Heisman Watch 2011: Predicting the Top Week 8 Heisman Campaigns

Entering the eighth week of the college football season, the Heisman race is beginning to take shape.

Every week draws a clearer picture of which players are steady impact players and which can’t quite make the cut.

This week there are five performers that have a chance to stand out against the competition and separate themselves from the rest of the field. The race is heating up at the midpoint and these five players have plenty of opportunity this week to shine.

Let’s look ahead to Week 8 of the season and discover which Heisman hopefuls are likely to increase their stock after Saturday.

Andrew Luck: Stanford QB

Andrew Luck has put together quite a season so far as he has totaled 1,719 yards passing and 18 touchdowns.

Equally impressive is his completion percentage which rings in at 71.3 percent on the season.

Luck is extremely accurate and selective with his throws. Last week he finished with 336 yards through the air and four touchdowns. He will look to increase his numbers this week against the No. 25 Washington Huskies.

Washington is giving up 303 yards through the air so far this season and are ranked 77^th overall with points against.

Washington found its way into the top 25 this week, but are likely to fall out again after Luck has his day against them. Luck should be able to produce quite an outing this week against the Huskies. 

Trent Richardson: Alabama RB

Trent Richardson has been an all-everything type back for Alabama this season.

He has caught 15 passes for 179 yards, as well as adding 912 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns. Richardson is the workhorse for the Crimson Tide offense.

Against Ole Miss, Richardson had a career day rushing for 183 yards and four scores, adding another 30 yards from the air. This week he faces Tennessee, a team that is giving up around 150 yards on the ground to opponents already.

Tennessee will give a valiant effort, but don’t be surprised when Richardson has another career day this week. Tennessee will be better up front than Ole Miss, but not good enough to stop this one-man wrecking crew.

Kellen Moore: Boise State QB

Kellen Moore absolutely throttled Colorado State last week when he passed for 338 yards and four touchdowns against the Rams. Moore will be facing Air Force this week, a team that allows only 205 yards a game through the air.

Moore will apparently have his hands full, but looking at past competition the only other true tests the Falcons have seen through the air has been in a losing effort to TCU.

TCU's Casey Pachall only passed for 206 yards against Air Force, but completed 80 percent of his passes.

If Moore replicates the completion percentage against the Falcons, it will be a long night for the boys at the Academy. 

Russell Wilson: Wisconsin QB

Russell Wilson has been the most surprising candidate of the season so far.

When the transfer to Wisconsin was announced this summer, most people knew that he was a special player, but this season has been a new beginning even for Wilson.

Wilson faces a tough defense this week in Michigan State, but his multiple talents may be too much for the Spartans. The Spartans were able to make Denard Robinson ineffective, but Wilson brings more to the table than Robinson.

Wilson has a great chance to shine on national prime time television as well, so this would be a great game for a breakout Heisman performance.

He quickly led Wisconsin to victory against Indiana this past week, finishing with 166 yards and a touchdown through the air, and an additional 42 yards on the ground.

Landry Jones: Oklahoma QB

Landry Jones faces the Texas Tech Red Raiders this week in a showdown of Big 12 conference rivals.

Jones will face one of the worst defenses in the country in the Red Raiders and will be coming off a great Week 7 performance against Kansas, throwing for 363 yards and three touchdowns against the Jayhawks.

Jones has thrown for over 300 yards in every game this season, except for Week 2 against the Florida State Seminoles, where he only compiled 199 yards through the air.

 Jones will likely have another 300-plus yard game this week.