It's strange to think that college football is entering its ninth week of the season while the SEC has only played five weeks, the Big Ten started just last weekend and the Pac-12 is still a week away from kicking off its season.
But hey, it's 2020, and it's a weekend that will have Halloween on Saturday with a full moon, a time change and just days before a presidential election.
Despite all the craziness this weekend, and this year, there are lists of favorites to win the Heisman Trophy during an otherwise weird and wacky year.
There are various betting odds on who will win this year's Heisman Trophy, and Clemson junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence tops most of those lists. It's hard to place a player from the Pac-12 on the list when they have yet to play a down, and it's hard to compare the Ohio State quarterback with one game to Lawrence, who has rolled through six games.
Regardless, here are the 2020 Heisman Trophy favorites, according to sportsbettingdime.com. (Remember, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was such a long shot in 2019 that his odds of winning the trophy at one point were 15,000-to-1 — or, +15,000).
-132 — Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson
+290 — Mac Jones, QB, Alabama
+404 — Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State
+2500 — Najee Harris, RB, Alabama
+2875 — Kyle Trask, QB, Florida
+3150 — Joe Milton, QB, Michigan
+3575 — Zach WIlson, QB, BYU
+3825 — Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson
+4000 — Trey Sermon, RB, Ohio State
+4125 — Devonta Smith, WR, Alabama
+5000 — Brock Purdy, QB, Iowa State
+6150 — Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State
Others in consideration: Shane Buechele (QB, SMU), D'Eriq King (QB, Miami), Stetson Bennett (QB, Georgia), Master Teague (RB, Ohio State), Kellen Mond (QB, Texas A&M), Sam Ehlinger (QB, Texas), Spencer Rattler (QB, Oklahoma), Sean Clifford (QB, Penn State), Feleipe Franks (QB, Arkansas), Ian Book (QB, Notre Dame), Zamir White (RB, Georgia), Tanner Morgan (QB, Minnesota), Javian Hawkins (RB, Louisville), Myles Brennan (QB, LSU), Sam Howell (QB, North Carolina), Tylan Wallace (WR, Oklahoma State), Kyle Pitts (TE, Florida).
"Predicting who will win is a difficult exercise, especially in the preseason," the betting website stated. "In 2018, eventual winner Kyler Murray wasn't even on the board at the outset, and he was a +2300 longshot when he first popped up in late July. Fellow finalist Dwayne Haskins started out at +3500. The 2019 season produced an even more unlikely winner: Joe Burrow was as long as +15000 in the preseason."
Of the 20 Heisman Trophy winners since 2000, only three of them have not been quarterbacks. With Burrow's win in 2019, there have been 17 quarterbacks and three running backs to win the coveted trophy this century.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
