Max Browne Given Top Odds to Win USC Football Starting Job

Sports Betting Dime gives Max Browne top odds to win the USC football starting quarterback job this fall over Sam Darnold.

Max Browne is the 3/5 favorite over Sam Darnold, whose odds were set at 5/3, to take the field against Alabama as USC football’s starting quarterback.

The odds come from SportsBettingDime.com, which released a host of college football prop betting odds for the coming season on Tuesday.

Odds for Browne to remain the Trojans starter by the end of the season are slightly less than his odds to begin atop the depth chart but he still edges Darnold at a 3/5 mark versus 5/3.

SEE ALSO: Max Browne, Sam Darnold Rehash Past Quarterback Debates

Browne entered the offseason as the favorite to win the job, replacing Cody Kessler who graduated and has moved on to the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.

Darnold, a redshirt freshman, threw a wrench in that plan this spring, progressing so quickly that head coach Clay Helton delayed naming a starter to let the competition continue into fall camp.

After one week, Browne and Darnold are still locked in a tight battle, with neither passer grabbing a clear edge after five practices.

Still, as the oddsmakers project, Browne is still expected to win the job in the end, unless Darnold makes a big push over the next two weeks.

Helton, who said Browne would have been named the starter after spring if the Trojans had a game to play that week, intends to name his choice on August 20.

SEE ALSO: Should USC Start Darnold, The Dual-Threat Option?

USC’s quarterback battle wasn’t the only one with odds applied.

Week 1 opponent Alabama also has a quarterback battle on the cards this fall with Cooper Bateman, Blake Barnett, David Cornwell and Jalen Hurts competing for the right to led the defending national champions.

Bateman, the elder statesman of the group like Browne, holds 5/3 odds ahead of 3/1 for Barnett and Cornwell and 7/1 for Hurts.

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In South Bend, the quarterback competition between DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire is still raging as well.

SEE ALSO: Ranking USC’s Opponents By Threat Level

Oddsmakers give Kizer the edge with 5/6 odds to be the starter on Day 1 and 20/19 odds to finish the season still on top.

Zaire’s odds are set at 5/4 to start the season and 8/7 to finish it as the starter. Brandon Wimbush was also set with 100/1 odds and 25/1 odds.

With Kizer’s odds of winning the Heisman Trophy set at 30/1, USC can look forward to facing three candidates to win the most prestigious award in college football. Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey boasts the second-best odds to win the Heisman at 13/2 while UCLA’s Josh Rosen was give 16/1 odds.