill, who has hardly begun his trek through the SEC West.

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As for Gurley and Georgia, the red carpet is rolled out for them to make it to Atlanta—as long as South Carolina loses another game. And if they don't, it's hard to see the star rusher making a serious case to win the Heisman outright.

Gurley can take a few losses and still win it, but not if Georgia ends the season on a sour note. Quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III have overcome early-season slip-ups to win the award, but both peaked as the voting ramped up and posted big-time late-season wins.

Even if Mariota or some of the other contenders slip up and have a bad game, they won't fade into the background. And with the ridiculous numbers Melvin Gordon is putting up in Wisconsin's backfield, he's set to have some company at his own position.

But if Gurley leads Georgia to Atlanta and keeps them largely unscathed in the process, his hype will only continue to grow, so long as he keeps running like a man possessed.

Gurley has his work cut out for him just staying healthy through a brutal slate of hard-hitting SEC defenses, and he'll have to walk that tight-rope knowing that his best will be needed to negate the Bulldogs' struggling secondary. Quarterback Hutson Mason has shown signs of being a strong game-manager, but this offense showed in Columbia, South Carolina that it will only go as far as Gurley takes it.

And where he takes this Bulldogs squad will have a vast impact on whether his name is called in New York City come mid-December.