Archive | December, 2011

A Look Back: The Top 10 Plays of the 2011 Heisman Race

By on December 27, 2011 in Heisman Watch 2011

In case you missed it, here’s a look back at the top 10 plays from the 2011 Heisman race:

Top 10 Plays of the 2011 Heisman Finalists from Amerigo Chattin on Vimeo.

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Happy Holidays from HP

By on December 23, 2011 in General CFB

Just wanted thank everyone for visiting the ol’ blog during this past year. It’s been great fun.

Best to you and yours this holiday season.

HP

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Matt Barkley’s Return Makes Him The Early 2012 Heisman Front Runner

By on December 22, 2011 in Heisman Watch 2012

Less than two weeks removed from the presentation of the 2011 Heisman, the first shots in the race for next year’s trophy have already been fired.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley’s decision to forgo entry into next spring’s draft and return to school for his senior season makes him the clear early front runner for the 2012 Heisman.

Why Barkley? Well, consider that most of the players who finished in the top 10 in this year’s Heisman race are probably headed to the NFL, leaving what looks like a weak field in place for next year.

Barkley, who finished sixth in the race after throwing for 3,528 yards and 39 touchdowns this season, will start his campaign head and shoulders above the other contenders thanks to his status as the star quarterback on a traditional power contending for the national title.

When you also take into account the offensive weapons at Barkley’s disposal, including one of the best receiving duos in college football history in Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, you have to expect him to put up Heisman-worthy numbers as a senior.

Obviously a lot can and will happen between now and next season but, in short, Barkley has the best combination of all the things that Heisman voters generally look for in a candidate.

The pressure of being the front runner isn’t an easy thing to deal with, however. Stanford’s Andrew Luck was built up into a Promethean figure by the time his season started, which tended to magnify tenfold any mistakes he made during games. USC will have to manage the expectations game deftly with Barkley and make sure he doesn’t get oversaturated in the media.

Other factors could also change Barkley’s standing in the race. For instance, Robert Griffin III, Montee Ball and Trent Richardson might defy expectations and return for another season, which would set up another fantastic competition for the bronze statue.

But even if more Heisman finalists from this season return, Barkley’s status as front runner probably won’t be impinged. There are certain positions in college football that hold a certain mystique and power in the Heisman race and ‘USC Quarterback’ is one of them. With USC bowl eligible again and relevant at the national level, that advantage belongs to Barkley.

Now, it’s up to him to run with it.

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Mental Health Break

By on December 22, 2011 in General CFB

While awaiting the decision on whether Matt Barkley is returning to USC or not, I thought I’d link to a fun music countdown that I’ve been following.

Check out songs No. 90 thru No. 81 as filmmaker Amerigo Chattin counts down the best songs of the last decade.

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In Defense of Tim Tebow

By on December 21, 2011 in General CFB

I’ve been thinking for a while now about the Tim Tebow phenomenon.

I’m not talking about how the 2007 Heisman winner is somehow managing to win NFL games despite having a throwing motion that makes the purists cringe.

No, the football aspect of what he is doing doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve been a long-time advocate of blowing up the old quarterback archetype that’s been central to the sport for the past 50 years. Tebow represents the natural evolution of the position and his recent success is a punch to the NFL establishment’s solar plexus.

Oh, I admit it gives me immense satisfaction to see so many former players and coaches turned-analyst struggling to figure out why Tebow is winning. It’s like their heads are about to explode. The rest of the media is equally perplexed since it tends to dutifully accept almost everything the NFL tells it as it relates to X’s and O’s.

Whatever. The Tebow on-the-field stuff will eventually sort itself out and the league will continue its offensive evolution. The NFL will probably never be the same. It’s a good subject for further discussion on another day.

But what’s really stirring me up is how so many people actually hate this guy. They hate him for reasons that strike me as absurd. Let’s see. They hate him because he doesn’t play the way they’ve been told a quarterback should play. They hate him because he has an exotic throwing motion (or so they’ve been told) and he sometimes gains more yards on the ground than through the air (how dare he!).

