And With The First Pick in The NFL Draft

15 Dec, 2019

The nation’s top-rated passer, who led his team to the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, has earned a key piece of hardware as he seeks a national championship trophy at season’s end. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow won the 2019 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, beating out three fellow Heisman finalists in Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts, Ohio State QB Justin Fields and Ohio State defensive end Chase Young.

Burrow, who is on pace to set an FBS single-season record for completion percentage (.779) and has 48 touchdowns to six interceptions on the year, is the fourth straight quarterback to win the award and the 12th to win it in the last 14 seasons. He is the second Heisman Trophy winner in LSU program history and the first since Billy Cannon earned the honor in 1959. Burrow is also the first SEC quarterback to win the Heisman since Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel in 2012.

Burrow’s victory shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who had been paying attention this season. He was such a heavy favorite heading into Saturday night’s ceremony that many sportsbooks stopped accepting wagers on the Heisman winner. It wasn’t so much a question of whether Burrow would win but rather how much of a margin he would carry.

As it turns out, Burrow won by the largest margin in the history of Heisman voting. His 2,608 points were 1,846 more points than second-place finisher Jalen Hurts. The previous record was held by O.J. Simpson, who finished 1,750 points ahead of runner-up Leroy Keyes of Purdue in 1968.

Burrow also received 95.03 percent (841/885) of possible first-place votes, breaking the record set by Ohio State QB Troy Smith in 2006 when he received 91.63 percent of the votes. Burrow set new records for highest percentage of possible points (.938) and percentage of ballots received (.955). Those records had previously been held by Troy Smith in 2006 (91.6 percent) and Oregon’s Marcus Mariota in 2014 (95.16 percent). 

And just in case all those records aren’t enough, Burrow is also the first Heisman winner in history to wear No. 9. 

After beginning his college career at Ohio State, Burrow transferred to LSU as a graduate student with two years of eligibility remaining ahead of the 2018 season. His first year with the Tigers was good but nothing like what we saw in 2019. He finished the 2018 season with 2,894 yards passing, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. Then LSU overhauled its offensive philosophy, and Burrow took off. His 48 touchdowns on the season are not only an LSU school record but an SEC record, as are his 4,715 passing yards.

Here’s the final 2019 Heisman Trophy point totals.

1. Joe Burrow, QB, LSU: 2,608
2. Jalen Hurts, QB, Oklahoma: 762
3. Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State: 747
4. Chase Young, DE, Ohio State: 643
5. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin: 189
6. J.K. Dobbins, RB, Ohio State: 114
7. Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson: 88
8. Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State: 68
9. Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson: 25
10. Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama: 24

CBS Sports

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