FROM WIRE REPORTS

Robert Griffin III, junior quarterback from Baylor University known as RG3, beat out the preseason favorite from Stanford on Dec. 10, becoming the first Baylor player to take home college football’s most famous trophy.

Right before his name was called, Griffin took a deep breath. When it was announced he broke into a bright smile, his face framed by his long braided hair. Then it was hugs all around, for his coaches, his parents, his sister and his fiance.

He took a few long strides up to the stage and let out a laugh when he got there, making a joke about his Superman socks – complete with capes on the back – he was wearing before going into his acceptance speech.

"This is unbelievably believable," said Griffin,

an aspiring lawyer who is working on a master’s degree in communications. "It’s unbelievable because in the moment we’re all amazed when great things happen. But it’s believable because great things don’t happen without hard work."

Lot more votes than Luck

Griffin started the season on the fringe of the Heisman conversation, a talented and exciting player on a marginal team, while Stanford’s Andrew Luck was already being touted as a No. 1 NFL draft pick.

Draft day might very well still belong to Luck, but Griffin diverted the Heisman to Waco, Texas, to a school that has never had a player finish better than fourth in the voting – and that was 48 years ago.

Griffin received 405 first-place votes and 1,687 points.

Luck received 247 first-place votes and 1,407 points to become the fourth player to be Heisman runner-up in consecutive seasons and first since Arkansas running back Darren McFadden in 2006 and `07.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson was third with 138 first-place votes and 978 points. University of Wisconsin running back Montee Ball (348 points) was fourth and the other finalist, Louisiana State University (LSU) cornerback Tyrann Mathieu (327) was fifth.

Some spectacular highlights

Griffin’s speech was as smooth as his game.

"If I can get everybody in the crowd to laugh it can make my speech a whole lot easier," he said later at his news conference, after showing off his blue and red socks with that familiar "S" on the front.

Griffin is a big fan of superheroes and cartoon characters, and socks. His favorite socks: SpongeBob.

But make no mistake, even though he was expected by most to win, he said: "My heart was beating really, really hard. I could feel it in my chest like they all said."

Griffin’s highlights were simply spectacular – his signature moment coming on a long, cross-field touchdown pass with eight seconds left to beat Oklahoma – and he put up dizzying numbers, completing 72 percent of his passes for 3,998 yards with 36 touchdown passes and a nation-leading 192.3 efficiency rating.

Big season for Baylor

More importantly, he lifted Baylor (9-3) to national prominence and one of the greatest seasons in school history. The 15th-ranked Bears won nine games for the first time in 25 years, beat the Sooners for the first time ever and went 4-0 in November.

That was after winning a total of four November games in their first 15 Big 12 seasons. And the last three games? Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas.

Luck was the front-runner from the moment in January he surprised many by returning to Stanford for one more season instead of jumping to the NFL to become a millionaire. He didn’t disappoint, with 3,170 yards receiving, 35 touchdown passes, a completion percentage of 70 percent and a rating of 167.5.

Griffin outdid him using a similar formula: leading a downtrodden program at a private school out of the shadows of its powerful conference rivals with brilliant and heady play.

Griffin is the son of two U.S. Army sergeants who settled in central Texas in a town called Copperas Cove near Fort Hood.

"My Dad, he gave me everything he didn’t have and some," Griffin said. "And they say a mom’s love is one of a kind, I can attest to that."

A report from ESPN was used in compiling this story.