But those are just side issues. What really stirs up the hate for Tebow is that he is [shudder] a Christian who actually dares to advertise as such.

Type in “hate” and “Tim Tebow” in Google and you get stories about how he is a polarizing figure because of his faith. Radio hosts are telling him to STFU about God. You’ll see Facebook groups devoted to hating him. And the usual snarky types who hate him mainly because the media won’t stop talking about him.

Most of this is, of course, completely disingenuous. Tebow is not the first, nor will he be the last, professional athlete to thank Jesus Christ during an interview. He’s not the first athlete to take a knee and pray. But he’s suddenly a target for ridicule, as if he invented it. All this stuff isn’t even new to Tebow who, if my memory serves me correctly, was an outspoken Christian when he was winning the Heisman Trophy and two national championships at Florida. So why all the fuss and furor now over him spouting his religious views?

I enjoy watching Tebow play. He’s a bonafide star, a Ruthian figure in football. Always has been. He was the first sophomore to win the Heisman. That tells us a lot about the impact he had in college. I have no idea what kind of person he really is off the field and I don’t care. I’m on the record as saying that no player or coach should be idolized off the field. I don’t support any misguided individual out there who somehow thinks Tebow is a good person just because he professes his faith. We’ve all been down that road too many times before, I think, to fall into that trap again.

But, all that said, who gives a rat’s ass if the man wants to thank Jesus before an interview? Are we that screwed up about religion that we have to get offended by this, too? Must we mock a guy because he sincerely loves his faith and wants to share it? Have we lost all sense of perspective on what is actually worthy of hate? The sports world has plenty to offer in that respect.

We’ve got Jerry Sandusky allegedly raping little boys in the shower. We’ve got Ray Lewis still starring in the NFL and he might’ve (allegedly) killed a guy a few years back. We’ve got Michael Vick back playing again after torturing dogs. We’ve got professional athletes of all stripes (and too numerous to name) living lifestyles that would make their mothers cringe–and making no bones about it. Can we get through a year without some kind of sex/rape/gun/drug scandal in sports? Good luck with that. In the NFL itself we see varying levels of buffoonery on display after every touchdown, sack, first down and routine play. There’s barely a peep about all this stuff most days.

But Tebow thanks Jesus and we are repelled? For this we should hate him? Seriously? Get out of here.

It’s really not a big deal. Or it shouldn’t be. Most Americans are comfortable with a certain level of bland religiosity in public life. Last I checked, people still celebrate the holidays in one way or another. Maybe Tebow upsets that apple cart a bit when he professes his faith so starkly, but those who strive to call him a polarizing figure are guilty of caricaturing his beliefs to serve that end. It’s so easy to rip on the holier-than-thou goody-two-shoes, even if we’ve never actually heard him claim to be better than anyone else or to live anything other than a normal life. Doesn’t matter. Don’t you know he’s probably a hypocrite, stupid? And for some in the media who have been trained to view Christians of the born-again variety as bumpkins, Tebow’s fervor is downright scary. He might as well be a Scientologist, though Tom Cruise, before he freaked out on Oprah, was treated with less disdain. It’s a shame.

I’ve got a few personal requests of the Supreme Being in 2012. For starters, I’d like to see the Kardashians move to North Korea. All of them. Throw in Bruce Jenner, too.

But I’d settle for society getting a little more perspective on things like this.

There are plenty of figures in sports and society worthy of our hate.

Tebow isn’t one of them.

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The 2011 Heismanpundit.com All-American Team: The Defense

By on December 20, 2011 in HP All-Americans

We did the offense on Monday. Now for the defense. Again, I try to honor a player at each of the proper positions instead of (for instance) having four ends represent the defensive line (as some All-American teams do):

Defensive End

1st Team: Whitney Mercilus, Illinois; Sam Montgomery, LSU

2nd Team: Andre Branch, Clemson; Melvin Ingram, South Carolina

3rd Team: Vinny Curry, Marshall; Nick Perry, USC

Honorable Mention
Frank Alexander, Oklahoma
Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas
Barkevious Mingo, LSU
Dion Jordan, Oregon
Bruce Irvin, West Virginia
Ronnell Lewis, Oklahoma
Quinton Coples, North Carolina
Shea McClellin, Boise State

Comment: Mercilus was a terror off the edge, leading the nation with 14.5 sacks, while Montgomery was the best player on LSU’s fearsome defensive line.

