Each and every year, one of the highlights of the college football season is the awarding of the Heisman Trophy. It goes to the best player in college football as voted on by sports media throughout the nation. The recent trend has been for quarterbacks to win the award, but that trend was bucked last season with Colorado’s versatile WR/DB Travis Hunter taking home the hardware.

Who will it be in 2025? That’s what we will examine in this article. The college football experts at ScoresandStats have put their collective heads together and narrowed down the field. They have also taken a strong look at the upcoming College Football Championship. For the second consecutive season, we will see a 12-team playoff to decide this year’s National Championship.

ScoresandStats will provide you with the best in NCAAF news, odds, predictions, picks, and more. Our team of qualified experts have hundreds of years of combined experience in handicapping college football, Whether it’s moneyline, point spread, totals, or even futures picks, our team will guide you through the entire 2025 season.

Strap it up and strap it on. It’s a long season from now until the College Football Playoffs. Along the way, we will be introduced to numerous outstanding coaches and players. The best of those players will have a shot at the 2025 Heisman Trophy. Let’s take a look at some history of the award and this season’s top candidates.

What Is The Heisman Trophy?

The Heisman Trophy was established in 1935 by the Downtown Athletic Club which was located in New York City. The trophy was named in honor of the club’s first athletic director, John Heisman.

Each year, the Heisman Trophy is given to the most outstanding player in college football. It has been awarded every season since 1936. Interestingly, only one player in the history of college football has ever won the award twice. That was Ohio State running back Archie Griffin, the winner in 1974 and 1975.

Who Won The Heisman Trophy?

After three straight quarterbacks won the Heisman, Colorado WR/DB Travis Hunter broke the mold and captured last year’s trophy. Hunter was a unique talent who finished fifth in the nation in receiving yards – 1,258 yards on 96 receptions. He scored 15 touchdowns.

Defensively, Hunter recorded 35 tackles, forced a fumble, broke up 11 passes, and had four interceptions. He also had a rushing touchdown and was awarded the 2024 Heisman Trophy with a vote total of 2,231 votes.

Hunter beat out Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty, who rushed for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns, by 214 votes. Jeanty was the runner-up with 2,017 votes.

When Is The Heisman Trophy Ceremony?

The Heisman Trophy award is presented each year in early December on the first Saturday after the regular season. This year, the ceremony will take place on Saturday, Dec. 13, at 8 p.m. ET.

The event will be broadcasted by ESPN live from the Jazz Center at Lincoln’s Appel Room. The top four vote-getters will be invited to attend the 2025 Heisman Trophy ceremony.

Heisman Trophy Odds

Check out the latest NCAAF odds for the Heisman Trophy Award, courtesy of the best sports betting sites:

It has been quite the season so far. Most of the preseason Heisman Trophy candidates have fallen by the wayside like Allar and Manning. With that said, this race is going to come down to the final weeks. Check out our analysis for the Heisman Trophy and compare it to the best handicappers for a more complete betting picture.

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Heisman Trophy Favorites

The following players are the odds-on favorites to win the Heisman Trophy Award:

Julian Sayin (+175)

This has been a wildly unpredictable college football season, and the updated Heisman Trophy odds board looks vastly different than it did at the beginning of the term. Julian Sayin was listed at +2000 to open the season, and he’s currently the favorite at +175.

Ohio State hasn’t had a Heisman winner since Troy Smith in 2006, but Julian Sayin has the Buckeyes squarely back in the national spotlight. His latest showing — a 20-for-23 performance with 316 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-14 win over Penn State — didn’t just swing the Big Ten race. It moved the betting markets. Sayin leap-frogged Ty Simpson and Fernando Mendoza and is now the Heisman favorite at +175. He’s already had four games completing at least 85% of his passes for 300+ yards with three or more TDs — no other QB in the country has more than one such outing.

His efficiency is what’s making this run feel so sustainable. Sayin came into the weekend fifth nationally with an 87.9 QBR — and he leads the country in completion percentage at almost 81%. No other QB nationally is above 75%. The gaudy box scores aren’t a fluke — the intermediate/vertical ball placement has been surgical.

