Oklahoma’s Hurts the Heisman Favorite
For the third consecutive season, Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma appear to have the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has had a monster start to his debut season at Oklahoma and has strong odds to win the Heisman according to the best betting sites. Lincoln Riley turned once-unheralded transfer quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray into Heisman winners and eventual number one overall draft picks in the NFL. Hurts now steps into that role under Riley after star QB Tua Tagovailoa took his job at Alabama. All Hurts has done in four starts at Oklahoma is throw for 1,295 yards and 12 touchdowns, while adding in 443 rushing yards and 5 rushing touchdowns.
The Sooners have only played in blowouts this year, so Hurts hasn’t even needed to throw more than 24 pass attempts in a single game yet. The Big 12 is not known for their defense, so as the season rolls along Hurts should only continue to put up video game numbers. The three other favorites for the award are Tagovailoa, LSU’s Joe Burrow and Ohio State’s Justin Fields. However, all three of them play in conferences with stiffer and more competitive defenses. Burrow has been a fast riser after being a relative unknown heading into the season, so it would be surprising if he kept up his pace. Alabama is always dominant so Tagovailoa likely isn’t going anywhere, but tough defenses like LSU and Auburn are still on the schedule. Ohio State has had the easiest schedule of the group up to this point which makes Fields a wild card as it’s hard to tell how legitimate his numbers are yet.
Meanwhile, Hurts checks all the boxes as a Heisman favorite. His coach has had the previous two winners, he has the proven track record and he likely has the easiest defenses to face the rest of the way. It’s still a young season and there are numerous other players around the country with impressive stats, but considering Riley’s track record with QBs, it’s hard to not view Hurts as the Heisman frontrunner thus far.
