Baylor QB Griffin wins Heisman

Just as he predicted a week ago after leading a rout over Texas, quarterback Robert Griffin III became the first player from Baylor to win the Heisman Trophy at a ceremony Saturday night in midtown Manhattan. Griffin scored a 280-point victory over Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who also was runner-up to last year's winner, Cam Newton.

Not only did Griffin make history at Baylor, but his victory will be long remembered for its sartorial splendor. It seems Griffin has a hobby of collecting "designer'' socks celebrating various cartoon and action heroes. Just before the award was announced, Griffin raised the left leg of his dark slacks to reveal a bright blue sock with the "Superman'' logo and a red cape hanging from the back side.

Plenty of opponents came away from trying to defend Griffin thinking he indeed was "Superman'' incarnate. Griffin completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 3,998 yards and 36 TDs with only six interceptions. He rushed 161 times for 644 yards, a 4.0 average, and nine more touchdowns.

Griffin had huge games in upsets of TCU and Oklahoma and in the season-ending 48-24 romp over Texas, and he lifted Baylor to 12th in the BCS rankings with a 9-3 record.

"Now that my socks are out there, I've got nothing to lose,'' he joked after receiving the iconic trophy.

Griffin -- an accomplished student who completed his undergraduate degree in political science in three years, now is working on a masters in communications and has plans for law school -- then turned serious.

"It's unbelievably believable,'' he said of winning college football's most prestigious award. "It's unbelievable because, in the moment, we're all amazed when great things happen. But it's believable because great things don't happen without hard work.''

Griffin thanked his coach, Art Briles, and knowing what the award represents to a school that has been downtrodden in football more often than not, he added, "Everybody associated with Baylor University has a reason to celebrate tonight . . . Baylor we are, and Baylor we will always be. But it's up to us to define what that means, and this Heisman Trophy is only the beginning of that process.''

Luck became the fourth player in Heisman history to finish as runner-up twice, joining Army's Glen Davis (1944-45), who won in 1946; North Carolina's Charlie Justice (1948-49) and Arkansas' Darren McFadden (2006-07).

The vote wasn't as close as some predicted, with Griffin winning every region except the Far West. He had 1,687 points and 405 first-place votes. Luck had 1,407 points and 247 first-place votes.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson finished third, Wisconsin running back Montee Ball was fourth and LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu was fifth.

Briles was the coach at Houston when he first began recruiting Griffin, so he was a little uncertain how taking the coaching job at lowly Baylor might impact his top recruit. Recalling the moment when he received Griffin's final commitment, Briles said, "I called his mom, and she said, 'Coach, we told you we're coming to Baylor. Now go out and get him some teammates.' We got a person who was polished, and he's done nothing but improve.''

Most have Luck pegged as the No. 1 pick in April's NFL draft. "Nothing is set in stone,'' he said Saturday night before the ceremony. " . . . I'm not thinking about that now.''

If Griffin declares for the draft, his combination of speed, mobility, intelligence and accuracy throwing deep might give more than a few NFL scouts pause. He said winning the Heisman will have no effect on his decision about when to turn pro.