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It only took one week – and four touchdown passes in a rout of a seeded opponent – for Bryce Young to upend the Heisman Trophy race.

Alabama’s sophomore quarterback led a 44-13 win over Miami in the Crimson Tide’s season opener, completing 27 of 38 passes for 344 yards to go with the four scores. That was enough for Young to vault to Heisman frontrunner status at numerous sportsbooks, including PointsBet (+350) and BetMGM (+425).

Preseason Heisman favorite Spencer Rattler threw for 304 yards and a touchdown in Oklahoma’s opener but wasn’t nearly as consistent as the Sooners held off Tulane, 40-35, at home.

Rattler completed 30 of 39 passes but also threw a pair of interceptions to help keep the Green Wave in the game. The consensus favorite from the time 2021 Heisman odds were installed all the way through last week, Rattler is still the second favorite but saw his odds lengthen from +550 to +700 at PointsBet and from +650 to +900 at BetMGM.

That put him on par at BetMGM with Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral, who jumped up Heisman lists with 423 total yards in the Rebels’ opening blowout of Louisville. Corral is being offered at +1000 at PointsBet, where he is the third favorite ahead of Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud (+1000).

Top Contenders Struggle

Young clearly benefitted from the relative struggles of his two closest competitors entering the season in Rattler and Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei. The Tigers’ sophomore struggled in a loss to Georgia, failing to lead Clemson to a touchdown an seeing his Heisman odds lengthen to +1100 at PointsBet and +1200 at BetMGM.

While the Bulldogs won the game to move to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 poll, JT Daniels failed to lead Georgia to a single offensive touchdown himself. His Heisman odds slipped to +1200 at PointsBet and +1500 at BetMGM.



Other preseason Heisman candidates who struggled in season-opening losses included Miami’s D’Eriq King and North Carolina’s Sam Howell. Both ACC quarterbacks are now being offered at +2500 by PointsBet. Howell is also +2500 at BetMGM, while King’s odds lengthened to +4000.

Texas running back Bijan Robinson retained the top odds outside of quarterbacks, holding steady at PointsBet while seeing his odds shorten from +3000 at BetMGM.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)