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Winning Margins - Year by Year | Margins - The Most, The Least | The First Place Vote Leaders
Most Total Points For a Winner | Defensive Players In Top Five | Demographics of Winners

 

Margins: Records

 

Margins, The Largest

Year

Winner

School

Points

Runner-up

School

Points

Margin
1968 O.J. Simpson So. California 2,853 Leroy Keyes Purdue 1,103 1,750
2006 Troy Smith Ohio State 2,540 Darren McFadden Arkansas 878 1,662
1993 Charlie Ward Florida State 2,310 Heath Shuler Tennessee 688 1,662
1991 Desmond Howard Michigan 2,077 Casy Weldon Florida State 503 1,662
1998 Ricky Williams Texas 2,355 Michael Bishop Kansas State 792 1,574
1986 Vinny Testaverde Miami 2,213 Paul Palmer Temple 672 1,563
1955 Howard Cassady Ohio State 2,219 Jim Swink Texas Christian 742 1,477
1963 Roger Staubach Navy 1,860 Billy Lothridge Georgia Tech 504 1,356
1951 Dick Kazmaier Princeton 1,777 Hank Lauricella Tennessee 424 1,353
1959 Billy Cannon LSU 1,929 Rich Lucas Penn State 613 1,316
1974 Archie Griffin Ohio State 1,920 Anthony Davis So. California 819 1,101

 

Margins, The Smallest

Year

Winner

School

Points

Runner-up

School

Points

Margin
2009 Mark Ingram Alabama 1,304 Toby Gerhart Stanford 1,276 28
1985 Bo Jackson Auburn 1,509 Chuck Long Iowa 1,464 45
1961 Ernie Davis Syracuse 824 Bob Ferguson Ohio State 771 53
1953 John Lattner Notre Dame 1,850 Paul Giel Minnesota 1,794 56 *
2001 Eric Crouch Nebraska 770 Rex Grossman Florida 708 62
1989 Andre Ware Houston 1,073 Anthony Thompson Indiana 1,003 70
1956 Paul Hornung Notre Dame 1,066 John Majors Tennessee 994 72 #
1964 John Huarte Notre Dame 1,026 Jerry Rhome Tulsa 952 74
2000 Chris Weinke Florida State 1,628 Josh Heupel Oklahoma 1,552 76
1978 Billy Sims Oklahoma 827 Chuck Fusina Penn State 750 77
1962 Terry Baker Oregon State 707 Jerry Stovall Louisiana State 618 89

* In 1935 Jay Berwanger of Chicago defeated Monk Meyer of Army by 55 points, 84-29 but the vote total was much smaller then.

# Paul Hornung's margin over the third-place finisher, Oklahoma's Tom McDonald, was 93 points, 1,066-973, the closest in point margin for a third-place candidate.