Defensive Tackle

1st Team: Devon Still, Penn State; Kawann Short, Purdue

2nd Team: Derek Wolfe, Cincinnati; Fletcher Cox, Mississippi State

3rd Team: Jerel Worthy, Michigan State; Logan Harrell, Fresno State

Honorable Mention
Brandon Thompson, Clemson
Kendall Reyes, Connecticut
Mike Daniels, Iowa
Mike Martin, Michigan
Alameda Ta’amu, Washington

Comment: It was a strong year for interior defensive linemen in the Big Ten, with Short notching 17.5 tackles for loss (despite the loss of Ryan Kerrigan to the draft) and Still getting 17 to lead the Nittany Lions.

Outside Linebacker

1st Team: Sammy Brown, Houston; Courtney Upshaw, Alabama

2nd Team: Lavonte David, Nebraska; Jarvis Jones, Georgia

3rd Team: Sean Spence, Miami; Chase Thomas, Stanford

Honorable Mention
Danny Trevathan, Kentucky
Zach Brown, North Carolina
Chris Borland, Wisconsin
Mychal Kendricks, California
Nigel Bradham, Florida State
Emmanuel Acho, Texas
Tony Jefferson, Oklahoma

Comment: Brown’s 28 tackles for loss led the nation, but he also had 88 tackles and 12.5 sacks. Upshaw made plays all year long for the Tide, collecting 17 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.

Inside Linebacker

1st Team: Luke Kuechley, Boston College

2nd Team: Manti Te’o, Notre Dame

3rd Team: Dont’a Hightower, Alabama

Honorable Mention
Audie Cole, North Carolina State
Tank Carder, TCU
Carmen Messina, New Mexico
Chris Marve, Vanderbilt
Adrien Cole, Louisiana Tech

Comment: Keuchley is simply the best tackler college football has seen in a long time. Te’o had another fine season for the Irish.

Cornerback

1st Team: Morris Claiborne, LSU; Tyrann Mathieu, LSU

2nd Team: Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama; Dave Amerson, North Carolina State

3rd Team: Casey Hayward, Vanderbilt; Jayron Hosley, Virginia Tech

Honorable Mention
DeQuan Menzie, Alabama
Desmond Trufant, Washington
Nickell Robey, USC
Chase Minnifield, Virginia
Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina
Micah Hyde, Iowa
Keith Tandy, West Virginia
Jordan Poyer, Oregon State

Comment: Between the two, Claiborne is the purest corner, but Mathieu is the better overall football player. They were the keys to LSU’s SEC title run.

Free Safety

1st Team: Bacarri Rambo, Georgia

2nd Team: T.J. McDonald, USC

3rd Team: Markelle Martin, Oklahoma State

Honorable Mention
Robert Lester, Alabama
Trenton Robinson, Michigan State
Aaron Henry, Wisconsin
Eric Reid, LSU

Comment: In an amazing year for SEC defensive backs, Rambo stood out at the free safety spot, snagging a league-high 7 interceptions.

Strong Safety

1st Team: Winston Guy, Kentucky

2nd Team: Mark Barron, Alabama

3rd Team: Brandon Taylor, LSU

Honorable Mention
Eddie Pleasant, Oregon
Tavon Wilson, Illinois
Antonio Allen, South Carolina
Delano Howell, Stanford

Comment: Barron had another fine season, but Guy was special for the Wildcats, collecting 120 tackles, 14 tackles for loss  and intercepting two passes.

