Three things to know about Jameis Winston, Florida State’s star QB
Winston’s legal troubles are over, and Duke’s troubles have just begun.
In case you hadn't heard, Jameis Winston avoided charges in his sexual assault investigation, the culmination of about four weeks of investigation in a 50-week process. We're not here to talk legalese — not that we're pretending it doesn't exist, you can read all about it here — but the most relevant fact from all that, regardless of your opinion of how it all went down, is it is finished. Winston is eligible, playing, starting and free of further legal distress.
2. Winston’s going to win the Heisman.
In the immediate aftermath of the state of Florida’s decision not to press charges against Winston, the odds that he would win the Heisman moved to 1-30, which might as well not even be bet upon. They have since moved even more in his favor:
Updated Heisman odds: Jameis Winston is now 1/60 on Sportsbook.
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) December 7, 2013
Winston's really the only player that even seem like a sure thing to be invited to New York for the ceremonies; putative contenders like Jordan Lynch, Andre Williams, Marcus Mariota and Johnny Manziel have all had rough games down the stretch, the types of games that would take players out of contention even without a leviathan like Winston dominating games.
3. He doesn’t have a particularly tough task today.
Those hoping for some BCS drama should probably turn their attention to Indianapolis, because Duke is not a serious contender to knock off FSU. Anything can happen, obviously, but with FSU’s surfeit of offensive talent you’d want to see Duke demonstrate at least a high level of defensive play to keep the game close long enough where something could happen late.
But Duke is 41st in the nation in pass efficiency defense, which is not the profile of a world-beater. Its rush defense is even worse at 71st in the nation. Winston might not even need to throw more than 20 times. But if he does, he shouldn’t encounter much difficulty, then it’ll be onto the BCS National Championship for him. And a stop in New York for the Heisman along the way.
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