USA TODAY Sports' Heisman survey: Mariota's slight gain

Daniel Uthman | USA TODAY Sports

With perhaps his biggest regular season game on the horizon, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota slightly extended his lead in the third weekly Heisman Trophy survey of voters from Gannett newspapers.

Mariota earned 70 voting points this week for 45 percent of the total. He is joined in the top three by Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston (31 percent) and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (18 percent).

Mariota's vote share was up three percentage points from last week's survey. Winston's slid slightly to 31 percent, and Manziel was up from 16 percent last week.

Two other players received votes this week, with Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron earning four percent of the vote total and Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty two percent.

Mariota, Winston, McCarron and Petty each has led his team to an unbeaten record so far in 2013. Mariota, McCarron and Petty each is facing a highly ranked team this week, with Mariota and Oregon at No. 5 Stanford on Thursday, McCarron and Alabama hosting No. 12 LSU on Saturday and Petty and Baylor hosting No. 8 Oklahoma on Thursday.

Breaking down the ballots (three points are awarded for a first-place votes, two for second and one for third):

1. QB Marcus Mariota, Oregon: 20-4-2 = 70

2. QB Jameis Winston, Florida State: 5-14-6 = 49

3. QB Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M: 1-8-9 = 28

4. QB AJ McCarron, Alabama: 0-0-6 = 6

5. QB Bryce Petty, Baylor: 0-0-3 = 3

More than two dozen staffers from Gannett newspapers participate each week.