Our top five vote-getters from last week’s poll were all in action on Championship Weekend. Even though these five players battled all year long, a great performance this weekend could put them over the top with the voters. With three players (Marcus Mariota, Melvin Gordon and Amari Cooper) playing in championship games, they had a huge stage on which to make their Heisman case to the voters. After a chaotic season, let’s take a look at the results of our final ballot:
What you’ll see each week in the Bloguin Heisman Poll:
* The top five total vote getters, with quotes from the voters in support of their candidate
* A list of all players receiving votes
* Poll notes that look at some interesting facts, figures and trends of the poll
* The BHP Roll Call of voters, with links to their respective blogs and twitter accounts
Here’s the newest — and last — Bloguin Heisman Poll for 2014:
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1) Marcus Mariota (QB – Oregon): 27 points, 45% of votes, 9 first-place votes
Last week BHP ranking: No. 1
Last week: Beat Arizona, 51-13
Game stats: 25 of 38 passing (65%) for 313 yards with 2 TD and 0 INT, 33 yards rushing with 3 rushing TD
Season stats: 254 of 372 passing (68.3%) for 3,783 yards with 38 TD and 2 INT, 669 yards rushing, 14 rushing TD, 1 reception
COMMENTS
Mariota leads the country in quarterback rating at 91.9, yards per attempt at 10.4. He’s thrown 38 TDs with just two interceptions, and run for 14 more. Gordon and Cooper are great athletes, but Mariota is the most outstanding player in college football.
– Dale Newton, The Duck Stops Here
Whether you use raw stats, leadership, or character as your metric, Mariota deserves to win the Heisman this year. There’s not a more complete player — on the field or off — in college football.
– Terry Johnson, The Student Section
It was a close call in my book heading into the weekend. We all saw what happened in the Pac-12 and Big Ten title games. There’s nothing like a tense, uncertain Heisman ceremony. Unfortunately, we won’t get that on Saturday.
– Matt Zemek, The Student Section
In the final game to make his Heisman claim, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota passed for 313 yards and accounted for five total touchdowns as the Ducks cemented a spot in college football’s first playoff. In the process, Oregon avenged its only loss of 2014 with a 51-13 beatdown of Arizona.
– Mike Ferguson, Noled Out
It’s been a no-brainer for at least 4 weeks.
– Scott Halasz, Buckeye Battle Cry
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2) Amari Cooper (WR – Alabama): 14 points, 23.33% of votes, 0 first-place votes
Last week BHP ranking: No. 3
Last week: Beat Missouri, 42-13
Game Stats: 12 receptions for 83 yards, 9 yards rushing
Season: 115 receptions for 1,656 yards and 14 TD
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3) Melvin Gordon (RB – Wisconsin): 11 points, 18.83% of votes, 0 first-place votes
Last week BHP ranking: No. 2
Last week: Lost to Ohio State, 59-0
Game Stats: 26 carries for 76 yards (2.9 ypc)
Season: 309 rushes for 2,336 yards (7.5 ypc) and 26 rushing TD, 17 receptions, 3 receiving TD
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4) Jameis Winston (QB – Florida State): 5 points, 8.33% of votes, 1 first-place vote
Last week BHP ranking: No. 4
Last week: Beat Georgia Tech, 37-35
Game stats: 21 of 30 passing for 309 yards with 3 TD and 0 INT
Season: 276 of 422 passing (65.4%) for 3,559 yards, 24 TD vs 17 INT, 3 rushing TD
COMMENTS
I go back to what I said earlier in the year: you have one game and get to pick one guy to quarterback your team and the other team gets the second pick. You’re picking Winston. Stat racking is hollow to me. What do you do when the iron is white hot? Can you get it done when it matters no matter what happened before? That’s where greatness lies. Whatever “it” is, Winston has it at this level. He’s the best player in college football when he has to be, and that’s when it matters. Two consecutive unbeaten regular seasons, one BCS championship later, that’s fairly obvious. Remember, as Aqib Talib says, people that dry-hump stats to make a point probably prefer reading sheet music to hearing the song.
– Bart Doan, The Student Section
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5) Tevin Coleman (RB – Indiana): 3 points, 5% of votes, 0 first-place votes
Last week BHP ranking: No. 5
Last week: Idle
Season Stats: 270 carries for 2,036 yards (7.54 ypc) with 15 rushing TDs, 25 receptions
Dropped Out: Trevone Boykin (QB – TCU)
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Poll Notes:
– Thank you for joining us for another year of the Bloguin Heisman Poll with this being the first year that we have held it at The Student Section. I want to personally thank all of the voters for their time throughout the season and for their thoughtful votes and comments that made the poll interesting to tune in to each and every week.
– From 2011 to 2012, the final week of the season meant great change in our Heisman Trophy poll. In 2011, RG3 overcame Trent Richardson. In 2012, Johnny Manziel overtook Manti Te’o. Last season, Jameis Winston broke that trend by strengthening his spot at the top, and this season Marcus Mariota has done the same.
– Over the course of the season we had ten polls and the lead changed hands four times with Mariota taking the lead back from Melvin Gordon last week and maintaining that hold this week.
– Over the 2014 college football season four players sat atop our poll. Here they are along with the number of weeks they maintained the top spot:
Marcus Mariota: 4 weeks
Dak Prescott: 3 weeks
Melvin Gordon: 2 weeks
Todd Gurley: 1 week
– Three of our top four vote-getters (Mariota, Cooper and Winston) will go on to play in the first ever College Football Playoff. With the Heisman Trophy decided before the bowls and now before the CFP, and with the increase in the number of games played at the end of the season by championship-caliber teams (and players), it will be interesting to see if there is enough debate to turn the Heisman into a full-season award rather than just a regular season award.
Bloguin Heisman Poll Roll Call
Andrew Coppens – Madtown Badgers (@andyonfootball)
Bart Doan – The Student Section (@TheCoachBart)
Dale Newton – The Duck Stops Here (@DSH_Newton)
Kevin Causey – The Student Section (@CFBZ)
Kevin McGuire – Nittany Lions Den/The Student Section (@kevinoncfb)
Matt Zemek – The Student Section (@SectionMZ)
Mike Ferguson – Noled Out (@Noled_Out)
Scott King – Bearcats Blog/The Student Section (@bearcatsblog)
Scott Halasz – Buckeye Battle Cry (@ohiostatescott)
Terry Johnson – The Student Section (@SectionTPJ)
