Filed by Mitch Sherman at 10:39 p.m.

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini didn't hide his feelings tonight about Ndamukong Suh's fourth-place finish in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

“I think everybody in that room knew who the best player in the country was,” Pelini said. “He's a defensive guy, and I don't think anybody's ever got past the bias that he's a lineman. I've said it before, maybe they should redefine what the qualifications are.

"But I don't want to take away from what Mark Ingram did, because he had a great year."

Ingram won in the closest race for first place in Heisman history.

Pelini said he talked to a lot of people before the presentation at the Nokia Theatre.

"Every one of them thought (Suh) was the best football player in the country," Pelini said.

“Unfortunately, the people who vote, some of them are uninformed. But I think when he's the No. 1 pick in the (NFL) draft, everybody will realize who the best football player in the country was.”

Suh was not nearly as outspoken. He said he didn't expect to win and that Ingram and runner-up Toby Gerhart were deserving of award.

But Suh appreciated Pelini's support.

“That his personal opinion and I appreciate it a ton,” Suh said. “Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to win. I'm a competitive guy.”

Here are some particulars of the voting:

– Suh was named on 388 of 904 ballots (42.9 percent). Ingram was named on 67.9 percent, Gerhart on 67.1 percent and third-place finisher Colt McCoy on 60 percent.

– The point breakdown among the finalists: Ingram (1,304), Gerhart (1,276), McCoy (1,145), Suh (815) and Florida's Tim Tebow (390). They were followed by Clemson C.J. Spiller (223), Kellen Moore of Boise State (100), Case Keenum of Houston (37), Cincinnati's Mardy Gilyard (23) and Golden Tate of Notre Dame (21).

– Suh won the southwest region of Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas with 254 points, ahead of McCoy and Ingram. But Suh finished fourth in the other five regions. Gerhart won the far west. Ingram won the south, midwest, northeast and mid-atlantic.

– Nebraska's defensive performance against Texas in the Big 12 championship game appeared to take the Heisman away from McCoy. He finished well ahead of Gerhart and Ingram among 100 ballots that were cast in the first weeks. McCoy slipped to third in votes cast during the final week. Tebow was third, ahead of Suh and Ingram, until the final week.

– Fifteen players received first-place votes, 17 received second-place votes and 29 were voted in third place. A total of 34 players were named on ballots.

– Of the 926 ballots distributed, 904 were cast and tabulated.