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Saquon Barkley tabbed as new Heisman favorite after Week 8

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

If his performance through the first seven weeks of the season wasn’t enough to put him in the driver’s seat for the Heisman Trophy race, Saquon Barkley’s big night against a stout Michigan defense pushed him into the position.

On Sunday morning, Brett McMurphy updated the Heisman odds following Week 8 and the Penn State running back now has the best odds moving forward. Barkley has 4/7 odds according to the Las Vegas SuperBook, narrowly edging out Stanford’s Bryce Love, who has 2/1 odds.

Barkley finished Saturday’s game with 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He also caught three passes for 53 yards and a touchdown in the 42-13 win over the Wolverines.

After seven games, Barkley has accounted for 1,478 all-purpose yards which ranks second nationally. His 211.1 all-purpose yards per game average is the top in the country. He’s also accounted for 13 total touchdowns for the year.

Also included in Vegas’ odds from the B1G were Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett (10/1) and J.K. Dobbins (60/1).

This weekend, Barkley will lead the Nittany Lions into Columbus for a showdown against Barrett, Dobbins and the Buckeyes for B1G supremacy. That game may not only determine the East champion, it could give one of the three a leg up in the Heisman race.

But for now, that prize is Barkley’s to lose.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB