2010-2011
College Football Season
Awards

Newton Adds Heisman To Stack Of Awards

CFP Staff
December 11, 2010 (Updated 1/20/11)

(CFP) -- Auburn QB Cameron Newton won the 2010 Heisman Trophy in a landslide on Saturday night (December 11) over QB Andrew Luck of Stanford, RB LaMichael James of Oregon and QB Kellen Moore of Boise State.

Newton's 729 first-place votes were 658 more than Luck. His 2,263 total polling points outdistanced Luck by 1,184 and are the 6th-most in Heisman history, behind O.J. Simpson (2,853), Reggie Bush (2,541), Tony Dorsett (2,357), Ricky Williams (2,355) and Charlie Ward (2,310).

For much of the season, Newton's eligibility was a factor. It wasn't until the week of the SEC Championship game that the NCAA declared Newton eligible to compete, despite a pay-to-play scandal that implicated his father in a scheme to shop his son's talents in exchange for money. The NCAA ruled there was a lack of evidence that the quarterback himself knew of the father's actions. However, 105 voters omitted his name from their ballot, perhaps leery of being "Reggie Bushed" on the matter. Bush was the 2005 Heisman winner who voluntarily surrendered his award earlier this year after the NCAA hit USC with strong sanctions after finding Bush received improper benefits.

Newton, a junior, adds the Heisman to the three awards he received on Thursday night (December 9) when he collected the Maxwell Award for best player, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and the Davey O'Brien Award for top quarterback. He later snagged the AP Player of the Year award.

Auburn head coach Gene Chizik and DE Nick Fairley also reaped the benefits of a 13-0 season on Wednesday when Chizik was named Home Depot Coach of the Year and Fairley was proclaimed the 2010 Lombardi Award winner as the nation's top collegiate lineman.

Other winners on Thursday's Home Depot Awards show included Oregon's LaMichael James snaring the Doak Walker Award for top running back and LSU's CB Patrick Peterson receiving both the Chuck Bednarik Award as top defensive player and the Jim Thorpe Award for top defensive back.

Also on Thursday, Wisconsin's Gabe Carimi became the first offensive lineman to win the Outland Trophy, adding to the Badgers' Tuesday night win by QB Scott Tolzien as the best senior collegiate quarterback, an honor bestowed in the form of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

Oklahoma State bagged two awards on Thursday night with Justin Blackmon taking Biletnikoff honors as best receiver and Dan Bailey collecting the Lou Groza Award for top kicker.

Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller was named the Butkus Award winner on Tuesday (December 8).

On Monday (December 7), Clemson's Da'Quan Bowers was named the Nagurski winner as college football's best defensive player in 2010 and the Eddie Robinson Award for top college football head coach went to Chip Kelly of Oregon. Kelly later collected the same award from the Associated Press.

Here's a look at each of this year's Heisman finalists, in their order of finish:

1) Cameron Newton, junior, QB, Auburn - Newton is the third SEC player in the last four years to win the award, following 2009 winner Mark Ingram (RB, Alabama) and 2007 winner Tim Tebow (QB, Florida). Newton completed 165-of-246 passes for 2,589 yards, 28 TD's and 6 INT's. He ranked only 60th in the nation in passing yards per game but 1st in passer rating at 188.15. Newton was also 13th in the nation in rushing with 108.38 yards per game for a total of 1,409 yards and 20 TD's. He joins Nevada QB Colin Keapernick (2010) and Florida QB Tim Tebow (2007) as the only other players in FBS history to throw 20 or more TD passes and run for 20 or more TD's in the same season.

2) Andrew Luck, junior, QB, Stanford - Luck completed 245-of-349 throws for 3,045 yards (70.2%) with 28 TD's and 7 INT's.

3) LaMichael James, sophomore, RB, Oregon - James led the nation in rushing yards (1,682 yards), yards per game (152.91) and rushing touchdowns (21).

4) Kellen Moore, junnior, QB, Boise State - Moore was 7th in the nation in passing yards per game (292.2), 3rd in completion percentage (71.0), 4th in TD passes (33)and 2nd in passer rating (185.03). He threw 33 TD passes with just 5 INT's.

The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually to the best college football player in America, It is named after John W. Heisman, noted collegiate player and coach, and recognized as the inventor of the forward pass. The award is voted annually by hundreds of sports journalists around the country and past Heisman Trophy recipients. Each voter gets to submit a ballot that ranks their top three players. Points are tallied by awarding 3 points for each first-place vote, two points for second, and one point for third.

See: All-Time Heisman List

OTHER 2010 AWARD WINNERS

CollegeFootballPoll.com's Dave Congrove is a:
- member of the Football Writers Association of America
- voting member of the Vince Lombardi Award
- voting member for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award
- nominating member for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy
- nominating member for the Outland Trophy
- nominating member for the 25-player FWAA All-America Team

AP Coach Of the Year: Chip Kelly, Oregon

Home Depot Coach Of the Year: Gene Chizik, Auburn

AP Player Of the Year: Cameron Newton, QB, Auburn

Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player): Patrick Peterson, DB, LSU
See: All-Time Chuck Bednarik Award Winners

Fred Biletnikoff Award (wide receiver): Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State
See: All-Time Fred Biletnikoff Award Winners

Dick Butkus Award (linebacker): Von Miller, Texas A&M
See: All-Time Butkus Award Winners

Walter Camp Award (top player): Cameron Newton, QB, Auburn
See: All-Time Walter Camp POY Winners

Lou Groza Award (placekicker): Dan Bailey, Oklahoma State
See: All-Time Lou Groza Award Winners

Ray Guy Award (punter): Chas Henry, Florida
See: All-Time Ray Guy Award Winners

Paul Hornung Award (Versatile Player): Owen Marecic, FB, LB, Stanford
See: All-Time Paul Hornung Award Winners

Vince Lombardi Award (lineman or linebacker): Nick Fairley, DT, Auburn
See: All-Time Vince Lombardi Award Winners

John Mackey Award (tight end): D.J. Williams, Arkansas
See: All-Time John Mackey Award Winners

Robert W. (Tiny) Maxwell Award (top player): Cameron Newton, QB, Auburn
See: All-Time Robert W. (Tiny) Maxwell Award Winners

Bronko Nagurski Trophy (defensive player): Da'Quan Bowers, DE, Clemson
See: All-Time Bronko Nagurski Trophy Winners

Davey O'Brien Award (quarterback): Cameron Newton, Auburn
See: All-Time Davey O'Brien Award Winners

Outland Trophy (interior lineman): Gabe Carimi, OL, Wisconsin
See: All-Time Outland Trophy Winners

Dave Rimington Trophy (center): Jake Kirkpatrick, TCU
See: All-Time Dave Rimington Award Winners

Jim Thorpe Award (defensive back): Patrick Peterson, LSU
See: All-Time Jim Thorpe Award Winners

Johnny Unitas Award (senior quarterback): Scott Tolzien, Wisconsin
See: All-Time Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Winners

Doak Walker Award (running back): LaMichael James, Oregon
See: All-Time Doak Walker Award Winners