Heisman Trophy betting: Will Texas QB Manning live up to the hype?

Bragging rights are hard to come by in the Manning family.

Peyton Manning won a record five NFL MVP awards and two Super Bowls. His brother Eli Manning won two Super Bowls over Tom Brady’s Patriots. Family patriarch Archie Manning is a College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL Pro Bowler.

But bookmakers and bettors expect Texas quarterback Arch Manning, the son of Peyton and Eli’s brother Cooper, to accomplish something this season that his grandfather and uncles never did — win the Heisman Trophy.

Arch Manning is the clear favorite at sportsbooks and the ticket and money leader at Caesars, where he’s +550 to win the award given to the most outstanding player in college football.

The Longhorns are 5-1 co-favorites with Ohio State to win the national championship.

“It kind of goes hand in hand. If you’re a national championship team, you should have a Heisman candidate on that team,” Caesars head of football Joey Feazel said. “He also has the hype around him and the pedigree. His uncles were great, so he’s expected to be great. But that’s yet to be seen.”

The redshirt sophomore accounts for 20 percent of the tickets and 31 percent of the money wagered on the award at Caesars.

“The Heisman field has seen really one-sided action so far on Arch Manning, which you usually don’t see in the preseason,” Feazel said. “But it’s pretty wide open, in our opinion.”

Manning and LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, the 8-1 second choice, account for 60 percent of the money wagered at the Westgate SuperBook.

“I don’t think they should be that much of a favorite,” Westgate oddsmaker Ed Salmons said. “It’s just funny that Arch Manning is (6-1) and the Ohio State (quarterback Julian Sayin) is (16-1), and no one wants a thing to do with him and he’s probably got better receivers than what Arch Manning has.

“If he’s so good, how did Texas have two years of a guy (starting in Quinn Ewers) that got drafted in the seventh round? Why didn’t they just play (Manning)? I think the hype’s a little bit more than reality.”

Contenders

Nussmeier is the money leader at the Westgate and second in tickets wand money at Caesars.

“LSU is supposedly loaded on offense and he can throw for a lot of yards, given that their defense has been so crappy the last couple of years,” Salmons said. “One key to this is you want to be on a team that has a crappy defense, so you can keep scoring.

“That’s why I think that would work against Manning. I don’t see Texas having him throw it 40 times a game for 300 or 400 yards.”

Manning is the 7-1 co-favorite at Boyd Gaming with Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is the 9-1 third choice at the Westgate.

“Klubnik, if he’s drafted No. 1 next year, I wouldn’t be surprised. He has that kind of talent level,” Salmons said. “The ACC is a conference that’s nowhere near as good as the Big Ten or SEC. He can probably put up huge numbers.”

Clemson is a 3-point home favorite over LSU in the Aug. 30 season opener for both teams. LSU has lost five straight season openers.

“They never seem to be able to win their first prime-time game, and it’s against a team the entire world is high on right now in Clemson,” Feazel said. “That’s going to be one of our biggest handle games of the year. That’s going to make an impact right off the bat on the Heisman odds.”

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is the 12-1 fourth choice at Caesars, followed by a trio of quarterbacks at 16-1 in Oregon’s Dante Moore, Penn State’s Drew Allar and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers.

Longer shots

Feazel and Salmons said other players to watch that have drawn money are Sellers (18-1 at Westgate) and Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer (22-1 at Caesars).

“The only thing holding them back is both South Carolina and Oklahoma have a brutal SEC schedule,” Feazel said. “There will probably be a bigger ‘dog we’re not even talking about right now that’s going to make an impact this season.”

Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter was a 50-1 preseason long shot last year.

“There’s just a million guys that can win this,” Salmons said.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at [email protected]. Follow @tdewey33 on X.