In case you fell into some kind of a hole last night and didn't see the news (and didn't read one entry beneath this on the front page), Robert Griffin III claimed the first Davey O'Brien Award in Baylor history last night at the ESPN College Football Awards ceremony in Orlando. Baylor sent an entire contingent with him to Orlando for the ceremony, and they were not disappointed. That much alone would normally be worth shouting from the rooftops, but I think it was evident to anyone that watched that the O'Brien trophy by itself would be a disappointment. The great white whale of a Baylor Heisman is still out there, but unlike Ahab, all signs point to RGIII bringing this one home.
But on to the main event, the links of the day!
- UPDATE: Stewart Mandel just posted an article over at SI.com about RGIII and the evolution of the hyper-efficient QB in Heisman voting. It's definitely worth a read. He also talks about Griffin being the rare blend of outstanding play AND intangibles, something that I think gets lost in the constant Luckgasming.
- Why love RG3? A few million reasons - San Antonio Express-News - Good article about the economic impact on central Texas of having a marquee athlete at Baylor University. If one of the things RGIII manages to do is heal the rift between Waco and Baylor (a rift for which Baylor is almost entirely responsible, by the way), then all the better. Baylor needs Waco to support it athletically and Waco needs Baylor.
- Plenty of top teams to cheer for, but Baylor football is king in Waco | HeraldNet.com - Sports - Goes toward the point above a little bit. Maybe with another year (please, Robert?) of winning, Baylor can start to eat into the Walmart fandom and replace those orange and maroon shirts with green and gold.
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Baylor's Griffin looks like Heisman favorite – USATODAY.com - As he should.
- Baylor’s Robert Griffin III wins Davey O’Brien QB award - The Washington Post
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Heisman finalist Griffin changed Baylor perception- We've already started to see the effects of this in recruiting and in terms of positive national coverage. It's only going to get better.
- The Heisman View From Baylor: Robert Griffin III - NYTimes.com
- Baylor’s Griffin keeps adding to award haul - KansasCity.com
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ProFootballWeekly.com - Baylor's Griffin wins Davey O'Brien Quarterback Award - These guys love them some RGIII.
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Change is Coming: Four BCS Plus-One Options Under Consideration « FRANK THE TANK’S SLANT- I wanted to highlight this article yesterday with a few thoughts but forgot to in all of the hubbub last night. Short version is that I agree with the article's conclusion; I don't think you're going to get the BCS bowls or their conference affiliates to agree to anything that doesn't keep them all on the same playing field, so Option 4 (of 4 on the list) makes the most sense to me. I would be in favor of them putting in that type of modified quasi-seeded plus-1 system and incorporating the current bowl structure.
- Griner, Sims, Pope lead No. 1 Baylor women to 72-41 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee - The Washington Post
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Starting 5: Baylor has time to prove its worth - NCAA Basketball - Sporting News - Baylor taking a little bit of heat nationally for a supposedly weak non-conference schedule. This guy doesn't think it's as big of a deal as people make it out to be.
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Milwaukee women lose 72-41 at top-ranked Baylor - College Women's Basketball - Rivals.com - I'm not positive, but I think our women's BB team might be the best in the history of the sport. Am I kidding? Probably.
- Stanford Cardinal's Andrew Luck wins Maxwell Award, Baylor Bears' Robert Griffin III wins Davey O'Brien Award - ESPN Dallas
- Fedora approved as the coach to refocus North Carolina football | The Republic- Another one bites the dust in A&M's search. I think Fedora will do very well there. He was exactly the type of coach that Kansas should have tried to moneywhip, but instead...
- Kansas Jayhawks give Charlie Weis a second chance - ESPN - ESPN already buying into the Weis myth. They just can't quit that guy. Kinda like he can't quit the buffet at Golden Corral.
- What others are saying about Weis, KU | CJOnline.com - Spoiler alert! They think it's about as dumb as I do.
- Heisman Voters Are Likely To Drop The Ball | Fox News- Seemed relevant when I found the article.
- Un-Lucky break? Why Stanford star is unlikely to win Heisman - San Jose Mercury News- Oh, they mad.
- Robert Griffin in a landslide in my straw poll - CBSSports.com- My level of confidence is bordering on unhealthy for tomorrow night. If RGIII doesn't win, I might go all Craig James. My son's hospital is right off Harry Hines, so I can't imagine it would be too difficult.
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Milestone victory is Baylor's aim - San Antonio Express-News- Preview of the upcoming bowl and Baylor's quest for 10 wins. On a side note, if you believe the Alamo Bowl website, there are less than 1000 unsold tickets left for the game. That place seats 60,000+! That news, if true, would do more to change national perception about Baylor than anything.
I have a feeling nobody really reads the links anyway, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time fleshing them out and making them look all pretty. As always, though, if you find something of particular value, fanshot it or post it in the comments below!
One thing I've been batting around lately that I'd like thoughts about is A&M's coaching search. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I don't see how A&M possibly comes out of their strategy with a coach their entire fanbase can support. Maybe that coach doesn't actually exist and that is already a foregone conclusion, but it seems like their approach (identifying Sumlin as the primary candidate early, fueling speculation that he will be hired, and then trying to link every big-name coach in the world to the job to drum up interest) is only going to result in disappointment. It's going to look like they settled no matter what they do. I'm going to write something about this and put it up later. We'll see how it goes.