On December 11, 2013, Bleacher Report posted that “Despite six finalists receiving invitations to Saturday’s Heisman Trophy presentation, the most since 1994, not one represents the Pac-12. This is the second time in as many years the conference has been without a Heisman finalist and guarantees its streak of seasons without a winner will reach eight.”
On December 13, 2014, Bleacher Report had this to say: “To the surprise of almost no one, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota won the 2014 Heisman Trophy, becoming the first Ducks player to win the award.”
It wasn’t so much that Heisman voters hadn’t liked Pac-12 (or Pac-10, or Pac-8) players, it was that they didn’t like players from the conference unless they were from USC. The previous Heisman winner from a West Coast school that wasn’t Southern Cal was Stanford’s Jim Plunkett in 1970.
Mr. Consistency
If the hallmark of Mariota’s success on the field was his consistency (in 2014 he never completed less than 58 percent of his passes, never threw for fewer than two touchdowns and threw only four interceptions the entire season), the same was true of how oddsmakers thought of him.
Five months before the season even began, he was +500 to win the Heisman, and between April and the fifth week of the football season he fluctuated between +550 and +425.
Despite those numbers, Mariota wasn’t the favorite, at least at first. That was Florida State’s Jameis Winston, who had a +240 posted next to his name in mid summer.
One of the biggest movers of the season was Dak Prescott of Mississippi State, who opened at +3500 and got down to +180 while leading the Bulldogs to the No. 1 spot in the polls until a dramatic loss at Alabama.
Bettors looking for a flyer in 2014 might have considered Taylor Kelly at +8000, Barry Sanders, Jr. at +8500 or Jake Walters and J.W. Walsh, both at +10,000. But all of them had disappeared from boards after the first month of the season.
An Unlikely Winner
Speaking of long shots, what kind of odds could you have gotten on Mariota winning the Heisman when he wasn’t even starting on his high school team as a junior?
In Hawaii, remember.
And how hard was it for Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich to justify a trip to the islands to recruit someone who had never started a high school game?
Helfrich had seen something in Mariota in the summer of 2010 when the QB attended an Oregon football camp, and on that visit, Helfrich called Ducks head coach Chip Kelly to convince him to offer a scholarship.
Remember, this is a Pac-12 offer to someone who was yet to start.
In Hawaii.
However, as a senior Mariota helped lead the St. Louis school to an 11–1 record and the state title while being named to the PrepStar Magazine All-West Region team.
He was also named to the NUC All World Game along with another future Heisman winner, Johnny Manziel. (That game must have featured some impressive quarterback scrambling).
At the end of his senior season, Mariota was rated the No. 2 recruiting prospect in the state and the No. 12 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com. But despite interest from USC, Washington, Notre Dame, Utah and others, only Memphis and Oregon actually offered rides.
Mariota's Career At Oregon
In 2012, Mariota became the first (redshirt) freshman to start a season opener for the Ducks in 22 years and it worked out pretty well, with Oregon going 12-1 and ending the year ranked second.
His athletic versatility was on display against Arizona State when, in barely over a quarter of play, he caught a touchdown pass, threw a touchdown pass and ran for an 86-yard touchdown, leading a number of coaching staffs to delete email conversations that led to them not offering Mariota a scholarship.
The following year, Oregon started 8–0 and Mariota was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which declared him the Heisman favorite, a dream killed by an upset loss to Stanford and an MCL tear.
So, when the 2014 season got underway, both the Ducks and their quarterback considered themselves to have some unfinished business.
Things started off fine, as the Ducks were 4-0 before a baffling loss vs unranked Arizona. Coming off throwing for five touchdowns against Washington State, Mariota’s passing against the Wildcats was well, fine, but he rushed nine times for one yard.
In total.
Oregon fell from No. 2 to No. 12.
“Sooner or later the offensive line problems were going to cost Oregon,” said SI. “With Marcus Mariota constantly scrambling for his life and their running game sputtering, the Ducks put immense pressure on their mediocre defense and their Heisman candidate for the second consecutive game. Against Washington State, Oregon did enough to survive. Against Arizona on Thursday night, the Ducks didn’t. As a result, the nation's No. 2 team fell, 31-24, shaking up the early college football playoff conversation and the Pac-12 standings.”
At this point, Mariota was +550 to win the Heisman, and Winston +650 in what had become a two-man race.
Briefly.
After two more pedestrian performances in wins over UCLA and Washington (-1 yards rushing on seven attempts) Mariota started to ball out.
Five touchdown passes against Cal, followed by 85 yards rushing against Stanford, three TD passes and 114 yards on the ground at Utah, three TD passes vs Colorado, four at Oregon State.
Meanwhile, Winston was sprinting in reverse with oddsmakers, once being as attractive at +240 and ending the year at +20,000. By the week of the announcement, Mariota was -1500 and Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon was +600.
At an event sorely lacking in drama, Mariota became the first Oregon Duck and first Hawaii-born athlete to win the Heisman Trophy, collecting 788 out of 891 (88.4 per cent) of the first- place votes.
After a 12–1 regular season, Oregon beat Florida State in a semifinal before getting thumped by Ohio State in the national championship game. Several months later, Mariota was the second overall pick in the NFL draft, selected by Tennessee.
In 2016, Oregon named its sports performance center after Mariota, and in 2020 he was named part of the school’s Mount Rushmore, along with Phil Knight, Steve Prefontaine and Sabrina Ionescu.
