With current pace, has QB Doege entered Heisman race?

Texas Tech has stormed to the upper echelon in the Big 12 Conference thanks to wins against West Virginia and TCU, earning the No. 14 ranking in the latest BCS standings.

Its quarterback, Seth Doege, could be in the midst of his own astronomical surge.

Doege threw seven touchdown passes against the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth Saturday, catapulting his season total to 28 — his total for all of last season. Doege's 28 touchdown passes are more than any other quarterback in the nation (West Virginia's Geno
Smith has 26) and his three games of at least six touchdown passes leads the nation, too.

Doege outplayed Smith, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner at the time, during their meeting (a 49-14 Tech win), tossing six scores to Smith's one. During Tech's 56-53 win in three overtimes Saturday, Doege joined Robert Griffin III, last year's Heisman Trophy
winner, as the only quarterbacks to throw more than four touchdowns against a TCU defense since the start of the 2007 season.

So, the question is: Has Doege played his way into Heisman Trophy contention?

"I haven't really thought about it too much, to be honest to be with you," Doege said Monday regarding Heisman talks. "I'm just enjoying the ride and enjoying everything with my teammates."

While Doege can downplay Heisman hype all he wants, there's not denying his place among the country's elite. Monday, Doege cemented his place as a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award, which is handed out to the nation's top quarterback. The Davey
O'Brien National Selection Committee is asked to consider skills, athletic ability, academics, character, leadership and sportsmanship.

Doege is one of five returning semifinalists from 2011, joining USC's Matt Barkley, Oklahoma's Landry Jones, Clemson's Tajh Boyd and Michigan's Denard Robinson.

Saturday, Doege has the opportunity to make the biggest statement of the season when his Red Raiders travel to Manhattan, Kan., to take on No. 4 Kansas State and its Heisman candidate, Collin Klein. A win and strong showing would almost cement Doege's
place in the Heisman race, considering many pundits may feel unsure of his status in the discussion at all.

Klein, who, by most accounts, may be the current frontrunner after his Wildcats beat Smith's Mountaineers 55-14 Saturday, has Kansas State in the national title hunt.

And at this time, that's the hunt Doege would prefer to be in.

"I think we're playing at a high level right now," Doege said, "and we have an opportunity to continue that and be very successful and kind of shock the world a little bit."