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2009 Heisman Trophy Odds Have Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford Favored
With the start of each new College Football season comes speculation on who will win the Heisman Trophy. With speculation, comes betting odds and those willing to risk a few bucks on their opinions. Before taking the plunge, we have some helpful Heisman handicapping tips to pass along. Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are the front runners according to odds posted at sportsbook.com and are the players who will receive all the early season press. But do early season Heisman favorites usually fair well when all is said and done? Let's take a look.
We don't have to look back too far to find an early season Heisman favorite that ends up with the Trophy at years end. Last year Sam Bradford was a prohibitive favorite of -120 over the rest of the field and took home the prize in the end. But that's not always the case. In 2006, eventual winner Troy Smith had early season odds of 9/1 while the favorite was Brady Quinn. In 2007 Tim Tebow was also a 9/1 underdog to win the Heisman and took home the Trophy when all was said in done.
As with any futures bet, for the best long term results, you're looking for value. It's hard to find value in any favorite no matter what the proposition. It's like the race track. If you go to the track and bet the odds on favorite in every race, you're going to end up a long term loser. Find that undervalued underdog though, and you're on your way to at least having a chance to come out ahead.
When handicapping the Heisman, unfortunately, the success of the team a candidate is on is in direct correlation with the Trophy winner. Players on 7-5 teams don't win Heisman's. Players on 11-1 teams do. I say unfortunately, because there are plenty of incredibly talented players on teams that have no chance of going 11-1. The Heisman Trophy is supposed to be awarded to the outstanding college football player that year. It's possible to be outstanding individually yet not have your team in the Rose Bowl or the BCS Title game. We'll never see that happen though.
So, really, when handicapping the Heisman, you also have to handicap the teams involved. This is why Bradford, McCoy and Tebow are at the head of the pack. Florida, Texas and Oklahoma will all be in the National Title hunt. Some are predicting that Florida will have one of the best teams ever. Hard to ignore Tebow if that's the case.
If we had to go out on a limb and find some value in the 9/1 odds range, we'd go with Jahvid Best, a running back on the California Golden Bears. Best led the Pac 10 in rushing last season and has been compared to Reggie Bush. As we mentioned, in order for Best to have a chance, Cal needs to have a fantastic season. Well, that can happen. Big things are expected from Cal this year. Looking at their schedule, if they can get by USC on October 3rd, they have a great shot at running the table. They were 9-4 a year ago and return 15 starters from that squad.
At odds of 10/1, Jahvid Best is our pick to win the Heisman Trophy as he presents us with the best value when compared to the others. It won't be easy to knock of Tebow, Bradford and McCoy, but College Football is all about big stories and underdogs, so why not a nice story in 2009?
Listed below are the Odds to win the 2009 Heisman Trophy courtesy of Sportsbook.com
Tim Tebow +200
Sam Bradford +225
Colt McCoy +300
Terrelle Pryor +800
Jahvid Best +1000
Evan Royster +1200
Jonathan Dwyer +1200
Jevan Snead +1500
Daryll Clark +2000
CJ Spiller +2000
Todd Reesing +2000
Kendall Hunter +2000