Week 12 College Football Picks: LSU, Ohio State, Clemson Best Betting Choices

Running back Derrick Henry has emerged as the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy for the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (9-1) following consecutive 200-yard efforts in the past two games, including 210 against the LSU Tigers (7-2) and fellow candidate Leonard Fournette.

But Fournette and a few others still have a shot to make a statement in the last few games, and Saturday’s games will definitely impact the Heisman race.

Fournette and the Tigers visit the Ole Miss Rebels (7-3) as 4.5-point road underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark, looking to snap a two-game losing streak. He was the Heisman front-runner before Henry topped him in a 30-16 victory two weeks ago and still leads the country in rushing yards with 1,474.

With LSU head coach Les Miles possibly on his way out of Baton Rouge after a disappointing run (per Scott Rabalais of the Advocate), look for his players to come through for him in this desperate spot and pull off the upset.

Henry and Fournette are not the only running backs with a legit shot to win the Heisman, though, as last year’s rising star, Ezekiel Elliott of the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes (10-0), will try to state his case for the award with outstanding performances in the team's last two games.

Elliott burst onto the scene late last season for the Buckeyes and has 15 straight 100-yard games, better than either of the two backs with slightly more yardage than him this year. The third-ranked Buckeyes host the ninth-ranked Michigan State Spartans (9-1) as 13.5-point home chalk, so look for Elliott to roll over them as his team wins big and covers the spread in a rout.

The top quarterback still in the running for the Heisman is Deshaun Watson of the top-ranked Clemson Tigers (10-0). Watson is coming off two of his best performances of the season, and he will need another against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (3-7) to remain a serious candidate.

While the Tigers are as high as 30-point home favorites against the Demon Deacons, they should have no problem covering that with another strong effort by Watson to remain the No. 1 team in the country heading into next week.