Jameis Winston ran away with the Heisman Trophy in 2013, winning the award by the seventh largest margin in history.
Heisman Trophy Odds Update: Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota clear favorites
Only one man has won consecutive Heismans but Jameis Winston is favored to become the second. See the Heisman Trophy odds update.
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He enters 2014 as the favorite to win the award again, going off at 9/2 to win the Heisman Trophy for the second straight season, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Winston has all of the pieces in place to join Archie Griffin as the second repeat Heisman Trophy winner in history. Florida State will once again be a big favorite in all of its games, and there isn’t much reason to expect a regression from the team or in Winston’s stat line.
The one thing holding Jameis Winston back could be all of the hype surrounding him. Without many challenging games on the schedule, a repeat of last year’s performance may not “wow” voters this time around if there are other worthy competitors in the race. His Seminoles open against Oklahoma State and they are favored by 17 points.
The biggest competitor on the board is Marcus Mariota, who isn’t far behind Winston on the odds sheet at 5/1 to win the Heisman Trophy. Mariota was actually the clear favorite to win the award last year before his Oregon Ducks were upset by Stanford and he was slowed down by a knee injury down the stretch.
The Ducks are expected to be in the running for a playoff spot, and a perfect season leading Oregon’s gaudy offense could put Mariota in position to top Winston in voting.
Strictly from a stats perspective, Baylor’s Bryce Petty (12/1) has to be in the conversation. Petty had 4200 passing yards and a 32-to-3 touchdown to interception ratio last season along with 14 rushing touchdowns. Similar stats and an undefeated season including road wins at Texas and Oklahoma would put Petty firmly in the mix.
Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon leads the running back pack on the board at 12/1. Coming off of a 1,609 rushing yard season, Gordon could start his Heisman campaign off strongly by leading the Badgers to an upset win over LSU in opening week action. Wisconsin has struggled badly as road underdogs over the years, however.
Other contenders include UCLA’s Brett Hundley (10/1), Auburn’s Nick Marshall (12/1), Georgia’s Todd Gurley (14/1), Oklahoma’s Trevor Knight (18/1), and Alabama’s Derrick Henry and T.J. Yeldon each at 20/1.
