Biggest Heisman Winners Ever
A critical question is "Who is the biggest Trophy winner of all time?"
The best way to analyze "biggest winner" is to examine the points scored, as a percentage of points possible (number of voters times three).
We do not recommend that analysts use total points or vote margin to compare modern Heisman Trophy contests to earlier contests. (To be sure, OJ Simpson had the most votes ever - but with 1200 voters, there were nearly 30% more voters than in the current voting. It's simply not an "apples-to-apples" comparison.)
The years with more voters (as many as 1200) will have have higher total points and vote margins than the years with fewer voters (as few as 500). The raw number of voters shouldn't determine our historical view of "the biggest winner ever."
In fact, the number of voters changes every single year - since every year there's one more winner than the year before (and now and then, a Heisman winner passes away.)
The only responsible method for comparing Heisman Trophy wins across multiple years is to compare the winner to the total possible points (number of voters times three.)
In short, "How close did this winner come to a unanimous #1 selection?"
Top Heisman Trophy Winners of All Time
Note: We're not able to include the years 1941-43 or 1946-47 - as the Trophy Trust website (inexplicably) does not have the total number of voters listed for those years. In 2010, we were - after several years - able to add 1988, thanks to a contemporaneous note revealed in a (surprisingly good) 1988 issue of Sports Illustrated.
year | trophy winner | school | points | voters | pct. |
2005 | Reggie Bush | USC | 2541 | 923 | 91.77% |
2006 | Troy Smith | Ohio State | 2540 | 924 | 91.63% |
1998 | Ricky Williams | Texas | 2355 | 921 | 85.23% |
1993 | Charlie Ward | Florida State | 2310 | 919 | 83.79% |
2010 | Cam Newton | Auburn | 2263 | 925 | 81.55% |
1968 | O.J. Simpson | USC | 2903 | 1200 | 80.64% |
2013 | Jameis Winston | Florida State | 2205 | 929 | 79.12% |
1991 | Desmond Howard | Michigan | 2077 | 917 | 75.50% |
1976 | Tony Dorsett | Pittsburgh | 2357 | 1048 | 74.97% |
1999 | Ron Dayne | Wisconsin | 2042 | 922 | 73.83% |
2012 | Johnny Manziel | Texas A&M | 2029 | 928 | 72.88% |
1984 | Doug Flutie | Boston College | 2240 | 1050 | 71.11% |
2007 | Tim Tebow | Florida | 1957 | 925 | 70.52% |
1986 | Vinny Testaverde | Miami (Florida) | 2213 | 1050 | 70.25% |
1988 | Barry Sanders | Oklahoma State | 1878 | 917 | 68.27% |
1997 | Charles Woodson | Michigan | 1815 | 921 | 65.69% |
1967 | Gary Beban | UCLA | 1968 | 1033 | 63.50% |
1994 | Rashaan Salaam | Colorado | 1743 | 920 | 63.15% |
2008 | Sam Bradford | Oklahoma | 1726 | 926 | 62.13% |
1982 | Herschel Walker | Georgia | 1926 | 1050 | 61.14% |
2011 | Robert Griffin III | Baylor | 1687 | 927 | 60.66% |
1951 | Richard Kazmaier | Princeton | 1777 | 987 | 60.01% |
1974 | Archie Griffin | Ohio State | 1920 | 1075 | 59.53% |
