Actual winner: Jason White, Oklahoma (click here to see voting)

Oklahoma quarterback Jason White has won the Heisman Trophy.

OK, he hasn't won it yet, but he will Saturday, when the announcement is made in New York, according to voters in the final Rocky Mountain News Heisman Poll this season.

White received all 10 first-place votes and earned a perfect 50 points.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who had picked up one first- place vote in the next-to-last poll, finished a distant second with 35 points. He received eight second-place votes and a third-place vote and was left off the ballot of one voter.

White, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound fifth-year senior, earned no votes in the preseason Heisman Poll. He was coming off his second surgery for torn anterior cruciate ligaments — one in each knee.

But White became the centerpiece of an Oklahoma powerhouse that dominated the college football season until losing to Kansas State 35-7 in the Big 12 Conference championship game Saturday.

The Sooners went through the regular season unbeaten, and White threw 40 touchdowns and six interceptions.

''Forty touchdowns and six interceptions,'' said voter Lee Barfknecht, college football writer at the Omaha World-Herald. ''Enough said.''

Kirk Bohls of the Austin American- Statesman said White is the best college football player alive.

''I really think White's left everybody in the dust,'' Bohls said. ''I don't think anybody has put up a good challenge.''

White threw two interceptions Saturday, and for the season he completed 265 of 414 passes for 3,774 yards.

''He's the best player in college football, period,'' Bohls said.

Voter Mike Griffith, a college football writer for the Knoxville News-Sentinel, said White is the best quarterback in college, though he isn't sure it will translate to an NFL career.

''I think as a quarterback, White is the leader of the offense,'' Griffith said, ''and you have to say that Oklahoma has had the most dominant offense in the nation this year . . .

''He may not be a prototype NFL quarterback, but he's been the most efficient quarterback in college this year.''

Griffith also likes what he sees in White's leadership ability.

''He's a guy that can make the pretty plays, but he also takes the hits and shows the grit it takes to win championships.''

White has been in first place in the -Heisman Poll since Oct. 7, when he replaced North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers.

INFOBOX

Heisman Poll

* Oklahoma quarterback Jason White is the unanimous selection in the final Heisman Poll of the 2003 college football season. Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald finished No. 2 in the final poll with 35 points, including eight second-place votes.

* This is the 17th consecutive year the Rocky Mountain News has conducted a Heisman Poll each week of the season. There are 10 voters — two from each of the five voting regions in the nation — who vote for five players each week. The tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with five points for a first-place vote, four for a second-place vote, etc. First-place votes are in parentheses.

Name, position..School..Final key statistics..Points

1. Jason White, QB....Oklahoma....265-for-414, 3,774 yards, 40 TDs....50 (10)

2. Larry Fitzgerald, WR....Pittsburgh....87 catches, 1,595 yards, 22 TDs....35

3. Chris Perry, RB....Michigan....315 carries, 1, 589 yards, 17 rush TDs;....21.... ........17 catches, 42 yards, 2 TD receptions

4. Eli Manning, QB....Mississippi....253-for-410, 3,341 yards, 27 TDs....12

5. Mike Williams, WR....Southern Cal....87 catches, 1,126 yards, 16 TDs....9

Others receiving votes: QB Matt Leinart, Southern California, 8; RB Carnell Williams, Auburn, 4; QB Philip Rivers, North Carolina State and QB Ben Roethlisberger, Miami (Ohio), 3 each; QB B.J. Symons, Texas Tech, and RB Kevin Jones, Virginia Tech, 2 each; QB Brad Smith, Missouri, 1.

The voters: Mark Blaudschun (The Boston Globe); John Lindsay (Scripps Howard News Service); Mike Griffith (Knoxville, Tenn., News-Sentinel); Scott Cain (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette); Vahe Gregorian (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Lee Barfknecht (Omaha World-Herald); John Rohde (The Daily Oklahoman); Kirk Bohls (Austin, Texas, American-Statesman); Chris Dufresne (Los Angeles Times); and Randy Holtz (Rocky Mountain News).

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