Heisman Watch: Darian Mensah has improved odds, but he's no longer the lead dog

Darian Mensah's odds for the Heisman Trophy improved from +480 to +420 on FanDuel. That's good news for the Miami Hurricanes quarterback. The bad news is that Mensah has gone from being chased to being part of the pack.

The new favorite is Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (+340), who threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns against LSU. It was the most interested the college football world has been in the Magnolia Bowl since . . .ever. And it was all thanks to Lane Kiffin's history of being a dislikable vagabond.

This change in Mensah's status as the favorite for college football's top individual trophy has very little to do with him and a lot to do with the fact that he's just not going to have any games that capture the attention of the country outside of November 7. That's just the way of life in the ACC. Maybe Virginia Tech and Duke will continue to win and offer more national exposure, but the Blue Devils are undefeated, reigning conference champions and received just 20 votes in the polls last week. 

And this week Chambliss gets a road game against another ranked opponent (Florida) while Mensah and the Hurricanes take on a Central Michigan team they are expected to beat by 40 points. It is what it is and all the Hurricanes quarterback can do is continue to play at a high level and win. 

Heisman favorites suddenly have an SEC flavor

With ESPN basically serving as an all-day advertisement for the SEC conference it's no surprise that Chambliss is the favorite and Mississippi State's Kamario Taylor now has the third-best odds at +750. Without doing any dedicated research i can guess Chambliss' name was mentioned at least 100 times in studio shows and Mensah's might have been mentioned five.

Somehow Malachi Toney's odds dropped from +1100 to +1500 despite having 12 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown against Wake Forest in a little more than a solid half of work. Jeremiah Smith's odds also dropped (+700 to +850) because this is still a quarterback's award.

Here's how the Heisman favorites did in Week 3:

Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss (+340): 33-for-48, 363 passing yards, 2 TDs, INT
Miami QB Darian Mensah (+420): 30-for-34, 220 passing yards, 3 TDs
Mississippi State's QB Kamario Taylor (+750): 18-for-26, 251 passing yards, 4 TDs, INT
Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith (+850): 5 catches, 85 yards
Texas QB Arch Manning (+1200): 16-for-32, 161 passing yards, 2 TDs; 53 rushing yards
Notre Dame QB CJ Carr (+1200): 18-for-24, 234 passing yards, rushing TD
Miami WR Malachi Toney (+1500): 12 catches, 114 yards, TD

It feels like the oddsmakers could end the facade on Manning. I don't care whose nephew he is, he's not going to put up the gaudy stats needed to win this award. Same with CJ Carr, who went from being preseason favorite to an afterthought. Again, he's not playing badly, but he's not doing anything remarkable against a soft schedule. 

Some other favorites have dropped off the pace as well, like USC quarterback Jayden Maiava and Qhio State's Julian Sayin (both at +3000). Their descent has made room for Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell (+2500) and Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton (+3000) to join that second tier.

The biggest riser of the week is Florida running back Jadan Baugh, who jumped from +15000 to +6500 after rushing for 162 yards and three touchdowns against Auburn.  Baugh seems like a runaway favorite to win the Doak Walker Award, but it's going to be a tough climb to win the Heisman. 

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