The Miami Hurricanes have knocked off three ranked opponents through their first five games of the season, helping quarterback Carson Beck vault to the forefront of the Heisman Trophy race.
A co-favorite at one point earlier this season, Beck drifted back a few spots before leading a convincing win Saturday night at No. 18 Florida State. In his first road game as a Hurricane, Beck threw four touchdowns in the 28-22 victory.
The primetime win over an in-state rival saw Beck’s Heisman odds trimmed from +1200 to +500 at BetMGM. That moved him ahead of Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, who had emerged as the latest in a growing list of favorites at +750 last week. He is now +700, ahead of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson and Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith at +800.
Smith, who has the shortest odds among non-quarterbacks by a wide margin, opened at +1300 but has seen his odds steadily shorten while catching 35 passes for 463 yards and six touchdowns through the top-ranked Buckeyes’ 5-0 start.
Meanwhile, DraftKings is still offering Moore as the slight +600 favorite ahead of Beck (+650) and Simpson (+700), with Smith a bit further back at +1000.
HEISMAN TROPHY ODDS*
PLAYER, POS, TEAM, OPEN, WEEK 6, CURRENT
Carson Beck, QB, Miami (+2000), (+900), (+500)
Dante Moore, QB, Oregon (+2000), (+750), (+700)
Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama (+5500), (+1000), (+800)
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (+1300), (+1000), (+800)
Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana (+5500), (+1300), (+1300)
Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss (OFF), (+1500), (+1500)
Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State (+2000), (+1700), (+1500)
Joey Aguilar, QB, Tennessee (+5000 Week 2), (+1300), (+2000)
CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame (+5000), (+2500), (+2000)
Sam Leavitt, QB, Arizona State (+4000), (+2000), (+2000)
Marcel Reed, QB, Texas A&M (+4000), (+1500), (+2000)
Arch Manning, QB, Texas (+900), (+2000), (+8000)
The Heisman field does appear to be whittling down to those four with several other previous leading candidates seeing their hopes dashed by poor performance or injury.
That includes preseason favorite Arch Manning, whose odds have tumbled to +8000 at BetMGM while Texas has plummeted out of the Top 25. His fall stands to be a big win for sportsbooks, with BetMGM reporting the Longhorns quarterback to be its second-biggest Heisman liability as Manning leads all players with 11.3 percent of all money wagered backing him to win.
The book’s biggest liability has not threatened the Heisman picture since the season kicked off. Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love was a popular longshot choice at +5000, but his odds are still only +4000 with the Fighting Irish having suffered a pair of losses.
Other favorites also have stumbled: LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier (+4000) due to mediocre play and fellow quarterbacks LaNorris Sellers (+8000) of South Carolina and Oklahoma’s John Mateer (+3000) due to injury. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who also rose to favorite status in September, remains in the conversation at +1300.
Mateer is the third biggest liability and Sellers the fifth, with Smith being the only one among the top 5 who remains in the thick of the race. He has been backed by 7.2 percent of the money and 8.0 percent of the total bets, second behind only Manning’s 8.6 percent.