Dec. 9, 2006

NEW YORK - Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn finished third in Saturday night's voting for the 2006 Heisman Trophy, making him the highest Irish finisher since Raghib Ismail took second to BYU's Ty Detmer in the 1990 Heisman race.

Quinn, the 2006 Maxwell Award winner, led Notre Dame to a 10-2 regular season and a second consecutive BCS bowl appearance. He threw for a school record 35 touchdown passes and 3,278 yards. Quinn eclipsed 3,000 yards passing for the second straight season (only Notre Dame player to ever accomplish the feat once, let alone twice). He tossed just five interceptions all season and actually went 223 consecutive passes without a pick over one stretch. Quinn not only holds 36 school records, but also ranks among the top 10 in NCAA Division I-A history in both passing yards (11,614) and passing touchdowns (93).

Player                      1st     2nd     3rd     Total
Troy Smith, Ohio State      801     62      13      2540
Darren McFadden, Arkansas   45      298     147     878
Brady Quinn, Notre Dame     13      276     191     782
Steve Slaton, West Virginia 6       51      94      214
Mike Hart, Michigan         5       58      79      210
Colt Brennan, Hawaii        6       44      96      202
Ray Rice, Rutgers           1       16      44      79
Ian Johnson, Boise State    1       13      44      73
Dwayne Jarrett, USC         1       11      22      47
Calvin Johnson, Ga. Tech    1       8       24      43

NORTHEAST
1, Troy Smith, 431.
2, Brady Quinn, 171.
3, Darren McFadden, 107.

MID-ATLANTIC
1, Troy Smith, 413.
2, Darren McFadden, 117.
3, Brady Quinn, 112.

SOUTH
1, Troy Smith, 409.
2, Darren McFadden, 227.
3, Brady Quinn, 96.

SOUTHWEST
1, Troy Smith, 447.
2, Darren McFadden, 209.
3, Brady Quinn, 119.

MIDWEST
1, Troy Smith, 451.
2, Brady Quinn, 151.
3, Darren McFadden, 120.

FAR WEST
1, Troy Smith, 389.
2, Brady Quinn, 133.
3, Darren McFadden, 98.

Quinn, who was fourth in Heisman voting last season, hoped to become the eighth player from Notre Dame to win the award and would break a tie with USC as the school with the most. Tim Brown was the last Fighting Irish player to take home the trophy in 1987.

Notre Dame takes on fourth-ranked LSU (10-2) in the 2007 Allstate Sugar Bowl in the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 3.

-- ND --