Week 12: Luck still #1 as Griffin and Barkley surge
It was a wild weekend of college football - with the BCS ranked #2, #4, #5, and #7 teams all losing. And the impact on the rapidly-narrowing Heisman race was dramatic.
Stanford QB Andrew Luck remains on top of the Stiff Arm Trophy poll this week - appearing on 56 of the 59 top-six watch lists from participating Heisman voters. But jumping five spots into the #2 spot is Baylor QB Robert Griffin III, his highest ranking thus far this year. Also surging is USC QB Matt Barkley, up five spots to #6 overall.
Though dropping a spot to #3, Alabama RB Trent Richardson held his ground, appearing on 77% of top-six watch lists. Houston QB Case Keenum dropped one spot to #4, while losing some ground with voters - down to 65% of top-six watch lists (from 79% of top-six watch lists last week.) Boise State QB Kellen Moore stayed put, rounding out the top five.
After Barkley, support drops dramatically with Oregon RB LaMichael James at #7, Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden at #8, and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon at #9.
Dropping out from the Stiff Arm Trophy rankings this week are Oklahoma QB Landry Jones, Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson, and LSU DB Tyrann Mathieu.
Note: With our watch list down to a short top six, we're only able to rank the top nine candidates.
59 actual Heisman voters from 28 states participated in this week's StiffArmTrophy.com poll. The poll asked voters to share an unranked top-6 "watch list" for the Heisman Trophy.
| rank | player | weighted% | votes | prev | |
| 1 | Stanford QB Andrew Luck | 95% | 56 | 1 | |
| 2 |  | Baylor QB Robert Griffin III | 87% | 52 | 7 |
| 3 |  | Alabama RB Trent Richardson | 77% | 46 | 2 |
| 4 | | Houston QB Case Keenum | 65% | 38 | 3 |
| 5 | Boise St QB Kellen Moore | 58% | 32 | 5 | |
| 6 | | USC QB Matt Barkley | 47% | 30 | 11 |
| 7 | | Oregon RB LaMichael James | 30% | 19 | 6 |
| 8 | | Oklahoma St QB Brandon Weeden | 29% | 18 | 4 |
| 9 | Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon | 27% | 16 | 9 |
With votes coming from multiple states, players are ranked based on a weighted percentage that adjusts for the number of participating voters in each state.
Here's the regional breakdown:
| rank | player | Atlantic | Midwest | Northeast | South | Southwest | West |
| 1 | Stanford QB Andrew Luck | 100% | 90% | 100% | 90% | 92% | 100% |
| 2 | Baylor QB Robert Griffin III | 100% | 72% | 83% | 90% | 100% | 80% |
| 3 | Alabama RB Trent Richardson | 75% | 72% | 66% | 80% | 78% | 90% |
| 4 | Houston QB Case Keenum | 87% | 54% | 66% | 80% | 64% | 40% |
| 5 | Boise St QB Kellen Moore | 87% | 72% | 83% | 20% | 28% | 60% |
| 6 | USC QB Matt Barkley | 12% | 54% | 33% | 60% | 64% | 60% |
| 7 | Oregon RB LaMichael James | 25% | 27% | 16% | 30% | 35% | 50% |
| 8 | Oklahoma St QB Brandon Weeden | 25% | 27% | 16% | 40% | 35% | 30% |
| 9 | Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon | 25% | 36% | 33% | 0% | 28% | 40% |
Participating voters included:
Mid-Atlantic: Frank Bodani, Doug Doughty, Tom Fallon, Chuck Landon, Bob Molinaro, Matthew Osborne, Doug Smock, Dave Weekley
Midwest: Andy Baggot, Randy Beard, Beau Bishop, Mike Carmin, Doug Clarke, Pete DiPrimio, Todd Hefferman, Jeff Rapp, Mark Rea, Drew Sharp, Jon Spencer
Northeast: C.J. McCarthy, Cory McCartney, Rick McGowan, Chuck Pollock, Lenn Robbins, B.J. Schecter
South: Brady Ackerman, Rick Bozich, Olin Buchanan, John Crist, Pat Dooley, Joe Girvan, Joey Johnston, Phillip Marshall, Billy Reed, Bob Tompkins
Southwest: Kirk Bohls, Jimmy Burch, Sean Callahan, David Collier, Suzanne Halliburton, John Helsley, Gary Ivins, Josh Kinder, Harry King, Reid Laymance, Bob Lutz, Dave Matter, David McCollum, Mike'l Severe
West: Mark Anderson, Roxy Bernstein, Steve Bisheff, Lisa Horne, Jeff Kolpack, Mike Lewis, Eric Peterson, Eric Schmoldt, Kevin Schnepf, Scott Wolf