Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray won the 2018 Heisman Trophy, beating out Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins from an all-QBs trio of finalists at Saturday’s ceremony in New York.

Tagovailoa and Murray had put together one of the most compelling Heisman races ever. Entering their meeting in the Playoff’s Orange Bowl semifinal, Murray has the best season passer rating in FBS history, and Tagovailoa has the second-best. They’ve been so good that Haskins, who’s played like a Heisman winner, wasn’t a serious candidate to win.

Here’s the complete top-10 tally, as released by auditor Deloitte:

Kyler Murray: 2,167 total points: 517 first-place votes, 278 second-place, 60 third-place Tua Tagovailoa: 1,871 total points: 299, 431, 112 Dwayne Haskins: 783 total points: 46, 111, 423 Will Grier: 126 total points: 4, 17, 80 Gardner Minshew: 122 total points: 6, 15, 74 McKenzie Milton: 39 total points: 4, 4, 19 Travis Etienne: 29 total points: 0, 6, 17 Quinnen Williams: 27 total points: 1, 4, 16 Jonathan Taylor: 26 total points: 1, 2, 19 Darrell Henderson: 21 total points: 0, 3, 15

Tagovailoa had the most points ever for a runner up, ESPN said.

Geographically, everywhere region but the SEC’s broke for Murray.

Heisman results by region. pic.twitter.com/qn0jr8hUKL — Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) December 9, 2018

Late voters also moved in Murray’s favor.

More Heisman voting numbers. pic.twitter.com/qD96HwISpT — Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) December 9, 2018

That meshes with how the season ended for both.

From the early weeks of the season until recently, Tagovailoa was widely considered the runaway winner.

He started putting up absurd numbers right away for the best team in the country. Every single Alabama game until November featured between two and four passing TDs by Tagovailoa, him averaging at least 10.6 yards per throw with no interceptions, and Nick Saban taking him out in the second half in granting mercy to the other team.

Those early hooks meant Tagovailoa was getting way fewer touches per game than previous Heisman-winning QBs, but his performances were so bonkers that he stacked up well against them anyway. Tagovailoa put up better numbers in his first six games than any of those Heisman QBs ever put up in their best six games if someone cherry-picked them.

But when the ceremony arrived, we didn’t already know who’d won. That hasn’t been true in years. The last time, for most observers, was 2009.

Consider the number of first-place votes players have gotten since then, via Sports Reference:

The final vote in this race put it close to 2012’s between Manziel and Te’o.

The two QBs have had similar years, but Murray was better down the stretch.

In Bama’s 13 games, Tagovailoa’s been great in 10. Twice in November, in wins against LSU and Mississippi State, he was between fine and pretty good. And in the SEC Championship against Georgia, he was horrible. Injuries certainly played a role, but he went 10-of-25 for 164 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions (making up half his season total of INTs). Backup Jalen Hurts won the game for Bama after Tagovailoa exited injured in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Murray’s had a similar season. In Oklahoma’s 13 games, he’s been through-the-roof awesome 10 times and merely “good” three times, with no games nearly as bad as the one Tagovailoa put up against Georgia. It seemed like they were getting closer when Murray had 478 total yards and four total TDs in a Week 13 barnburner at West Virginia. And it definitely seemed like the gap was tightening when Murray had a flawless, three-TD Big 12 Championship on the same day Tagovailoa was having his worst outing.

Murray has a 206 passer rating. Tagovailoa’s at 202. Both of those are slated to break Baker Mayfield’s all-time record of 198.9, set last year (and previously set by Mayfield in 2016). Nobody else is above 176 this year. Murray and Tagovailoa also lapping the field in yards per throw at 11.9 and 11.4, respectively, with nobody else beating 10.0.

The biggest difference in their numbers comes on the ground. Lincoln Riley’s made Murray a big part of his running game, especially since star back Rodney Anderson was lost for the season in Week 2. Not counting sacks, Murray has 108 carries for 982 yards (a 9.1-yard average) and 11 scores. Bama’s chosen to keep Tagovailoa cleaner, running him 37 times for 289 yards and five TDs. That’s a 7.8-yard average, but it’s not close to Murray’s line.

Tagovailoa had been the overwhelming betting favorite along with that. But in the last month, Murray had caught and passed him in Vegas.

Bovada released these odds to win the trophy on Monday, when the finalists list came out:

Bettors kept lining up behind Murray. By Saturday evening, he was -260 to win, and Tagovailoa was +210. For a sense of how much ground Murray’s made up: On Nov. 5, Tagovailoa was 1/10 to win, and Murray was next at 6/1, with Haskins following at 14/1.

Personally, I cast one award vote for Tagovailoa over Murray, because Bama’s QB has done it against more challenging defenses.

That was for the Davey O’Brien Award, for the best QB in the country. I’m a voter for that one but not the Heisman, though I would’ve made the same Heisman vote.

I had a hard time picking between the two. Murray has bigger raw numbers, but in the passing game in particular, it’s best to grade the two QBs on efficiency stats because of how often Tagovailoa’s been yanked early. Murray’s numbers there are every so slightly better, but Tagovailoa’s have come against notably (though not hugely) better defenses.

The average Alabama opponent this year ranks 59th in Defensive S&P+. The average OU opponent is 71st. Those Bama figures don’t include The Citadel, an FCS team, so let’s cut out OU’s worst opponent, No. 103 UCLA, and the average number for OU goes up to 69.

It’s not a huge difference. Anyone who claims Tagovailoa has been playing way harder competition than Murray is lying to you or speaking in stereotypes about the SEC and Big 12. But in an incredibly close race, quality of opposition put Tagovailoa over the top for me.

That’s no knock on Murray, though. He’s a deserving (and really outstanding, even relatively speaking) Heisman winner. What a year this was for QBs.