LSU’s Cool Joe Burrow Is Hottest Heisman Candidate In Years

This Saturday, the annual Heisman Trophy award ceremony will be held at the PlayStation Theater in New York City, NY, with coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN.

For the first time in several years, one player seems to have all but run away with the award, as LSU’s Joe Burrow has come out of nowhere to lead his team to first place in the penultimate AP poll and the top seed in the 2019 College Football Playoff.

2019 Heisman Trophy Candidates

Joe Burrow – QB, Louisiana State University (Senior)
Justin Fields – QB, Ohio State University (Sophomore)
Jalen Hurts – QB, Oklahoma University (Senior)
Chase Young – DL, Ohio State University (Junior)

Of course, at the beginning of the season, most USA sportsbook sites had Burrow as an afterthought, giving him around +10000 odds to win the award. Following an underwhelming 2018 campaign, the Louisiana transplant was trending far behind Heisman frontrunners Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama.

Burrows’ stock increased after a slow start to the 2019 season for Lawrence, though Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts (himself a transfer from the Crimson Tide) was the first-half favorite to win the award.

Back then, much of the talk around the water cooler was how the Sooners could become the first team to produce three straight Heisman winners, as quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray won the coveted trophy in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

But all that changed after OU got sucker-punched by unranked Kansas State in Week 9 and Tagovailoa suffered a season-ending hip injury during a Week 12 tilt against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Since that moment, Burrow has been the clear frontrunner.

Of course, given that Burrow and the Tigers beat Alabama one week before Tua’s injury, the LSU quarterback was already favored with that signature victory.

But not like he is now.

Today, at most NCAA sportsbooks, Burrow is pulling -20000 odds or more to win the Heisman, obliterating the relative parity we’ve seen for the award in recent years. And naturally, when sportsbooks release their 2020 NFL Draft odds, you can expect Burrow to be at the top of those boards, too.

2019 Heisman Trophy Odds To Win

Via Bovada

Joe Burrow -25000
Justin Fields +2500
Jalen Hurts +2500
Chase Young +4000

The 2019 Heisman race, for being such a foregone conclusion, is actually the first since 2016 to feature more than three finalists, and Chase Young is the first defensive player to be nominated since then, as well. Young is also the first defensive lineman to make the cut since Ndamukong Suh was invited 10 years ago.

Despite Burrow’s status, you can also bet on these (probable) runners up via a host of proposition bets. The top US books offer several Heisman props, giving football betting fans a chance to have some fun with the rest of the field.