Robert Griffin III explains why Bo Nix will not win Heisman Trophy
Former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III knows a thing or two about what it takes to win a Heisman Trophy, taking home college football’s most coveted individual award in 2011. Which means he also gets a vote in determining this year’s Heisman Trophy winner.
Griffin made a recent appearance on ‘The Rich Eisen Show’ and not only revealed that he’s already cast his vote, but also why he believes Oregon quarterback Bo Nix will not take home this year’s award.
“Oh yeah, my vote’s in. I can’t disclose it, but my vote is in. I put it in after the championship games, which I encourage everyone to do, watch everything before you make that decision,” Griffin said. “Because I really felt like Bo Nix had a chance to win it if Oregon had beat Washington. I would’ve taken a lot, I thought he had to score at least eight touchdowns to make it a conversation for him to win it. But they didn’t win it and I feel like that kind of puts him a little bit behind the eight ball because he lost twice to one of the other Heisman frontrunners.”
Two of the four Heisman Trophy candidates squared off in the Pac-12 Championship game last weekend, as Nix and his Ducks took on Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Huskies.
Penix and the Huskies were Nix’s kryptonite this season, handing Oregon their only two losses on their record this year. That paired with the statistical advantage of another frontrunner makes Griffin feel that the Heisman Trophy is out of reach of Nix, and maybe even Penix Jr. as well.
“The reason I felt that way about Bo Nix going into this past weekend was I think he had six rushing touchdowns and he had 30-some-odd passing going in. He was gonna need like eight touchdowns to even be in the same stratosphere as Jayden Daniels,” Griffin explained. “So that’s why I thought that had to happen or Michael Peinx Jr. could have went out and done the same thing and been a Pac-12 champion. Because you know there’s people who are gonna vote along regional lines, conference lines, which I don’t agree with. I think you should just pick the three best guys, but that’s just the reality of it right now.”
If it comes down to just statistics, Daniels is a hard candidate to ignore or compete with regarding the Heisman Trophy, combining for nearly 5,000 yards of total offense and 50 touchdowns between his arm and his legs. But narratives and ‘Heisman moments’ do typically play a factor in voting as well.
“But Michael Penix Jr. probably convinced some people because of their record, and resume, and showing up in big games that he can be the Heisman Trophy winner,” Griffin said. “So I’m interested to see how close the race actually is, but if you look just purely by the numbers, Jayden Daniels is in a league of his own.”
Griffin will get his answer this Saturday, as the Heisman Trophy Ceremony kicks off at 8 p.m. ET airing on ESPN.