Christian McCaffrey may play 1,300 miles away at the University of Stanford, he may have run through, past and over our University of Colorado Buffaloes earlier this season, but right now, he is Colorado’s favorite college athlete.

At least, he should be.

McCaffrey, a true sophomore for the Stanford Cardinal, has lit the college football world on fire this season, breaking Barry Sanders‘ all-time record for total yards from scrimmage (2,387) on route to being named one of this year’s three Heisman finalist. And somehow, even with all the records, stats and broken ankles McCaffrey compiled this year, he was anything but a shoo-in for the nomination.

As we detailed just last week, Vegas considered McCaffrey to have just the eighth-best odds to win college football’s biggest award before Stanford took on USC in the Pac-12 championship game. Apparently, though, his 472 total yards and three touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving and one passing) agains the Trojans changed their minds.

And so when the three finalists were announced on Monday, Christian McCaffrey’s teammates were understandably excited for their superstar running back — though even that designation probably doesn’t do him enough justice.

Today, our Doug Ottewill detailed why we, as Colorado sports fans, should be rooting for Christian McCaffrey to win the Heisman Trophy, and it’s not just because he’s the son of Broncos legend Ed McCaffrey or the brother of current Valor Christian quarterback Dylan McCaffrey; it’s because he absolutely deserves it.