The weapons help, and Sayin isn’t shy about crediting them. Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate both hauled in 57 yards apiece vs Penn State, combining for 247 yards and three scores. Sayin noted that the offensive line “is really the offensive line giving me time to be able to go through my read,” and called the stats “a team stat.” But the explosive element is there too — Sayin now has eight passing touchdowns of 20+ air yards, tied for third-most in the country. And with Ohio State 8-0, 5-0 in the Big Ten, and trying to win back-to-back national titles — he now checks literally every box the Heisman voters historically reward: undefeated contender, huge efficiency, and prime-time production.

Fernando Mendoza (+240)

Fernando Mendoza’s Heisman resume checks every box voters historically reward — high-efficiency production, undefeated record, and a marquee win already in the pocket. Coming into Week 10, the Indiana QB led all of college football with 24 touchdown passes, and after the Maryland blowout he sits at 25 passing TDs, 72.3% completions, 2,124 yards, and only four picks.

He’s also added 220 rushing yards and four rushing TDs, giving him legitimate dual-threat contribution. The Maryland game wasn’t gaudy statistically — 14-of-21 for 201 yards, one TD, one pick, plus 24 rushing yards and a rushing score — but it was another blowout win that further pads his margins.

Indiana’s game log is the part people aren’t talking about enough. They’ve routed multiple opponents — 73-0, 63-10, 56-6 — but they’ve also already banked the exact type of high-leverage resume point Heisman voters look for: a 30-20 win at Oregon when the Ducks were ranked No. 3. He also shredded Illinois (then ranked No. 9) in a 63-10 demolition where he threw five touchdowns.

It’s not just numbers — it’s production paired with national relevance. He’s doing this at a place that hasn’t been relevant on this stage in decades, and voters love a disruptor story when the stats back it.

And the closing schedule sets him up for more spotlight — Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue. None of those are stat graveyards, and all three are national TV-caliber environments where his Heisman stock can spike further.

If Indiana closes 12-0, there isn’t a single historical precedent where a QB with a statline like Mendoza’s gets left out of New York — and this profile is getting better every week. This is the exact archetype that ends up cashing Heisman tickets: efficiency, undefeated wins, explosive numbers, and meaningful games still remaining.

So in a market where Sayin has already been steamed into heavy chalk, Mendoza at +250 is the better bet — because you’re getting a front-runner profile at a non-front-runner price. This is the last window before the number likely collapses if Indiana wins one of those November spotlight games.

Ty Simpson (+450)

Ty Simpson belongs in the mix because the raw résumé is still strong enough to justify being priced in the top tier — Alabama has a stack of ranked wins, including a 24–21 win at Georgia and victories over Wisconsin, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. His production is clean: 2,184 yards, 20 touchdowns, 1 interception with a completion rate just under 68%. And he’s had flashes of real ceiling — the 382-yard, 4-TD game vs Wisconsin shows he can look like a true Heisman-caliber weapon when the game script leans toward him. So, there is a perfectly reasonable case as to why he’s sitting near the front of the board at +450.

But he’s not driving Alabama the way Julian Sayin is driving Ohio State or the way Fernando Mendoza is powering Indiana. Simpson is more of a stabilizer than a catalyst — he’s been efficient in structure, not explosive outside of it. His profile looks more like “really good playoff quarterback” than “odds-board sledgehammer.” Even the Heisman analysis you attached called him “the pretender in this group” — a guy benefiting from Alabama’s infrastructure rather than elevating it. When the trophy becomes a narrative award — and it always does in November — voters separate guys who carry their program from guys who simply operate it. Mendoza is undefeated with the best stat line. Sayin is doing video-game efficiency numbers. Simpson doesn’t have that same hook.

For Simpson to actually win this, Alabama probably needs to rip off an SEC title run — because that’s the only path where his more conservative profile becomes the winning résumé. But with both Indiana and Ohio State undefeated and producing bigger individual efficiency spikes, the landscape doesn’t favor him right now. He’s good enough to stay on tickets. He’s good enough to stay on graphics. But unless the other two stumble, he’s not the guy who voters will gravitate to first. He’s a justifiable favorite-tier name — not a likely winner.

