Week 4 of the college football season offered no shortage of drama. Michigan knocked off USC as home dogs, Illinois beat Nebraska as road dogs, and Josh Heupel’s Volunteers stomped all over Oklahoma in his return to Norman. However, no game had a more dramatic finish than the one between Baylor and Colorado.
With two seconds left on the clock and Colorado trailing by a touchdown, quarterback Shedeur Sanders launched a 43-yard Hail Mary to LaJohntay Wester who caught it in the endzone, sending the game to overtime. The Buffs got the ball first in overtime and scored on their first drive. With Baylor looking to tie the game, Colorado star two-way player Travis Hunter stepped up big, forcing a fumble that the Buffs recovered to seal the victory.
That wasn’t Hunter's only impressive play of the day. He finished with 130 receiving yards, marking his fifth consecutive game of at least 100 yards, which is the longest streak in the country.
As a result, Hunter’s Heisman Trophy odds have moved. After opening at +3500 to win the prestigious award at BetMGM, his odds have already shortened to +2500 following Colorado’s 3-1 start. He is currently near the top of BetMGM’s Heisman betting markets in several categories with the highest handle percentage (11.7%) and second-highest ticket percentage (10.5%). This also makes Hunter the sportsbook's biggest liability.
In his four games this year, Hunter has 37 receptions for 472 yards and five touchdowns. He’s averaging 12.8 yards per reception and has at least two catches of over 40 yards. On the defensive side of the ball, he’s recorded 14 total tackles, two pass breakups, an interception, a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble.
Hunter is one of only two non-quarterbacks to have Heisman odds of +2500 or shorter. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty sits at +2000 after opening the season at +5000, although he’s only garnering 1.7% of the tickets and 2.8% of the handle.
There are still quite a few names ahead of Hunter on the odds board, but what separates him from the rest of the field is his ability to play both sides of the ball. As a wide receiver and defensive back, Hunter plays nearly every snap of the game, which is something we haven’t seen in college football in quite some time, at least not at this level. And you can point to his impact on both sides of the ball as one of the reasons Colorado is 3-1 after four weeks.
As long as the Buffs keep winning, Hunter’s odds will continue to drop. That said, one of the main sabotage factors in the Heisman race is the fact that Colorado likely won’t win enough games to position itself in the College Football Playoff conversation. The Buffs are about to dive into the heart of their Big 12 schedule and the competition is going to ramp up.
Quarterbacks like Miami’s Cam Ward and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, who are both ahead of Hunter on the odds board, will be playing far superior competition in the SEC and ACC and if they have their teams fighting for a spot in their conference championship games, it’s going to be hard for Hunter to surpass them.
Still, come mid-December, I think we’ll see Hunter in New York, in which case it might be wise to have a small ticket on the two-way stud.
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