Carson Beck, John Mateer new Heisman favorites

Field Level Media
17 Sep 2025, 22:25 GMT+10

(Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

Another week of the 2025 college football season has ushered in two new favorites in the Heisman Trophy race.

This time, it's a pair of quarterbacks who headlined the offseason transfer portal circuit.

Miami's Carson Beck has emerged as the +700 favorite at BetMGM ahead of Oklahoma's John Mateer at +900. Yet another transfer, Oregon's Dante Moore, is third at +1100. Meanwhile, DraftKings has Mateer (+800) slightly ahead of Beck at +900, with Moore being offered at +1200.

All three were in the Heisman picture to begin the season -- Beck and Moore opened at +2000 at BetMGM while Mateer was +2500 -- but have benefited from injuries and disappointing play impacting other early favorites.

That begins with Arch Manning, who opened the season as the +950 favorite to win the Heisman while also being the favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. However, the Texas quarterback has struggled mightily during the Longhorns' 2-1 start.

Manning is completing just 55.3 percent of his passes and said this week, 'I know the type of player I am. I know I can be better. I know we can be better as an offense, so it's time to get going.'

Manning has plummeted to the fringe of Heisman contention at +3500 at DraftKings. Those are the same odds as South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who owned the second-shortest odds at +700 to begin September.

After a breakout 2024 season, Sellers opened the season by throwing for 337 yards and a pair of touchdown passes in the Gamecocks' 2-0 start. However, he was knocked out of last weekend's loss to Vanderbilt with a concussion, leaving his status for Saturday's game against Missouri in doubt.

Manning is +3000 at BetMGM, while Sellers has plummeted to +8000. Manning's freefall could prove a big win for the book, which reported him leading with 14.3 percent of all money wagered on the Heisman market.

LSU's Garrett Nussmeier was the early beneficiary of Manning's struggles, rising to the Heisman favorite after Texas' season-opening loss to Ohio State. The Tigers quarterback was +650 at the time but has struggled to get the vertical passing game rolling, perhaps due to a lingering torso issue that coach Brian Kelly acknowledged this week.

Nussmeier hasn't fallen nearly as far as the other two as he still is tied for the fifth-shortest odds at +1500 at BetMGM. That's the same as Tennessee's Joey Aguilar and Texas A&M's Marcel Reed, and just behind Georgia's Gunner Stockton at +1200. Nussmeier has received the second-most support at the book, having been backed by 10.2 percent of all money wagered, ahead of Sellers at 8.6 percent.

The shortest non-quarterback odds belong to Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith at +1600.

Meanwhile, DraftKings is offering Nussmeier at +1300, followed by Smith (+1400) and Reed, Ohio State QB Julian Sayin and Stockton at +1500. Aguilar is +1600 at the book.

HEISMAN TROPHY ODDS*

PLAYER, POS, TEAM, SEPT. 1, CURRENT

Carson Beck, QB, Miami (+1200), (+700)

John Mateer, QB, Oklahoma (+1300), (+900)

Dante Moore, QB, Oregon (+2000), (+1100)

Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia (+1200), (+1200)

Marcel Reed, QB, Texas A&M (N/A), (+1500)

Joey Aguilar, QB, Tennessee (+5000), (+1500)

Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU (+650), (+1500)

Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (+1500), (+1600)

Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State (+2500), (+1700)

Jackson Arnold, QB Auburn (+2000), (+2000)