Florida State redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston moved into the top spot in the HeismanPundit Straw Poll. Oregon sophomore quarterback Marcus Mariota, who had led for four weeks in a row, dropped to third after a mediocre performance in the Ducks' loss to Stanford.
Texas A&M sophomore quarterback Johnny Manziel now is second, up one spot from last week.
Each week, HeismanPundit.com polls 10 Heisman voters -- who remain anonymous -- from across the country. Each voter selects three players, first place through third, and points are tabulated like a real Heisman ballot (three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote and one point for a third-place vote).
Seven players -- six quarterbacks and a linebacker -- received votes this week.
This week, Winston has 22 points, four more than last week. Manziel has 20, five more than last week, while Mariota dropped from 23 points to seven. After that comes Baylor junior quarterback Bryce Petty (five), Alabama senior quarterback AJ McCarron (three), Northern Illinois senior quarterback Jordan Lynch (two) and Stanford senior linebacker Shayne Skov (one).
Winston had six first-place votes, Manziel two and Mariota one. Mariota was on all 10 ballots last week; this week, he was on no more than five.
Manziel is attempting to become just the second player to win the Heisman more than once, joining former Ohio State tailback Archie Griffin (1974-75).
The HeismanPundit.com poll has been the most accurate Heisman gauge in the past seven seasons, with the final 2012 poll correctly picking the top five finishers and the final 2011 poll picking the top seven.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
