Vegas Moves Clausen into Top 3 Heisman Trophy Odds

Heading into the season, the Heisman Trophy looked like a three horse race between Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, and Colt McCoy. Sam Bradford, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, suffered a shoulder injury in the opening game against BYU and has missed the last three ball games. Due to the injury, Bradford is completely out of the race and even if he does come back healthy soon, he will not win the award. Despite the injury to Bradford, odds makers still have three quarterbacks favored to win the coveted trophy however Jimmy Clausen has replaced Bradford in top 3 contenders. Tim Tebow is the favorite at +200, Colt McCoy is right behind him at +300, and Clausen has been listed as +550. (See Heisman Odds)

Tim Tebow +200:

What can you say about Tim Tebow? The guy is an absolute winner and a true champion. He may not be the best NFL prospect in college football but he is the best college football player in the game today. The guy can do it all with his legs and his arm. In four games, he has thrown for 643 yards and 6 touchdowns against only 1 interception. Tebow has also rushed for 271 yards and tacked on 5 more touchdowns on the ground. Tebow is the favorite because he is the best overall player in college football and he is the undisputed leader of the number 1 team in the country. He wills his team to victory week in and week out and winning goes a long way with the voters. The only thing that could hurt Tebow is if the concussion he suffered last week keeps him out of a big ball game against LSU this weekend. This would be a huge stage for number 15 to make a statement against a very good LSU team and prove to voters on national television that he is the most outstanding player in the country. (See Heisman Odds)

Colt McCoy +300:

Despite his gaudy numbers it is hard to put Colt McCoy above Tim Tebow as of right now due to the fact that Texas really hasn’t played a quality opponent aside from Texas Tech. McCoy has been beating up on the likes of Louisiana Monroe, Wyoming, and UTEP. In order to win the Heisman, McCoy will have to step up and play well in big games down the road. However, you can’t ignore the fact that McCoy has thrown for over 1,100 yards and 9 touchdowns in just 4 games. Like Tebow, McCoy is a good runner but hasn’t produced much on the ground this year. He has just 55 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground. If McCoy and the Longhorns continue to win throughout the season, McCoy has the best shot of any player to upset Tebow. Colt McCoy is a great player and time will tell if he is the best player in the nation. (See Heisman Odds)

Jimmy Clausen: +550

Jimmy Clausen was not even in the discussion at the beginning of the year as being a threat to take home the Heisman but he has been outstanding in 2009 thus far. Clausen has attempted 148 passes already and completed 100 of them! He has also thrown for 1,544 yards and 12 touchdowns. Those are some staggering numbers to say the least. Even though Clausen has the best passing numbers of the three quarterbacks there are two factors working against him: Notre Dame is not going to contend for a national championship and he plays a relatively weak schedule from here on out. The voters like guys who are on winning football teams and will likely go with Tebow or McCoy if they are to lead their teams to the BCS Championship game. Voters may also balk at the fact that Notre Dame doesn’t really play any top tier teams except for USC the rest of the year. Clausen’s best chance to win is to have a monster game against the Trojans to prove that he can be a great player against a top echelon team like USC. (See Heisman Odds)