Where does Buckeyes QB Julian Sayin end up finishing in Heisman Trophy voting?

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin will be heading to New York as one of the finalists for the Heisman Trophy after a stellar season.

Sayin will be joining Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who will battle it out for the Heisman Trophy. Mendoza and Sayin are familiar with each other as they just faced off in the Big Ten Championship game, with Indiana beating Ohio State 13-10 to take the title home.

It's been quite the season for Sayin, as he has completed 78.4% of his passes, the highest in the nation, for 3,323 yards and 31 touchdowns, with six interceptions. He was also second in the country in QBR with 89.6 and leads the nation in quarterback rating with 182.1.

Now comes the real question: one, what are the chances of Sayin winning the Heisman Trophy, and two, who will end up winning. This promises to be a close race at the end of the day.

The harsh reality is that this is a two-man race for the award between Sayin and Mendoza. No offense to Love and Pavia, who had great seasons, but neither one of their teams is in the playoffs, and they have not been in the top two conversation over the last month.

Everyone knows at this point that it will be between Sayin and Mendoza, both of whom are worthy of winning the award. Both quarterbacks lead undefeated season and they have similar stats to each other.

Sayin has completed 7% more passes than Mendoza and leads him in passing yards by nearly 400. The Buckeyes' star quarterback also has Mendoza beat in quarterback rating by just one.

On the other hand, Mendoza has thrown two more touchdowns than Sayin and has the same number of interceptions as him. Mendoza also has 0.1 more yards per completion than Sayin.

Will Fernando Mendoza beat Julian Sayin for the Heisman?

The numbers show this is going to be as close a race as it gets. So, with this situation looking like a tiebreaker, what would it be?

The Heisman committee is going to look at the head-to-head and see who won against each other in the biggest game of the season. Mendoza gets the slight advantage even though Sayin had the better stats. It was ultimately Mendoza who closed out the game better than Sayin and put his team in a position to win.

While this might disappoint Buckeyes fans, Sayin might end up falling short of winning the award against Mendoza. The silver lining? Sayin is a freshman, and he still has a chance to lead Ohio State to a national championship, which is more important in the end.