The winner of the Heisman Trophy won’t be announced until December and there’s an entire season’s worth of football to be played before we have an idea of who might be taking home college football’s most prestigious individual award.
That being said, the Big 12 conference was absolutely hosed in the updated Heisman odds this week, according to FanDuel.
The first name on FanDuel’s Heisman Trophy odds list after Week 1 is Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, at +850. Now, his individual stat line of 41-of-49 passing for 380 yards and two touchdowns looks impressive enough, but when you consider the Ducks had to hang on to beat Idaho 24-14, that seems a little off.
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and Miami’s Cam Ward are also listed at +850, making them co-favorites alongside Gabriel. Georgia QB Carson Beck (+900) and Alabama QB Jalen Milroe (+1000) round out the top five, and you don’t see a single Big 12 player until No. 10 on the list.
That’s where you’ll find Colorado’s do-it-all superstar, Travis Hunter, who checks in with +2500 odds. In the Buffs’ season opener against North Dakota State, Hunter recorded seven receptions for 132 yards and three touchdowns while playing all but two snaps of the game as the starting corner on the other side of the ball as well.
That’s it — no other Big 12 player cracks the Top 10 of the odds. However, the Big 12 dominates the next section of the list, as five of the next 10 players on the board reside in the Big 12.
Cam Rising (Utah) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) both check in tied for the 12th-best odds at +3000, while Noah Fifita (Arizona), Avery Johnson (Kansas State), and Jalon Daniels (Kansas) are all listed at +4000 in the race right now.
Still, after Tetairoa McMillan’s incredible performance last week earned him AP National Player of the Week, you’d think he’d at least be in the Top 20, right?
Nope. He comes in tied for 21st with +6000 odds, alongside KJ Jefferson (UCF) and Ollie Gordon (Oklahoma State).
There’s plenty of time for things to shake out here, and several Big 12 players are poised to make a run at the Heisman, but for now, it appears the league’s superstars will have more to prove than some of the other faces in college football.
