Tennessee v Alabama
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The second half of the 2025 college football season opened with a bang, and the combination of five top-25 showdowns and multiple upsets entirely reshaped the Heisman Trophy race. There was more separation between the top contenders and longshots over the past week than at any other point in the season, and for the first time all year, five different players have odds of +800 or better at FanDuel to win the award.

With each passing week from this point forward, the list of standouts who can actually hoist the trophy will dwindle. As the number of remaining games on the schedule gets smaller, it is increasingly important to avoid slip-ups. There simply is not enough time left in the year to overcome a disastrous performance. Carson Beck might have learned that the hard way with No. 9 Miami's four-interception nightmare.

On the flip side, stellar performances carry more weight as team stakes climb higher. Look at Diego Pavia, for example. He helped No. 10 Vanderbilt establish itself as a realistic College Football Playoff contender with its win over No. 20 LSU and, in turn, became a darling in the Heisman picture.

The rubber has officially met the road.

Heisman Trophy odds entering Week 9

Stock up: Diego Pavia has his Heisman moment

Pavia threw for a touchdown and ran for two more in Vanderbilt's program-defining win over LSU, and he struck the Heisman pose after one of them in a celebration that was well-deserved. The sixth-year senior has been largely unstoppable as an improved passer and a wrecking ball of a runner during the Commodores' rise to playoff contention, and his swagger makes him the complete entertainment package.

There might not be a player more important to his team's success than Pavia is to Vanderbilt. That is in large part what the Heisman Trophy is all about. It is no coincidence that Pavia's emergence as a star correlates with the Commodores reaching new heights as a program.

Two other players added similarly large bullet points to their resumes last weekend. Oregon quarterback Dante Moore and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love climbed the odds board by a matter of thousands. Moore accounted for 339 yards of total offense and four touchdowns as the No. 6 Ducks set a season high for team yardage. Love had the game of his life against USC, cracking the 200-yard mark for the first time in his three-year career with the No. 12 Fighting Irish.

Diego Pavia strikes Heisman pose, asserts award candidacy as Vanderbilt takes down LSU in program-defining win
Carter Bahns
Diego Pavia strikes Heisman pose, asserts award candidacy as Vanderbilt takes down LSU in program-defining win

Stock down: Carson Beck throws four interceptions in upset loss

How does one go from the betting favorite to win the Heisman to a mere fringe contender in the span of one week? Beck drew the blueprint in Miami's loss to No. 19 Louisville. The defeat itself would have been enough to serve as a bump in the road, but Beck only made matters exponentially worse by throwing four interceptions, including one on the Hurricanes' final offensive possession in a one-score game.

Beck was +300 to win the award ahead of the loss. Those days are long gone. Believers in a late-season resurgence can now buy in at +5200.

That tumble was not even the largest of the week, though, and that goes to show how much of a separator this last batch of games was. USC's Jayden Maiava ran into turnover problems of his own in the weather-impacted loss at Notre Dame and slipped all the way to +10000 as a result. It was even worse for Utah's Devon Dampier after the Holy War rivalry loss to No. 11 BYU. Recently a trendy dark horse pick, Dampier is now +15000 to win.

Longshot of the week: QB Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (+7500)

Trinidad Chambliss was not the problem for No. 8 Ole Miss in its shootout loss at No. 5 Georgia. Was it the most efficient effort of his young tenure as the Rebels' quarterback? Not by a longshot. But it is also skewed by one bad half of football, and it would have been enough to beat a lot of very good teams. Chambliss was at one point 18-for-26 for 262 yards, and he finished the day with three touchdowns, including two with his legs. The defense simply did not hold up its end of the bargain in the 43-35 loss.

Ole Miss is a good enough football team to win the rest of its regular season games and enter the CFP as a one-loss team. If that happens, nobody will look back at the Georgia game and hold it against Chambliss. And if he returns to form, he will be right back in the Heisman mix at season's end. This is a remarkable buy-low opportunity.

Texas A&M v Arkansas
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed (10) has a chance to impress Heisman voters Saturday night at LSU. Getty Images

Week 9 performances to watch

Many of the top contenders are on bye weeks, and Week 9 is a touch lighter on marquee matchups than the previous slate, so movement in the Heisman race is unlikely to be as stark. Opportunities lie ahead for a couple of frontrunners in Pavia and No. 3 Texas A&M's Marcel Reed, though, as they square off against a couple of stout defenses.

Marcel Reed at LSU

This is the time of year that in seasons past Texas A&M began to fade out of SEC and playoff contention. Reed has a clear task ahead of him: keep the Aggies in control of their own destiny for as long as possible. He did so last week with four touchdowns at Arkansas and bailed out his defense in a 45-42 close call. LSU presents a large contrast in defensive opponents.

Diego Pavia vs. Missouri

No. 15 Missouri is a top-10 defense against the run. But will it be able to contain one of the most lethal running quarterbacks in college football? If not, Pavia might be able to notch himself a second ranked win in as many weeks and push the Commodores further into uncharted territory.

Trinidad Chambliss at Oklahoma

Chambliss is a tantalizing Heisman longshot but faces his most difficult challenge to date in Week 9. No. 13 Oklahoma is a top-five defense no matter how you slice it. If he passes the test, it should be relatively smooth sailing to the playoff.