Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson is alone atop the Heisman Trophy race, but he has stiff competition nipping at his heels.
Simpson emerged from the weekend as the +300 favorite at BetMGM, followed by fellow quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza (+325) of Indiana and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (+400). Simpson and Mendoza opened as +5500 longshots while Sayin opened at +2000.
The trio has now separated from the pack, with Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed owning the fourth-shortest odds at +1000.
Simpson was the co-+350 favorite alone with Miami’s Carson Beck. After Beck threw four interceptions in a home loss to Louisville on Friday night, Simpson put together another impressive outing with a pair of touchdowns and 253 yards through the air in Alabama’s 37-20 win over Tennessee.
The Crimson Tide’s junior signal-caller has now thrown 18 touchdowns against a lone interception on the season. Meanwhile, Mendoza was enhancing his own Heisman resume with a four-touchdown outing against Michigan State.
Mendoza was among the Heisman favorites earlier this season and has steadily worked his way back toward the top after completing just 13 passes while throwing an interception in a close win over unranked Iowa on Sept. 27.
No. 2 Indiana does not have another ranked opponent on its regular-season schedule, giving Mendoza plenty of time to further pad his Heisman hopes.
Sayin saw his odds rocket from +1500 just last week in part due to the struggles of other contenders such as Beck. The sophomore tossed four touchdowns against Wisconsin on Saturday and has not been picked off over his past four games.
Sayin leapfrogged teammate Jeremiah Smith, who caught nine passes for 97 yards but was held out of the end zone in the 34-0 win. Smith no longer has the shortest odds among non-quarterbacks. At +2000 he is now behind Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, who leapt back into the conversation at +1800 after rumbling for 228 yards and a touchdown in a 34-24 win over Southern Cal.
Beck plummeted from co-favorite last week to the 12th-shortest odds at +4000. He is the latest favorite to suffer a significant drop, following in the footsteps of Texas’ Arch Manning, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Oklahoma’s John Mateer, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and Oregon’s Dante Moore.
HEISMAN TROPHY ODDS*
PLAYER, POS, TEAM, OPEN, WEEK 8, CURRENT
Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama (+5500) (+350), (+300)
Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana (+5500), (+550), (+325)
Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State (+2000), (+1500), (+400)
Marcel Reed, QB, Texas A&M (+4000), (+2000), (+1000)
Diego Pavia, QB, Vanderbilt (+12500), (+4000), (+1100)
Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia (+3500), (+2500), (+1200)
Dante Moore, QB, Oregon (+2000), (+1700), (+1400)
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame (+5000), (+4000), (+1800)
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (+1300), (+1400), (+2000)
Jayden Maiava, QB, Southern Cal (+6000), (+2200), (+3000)
Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss (OFF), (+2000), (+3000)
Carson Beck, QB, Miami (+2000), (+350), (+4000)
CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame (+5000), (+3000), (+4000)
Arch Manning, QB, Texas (+900), (+8000), (+8000)
Love’s climb into the top eight has sportsbooks sweating. While Manning has still accounted for the most total Heisman bets, Love remains the fourth biggest liability, having drawn 3.1% of the total money since opening as a +5000 longshot.
Simpson’s steady rise has him currently sitting as the book’s biggest liability. He leads the way with 17.1% of the money backing Simpson to win the Heisman. That’s ahead of Moore’s 13.7%, much of which was wagered before Oregon was upset at home by Indiana two weeks ago.
Smith is BetMGM’s third biggest Heisman liability, followed by Love and Manning.
