With five weeks remaining in the college football season,  including the conference championship games, Dak Prescott still holds a spot in the Heisman race, which is starting to clear itself up  a little bit. For the most part, it is known who the major players are going to be over this final stretch of the season, but some lingering questions exist that have yet to be answered. For instance, it is still unclear who the hands down favorite is as of this very moment, as different major networks and media personalities disagree between two key players. It is also still questionable whether the off-the-field exploits of Jameis Winston will definitively keep him away from the most prestigious trophy in all of college football. It is also fair to question what actually is the criteria for deciding the winner, as one will hear many different interpretations through various sources. Before highlighting the five major players as of today, the attempt will be made to answer some of these questions first.
The debate will rage on until the presentation takes place in December, and there still exists a number of chances for both to show the voters why they deserve their votes. 
Prescott still has two massive road games against Alabama and Ole Miss on the schedule, which will also help clear up the SEC West race as well as the college football playoff bracket. 
Prescott may not have had his best showing on the season, but he made key plays when it mattered for his Bulldog squad. He finished his night against Arkansas with 331 yards passing, a touchdown and two interceptions in the first half. Prescott also added 61 yards on the ground, even with his injured foot. In continuing to be the most important player on the No. 1 team in the nation, Prescott will stay at the top of the Heisman conversation as long as Mississippi State stays in the national spotlight.  
Mariota has three regular season games remaining, one of which is against No. 17 ranked Utah next weekend and the other two against unranked opponents. While it may be too early to speculate whether both will get the opportunity to play in their conference championship games, it is safe to say they have the chance to show what they are made of in the upcoming weeks.
Turning the attention over to Jameis Winston for a moment, the question has been posed by some whether Winston has any chance of winning the Heisman in light of his transgressions off the field. If former Heisman winner Herschel Walker is any indication of what past Heisman winners think of Winston, then the odds may be against him. 
In a recent interview with Paul Finebaum on his radio show, Walker said a player’s character matters in the Heisman race.
“Being an athlete is more than just playing the game. Being an athlete is doing a lot more. I didn’t vote for Jameis because of that. And I may have been wrong for that. But in my opinion, the Heisman Trophy is supposed to mean integrity,” he said. “At that time, there was not integrity, because of the situation that happened at that time. Today, until his act is cleaned up, I can’t give him my vote. I’ll say it right now, I can’t give him my vote.”  There are those who view the Heisman as an on-the-field award. Those people will keep Winston afloat in the race, and realistically, he won last year after being investigated for sexual assault. At the end of the day, it may be fine to assume Winston has as good of odds as the other players, as long as he does not actually receive any substantial suspensions for the rest of the season.  
In quickly recapping the criteria for the Heisman, it is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football in the United States whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. There have been many who question what excellence is in college football. Is it strictly related to on-the-field activity?  Should academic or off-the-field achievement be factored into the equation? Those are the questions that have spurned debate over the past couple of years, as players surrounded by controversy, such as Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston have found themselves at the center of the Heisman discussion. If a player proves himself to be the best player on the field, it will be hard for the voters to justify not giving that individual the award, unless something truly horrific can be presented that changes the entire conversation altogether.  
Lets look at the past weekends of the five individuals who, as of Saturday night, pose the best odds of being invited to New York City this December. With apologies to Auburn’s Nick Marshall, TCU’s Trevone Boykin and Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah, who all have had excellent seasons, we will start with Jameis Winston. With his team on the ropes against Louisville last Thursday night, Winston showed America that he’s unflappable, even when faced with a 21-point deficit. He finished the game with a stat line that read 25/48 for 401 yards passing, with three touchdown throws and three interceptions as well. The three interceptions were not great, but voters may be able to overlook them to some extent, seeing they came against statistically the number one defense in the country, and Winston still was capable of overcoming his own mistakes to get the win. In all, Winston showed great poise on the night and kept his Heisman chances very much alive.
Next, is Alabama’s wide receiver Amari Cooper. He and his teammates had their bye week this past weekend, but in recapping his season stats, its easy to see why many view him as the sleeper in this year’s Heisman race. Cooper has 71 receptions on the season for 1,132 yards and nine touchdown grabs in his eight games played this season so far. Many have described Cooper as “explosive,” including Ole Miss’s coach Hugh Freeze as he said in an al.com article, “Cooper is arguably one of the top three receivers in the nation, if not the best and he’s been super explosive.” 
If Cooper has monster games versus Mississippi State and Auburn, then it could very  well be Cooper’s name that gets called in six weeks.        
Moving north for a second, Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon continues to be one of the most consistent and effective running backs in the country. On Saturday he had 19 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns to make it his seventh time this season he has gone over 120 yards rushing on the season. He has a total of 1,296 rushing yards on the season with a very good average of 7.5 yards per carry as well. He looks to be a lock to at least get the invite to attend the Heisman ceremony.
As mentioned earlier, Marcus Mariota displayed a great performance on Saturday against the team that has caused him more problems then any other over his career (in Stanford). He finished the game with 258 yards passing, two touchdowns and only his second interception of the season. In addition to this, he added 85 more yards on the ground and two touchdowns, to earn the win against Stanford. Mariota has risen each week since the loss against Arizona in the minds of the voters and does not look to be slowing down anytime soon.