The Hype: What are the Odds of both a Big Ten Heisman Winner and National Champion?

Heading in to Week 3 of the college football season, it’s time to talk about crowning the best player and team. This is a normal season, in that the B1G has serious contenders for both the National Championship and the Heisman.

That's not unusual. Last year, Alabama won the national championship and its running back Derrick Henry won the Heisman. In 2013, Florida State won it all and its quarterback Jamies Winston took home the little bronze guy.

But it's unusual in the B1G. The last time we had both was in 1997. When Michigan won the national title and Charles Woodson won the Heisman. In fact, that was the only time we've seen it done in the B1G. But it could happen again this year..

Let’s start with the race for the Natty…

The Big Ten has five teams ranked in the top thirteen of the Associated Press college football poll. Two of the top four teams in the country are B1G teams: Ohio State and Michigan. That means, if we just stopped the season today, there would be two B1G teams in the playoff right now.

However, that won’t be the case by the end of the year. We know either Michigan or Ohio State will have a loss. That won’t last long. Clemson and FSU meet, so one of them is out. An  d I suspect both will have a loss by the end of the year.

School	Odds
Alabama	+400
Florida State	+600
Clemson	+650
Ohio State	+650
Michigan	+1000
LSU	+1200
Tennessee	+1400
Houston	+1800
Texas	+2200
Oklahoma	+2500

My long-distance wild-ass guess is that the four teams will be Bama, OSU, Texas, and Notre Dame in the playoff. I’m not putting them out there as the best teams in the country. Those are the teams that have The Hype and the schedule to get there.

Barring any unforeseen glitches, they have the right roads. OSU probably has the toughest schedule among them. The B1G East is arguably the hardest conference in college football this year. That means Ohio State could be the best prepared team going in.

I’d love to see the Buckeyes play Texas for the championship…because the Natty would come home to the B1G.

How about the Heisman…

There is a fair to middlin’ chance that the Heisman could sit right next to the natty this year. Here’s the top ten candidates and their odds:

Player	School	Odds
Christian McCaffrey	Stanford	+400
Deshaun Watson	Clemson	+450
JT Barrett	Ohio State	+550
Leonard Fournette	LSU	+750
Davin Cook	Florida State	+800
Nick Chubb	Georgia	+1000
Greg Ward Jr	Houston	+1000
Jabrill Peppers	Michigan	+1800
Lamar Jackson	Louisville	+1800
Patrick Mahomes	Texas Tech	+2500

As you can see in the table above, J.T. Barrett is in the top four Heisman candidates this year. I’m surprised to see Fournette still there, after the poor showing against Wisconsin. /Best Yoda Voice: Strong the SEC is…in the Heisman marketing.

I would argue that this season, with so many tough games, Barrett will have the national stage more than McCaffrey or Watson. So, as long as he continues to play at this insanely high level, he could rocket to the top of the list.

We’ll check in  weekly, to see how things progress.

Your Friend,

Townie