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The 2011 Heismanpundit.com All-American Team: The Offense

By on December 19, 2011 in HP All-Americans

It’s time for the 8th annual edition of the very prestigious Heismanpundit.com All-American squad. First, the offense:

Quarterback

1st Team: Robert Griffin III, Baylor

2nd Team: Andrew Luck, Stanford

3rd Team: Kellen Moore, Boise State

Honorable Mention:
Case Keenum, Houston
Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State
Matt Barkley, USC
Collin Klein, Kansas State

Comment: A deep group here, with the Heisman Trophy winner edging out Luck.

Running Back

1st Team: Montee Ball, Wisconsin

2nd Team: Trent Richardson, Alabama

3rd Team: LaMichael James, Oregon

Honorable Mention:
Bobby Rainey, Western Kentucky
Ronnie Hillman, San Diego State
David Wilson, Virginia Tech
Bernard Pierce, Temple
Chris Polk, Washington

Comment: Ball’s 38 touchdowns gives  him the edge over Richardson. James quietly led the nation in rushing yards per game.

Fullback

1st Team: Alexander Teich, Navy

2nd Team: Cody Johnson, Texas

3rd Team: Rhett Ellison, USC

Honorable Mention
Ryan Hewitt, Stanford
Bradie Ewing, Wisconsin
Joe Suhey, Penn State

Comment: Unlike other honors teams, we pick a fullback All-American because, after all, it is a position in football. Teich was a bulldozer for the Midshipmen while Johnson was an excellent blocker and short-yardage back for the Longhorns.

Tight End

1st Team: Coby Fleener, Stanford

2nd Team: Dwayne Allen, Clemson

3rd Team: Orson Charles, Georgia

Honorable Mention
Tyler Eifert, Notre Dame
Ladarius Green, Louisiana-Lafayette
Ryan Otten, San Jose State
Nick Provo, Syracuse
Gavin Escobar, San Diego State

Comment: Another deep group, but Fleener was Stanford’s only dynamic threat and he averaged a remarkable 20.25 yards per catch. Allen and Charles also had fine seasons.

Wide Receiver

1st Team: Robert Woods, USC; Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State

2nd Team: Sammy Watkins, Clemson; Kendall Wright, Baylor

3rd Team: Keenan Allen, California; Jordan White, Western Michigan

Honorable Mention
Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma
Patrick Edwards, Houston
Marquess Wilson, Washington State
Jarius Wright, Arkansas
Marqise Lee, USC
Marvin McNutt, Iowa
B.J. Cunningham, Michigan State
Tyler Shoemaker, Boise State
Nick Harwell, Miami (OH)

Comment: Another deep unit that was hard to grade, but the nod goes to Woods and Blackmon, who were virtually unstoppable all season. Watkins has the most upside of the bunch and is a surefire All-American next season.

Offensive Line Unit

Per HP tradition, we will not choose individual All-Americans on the offensive line.

We refuse to do so because we believe it’s basically impossible to pick the five best offensive linemen.

There are no individual stats to go by. Highlights rarely show what they do. We don’t know their assignments on a given play. We could go purely off of hearsay, but wouldn’t that be dishonest? What’s more, there are 600 starting offensive linemen in Division One. It’s almost impossible to have seen enough of them to know who is really the best. So, while other All-American teams choose linemen based almost solely on reputation, we will not. Instead, we look at a combination of factors, including sacks allowed, rushing offense, tackles for loss allowed, etc., to come up with our All-American unit.

1st Team: Stanford

2nd Team: Oklahoma State

3rd Team: Boise State

Honorable Mention
USC
Penn State
LSU
TCU
Georgia Tech

Comment: Stanford gave up a remarkable 33 tackles for loss–the fewest allowed in the last five seasons by far–plus 9 sacks while averaging 208 yards rushing per game. OSU’s line allowed just 11 sacks for a team that threw 553 times and was ninth in tackles for loss allowed. Boise State tied for the national lead with just 8 sacks allowed, was ninth in tackles for loss allowed and rushed for 170 yards per game.

Check back at HP for the defensive team on Tuesday…

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