Over the past several days, many of college football's top teams and players got on the field for their first games of the regular season. That included this season's opening No. 1 team in the polls, Ohio State, and both teams that competed in last year's National Championship Game, Indiana and Miami. All three teams had impressive starts to their season, with various players in the Heisman Trophy race showing up with noteworthy performances.
However, one player jumped to the top of the Heisman Trophy odds after his first game, as the Hurricanes' Darian Mensah became the new favorite to win the major award after leading his team to a 45-6 win over Stanford. More news: College Football Fans Are Divided Over Jeremiah Smith-Malachi Toney Debate Mensah took over as Miami's QB1 after Carson Beck left for the NFL and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Meanwhile, in Mensah's first game of the Hurricanes' season, he was brilliant, going 27 of 30 for 401 passing yards and five touchdowns.
One could argue that Miami faced an underwhelming opponent in the Stanford Cardinal, or that Mensah benefited from throwing to a talented young receiver like Malachi Toney. The 18-year-old WR finished with 234 receiving yards and three touchdowns courtesy of Mensah. With that, he jumped to a 14% favorite at the Kalshi prediction market, taking the lead as the top contender for the Heisman Trophy.
College football fans reacted to another X post that mentioned the new favorite. "Against [expletive] Stanford? 😂 You people are crazy, smh," one commenter wrote in a reply to On3's X post. With 20+ players on the injured list?
Am I trippin?" another commenter said. "They played Stanford... worst team in the ACC. How about we wait till week 7 or so before putting this garbage up," someone wrote.
"That’s was a great game- Miami looked great. But, it was against Stanford. Stanford hasn’t been known for football since Andrew Luck left," another individual noted.
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