Change of writer for the Daily Bear report today. Let's funk it up...
- Before we get too far into the links, I’d like to remind you to go vote for RGIII for the Davey O’Brien Award here. We’re down to the final round of voting and while Andrew Luck oddly only has 4% of the vote, RGIII trails Case Keenum 46% to 50%. This is unacceptable!
- Moving on, ESPN’s Big12 Blog notes that after the fall of OSU and OU last weekend, the previously marginal gap between the SEC and Big12 for top football conference has widened. For those who are holding out on the slim chance of Baylor making a BCS Bowl Game, this is important as strength of conference is likely what would allow Baylor to pass some of the second tier teams from the other conferences.
- One of the interesting aspects about the Big12 vs SEC is how differently the two conferences go about achieving their success. SBN's Bill Connelly explains how pace affects teams offenses and how teams stack up this year here at Football Outsiders. Interestingly, 3 of the top 4 teams and 8 of the top 25 teams in the country in terms of offensive pace reside in the Big12. Think about that: 80% of the Big12 is in the top 25. Insane.
- Earlier this week, Stewart Mandel of SI.com commented on RGIII's Heisman candidacy [below]. Looking past the (deserved) shot at Baylor, I disagree that there are no future NFL Offensive Linemen protecting RGIII. One of, if not the, biggest strengths of Baylor's training and development program since the Guy Morriss Era has been the ability of Baylor to graduate their OL into the NFL. 2 first round picks and 1 third round pick in the past few years should combine with mammoth OG Robert Griffin in the coming draft to establish that Baylor knows how to develop it's OL talent. Also, it doesn't take too long looking at the scouting services to figure out that this has benefited bringing in better OL talent.
Remember, Griffin is doing this for Baylor. He's not protected by a bunch of future NFL linemen like Luck. He's played substantially tougher competition than Houston's Case Keenum or Boise State's Kellen Moore. He's not throwing to a pair of five-star receivers like USC's Matt Barkley. My Heisman ballot arrived last week, and while there's still two more sets of games to go before making any final decisions, it's hard to imagine Griffin failing to be in the top three -- if not No. 1.
- Finally, SBN's Andy Hutchins takes his weekly look at the Heisman race...that RGIII is so hot right now.
But Robert Griffin III may have put on the year's most spectacular performance against Oklahoma on Saturday night. Griffin was both statistically dominant — 479 passing yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, plus 72 yards on the ground to lead Baylor — and dramatically valiant...it adds to a tremendous statistical resume for Griffin that could get him to New York City and/or the podium at the Heisman Trophy ceremony at year's end, despite Baylor's less impressive profile.