Saturday's matchup between Oklahoma and West Virginia isn't just a chance for the Mountaineers to show the program is back. It's a chance for the fans to get a look at two Heisman Trophy hopefuls squaring off at quarterback. That's right, I said TWO Heisman hopefuls.

 

You know about Oklahoma's Trevor Knight. The highly touted redshirt sophomore had his coming out party last January against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. He threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-31 win over the Crimson Tide.

 

Based on that performance against Alabama, Knight entered this season squarely in the Heisman conversation. He currently sits at 12/1 odds to win the award, per Bovada. Knight's odds are currently the sixth best to win the award, just behind last year's winner Jameis Winston. Knight is the highest ranked Big 12 player on the list.

 

Clint Trickett's name doesn't appear on the Bovada list just yet. But, that doesn't mean it won't.

 

I may not have been the first one to mention Clint Trickett's name in the same sentence with Heisman, but it was close. During the post game portion of our Mountaineer football game day radio coverage, I said I thought Clint Trickett should be included in the Heisman discussion right now.

 

This was two days before Trickett would rack up five weekly awards for his performance against Maryland, including Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and the prestigious Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week. Also this week we have seen the official NCAA Web site, NCAA.com write an article titled, "Clint Trickett races ahead as Heisman darkhorse."

 

Listen, there is no question Trickett remains a tremendous longshot for college football's highest honor. It rarely goes to a player on a team with more than a loss or two (Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel being a recent exception). While the Mountaineers have started fast this season, the chances of an 11-1 season are slim.

 

However, the buzz is there. The stats are there. He currently sits in the top 5 nationally of the following categories: passing yards (1,224), completion percentage (75.4), completions (101) and average yards per game (408.0).

 

Now comes opportunity. A night game against a top 5 team with a big brand name in the Oklahoma Sooners. A national television audience on Fox watching. He's already put up big numbers against stiff competition. His 358 yards to open the season against Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide actually surpassed what Knight put up last year against them in the Sugar Bowl.

 

Trickett put up 511 yards passing against Big Ten opponent Maryland. Side note: it's still weird referring to Maryland as a Big Ten team. The 511 passing yards against the Terps were the second most in school history, behind only current New York Jet, Geno Smith and the most ever produced by a WVU quarterback in a road game.

 

Add to those performances another 400-yard night, three or four touchdowns and a win against Oklahoma and watch the national Heisman talk begin in earnest. Yes, it may be a long shot and it most certainly is too early to be throwing out names for the Heisman Trophy. We still have almost three months of games yet to be played.

 

That said, I'm still going to do it. Through the first three weeks of the season, Clint Trickett deserves to be in the Heisman discussion.

 

Should Trickett be considered a Heisman Trophy candidate? What do you think? Leave a comment below or send me a tweet: @bradhowe07

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com