2010 Heisman Trophy Winner: Auburn's Cam Newton

The 2010 Heisman Trophy was a formality, as Auburn's Cam Newton has long been considered the overwhelming favorite following the beat down Auburn gave to South Carolina in the SEC title game. Newton won the award by the fourth largest margin ever by defeating runner-up Andrew Luck with 79 percent of all possible first-place votes. Of the 926 ballots mailed out, 886 were returned. Newton was omitted on 105 ballots, but was first on 93 percent of the ballots on those that included him.

The final order was Cam Newton, Stanford's Andrew Luck, Oregon's LaMichael James and then Boise State's Kellen Moore. 

This is Auburn's third Heisman Trophy winner, the previous two were quarterback Pat Sullivan in 1971 and running back Bo Jackson in 1985.

In his acceptance speech, Newton was so overwhelmed in the moment that he was unable to come out with his remarks early on. A person in the crowd shouted, "We love you, Cam!" to provide a moment of relief.

The Heisman Trophy is college football's oldest award and it was first won in 1935 by Chicago's Jay Berwanger. Last year's recipient was Alabama running back Mark Ingram. Now Cam Newton joins the Heisman Club and becomes enshrined as one of college football's all-time greats.

2010 Heisman Trophy: Cam Newton Is Your (Likely) Winner

The Heisman trophy will be announced tonight at 8 p.m. (ET) on ESPN and the winner looks to be Auburn's Cam Newton. Newton winning the award is not going to shock anyone, but the amount he is projected to win by is looking to be one of the widest margins in the awards illustrious 76-year history. According to the very scientific StiffArmTrophy.com--who scour to find who voted for who from the Heisman voters--they project Cam Newton to be the winner and perhaps with the fourth or fifth widest margin ever. Here is how they project the top four will finish out, the site has ballots from 211 Heisman voters.

StiffArmTrophy.com also has the list of others who so far have received a first place vote. Those would be Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, who acquired at least three first place votes, Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon with one and Stanford fullback/linebacker Owen Marecic also received at least one first place vote.

The most bizarre ballot belongs to AOL Fanhouse's David Whitley who voted his top three in this order: Stanford's LB/FB Owen Marecic, Colorado OL Nate Solder and Texas DE Sam Acho. Not sure if he is making a statement vote or if he really thinks those are the three most outstanding college football players this year.

Last year's Heisman vote was the closest ever with Alabama's Mark Ingram winning by just one percent over Stanford's Toby Gerhart, but this year's will be a blowout. The only excitement tonight will be how big the final margin turns out to be.

2010 Heisman Trophy: Meet The Finalists

The Heisman Trophy will be awarded this Saturday evening (8.pm. eastern on ESPN) and for those living under a rock the four finalist are Oregon Ducks RB LaMichael James, Stanford Cardinal QB Andrew Luck, Boise St. Broncos QB Kellen Moore, and Auburn Tigers QB Cam Newton will be in New York City on Dec. 11. This is up from the previous few years where only three finalists have been invited.

Now time to look closer at the candidates.

Cam Newton, QB Auburn Tigers

Everyone knows about Cam Newton and the investigation that has followed him for past month, but also some may not know that he is one of three quarterbacks ever to have 20 rushing and passing touchdowns in a season. The others are former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and current Nevada Wolfpack Colin Kaepernick. Side note: why is it that Kaepernick received zero Heisman talk, he lead his team to a 12-1 record, a top 15 ranking and in my opinion almost as dynamic as Newton. Other credentials that qualify Newton as the Heisman front runner is that he guided an undefeated team through the SEC and is in the BCS title game. Plus, on any third or fourth down that is less then three yards everyone in the stadium knows the play but no one can stop it. The only question left, is Cam Newton having the best college season ever best college season ever?

LaMichael James, RB Oregon Ducks

Even though James missed the opening game against New Mexico -- which is rare for him to be a finalist -- he was able to lead the nation in rushing by playing in only 11 games for the ultra-fast paced Ducks. His flashiness on the field and knack for big plays for the best offense in the country is amazing. LaMichael James help lead the Ducks to an undefeated season and will get to test his game against Auburn in the BCS title game on Jan. 10th.

Andrew Luck, QB Stanford Cardinal

Luck, may not want to win the Heisman since the winner has historically gone on to have minimal success at the NFL level, and Luck is in prime position to be the top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft if he decides to leave Stanford with a year of eligibility left. Stanford had the most over looked 11-1 season in recent memory, all they did was rip right through through the Pac-10 -- sans Oregon -- on the arm of Luck.

Kellen Moore, QB Boise State Broncos

Moore was very close to leading Boise State to yet another undefeated season with Boise State, but the team tripped up against Nevada a few weeks ago. Moore has put up amazing numbers by shredding every defense he faced and did so with very few turnovers. The non-AQ schools rarely get invited to New York as a finalist for the Heisman trophy, and the last to be invited was Hawaii's Colt Brennan in 2007. Based on history Moore has no shot, however he is only a junior and should be a front runner next year, if Boise State can keep going what they have.