Travis Hunter shoots up to Heisman favorite after career day for CU

The best offensive day of Travis Hunter’s Colorado Buffaloes’ career has made him a co-favorite for the Heisman Trophy, the annual award given to the top college football player in the nation.

Hunter’s chances took a big hit in October because his production diminished much of the month. The Buffs began on bye, where Hunter’s chances actually raised, but then he was limited in two consecutive games due to injury. Hunter came away from Week 6 as +300 to capture the award and just behind the favorite Ashton Jeanty. Then the shoulder injury struck and Hunter fell to fifth in the race and +2,000 entering Week 9.

After Week 9, Hunter is now the favorite for the first time all season. He’s risen because of his Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week earning game. Against Cincinnati, Hunter played 132 snaps on both sides of the ball in Colorado’s 34-23 win. On offense, he set a career-high with 153 yards receiving on nine catches, including two touchdowns. He was one of only three players in FBS to average 17 or more yards per reception with at least eight catches in Week 9. Hunter now ranks in the top 10 nationally in receptions (60,) yards (757) and touchdowns (8.) All of that production through eight games is already more than what Hunter did on offense a season ago. Meanwhile, Hunter’s seven passes defended on defense paces the Big 12 while his two interceptions on defense ties him for top ten in the conference for that mark. The All-American from a season ago is making a real push for the Heisman because of his abilities on both sides of the ball and his durability to do it all game long.

To nobody’s surprise, it’s not Jeanty tied with Hunter atop the race now, it’s a quarterback. While Jeanty remained the favorite the last time we looked his odds had fallen. Coming off a bye week, Boise State played UNLV on national TV. Their star rusher did still go for 128 yards and a touchdown but he only notched 3.9 yards a carry.

The reigning Moutain West Offensive Player of the Year has 159 carries this season, gaining an NCAA-best 1,376 yards already with an NCAA-best 18 touchdowns. Jeanty’s stats in just seven games top his production from all of last season. Yet he’s slipped in the race because his yards per carry went down more than a whole yard from the ludicrous 9.9 yards per rushing attempt he had before playing the Rebels.

Jeanty has also slipped because of Hunter’s play and that of Oregon gunslinger Dillon Gabriel. The sixth-year player led the No. 1 Ducks in a pounding of ranked Illinois last weekend. Throwing for three touchdowns and nearly 300 yards, Gabriel leads the Big Ten with a 76.2 completion percentage, 2,371 yards and 18 passing touchdowns.

Post-Week 9 Heisman Odds

Travis Hunter, Colorado, WR/CB (+260)
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon, QB (+260)
Cam Ward, Miami, QB (+300)
Ashton Jeanty, Boise State, RB (+400)
Cade Klubnik, Clemson, QB (+2,000)
Carson Beck, Georgia, QB (+3,500)
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado, QB (+4,000)
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss, QB (+5,000)
Jalen Milroe, Alabama, QB (+5,000)
Quinn Ewers, Texas, QB (+5,000)
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU, QB (+6,000)
Drew Aller, Penn State, QB (+6,000)

For the first time in a long time in this race, a quarterback is at least the co-favorite. Everyone had expected this to happen at some point. Only four players that weren’t QBs have won the award since 2000, meaning the gunslingers will be in this race until the very end. At one point, it looked over for all QBs besides Cam Ward but Gabriel leading the top team in the country has climbed him into the picture. Ward leads the ACC in yards (2,746) and touchdowns (24.) Additionally, all of a sudden Shedeur Sanders is a stone’s throw from the leaders as well. But Colorado’s quarterback is throwing his support behind Hunter despite leading the Big 12 in competitions (220) and touchdowns (21.) There’s a chance both players end up in New York, especially if the Buffs finish by winning out in the Big 12. At this point, it seems like a four-horse race for the award between Hunter, Gabriel, Ward and Jeanty with the other quarterbacks just vying for a trip to the Big Apple.

As for Hunter, there hasn’t been somebody who has seriously played both sides of the ball at this high of a level since Champ Bailey in 1998 and even then it wasn’t as full-time as Hunter. But you can go back just one more year to 1997 for something else—the last and only time in modern college football history that a defender won the award, Charles Woodson. Hunter would be the first full-time defender since Woodson to win it—though Woodson did play a limited amount on offense. Should Hunter take the award home, there hasn’t been a true two-way player score the honor since the legendary Ernie Davis in 1961, who was forced to play both sides due to college football’s archaic limited substitution rule at the time.