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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In recent years America has done a remarkable job of predicting the Heisman Trophy winner in SI.com\u2019s annual People\u2019s Heisman poll. SI\u2019s voters accurately picked the last three Heisman honorees: Baylor\u2019s Robert Griffin III, Texas A&amp;amp;M\u2019s Johnny Manziel and Florida State\u2019s Jameis Winston. That\u2019s why the People\u2019s Heisman poll has become a good barometer for the actual Heisman race.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sorry, America. This time you got it wrong.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After almost 6,000 total votes tallied, Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper shockingly emerged as the winner of the 2014 People\u2019s Heisman, albeit by a very slim margin. Cooper, who won the Biletnikoff Award on Thursday as the nation\u2019s top receiver, earned 12,423 total points. That beat out the season\u2019s true overwhelming Heisman favorite, Oregon&amp;nbsp;quarterback&amp;nbsp;Marcus Mariota, who hauled in 12,244 points, while Wisconsin running back&amp;nbsp;Melvin Gordon&amp;nbsp;finished third with 11,114 points.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;HAMILTON: Constant motion keeps Alabama's Cooper one step ahead&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\tPlayer\r\n\t\t\t1st-place votes\r\n\t\t\t2nd-place votes\r\n\t\t\t3rd-place votes\r\n\t\t\ttotal points\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\tAmari Cooper\r\n\t\t\t2,637\r\n\t\t\t1,233\r\n\t\t\t2,046\r\n\t\t\t12,423\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\tMarcus Mariota\r\n\t\t\t2,560\r\n\t\t\t1,159\r\n\t\t\t2,246\r\n\t\t\t12,244\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\tMelvin Gordon\r\n\t\t\t779\r\n\t\t\t3,584\r\n\t\t\t1,609\r\n\t\t\t11,114\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;SI.com used the same voting process as the Heisman Trust, with three points for every first-place vote, two points for every second-place vote and one point per third-place vote. The total points are obviously a bit skewed, as the Heisman Trust issuesd only 929 ballots this year, but here are a couple of thoughts from the People\u2019s Heisman vote:\r\n\r\n\r\n\tThis year\u2019s vote showed one of two things: Either Oregon fans were asleep at the wheel, or Alabama fans know how to engineer votes -- or perhaps both. There\u2019s no doubt Mariota will win the actual Heisman on Saturday. Meanwhile, Cooper is largely expected to finish third behind Gordon. But the Crimson Tide faithful seemingly did just enough legwork to get Cooper the win in the People\u2019s Heisman poll. Perhaps Ducks fans drastically underestimated the power of a good \u201CRoll Tide.\u201D\r\n\tWhile Mariota is expected to win handily in real life, Cooper\u2019s victory was a close one. He earned only 2,637 first-place votes, or 44.1 percent of the 5,976 total votes. That was only 77 more first-place nods than Mariota (2,560). On Saturday Mariota is expected to contend for the largest winning margin in Heisman history.\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;SCHNELL: How Oregon&amp;nbsp;QB&amp;nbsp;Mariota&amp;nbsp;rose to stardom&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n\tThe most unrealistic aspect of our People\u2019s Heisman poll? Mariota earned the largest percentage (38.0) of third-place votes. In fact, Mariota and Cooper combined to garner the largest chunk of first-place and third-place votes. That implies two fan bases working against one another. Many fans voted Cooper first and Mariota third to give Alabama\u2019s receiver the largest boost possible over his closest competitor in the poll, and vice-versa with Mariota voters. It\u2019s an intriguing strategy that appears to have worked in Cooper\u2019s favor.\r\n\tAmerica did mirror how the actual vote will likely go in one aspect: Gordon deserves the runner-up spot. Wisconsin\u2019s running back earned the largest chunk of any of the three players at any spot in the voting with 59.9 percent of the second-place votes (3,584).\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;HAMILTON: The Big Cheese: Wisconsin RB Gordon races toward history&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/12/12/amari-cooper-peoples-heisman-vote-alabama-crimson-tide>