Joe Burrow’s Heisman Odds Now +2000 Following Huge Week 2 Game at Texas

• Joe Burrow had 471 passing yards, four touchdowns and an interception as LSU beat Texas on Saturday.
• Burrow has a tough upcoming SEC schedule with three opponents ranked in the Top 10.
• Justin Fields offers good value as he’s picked up nine touchdowns on the season so far.

Joe Burrow had an incredible performance on Saturday night at Texas. With his No. 6 LSU Tigers beating the No. 9 Texas Longhorns on the road and his play being the catalyst, he’s shot up the board in terms of the Heisman Trophy odds. Is he a good bet to win it or is there better value elsewhere?

2020 Heisman Trophy Odds

*Odds taken September 09/09/19

Burrow Leads LSU Over Texas

It’s been a long time since LSU had a respectable passing game and a quarterback to lead the team. It appears they have a good one now as Burrow absolutely picked apart the Longhorns to the tune of 471 passing yards, four touchdowns and an interception. On the season, he now has 749 passing yards, nine touchdowns and a pick in two games.

Burrow’s Heisman Trophy odds continue to shorten, as this was a player who was at +15000 when the odds opened up. Then he dipped to +8000, +5200, +3700 and is now at +2000 after the win at Texas. He has a real chance to win, it but it’s important not to overreact after one week.

SEC Play is Upcoming

LSU has a cupcake coming up with Northwestern State, the manageable games against Vanderbilt and Utah State, but things start to get much tougher after that.

They’ll have to play No. 9 Florida, who’ll they’ll get at home, but that will be the toughest defense they’ve faced to date. Then they’ll go to Mississippi State, come home to play No. 8 Auburn and then go to No. 2 Alabama.

That’s one heck of a tough stretch. Remember that Burrow played against Alabama last season when the Tigers were shut out. He has been phenomenal so far but he’ll stumble somewhere along the lines here and that will cost him.

Tagovailoa, Lawrence Off to Slow Starts

The Heisman Trophy race was supposed to be for either Tua Tagovailoa or Trevor Lawrence to win, but both have had lukewarm starts to the season. Lawrence has just two touchdowns and three picks through two games, while Tagovailoa has seven touchdowns and no picks.

Lawrence doesn’t really have any tough games left, so he’ll really have to pick up the pace against weak competition. As for Tua, he’s done nothing to hurt his standing – he has 563 yards and seven touchdowns through two games – but Burrow had 471 passing yards this week. It feels like Tagovailoa needs to start to ‘wow’ or he’ll fall behind in this race.

Justin Fields Offers Good Value

One player that’s not getting enough attention for the Heisman is Justin Fields. He has thrown for six touchdowns already, run in three more and has led the Buckeyes to two impressive wins. Sure, Florida Atlantic and Cincinnati are not power five teams, but they’re not cream puffs either – especially Cincy.

Ohio State has won it’s two games by a combined score of 87-21 so far. The best part is the schedule is quite manageable. Sure, there’s a test against Michigan State’s vaunted defense but that’s at home. They’ll also play Wisconsin, Penn State and Maryland – all of whom are ranked -but all of those games are at home.

On top of that, none of those teams have defenses that should give Fields too many problems. I like the fact that he runs – averaging 51.5 rushing yards and 1.5 rushing touchdowns per game – as that gives him another dimension to pile up the stats. He’s my bet at this point as I think the Buckeyes win the Big Ten behind a big year from him.