The Best Heisman Trophy Betting Value

Marcel Reed (+900) is the value play with real late-season upside. The numbers aren’t as glossy as Sayin/Mendoza, but the impact is obvious: Texas A&M is undefeated and Reed keeps stacking high-leverage wins. He’s at 1,972 passing yards, 17 TD, 6 INT with an 86-yard long, plus true dual-threat juice (349 rushing yards, 6 rushing TD, 5.5 YPC). That profile travels — and it’s already traveled in winning time.

The road résumé is the differentiator. Reed delivered a 41–40 win at No. 8 Notre Dame (360 yards) and a 49–25 win at LSU, where he hit explosive throws and added 108 rushing yards with two TDs. Add in 4 TDs vs UTSA and a clean, efficient 280/3/0 line in the 45–42 shootout over Arkansas and you’ve got exactly the kind of tape voters remember: clutch drives, explosives, and wins that swing rankings.

Reed’s candidacy also has a built-in launchpad: Texas, on the road, in the regular-season finale. If A&M reaches that game unbeaten and Reed “balls,” the jump can happen in one afternoon — that’s how late-season Heismans get made. He doesn’t need to lap the field in raw efficiency; he needs the undefeated narrative plus one nuclear moment on the biggest stage left on the calendar.

At +900, you’re buying a live, undefeated QB with banked road scalps and a clear path to a final statement game. The floor looks like a New York trip; the ceiling is the trophy if he closes with Texas. Among the non-favorites, Reed is the most underpriced path to first.

The Top Heisman Trophy Longshot

At +20000, Arch Manning is the pure narrative flier. The warts are obvious: Texas opened with a 14–7 loss at Ohio State, he scuffled at Florida (29–21 L), and the ugly midseason line at Kentucky (12/27 for 132, 0 TD) cratered his candidacy. But the recent tape is cleaner and more aggressive: 346 yards and 3 TD vs Mississippi State, then 328 and 3 more vs No. 9 Vanderbilt, on top of an efficient rivalry win over No. 6 Oklahoma (21/27, 166, 1 TD). The season body isn’t Heisman-caliber (2,123 yards, 18 TD, 6 INT; 203 rush, 6 TD), but the last two weeks at least look like the guy who opened the year as the favorite.

What you’re buying with a tiny stake is the brand + launchpad. If Texas closes with style points and Manning stacks one monster, nationally televised performance (think 330+ and 4 total TD in a de facto division/SEC clincher), while Sayin/Mendoza falter and the field cannibalizes itself, the price compresses fast and a New York trip comes back into play.

Is it likely? No. He needs real chaos and zero more clunkers. But at 200-1, the combination of recent uptick, elite helmet, and a plausible late spotlight is enough to justify a low-dollar lotto ticket.

Heisman Trophy Predictions

The board pretty clearly points to Mendoza right now. He has the cleanest profile — undefeated team, elite efficiency (25 TD / 4 INT / 72.3%), multiple résumé wins already banked, and a closing schedule that actually adds equity instead of threatening to take it away.

If Indiana closes 12–0, voters will not ignore 30+ TDs at that completion clip — especially with the road win at Oregon and the Illinois demolition already sitting as anchor points. Sayin might be putting up the video game numbers, but Mendoza’s profile is more “Heisman winner archetype” — elite stats + undefeated program that was not penciled in as a title favorite in August. He’s the most likely to actually hoist the trophy if the standings don’t break.

Reed, though, is still the value entry. His statline doesn’t pop the same way, but it’s the relevance of the performances — not the yard-per-attempt aesthetics — that gives him oxygen. A&M has the Notre Dame and LSU wins banked, he has multiple “clutch” outputs, and he’s doing it on a program that is undefeated and still hasn’t hit its biggest voter-eye moment yet — Texas, on the road to close the season. If A&M arrives in Austin unbeaten, that single Saturday becomes the most valuable piece of Heisman real estate left on the calendar. One nuclear outing in that spot flips him from “value longshot” to “real-time favorite” instantly.

So Mendoza is the best bet to win — he’s the oned Ohio. California actually leads the way with 16, Ohio is second with 12, and Texas has produced 11. Remember, statistics and wins really help win the Heisman.

Bet: Fernando Mendoza (+240)

Recent Heisman Trophy Award Winners