Melvin Gordon's 408-yard performance vaulted him into second place.
Athlon Sports has formed a Heisman Trophy committee. Each week, we will ask 13 members of the national college football media to rank their top candidates for the Heisman Trophy.
Each voter will rank their top five candidates, with each first-place vote getting five points and each last-place vote getting one point.
The Panel:
Stewart Mandel, FOX Sports
Dave Revsine, Big Ten Network
Adam Zucker, CBS Sports
Steven Godfrey, SBNation
Zac Ellis, Sports Illustrated
Bryan Fischer, NFL.com
Tom Dienhart, Big Ten Network
Barrett Sallee, Bleacher Report, B/R Radio
Josh Ward, MrSEC.com
Mitch Light, Athlon Sports
David Fox, Athlon Sports
Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports
Braden Gall, Athlon Sports, SiriusXM
The Results:
| Player | Team | Pts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
| 1. | Marcus Mariota |  |
64 | 12 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 2. | Melvin Gordon |  |
53 | 1 | 12 | - | - | - |
| 3. | Amari Cooper |  |
23 | - | - | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 4. | Trevone Boykin |  |
16 | - | - | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5. | JT Barrett |  |
15 | - | - | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 6. | Dak Prescott |  |
14 | - | - | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 7. | Jameis Winston |  |
4 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 8. | Tevin Coleman |  |
3 | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| 9. | Shaq Thompson |  |
2 | - | - | - | 1 | - |
| 10. | Cody Kessler |  |
1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
Dropped out: Duke Johnson, Gerod Holliman, Ameer Abdullah
Listen to the Week 12 recap podcast:
The Top 3:
1. Marcus Mariota, Oregon
Mariota and the Ducks were on bye this weekend as 10 ranked teams, including No. 1 (Mississippi State), No. 6 (Arizona State) and No. 9 (Auburn), lost. With only Colorado and Oregon State remaining on the schedule, Mariota and Oregon are all but locked into the Pac-12 Championship Game. Should Mariota stay healthy and Oregon wins the Pac-12, he will be tough to beat in the Heisman Trophy race.
Season Stats: 2,780 yards, 67.1%, 29 TDs, 2 INTs, 524 rush yards, 8 TDs
2. Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
Melvin Gordon had arguably the best single-game performance of any running back in NCAA history. He carried 25 times for an NCAA-record 408 yards and four touchdowns in the Badgers' 59-24 win over Nebraska, arguably UW's biggest game of the Big Ten season. Gordon leads the nation in rushing at 190.9 yards per game and is averaging an astonishing 8.6 yards per carry.
Season Stats: 223 att., 1,909 yds, 23 TDs, 11 rec., 83 yds, 2 TDs
3. Amari Cooper, Alabama
Cooper was excellent in the Tide’s win over No. 1 Mississippi State. He caught eight passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. Cooper is leading the nation in receiving at 1,303 yards, is third with 87 receptions and tied for fourth with 11 touchdowns. Cooper has caught at least eight passes in all but one game and is shattering all of Alabama’s receiving records.
Season Stats: 87 rec., 1,303 yds, 11 TDs, 14 rush yds
