The anticipation continues to build heading in to week one of the college football season. The Heisman trophy consideration has dominated much of the talk heading in to the year with a talented class of star players looking to leave their mark and take home the prestigious award. Here is a look at the top Heisman trophy favorites according to the betting odds heading in to week one.
RB: Leonard Fournette, LSU Tigers
Heisman Trophy Odds: +350
Fournette was the runaway favorite to win the Heisman trophy heading in to November when his numbers finally took a hit in a tough loss at Alabama and he never recovered. The 6’1’’, 235-pound bruiser still averaged 6.5 yards per carry while rushing for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the eventual Heisman winner in Alabama running back Derrick Henry. Fournette has spent the offseason recovering and adding to his incredible skill set by working on speed and power drills and he is expected to be ready for the opener against Wisconsin despite dealing with an ankle injury.
Look for Fournette to have a strong first half of the season like he did last year. He’s going to get a lot of love in the Heisman conversations early on. The challenge will be what his numbers will look like once he gets in the meat of the SEC schedule. Last year, he was silenced at that point of the season. We’ll have to see if LSU’s passing game can help him out this year.
QB: Deshaun Watson, Clemson
Heisman Trophy Odds: +450
Many felt that Watson should have won the Heisman trophy last year when he became the first player in FBS history to throw for at least 4,000 passing yards and run for more than 1,000 rushing yards in a single season. However, Watson was overlooked and he returns this season looking to take care of unfinished business. The expectation is that Watson will pick up from where he left off in an absolutely loaded Clemson offense where he will have the potential to put up big numbers once again while attempting to lead the Tigers to a national championship.
RB: Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
Heisman Trophy Odds: +550
McCaffrey is going to have a very difficult time topping what he did a year ago when he broke Barry Sanders’ single-season yards mark. McCaffrey averaged 6.0 yards per carry while rushing for 2,019 yards and eight touchdowns with an additional 45 catches for 645 yards and five scores. McCaffrey should have just as big of a workload this season as the Cardinal breaks in a new quarterback following Kevin Hogan’s departure beginning in week one versus Kansas State.
QB: J.T. Barrett, Ohio State
Heisman Trophy Odds: +1200
Barrett’s numbers from last year weren’t Heisman-worthy by any means but the projection for this year’s numbers are expected to be a lot different now that he has emerged as the clear No. 1 quarterback at Ohio State. Barrett will be leaned on to lead an offense that is loaded with talent but lacking in experience and the expectation is that he will be up to the challenge.
RB: Dalvin Cook, Florida State
Heisman Trophy Odds: +1200
The fact that Cook averaged 7.4 yards per carry while rushing for 1,691 yards and 19 touchdowns last season despite dealing with nagging injuries is an already testament to his ability. He should put up even better numbers this season if he can stay healthy. Cook is one of the top returning running backs in the country and he will be leaned on heavily as the sparkplug for the Florida State offense this season. The Seminoles will need him to be at his best from the outset as they face a tough test against Ole Miss in week one. The good news is if you start to look beyond that matchup and the one against Clemson (on October 29th), the schedule is pretty easy. Cook could put up some monster games against teams like Charleston Souther, North Carolina, South Florida, Wake Florida and North Carolina State. The ACC is lacking quality defenses and Cook should be able to run wild as a result.
