Ty Simpson Would Win Heisman 'If His Name Was Ty Manning,' Says Joel Klatt

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson isn't the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, but Joel Klatt is wondering if we should be considering the 22-year-old as the man in pole position to win college football's most prestigious individual award.

"If Ty Simpson’s name was Ty Manning, we would cancel the end of the season Heisman Trophy ceremony and just do it now," Klatt said on "The Next Round." "That’s the best pure passing game in college football. Simpson has been the best quarterback in college football from a passing perspective."

Simpson is among the favorites to win the Heisman. He holds the third-best odds (+700) at DraftKings Sportsbook, trailing Miami (Fla.) quarterback Carson Beck (+650) and Oregon quarterback Dante Moore (+600). Statistically, though, Simpson has been superior to both of them. He has thrown for more passing yards per game (295.6) than Moore (242) and Beck (242.6) through Week 6. Moore (14) has one more touchdown pass than Simpson (13), while Beck has 11, but Simpson has a superior yards per attempt mark (9.4) over Moore and Beck.

Beyond the statistics, Simpson has also passed the eye test on film, according to Klatt.

"Simpson’s incredible," Klatt said. "I get to buzz through other tapes, but I really study the two teams that I’m going to do, and Wisconsin just so happened to have Alabama on their schedule. So, last week, when I’m preparing for Wisconsin, I’m really diving in to the Alabama film when they played Wisconsin. And, there were like five times where I paused the film. I was like, ‘Whoa. Like, that was a big league, top-three draft pick throw.' It's really good."

To Klatt's point, Simpson isn't dinking and dunking his way to success. He's among Pro Football Focus' highest-graded quarterbacks