Expert Poll: Week 6 Heisman Trophy Voting
Mississippi State Bulldogs
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
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Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports
Braden Gall, Athlon Sports, SiriusXM
The Results:
| Player | Team | Pts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
1. | Todd Gurley | 59 | 8 | 4 | 1 | - | - | |
2. | Dak Prescott | 55 | 5 | 6 | 2 | - | - | |
3. | Marcus Mariota | 31 | - | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
4. | Everett Golson | 13 | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
5. | Nick Marshall | 12 | - | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
6. | Melvin Gordon | 11 | - | - | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
7. | Amari Cooper | 10 | - | - | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
8t. | Ameer Abdullah | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
8t. | Shaq Thompson | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
8t. | Shane Carden | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
8t. | Jared Goff | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
Dropped out: Kenny Hill, Taysom Hill, Brett Hundley, Bryce Petty
Listen to the Week 6 recap podcast:
The Top 3:
1. Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia
Against an overmatched opponent (Vanderbilt), Gurley rushed for 163 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns. He caught two passes for 24 yards and added a 50-yard completion from the Wildcat formation for good measure. After six weeks, Gurley leads the SEC in rushing (773 yds), yards per game (154.6 ypg), and rushing touchdowns (8), and he is second in yards per carry (8.2). A revenge game against a tough Missouri defensive front in Columbia is key for Gurley’s Heisman chances and Georgia’s SEC East hopes.
2. Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State
The biggest mover in the Heisman conversation is Mississippi State’s star quarterback. Prescott completed 20-of-26 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns to go with 23 carries for 77 yards and three scores on the ground in the Bulldogs' convincing 48-31 victory over then-No. 6 Texas A&M. In two wins over top 10 teams in the last two games, Prescott has 527 yards passing, 182 yards rushing and eight total touchdowns. He gets another top 10 team at home this weekend in No. 2 Auburn. He’s leading the SEC in passing efficiency (180.69) and is leading all SEC QBs with 455 yards rushing and six touchdowns.
3. Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
Mariota still leads the nation in passing efficiency at an absurd clip (202.35) but his loss on Thursday night to Arizona at home was crippling to his Heisman chances. He threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns, but had just one yard rushing on nine carries. For the season, he’s got 1,411 yards passing and 15 touchdowns with no interceptions while rushing for 215 yards and three more scores. His numbers are still spectacular but Oregon likely needs to run the table and win the Pac-12 to get Mariota to New York.
