Week 13: Cam Newton pulls away as Andrew Luck joins top tier
Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon moves into top 5, and Colin Kaepernick finishes in top 10
This week, we release our final pre-balloting poll of Heisman voters. After the final games are played, StiffArmTrophy.com will once again be conducting an exit poll of Heisman voters. In eight of the last eight years, Stiff Arm Trophy has accurately projected the winner of the Heisman Trophy.
In the final poll, Auburn QB Cam Newton was a clear #1 - appearing on 94% of top-five watchlists from Heisman voters. Boise State QB Kellen Moore, Oregon RB LaMichael James and Stanford QB Andrew Luck were in a functional tie for second place, appearing on 83-86% of watchlists. That's a move up for Luck, who had lagged a bit behind Moore and James.
Continuing his upward climb of recent weeks, Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon finished at #5 - but substantially behind the top four - appearing on just 27% of Heisman voters' watch lists.
TCU QB Andy Dalton held steady at #6, while Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor dropped to #7. Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett moved up to #8. Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick rejoined the rankings at #9, while Michigan QB Denard Robinson finished at #10.
LSU DB Patrick Peterson and Oregon QB Darron Thomas, last week's #10s, dropped out.
63 actual Heisman voters from 33 states participated in this week's StiffArmTrophy.com poll.
Full details of the poll on the jump...
This week's StiffArmTrophy.com Heisman Poll
| rank | player | weighted% | votes | prev | |
| 1 | Auburn QB Cameron Newton | 94% | 60 | 1 | |
| 2 | Boise St QB Kellen Moore | 85% | 52 | 2 | |
| 3 | Oregon RB LaMichael James | 84% | 52 | 3 | |
| 4 | Stanford QB Andrew Luck | 83% | 53 | 4 | |
| 5 |  | Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon | 27% | 18 | 7 |
| 6 | TCU QB Andy Dalton | 21% | 13 | 6 | |
| 7 |  | Ohio St QB Terrelle Pryor | 18% | 12 | 5 |
| 8 | | Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett | 16% | 12 | 9 |
| 9 | | Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick | 15% | 9 | -- |
| 10 | | Michigan QB Denard Robinson | 14% | 9 | 8 |
Here's the regional breakdown:
| rank | player | Atlantic (6) | Midwest (12) | Northeast (9) | South (17) | Southwest (8) | West (11) |
| 1 | Auburn QB Cameron Newton | 83% | 83% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 2 | Boise St QB Kellen Moore | 100% | 83% | 100% | 70% | 87% | 72% |
| 3 | Oregon RB LaMichael James | 83% | 75% | 88% | 70% | 100% | 90% |
| 4 | Stanford QB Andrew Luck | 83% | 100% | 88% | 82% | 62% | 81% |
| 5 | Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon | 0% | 16% | 22% | 35% | 62% | 27% |
| 6 | TCU QB Andy Dalton | 16% | 16% | 33% | 11% | 12% | 36% |
| 7 | Ohio St QB Terrelle Pryor | 16% | 50% | 0% | 11% | 12% | 18% |
| 8 | Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett | 16% | 16% | 0% | 41% | 25% | 0% |
| 9 | Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick | 16% | 8% | 11% | 11% | 25% | 18% |
| 10 | Michigan QB Denard Robinson | 33% | 25% | 0% | 17% | 0% | 9% |
Participating voters included:
Mid-Atlantic: Frank Bodani, Doug Doughty, Chuck Landon, Tom Luicci, Matthew Osborne, Caulton Tudor
Midwest: Andy Baggot, Randy Beard, Mike Carmin, Doug Clarke, Pete DiPrimio, Don Doxsie, Dave Hackenberg, Sean Keeler, Tony Krausz, Tim May, Drew Sharp, Jon Spencer
Northeast: Mark Blaudschun, Mike DiMauro, Brian Koonz, C.J. McCarthy, Cory McCartney, Rick McGowan, Brad Riter, Lenn Robbins, B.J. Schecter
South: Brady Ackerman, Sean Baligian, Joe Biddle, Andy Bitter, Olin Buchanan, David Ching, Pat Dooley, Scott Ferrell, Tim Guidera, Ron Higgins, Joey Johnston, Randy Kennedy, Phillip Marshall, Brett McMurphy, Joshua Parrott, Billy Reed, Bob Tompkins
Southwest: Jimmy Burch, Sean Callahan, Kevin Kugler, Reid Laymance, Dave Matter, David McCollum, John Rohde, Mike'l Severe
West: Mark Anderson, Steve Bisheff, Ken Goe, Dan Hinxman, John Hunt, Mike Lewis, Jeff Metcalfe, Kevin Schnepf, George Schroeder, John Tamanaha, Scott Wolf