Fernando Mendoza’s “Heisman moment” may have come with his game-winning touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. in Indiana’s last-minute victory over Penn State on Saturday.
The dramatic win pulled Mendoza even with Ohio State counterpart Julian Sayin at BetMGM, where the rival Big Ten quarterbacks are the co-Heisman Trophy favorites at +175. Sayin is still the slight +165 favorite at DraftKings ahead of Mendoza at +185.
The pair has separated from Alabama’s Ty Simpson and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed, who have the next shortest odds at both books.
HEISMAN TROPHY ODDS*
PLAYER, POS, TEAM, OPEN, WEEK 11, CURRENT
Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana (+5500), (+225), (+175)
Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State (+2000), (+175), (+175)
Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama (+5500) (+350), (+550)
Marcel Reed, QB, Texas A&M (+4000), (+750), (+750)
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (+1300), (+4000), (+2500)
Diego Pavia, QB, Vanderbilt (+12500), (+2500), (+2500)
Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia (+3500), (+2000), (+3000)
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame (+5000), (+4000), (+4000)
*BetMGM
It has been a meteoric rise for Mendoza, who opened at +5500 at BetMGM. He began his rise rapidly and has lingered around the top list of favorites for the better part of the past two months. Sayin also opened as a longshot at +2000 but has steadily climbed while guiding Ohio State to a 9-0 record.
Simpson has spent time at the top of the Heisman list as well, but currently sits at +550 at BetMGM, where he is the book’s biggest liability. Simpson leads all players with 16.1% of the money backing him to win the Heisman. Second is Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who has drawn 12.6%. While Smith has the shortest odds among non-quarterback, he currently sits as a +2500 longshot along with Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
There are now only eight players with odds shorter than +10000 at the book.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who began the season as the Heisman favorite, is still a +25000 longshot despite leading the Longhorns back into the Top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll this week.