Michigan State's Kenneth Walker Runs His Way Into a Narrowing Heisman Trophy Race

As college football moves into November, the Heisman Trophy race is tightening at the top, and the leaders are starting to run away from the pack. One player who shined the brightest last weekend was Michigan State's Kenneth Walker III, who's the lone running back among the top four favorites.

Walker had this season's best Heisman moment on Saturday when he ran the ball 23 times for 197 yards and five touchdowns in a 37-33 upset win over the favored, and hated, Michigan Wolverines. It was the marquee game of the day, and Walker looked like he belongs in talk for the Heisman Trophy.

Walker entered last weekend's betting odds as a +4000 favorite to win the Heisman, and those odds have greatly improved to +600, according to FanDuel.com.

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young remains the lone favorite at +150, just ahead of Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, who moved into second at +350. Stroud had 305 yards passing in last weekend's 33-24 win over Penn State.

Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral slipped from second to a tie for third with Walker at +600, mostly because of a 31-20 loss to Auburn in which he had no passing touchdowns, one interception and a rushing touchdown.

Kenneth Walker will continue to have a national stage as the Michigan State Spartans are ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the weekly Newsweek rankings. MSU still has games against Purdue, Maryland, Ohio State and Penn State on their schedule. There could possibly be a Big Ten championship game should the Spartans win the conference's East division, where they're currently tied with Ohio State and one game ahead of Michigan.

Heisman voters get to choose their top three candidates for the most-coveted individual trophy in college football.

Here are the odds to win the 2021 Heisman Trophy heading into the first weekend of November, according to FanDuel.com.

+125 — Bryce Young, QB, Alabama
+350 — CJ Stroud, QB Ohio State
+600 — Matt Corral, QB, Ole Miss
+600 — Kenneth Walker III, RB, Michigan State
+850 — Caleb Williams, QB, Oklahoma
+3000 — Kenny Pickett, QB Pittsburgh
+3000 — TreVeyon Henderson, RB, Ohio State
+4000 — Brian Robinson Jr., RB, Alabama
+5000 — Desmond Ridder, QB Cincinnati
+6000 — Sam Hartman, QB, Wake Forest
+10000 — Blake Corum, RB, Michigan
+10000 — Jordan Davis, DL, Georgia
+15000 — John Metchie III, WR, Alabama

The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Voting is comprised of 870 media members, 56 living Heisman winners and one vote of collective fan voters.

Heisman Trophy finalists will be named on Dec. 6, and the ceremony will take place Saturday, Dec. 11 when the winner is announced.