Clemson Football: Is Heisman distraction already gone?

The Heisman Trophy is a popularity contest and because of that, its distraction might already be out of the way for the 2019 Clemson football team.

The Clemson football team stepped into the 2019 season with two of the top Heisman candidates in the country.

Just three weeks later, both Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne have fallen down the ranks for the prestigious award.

Lawrence, who began the 2019 season as the No. 2 overall candidate according to Vegas odds, is now No. 3 behind Tua Tagovailoa (2/1) and Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts (4/1). Lawrence’s odds are now listed at 7/1 after he opened at 3/1.

In addition to Trevor Lawrence’s Heisman odds dropping, Clemson football RB Travis Etienne has also seen a decrease in his chances for winning the award. Etienne is now listed as 40/1 odds after opening up at 30/1 odds, depending on which book you looked at.

LSU QB Joe Burrow is listed ahead of Lawrence is one Sports Book, as well.

As we approach to one-third mark of the 2019 Clemson football season, I wouldn’t worry too much about the Heisman Trophy. Lawrence’s interception total (5) and completion percentage (60.8 percent) through the first three games of the season are what have Heisman voters cooling down and heating up on the shiny Jalen Hurts story at Oklahoma.

Though it’s not necessarily fair, it’s the world we live in when it comes to the Heisman Trophy. Everyone in the country knows that Lawrence is the best quarterback in the nation, but many voters will already write him out of the discussion because they’ve already elected who they want to be considered a favorite. If he had put up mind-blowing stats, they’d be forced to keep considering him, but they came into this season looking for a reason to drop him and have Tua Tagovailoa go head-to-head with his former teammate Jalen Hurts for the award.

Hurts isn’t a great passer of the football. He’s not a top-five quarterback in the nation, but it’s a great story. Because of that and the stats that he’ll put up in the Oklahoma offense, voters are going to flock to him.

The sad truth about the Heisman Trophy is the fact that the media controls it. Trevor Lawrence could heat up and put up some great stats over the next few games, but he’ll still be working from behind just because of how the media has framed the Heisman discussion, even as early as three weeks into the season.

Travis Etienne was always going to have a tough time winning the award because of how the voters look at Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor.

Of course, both- especially Lawrence- could still get back into the conversation but it will be tough because of the narratives that media members are already creating about the award.

The bright side of this conversation is that the Heisman Trophy distraction may already be gone from the Clemson football program for the 2019 season. To be honest, I’m not sure that the Heisman was really ever a distraction for Lawrence or Etienne coming into the season because of their team-first mentality, but it’s one less thing.