Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota became the 80th winner of the Heisman Trophy Saturday night. (Getty)
Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota added to his already lengthy list of postseason honors Saturday night, this time winning the biggest of them all — the Heisman Trophy.
Mariota became the 13th quarterback to win the honor since 2000 when the 80th presentation of the award was announced at the Best Buy Theater in New York City.
Mariota’s record-setting season allowed him to cruise past the other finalists, Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper and Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon, each of whom also put up monster numbers.
As USA Today’s Nicole Auerbach reported, Mariota was named on more ballots than any other finalist in history.
Mariota finished with 2,534 points, more than double that of Gordon, who finished with 1,250. Cooper had more first-place votes than Gordon, but fewer second-place votes, finishing with with 1,023 points.
Mariota recieved 90.9 percent of possible points — second only to the 91.6 percent received by Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith in 2006.
TCU quarterback Trevon Boykin finished fourth with 218 total points. Ohio State quarterback JT Barrett finished fifth, while 2013 Heisman winner Jameis Winston, whose Florida State team will play Mariota’s Oregon team New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl, finished sixth.
AL.com has a full rundown of the results.
Mariota’s 53 total touchdowns (38 passing, 14 rushing, 1 receiving) led Oregon to the No. 2 seed in the inaugural College Football Playoff. The Ducks will meet 2013 Heisman winner Jameis Winston and third-ranked Florida State on Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl. Cooper and top-ranked Alabama face No. 4 Ohio State in the other semifinal at the Sugar Bowl.
The largest margin of victory in Heisman history came in 1968 when Southern Cal running back OJ Simpson totaled 2,853 points compared to 1,103 for runner-up Leroy Keyes of Purdue for a 1,750-point difference.
The smallest margin was in 2009 with Alabama running back Mark Ingram (1,304 points) edging out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart (1,276) by 28 points.