2000 | Chris Weinke | Florida State | 1628 | 922 | 58.86% |
1970 | Jim Plunkett | Stanford | 2229 | 1264 | 58.78% |
1975 | Archie Griffin | Ohio State | 1800 | 1041 | 57.64% |
1983 | Mike Rozier | Nebraska | 1801 | 1050 | 57.17% |
1981 | Marcus Allen | USC | 1797 | 1050 | 57.05% |
1955 | Howard Cassady | Ohio State | 2219 | 1324 | 55.87% |
1963 | Roger Staubach | Navy | 1860 | 1123 | 55.21% |
1940 | Tom Harmon | Michigan | 1303 | 800 | 54.29% |
1990 | Ty Detmer | Brigham Young | 1482 | 917 | 53.87% |
1979 | Charles White | USC | 1695 | 1050 | 53.81% |
1959 | Billy Cannon | Louisiana State | 1929 | 1197 | 53.72% |
2003 | Jason White | Oklahoma | 1481 | 922 | 53.54% |
1960 | Joe Bellino | Navy | 1793 | 1130 | 52.89% |
1995 | Eddie George | Ohio State | 1460 | 921 | 52.84% |
1992 | Gino Torretta | Miami (Florida) | 1400 | 918 | 50.84% |
1996 | Danny Wuerffel | Florida | 1363 | 920 | 49.38% |
1953 | John Lattner | Notre Dame | 1850 | 1255 | 49.14% |
1977 | Earl Campbell | Texas | 1547 | 1050 | 49.11% |
1966 | Steve Spurrier | Florida | 1679 | 1160 | 48.25% |
2002 | Carson Palmer | USC | 1328 | 922 | 48.01% |
1985 | Bo Jackson | Auburn | 1509 | 1050 | 47.90% |
2004 | Matt Leinart | USC | 1325 | 923 | 47.85% |
2009 | Mark Ingram | Alabama | 1304 | 925 | 46.99% |
1987 | Tim Brown | Notre Dame | 1442 | 1050 | 45.78% |
1935 | Jay Berwanger | Chicago | 84 | 65 | 43.08% |
1971 | Pat Sullivan | Auburn | 1597 | 1260 | 42.25% |
1969 | Steve Owens | Oklahoma | 1488 | 1212 | 40.92% |
1958 | Pete Dawkins | Army | 1394 | 1191 | 39.01% |
1989 | Andre Ware | Houston | 1073 | 918 | 38.96% |
1972 | Johnny Rodgers | Nebraska | 1310 | 1127 | 38.75% |
1949 | Leon Hart | Notre Dame | 995 | 908 | 36.53% |
1936 | Larry Kelley | Yale | 213 | 195 | 36.41% |
1980 | George Rogers | South Carolina | 1128 | 1050 | 35.81% |
1945 | Felix "Doc" Blanchard | Army | 860 | 848 | 33.81% |
1937 | Clinton Frank | Yale | 524 | 531 | 32.89% |
1973 | John Cappelletti | Penn State | 1057 | 1075 | 32.78% |
1957 | John David Crow | Texas A & M | 1183 | 1267 | 31.12% |
1939 | Nile Kinnick | Iowa | 651 | 700 | 31.00% |
1964 | John Huarte | Notre Dame | 1026 | 1104 | 30.98% |
1938 | Davey O'Brien | Texas Christian | 519 | 584 | 29.62% |
1948 | Doak Walker | Southern Methodist | 778 | 908 | 28.56% |
2001 | Eric Crouch | Nebraska | 770 | 925 | 27.75% |
1954 | Alan Ameche | Wisconsin | 1068 | 1318 | 27.01% |
1956 | Paul Hornung | Notre Dame | 1066 | 1318 | 26.96% |
1965 | Mike Garrett | USC | 926 | 1160 | 26.61% |
1978 | Billy Sims | Oklahoma | 827 | 1050 | 26.25% |
1961 | Ernie Davis | Syracuse | 824 | 1091 | 25.18% |
1950 | Vic Janowicz | Ohio State | 633 | 958 | 22.03% |
1962 | Terry Baker | Oregon State | 707 | 1109 | 21.25% |
1944 | Les Horvath | Ohio State | 412 | 750 | 18.31% |
1952 | Billy Vessels | Oklahoma | 525 | 1222 | 14.32% |
If you want to give credit, please credit "analysis by Kari Chisholm, a political consultant who operates StiffArmTrophy.com".