Texas A&M's Marcel Reed vaults into Heisman contention

While Marcel Reed was helping put the final dagger in Brian Kelly's tenure at LSU on Saturday night, Texas A&M's sophomore quarterback was also inserting himself into the thick of the Heisman Trophy conversation.

Reed overcame a pair of first-half interceptions to throw for 202 yards and two touchdowns while adding 108 yards and two more scores on the ground in the Aggies' 49-25 rout in Death Valley. He has now accounted for 23 total touchdowns through Texas A&M's 8-0 start.

Reed saw his Heisman Trophy odds shorted from +1000 last week to +550 by Monday. That's the fourth-shortest odds at BetMGM and the closest Reed has been to the top this season.

Alabama's Ty Simpson might have saved his own Heisman hopes by rallying Alabama to avoid a massive upset by unranked South Carolina. Simpson ended up with 253 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air, but it's a somewhat misleading stat line given that the Crimson Tide passing game was stagnant most of the game.

Simpson's odds shifted slightly and he's now the +325 co-favorite with Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, who threw three touchdowns against one pick in the Hoosiers' 56-6 dismantling of UCLA.

Ohio State's Julian Sayin remained at +400 and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love still owns the shortest odds among non-quarterbacks. Both are coming off bye weeks.

HEISMAN TROPHY ODDS*

PLAYER, POS, TEAM, OPEN, WEEK 9, CURRENT

Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama (+5500) (+300), (+325)

Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana (+5500), (+325), (+325)

Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State (+2000), (+400), (+400)

Marcel Reed, QB, Texas A&M (+4000), (+1000), (+550)

Diego Pavia, QB, Vanderbilt (+12500), (+1100), (+800)

Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia (+3500), (+1200), (+1500)

Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame (+5000), (+1800), (+1800)

Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss (OFF), (+3000), (+2000)

Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (+1300), (+2000), (+3000)

Dante Moore, QB, Oregon (+2000), (+1400), (+4000)

CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame (+5000), (+4000), (+4000)

The race now has five candidates with odds shorter than +1000, an increase from only three a week ago.

Simpson has taken over as BetMGM's biggest liability, having drawn the most money with 16.6% since opening as a +5500 longshot.

Dante Moore, the favorite earlier this month, has essentially fallen out of contention following a loss to Indiana and getting knocked out of Saturday's win over Wisconsin. He remains the book's second biggest liability, having been backed by 13.3% of the money.

Love is third on that list. Since opening at +5000, he has garnered 5.0% of the money and 3.1% of the total bets.

Arch Manning, the preseason Heisman favorite, has plummeted to +2500, while Oklahoma's John Mateer dropped to +1000 following the Sooners' second loss of the season.

--Field Level Media