The first Pacific Islander to win a Heisman Trophy will play in college football’s first National Championship (graphic by Dave Sizer).
Marcus Mariota led his Oregon Ducks to a stunning 59 – 20 victory over the Florida State Seminoles at the Rose Bowl New Year’s Day.
Mariota threw for 2 touchdowns and 338 yards, completing 26 out of his 36 passes. On top of that, he ran for another 62 yards.
The game pitted last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Jameis Winston, with this year’s winner. If you watched Mariota’s Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, you know he’s very humble. That demeanor didn’t change after the game. He wanted nothing to do with the comparisons between quarterbacks.
“I was just happy for our team,” he said. “The entire week, I really didn’t want to focus on the matchup. I think that was just stuff that other people really wanted to talk about.
“I just wanted to focus on this team and for us to kind of go out there and be successful, it was just a great feeling and I’m happy for us.”
Mariota might not have wanted to talk about the matchup, but others did. John Canzano for the Oregonian did a good job comparing Winston and Mariota’s demeanor during and after the game. You can read about that in Oregon Live.
If you haven’t seen Mariota’s Heisman acceptance speech, do yourself a favor and watch. You can find it in the link below.
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Games highlights from ESPN are below.
