[halaleezy]

Griffin did look like a pretty good quarterback and his "usual" stats are, indeed, [marginally] better than Luck's [I would be interested in knowing his red zone efficiency stat, though, as Luck's is...otherworldly].  However, I think it is worht noting that, somewhat unusually, we have some evidence [as opposed to simply the standard proffer of opinion] on the issue of whether Baylor would have been as good without Griffin -- the Texas Tech game, where Griffin played one half and the backup QB played one half, on the same day against the same team.  From the stats, at least [and I'm subject to being corrected, since I didn't see the game and the stats may mislead (see prior discussion in this message  ;) )] it looks like the backup QB actually performed a little bit better -- or at least well enough to suggest that Baylor might have done pretty well this season even without Griffin.

I also think this deserves some attention. Stanford's redzone efficiency this year was otherworldly. Luck was fantastic in the redzone, and that truly is a stat that you can throw out in which Luck clearly bests Griffin (I believe it is the only statistic of any significance in which he does, however). Baylor's redzone efficiency as a team, ranked 94th in the country, at 75.86%, while Stanford's ranked 1st, at a staggering 98.44%. If you want to make an argument for Luck, make it on this statistic, not the nebulous "but he calls GREAT audibles."

In regards to the argument that Griffin's backup, Nick Florence, posted better stats in a half that Griffin sat out due to "concussion-like symptoms," you would have had to see the game to realize the way Texas Tech's defense dramatically shifted their gameplan once Griffin went out. They brought their secondary in close, blitzed more often, and essentially dared Baylor to throw over the top. Florence did so effectively, but there is no chance that Tech would have played that way had Griffin been in the game. The only teams all year that have dared Griffin to go up top on them are TCU (see 359 yards, 5 TDs in the opening game) and Texas on the first two drives Saturday (we scored twice in 7 plays and beat a team over the top twice that hadn't allowed a TD pass longer than 19 yards all season). In short, had Tech played Griffin the way they played Florence, Griffin would have had something ridiculous like 7 TD passes and we wouldn't even be arguing about a Voldemort race, because it would be a runaway.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Congrats to you guys on a fantastic season, a great QB who has made this a fun Voldemort race, and good luck against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. Enjoy your time in the Valley of the Sun, it's gorgeous this time of year!

[halaleezy]

Griffin did look like a pretty good quarterback and his "usual" stats are, indeed, [marginally] better than Luck's [I would be interested in knowing his red zone efficiency stat, though, as Luck's is...otherworldly].  However, I think it is worht noting that, somewhat unusually, we have some evidence [as opposed to simply the standard proffer of opinion] on the issue of whether Baylor would have been as good without Griffin -- the Texas Tech game, where Griffin played one half and the backup QB played one half, on the same day against the same team.  From the stats, at least [and I'm subject to being corrected, since I didn't see the game and the stats may mislead (see prior discussion in this message  ;) )] it looks like the backup QB actually performed a little bit better -- or at least well enough to suggest that Baylor might have done pretty well this season even without Griffin.

I also think this deserves some attention. Stanford's redzone efficiency this year was otherworldly. Luck was fantastic in the redzone, and that truly is a stat that you can throw out in which Luck clearly bests Griffin (I believe it is the only statistic of any significance in which he does, however). Baylor's redzone efficiency as a team, ranked 94th in the country, at 75.86%, while Stanford's ranked 1st, at a staggering 98.44%. If you want to make an argument for Luck, make it on this statistic, not the nebulous "but he calls GREAT audibles."

In regards to the argument that Griffin's backup, Nick Florence, posted better stats in a half that Griffin sat out due to "concussion-like symptoms," you would have had to see the game to realize the way Texas Tech's defense dramatically shifted their gameplan once Griffin went out. They brought their secondary in close, blitzed more often, and essentially dared Baylor to throw over the top. Florence did so effectively, but there is no chance that Tech would have played that way had Griffin been in the game. The only teams all year that have dared Griffin to go up top on them are TCU (see 359 yards, 5 TDs in the opening game) and Texas on the first two drives Saturday (we scored twice in 7 plays and beat a team over the top twice that hadn't allowed a TD pass longer than 19 yards all season). In short, had Tech played Griffin the way they played Florence, Griffin would have had something ridiculous like 7 TD passes and we wouldn't even be arguing about a Voldemort race, because it would be a runaway.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Congrats to you guys on a fantastic season, a great QB who has made this a fun Voldemort race, and good luck against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. Enjoy your time in the Valley of the Sun, it's gorgeous this time of year!