NEW YORK — Sophomore running back Mark Ingram became the first winner from Alabama to win the Heisman Trophy Saturday night in the closest race in the 75-year history of the award.
Ingram nosed out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart by 28 points, the closest finish since Auburn running back Bo Jackson nosed out Iowa quarterback Chuck Long in 1985 by 45 points. Ingram received 227 first-place votes and 1,304 points. Gerhart got 222 first-place votes and 1,276 points.
Florida’s Tim Tebow, the first player in the history of the televised trophy presentation to be invited to the ceremony three straight years, finished fifth in the voting behind Ingram, Gerhart, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh. McCoy, the runner-up last year to Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, got 203 first-place votes and 1,145 points.
Suh was listed first on 161 ballots and finished with 815 points. Tebow, who last year had the most first-place votes but finished third behind Bradford and McCoy because some voters left him completely off their ballots, had 43 first-place votes and 390 points.
Ingram finished first in four of the Heisman’s six regions—Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South. Gerhart captured the West region, while Suh won the Southwest region.
Tebow, who won the 2007 Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, was trying to become only the second two-time winner of the award, which honors the outstanding college football player of the year. Griffin, a running back from Ohio State, won back-to-back Heismans in 1974 and 1975.
Ingram, who helped the Crimson Tide to a 32-13 victory over defending national championship Florida on Dec. 5 in the SEC Championship Game, is the third straight sophomore to win the award. Tebow was the first to win the trophy as a sophomore and then came Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford last year, who beat out McCoy and Tebow for the award.
Tebow got a measure of revenge, however, in the BCS National Championship Game when he and Florida beat Bradford and Oklahoma, 24-14, in the game at Dolphin Stadium.
McCoy and the Longhorns will try to do the same thing against Ingram and Alabama in the Citi BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.