For the first time in a decade, all the finalists for the Heisman Trophy are quarterbacks.

They all play the same way, too. Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray and Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa are all relatively mobile but are nonetheless steadfastly pass-first quarterbacks.

And, of course, all had tremendous success this season, compiling astounding statistics and leading their teams to conference championships. Murray and Tagovailoa, who are widely considered the two top contenders in the closest Heisman race in years, took their teams to the College Football Playoff.

But there is at least one sense in which all three athletes, one of whom will hoist the bronze statue Saturday night, are distinct from the others — an aspect that close watchers of the Heisman balloting process know can have an outsize impact.

In a low-fat version of the Electoral College, the media members who compose the vast majority of Heisman voters are apportioned equally among six regions of the country. Each area — such as the Far West, the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic — is allotted 145 media votes.