LSU Uses Vegas Billboard As Last-Ditch Effort To Promote Jayden Daniels For Heisman

The LSU Tigers really want their quarterback, Jayden Daniels, to win the Heisman trophy. Like, really, really badly.

While the Tigers will not play in a conference championship game this weekend, that doesn’t mean Daniels isn’t getting national attention. In an effort to boost his Heisman case, the Tigers put up a billboard advocating for voters to give the trophy to Daniels.

But getting a message out is only half the battle. In this case, you’d have to put the billboard in a strategic spot, one where lots of people will see it. And boy, did the school pick a doozy of a location.

The billboard you’ll see below resides in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, that’s the same place where No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Oregon will duke it out in the Pac-12 conference championship game tonight.

This also isn’t the first time LSU paid for these billboards. The Tigers put up the same billboard near Seattle, where the Huskies play. Additionally, two more appeared in the Detroit area, supposedly to compete with Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy, a fringe Heisman candidate himself.

Marketing strategy doesn’t get any more clever (or pettier, question mark?) than that.

Jayden Daniels Has Some Stiff Competition From The Two QBs In Tonight's Pac-12 Title Game

Daniels certainly has a strong case to be named this year’s best college football player. The quarterback accounted for 50 of LSU’s touchdowns (40 passing, 10 rushing) 4,946 yards of total offense (3,812 passing, third-best in the game), and just four interceptions. Furthermore, LSU’s offense ranked No. 1 in the nation, no small feat given that Daniels plays in the toughest conference in the game.

However, Daniels did lose three games this year. So he’ll need a little help.

What does that “help” look like? The answer, like the billboard, resides in Las Vegas.

Tonight’s game will feature the two players serving as Daniels' stiffest competition for the award. Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Ducks quarterback Bo Nix are arguably two of the best players in the country. Both also have equally incredible resumes.

If Michael Penix Jr. and Washington win the Pac-12 Championship, his chances of the winning the Heisman will skyrocket. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Penix Jr. has thrown for 3,899 yards (second-most), 32 touchdowns, while leading the Huskies to a 12-0 regular-season record. His odds are slightly better than Daniels for the moment, since he has one more game to play.

Bo Nix is the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman, with good reason. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images)

But Nix has the edge over both these players. Not only is he the odds-on favorite for the award, he leads the nation in passing yards (3,906), passing yards per game (325.5), and the second-most passing touchdowns (37, only behind Daniels).

Because the statistical differences between these three players is razor thin, it would likely take a poor performance by both quarterbacks to give Daniels the edge.

But maybe, just maybe, Daniels will get a little extra help from his school’s efforts. And if Penix Jr. or Nix takes home the Heisman hardware, it won’t be because LSU didn’t try.