A look at the 2011 Heisman Trophy frontrunners: Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson, Montee Ball, and Tyrann Mathieu, and how the race played out.
Originally published mid-November 2011, ahead of conference championship weekend.
The 2011 Heisman Trophy race entered the home stretch with one of the deepest fields in years. Andrew Luck had been the presumed frontrunner since spring, but a late-season surge from a Baylor quarterback running the most efficient offense in the country shook the ballot loose.
The frontrunners
Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford. The 2010 runner-up returned for his junior year as the consensus best player in college football. By mid-November Luck had thrown for 2,800+ yards with 28 touchdowns to 6 interceptions, anchoring an 11-1 Stanford team. The narrative working against him: he was supposed to win, and voters tend to reward what they didn't see coming.
Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor. The story of the back half of the season. RG3 led the FBS in passer rating (192+), threw for 3,500+ yards with 33 TDs and 6 INTs, and capped the regular season with a 67-yard game-winning bomb to beat Oklahoma in Waco. This was Baylor's first win over the Sooners ever. Voters love a moment, and that throw was the moment.
Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama. The bell-cow back on a national-title-contending defense. Richardson rushed for 1,500+ yards and 20 touchdowns in the SEC. The case against him was structural: only one running back (Mark Ingram in 2009) had won the Heisman in the previous decade, and the position's stat lines were getting harder to separate.
Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin. The most prolific scorer in the country with 33 rushing touchdowns and 6 receiving, tying Barry Sanders' single-season FBS touchdown record. Ball's problem was the same as Richardson's, plus a softer schedule.
Tyrann Mathieu, CB, LSU. "Honey Badger." A defensive back with 70+ tackles, two punt return touchdowns, and a knack for the strip-sack on the No. 1 team in the country. Defensive players almost never win the Heisman, but Mathieu was the kind of game-breaker who forced the conversation.
Long shots worth watching
- Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma State: leading an offense averaging 47 points per game.
- Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin: fifth-year transfer, 31 TDs, lifted Wisconsin's ceiling.
- Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State: winningest QB in FBS history, but the BCS schedule worked against him.
How it played out
Robert Griffin III won the 2011 Heisman on December 10, edging Luck by 280 first-place votes. Richardson finished third, Ball fourth, and Mathieu fifth, who also was the highest Heisman finish for a defensive back since Charles Woodson won outright in 1997. Luck went No. 1 overall in the 2012 NFL Draft; RG3 went No. 2 to Washington.