Robert Griffin III beat out preseason favorite Andrew Luck for the Heisman Trophy, dazzling voters with his ability to throw, run and lead Big 12 doormat Baylor into the national rankings.
The junior quarterback known as RG3 became the first Heisman winner from Baylor on Saturday night by a comfortable cushion over the Stanford star.
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Griffin started the season on the fringe of the Heisman conversation, a talented and exciting player on a marginal team, while Luck was already being touted as a potential top NFL draft pick whenever he decided to leave college.
Draft day might very well still belong to Luck, who announced this week his intentions to apply for entry into the 2012 NFL Draft, but Griffin diverted the Heisman to Waco, Texas, to a school that has never had a player finish better than fourth in the voting -- and that was 48 years ago.
Right before his name was called, Griffin took a deep breath. When it was announced he broke into a bright smile. Then it was hugs all around, for his coaches, his parents, his sister and his fiance.
He took a few long strides up to the stage and let out a laugh when he got there, making a joke about the Superman socks -- complete with capes on the back -- he was wearing before going into his acceptance speech.
"This is unbelievably believable," he said. "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 received 405 first-place votes and 1,687 points.
"Everybody associated with Baylor has a reason to celebrate tonight," he said.
Luck received 247 first-place votes and 1,407 points to become the fourth player to be Heisman runner-up in consecutive seasons and first since Arkansas running back Darren McFadden in 2006 and `07.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
