South Carolina Football: The Odds on Marcus Lattimore Winning the Heisman Trophy

Coming into the 2011 college football season, the South Carolina Gamecocks had a lot of preseason hype—not only with their football team as a whole, but with their star sophomore running back Marcus Lattimore. 

As a freshman Lattimore rushed for a team-leading 1,197 yards, 17 touchdowns and had a heavy work load, carrying the ball 249 times. His name was mentioned with the other great running backs in college football at the end of last year. This year, he seemed to be a front-runner for the Heisman Trophy. 

Before the season, Lattimore ranked in the top five of Heisman odds. The odds-on favorite was Stanford’s Andrew Luck at 7/2, followed by Oklahoma’s quarterback Landry Jones 13/2, Alabama and Oregon running backs Trent Richardson 13/2 and LaMichael James 15/2. 

Marcus, at 15/2, wasn’t a long-shot to hold up the trophy in New York City at the end of the year, but he had a lot of work to do.  

So, what has he done so far this year to help his Heisman odds? 

Through three games in the ’11 season, Lattimore leads the SEC and the nation in rushing yards with 534, is tied for second in touchdowns with seven and is not lightening his work load, as he’s carried the ball a league leading 87 times. 

Yes, Lattimore has done nothing to hurt his chances at the Heisman Trophy this year. But you have to question if his high number of carriers is going to wear down this second-year back. He’s obviously the best running back in the NCAA this year. He’s obviously the person this South Carolina offense runs through. But is he the obvious choice as the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner? 

Well, after seeing these stats and the way that he carried his team to a victory against Navy last week—37 carries, 246 yards and three touchdowns—you would have to say that he is in fact the odds-on favorite to win this year. 

Twitter: @tjmcaloon