Luckily, 870 voters plucked from six regions will determine the next Heisman Trophy winner, or college football's best player, which seems fair enough. Yet for now, all you will get is breathless speculation based on individual whim, almost silly stuff.
USC's Caleb Williams was deemed the early favorite over the first month of the season solely because the quarterback went home clutching the 2022 award, but consecutive Trojan losses since have dropped him almost entirely from the conversation.
More college analysts than not have jumped on the bandwagon promoting Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, who quarterbacks an 8-0 team yet didn't become a trophy frontrunner until the Wolverines were roundly accused of a brazen sign-stealing operation to gain a competitive advantage.
Nothing says Heisman Trophy winner more than an alleged cheating scandal used to navigate the highly competitive Big Ten football race.
All of this means the Huskies' Penix remains firmly in the mix for this high-level prize in spite of the harder-than-expected 15-7 victory over Arizona State, the Pac-12's last-place team.
The left-hander threw a pair of interceptions while completing 27 of 42 passes for a season-low 275 yards and the UW failed to score an offensive touchdown for the first time in the Kalen DeBoer era. Penix even got roughed up a little when ASU edge rusher Clayton Smith came crashing through and hit him helmet to helmet, drew some blood and got ejected.
"It's just a busted lip, that ain't nothing," Penix said flippantly after the game. While Penix remains very much in the running for college football's biggest individual prize, leave it to DeBoer to put everything in perspective for his high-level quarterback who's not necessarily a publicity seeker.
Where they cross over is here: Penix ranks No. 1 nationally with his 2,576 passing yards and passing yards per game of 368.00 while [Michigan's] McCarthy in those two categories stands 33rd with his 1,799 yards and 48th with 244.88 an outing.
As this Heisman Trophy race plays out, the always opionated Joel Klatt has taken it upon himself to remind everyone that it's a numbers game.
Klatt, a broadcaster, podcaster and a former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback, gives Penix the Heisman advantage should both Washington and Michigan go unbeaten to the end of the regular season, which is when the award is decided.
"Michael Penix still has the ability to go undefeated with Washington," Klatt said on his podcast this week. "If they do that, remember how they're built, his numbers are going to be through the roof. He will be impossible to catch from a numbers perspective."