Clemson's Trevor Lawrence Falls From Heisman Frontrunner Position
COVID-19 made the biggest change this week in the Heisman Trophy race since college football began in September.
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence missed Saturday's 34-28 game after testing positive last Thursday, leaving oddsmakers to adjust to fewer games than previously expected for the former frontrunner.
According to Betonline.ag, Lawrence went from a favorite at +125 before testing positive to +225 after Dabo Swinney announced his star QB will miss No. 1 Clemson's next game against Notre Dame.
Ohio State's Justin Fields and Alabama's Mac Jones both jumped into the top spot at +150.
Odds from Betonline.ag
Fields has completed 87.3 of his passes for 594 yards and six touchdowns in two games after No. 3 Ohio State's 38-25 win over Penn State. Jones tossed four touchdowns in No. 2 Alabama's easy win over Mississippi State to give him 16 on the season.
Meanwhile, Lawrence sits on his 305.5 passing yards per game and 17 passing scores for another week. Swinney said Saturday that the junior signal-caller will be done with his 10-day isolation by Saturday but won't have time to undergo the cardiac tests in time to get back on the field for the game against the Irish.
DraftKings Sportsbook also adjusted its Heisman odds following the weekend's results, moving Jones, not Fields, into the position of favorite.
Coming into the season, Lawrence was initially second on the Heisman odds list behind Fields, a finalist last year, but when the Big Ten announced in August it was postponing its season to the spring, Lawrence moved into the favorite role. Then after the Big Ten reversed course and decided to play a nine-game schedule that began in late October, it was believed that at least two extra games would be enough to keep Lawrence in the driver's seat.
That's in question now with two games gone from his slate, but he'll still have time to come back and make statements with his stats and leadership for the 7-0 Tigers. The problem for him, however, is that he won't have the marquee game against Notre Dame to boost his Heisman profile. And now Fields and Jones have nearly as many games to match or surpass anything Lawrence does.
