Now that the dust has settled from the College Football Playoff semifinals and the New Year’s Six bowl games, we’ve learned a lot about the finalists: Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. CBS Sports conducted a straw poll on Sunday, and Smith was the runaway favorite, the only player who showed up on all 26 ballots in the informal survey, with 14 putting him in first place. Lawrence was a distant second, followed by Jones and then Trask, who was the favorite at the midpoint. Why the changes?
Take a look as you consider your college football betting options for the award.
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Florida quarterback Kyle Trask slid to the bottom of the odds list after throwing three interceptions last week in the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma. Those interceptions all came in the first quarter, after a regular season in which he had only thrown five. According to Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, the Sooners used coverage schemes that Trask was not familiar with, which led to some indecisive throws. The final score ended up 55-20, as the Sooners took the game to Florida. It was an ugly tailspin for the Gators, who looked like a potential CFP team before losing to LSU. They pushed Alabama hard in the SEC Championship, putting up 46 points (but giving up 52), and they had no answers for Oklahoma.
To hang all of the blame on Trask, of course, is unfair. As Florida football head coach Dan Mullen noted after the game, the roster for the Cotton Bowl was a lot different than it had been for the SEC Championship; he went so far to say that the Cotton Bowl took place after what he considered the “2020 season.” Mullen is no stranger to making comments that are self-serving and end up showing poor sportsmanship, but it is worth noting that Trask had none of his top four receivers. Kyle Pitts, an AP All-American at tight end, and two other wideouts opted out of the bowl game to start preparing for the NFL draft, and wideout Jacob Copeland had tested positive for COVID-19; overall, the Gators had 17 unavailable players. Trask himself came out of the game after the first series of the second half.
Mac Jones had terrific numbers in the Rose Bowl, going 25 of 30 for 297 yards and four touchdowns. However, the night belonged to DeVonta Smith, who caught seven balls for 130 yards and three of those four touchdowns. He has terrific hands, is fearless going across the middle, and has the sort of speed that turns any catch in space into a potential touchdown. It looks like he will definitely win the Heisman Trophy when the Downtown Athletic Club presents the award virtually for the first time this week. The last wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy, by the way, was Desmond Howard, who also won the Walter Camp Trophy and the Maxwell Award, back in 1991. So, 29 years later, it looks like another wide receiver will get the nod as the sport’s top player.
Howard, of course, is still known for one of the biggest moments in Heisman history. He ran off a 93-yard punt return against Ohio State and then “did the Heisman” in the end zone, posing in the same posture as the statue. Commentator Keith Jackson bellowed “Hellooo Heisman!” in response. Howard had set or tied five NCAA records and a dozen Michigan records, leading the Big Ten that year with 138 points. Another iconic moment for him was “The Catch,” a fade route that came via a perfect throw from Elvis Grbac. It’s hard to boil Smith’s season down to just one or two moments; instead, he has just shredded defenses all season long, and he should get his trophy, just like Howard got his.
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