DeVonta Smith Wins the Heisman Trophy, Poses Matchup Challenge for Buckeyes

Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who will help the Crimson Tide try to beat the Buckeyes on Monday in the national championship game, has won the 2020 Heisman Trophy.

Smith broke through as a non-quarterback to win the award that has gone almost exclusively to quarterbacks over the last two decades. Only three of the last 20 winners have played a position other than quarterback, and all three of those (Reggie Bush 2005, Mark Ingram Jr. 2009 and Derrick Henry 2015) were running backs. Bush's trophy was later vacated.

Smith becomes the first wide receiver to win college football's most prestigious honor since Desmond Howard back in 1991.

Especially with Jaylen Waddle out with an injury, DeVonta Smith stepped into the limelight for the only team this year to be ranked No. 1 in the nation. The undersized Alabama star has 105 catches for 1,641 yards and 20 touchdowns in only 12 games. He leads all FBS wide receivers in each of those three major categories.

He'll line up against a Buckeye secondary that has had trouble at times this year giving up the big play, but it's never been enough to knock Ohio State out of a game. The Buckeyes pass defense is ranked 116th out of 127 FBS teams, allowing 281.1 yards per game this season. But the Silver Bullets have countered with a rush defense that is second in the nation, behind only Georgia.

While the Buckeyes gave up 400 yards passing last week to Heisman finalist Trevor Lawrence, they never gave up a play longer than 29 yards - a big reason for their convincing win over the Tigers. They'll need a similar effort against the second best Power 5 passing offense in the country, which has been led by the best player in college football this year on the outside.

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields was a finalist for the award last year, but he finished seventh in this year's voting. Here's a look at the top 10 vote-getters in 2020.

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