Heisman Point/Counterpoint: Robert Griffin Deserved to Win

Although the Heisman race was much more lopsided than first meets the eye, Baylor QB Robert Griffin was surely the most deserving to win.

That being said, however, a strong case for each of the other four Heisman finalists can be made as well. This, in turn will keep some of the debating open, especially when their pro careers begin to unfold and we begin to see how they adapt to the NFL.

Nonetheless, it's surely going to be talked about for quite some time.

So to keep the discussion going on a little while longer, here is a point/counterpoint about Griffin winning the Heisman over Stanford's Andrew Luck and arguably the two best players in the SEC.

Point

The Big 12 is known for high-powered offenses, and for Baylor to compete against teams like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas, a lot was going to be needed to build off their good 7-6 campaign from 2010.

The only problem with the ending of 2010 heading into 2011 was that 2010 ended with four straight losses after a 7-3 start. Well, Robert Griffin exploded in game one versus then No. 14 TCU and Baylor won 50-48.

It was clear that the Bears were going to have to win shootouts on a consistent basis if they wanted to compete for a Big 12 title. Then unfortunately, the middle of the year happened and although Griffin was playing well, it wasn't well enough to carry the team to wins.

After starting 3-0, Baylor then went 1-3 and were just 4-3 heading into November.

Needless to say, Griffin rallied the troops and Baylor closed out the season with five straight wins, including wins over No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 22 Texas. Both were teams with explosive offenses that a team like Baylor isn't supposed to keep up with, let alone outscore.

By season's end, Griffin had accounted for almost 4,000 passing yards, an additional 644 rushing yards, and 45 total touchdowns. Had it not been for Griffin, Baylor would not have finished 9-3, third in the Big 12, nor would they have been bowl eligible.

The defense allowed over 35 points per game, which ranked No. 109 out of 120 schools.

Counterpoint

The fact that Big 12 has great passing offenses usually means one of two things:

1. Solid pass defenses to counter the great pass offenses, or,

2. Weak pass defenses who have no idea how to slow down any kind of passing game.

Unfortunately for the Big 12, the latter is the truth.

The highest-ranked pass defense for the 2011 season was that of the Texas Longhorns at No. 47, who allowed 211 passing yards per game. Now, that may not seem like a lot but the worst in the FBS was Memphis at 300 pass yards allowed, while Alabama was No. 1 with just 116 allowed.

Fortunately for a team like Texas was also that their first four games were against weak opponents (Rice, BYU, UCLA, Iowa State). So, their pass defensive stats looked good, but as such were deceiving.

As for the rest of the Big 12, Oklahoma ranked No. 83 in pass defense and allowed 243 passing yards per game. No matter how good you are, disappointment will occur when having a poor pass defense in a pass-heavy conference.

Getting back to Griffin, we can't completely use this against him, as the Bears' pass defense was ranked No. 112 (second worst in Big 12, Texas A&M) and allowed almost 280 passing yards per game.

Make no mistake about it: Griffin was most definitely the man who deserved the Heisman. But for those wanting to make a counterpoint for argumentative purposes, the weak Big 12 defenses are a good case.