We're having the wool pulled over our eyes. Everyone is going gaga over these football players that are supposed to be the best in the country, but they're proving ground this week has been against defenses that a slinky could go through with impunity.
|
|
| Boise State's Kellen Moore is more deserving of the Heisman Trophy than Texas' Colt McCoy or Florida's Tim Tebow. (Getty Images) |
Let's get to the lessons, maybe we'll find plenty of defenses for our arguments there.
Lesson 1: We all learned how gullible the Heisman voters are.
All the major media honks are ready to give Texas' Colt McCoy the stiff-arm trophy after running roughshod through that junior high defense known as Texas A&M. Granted, he became just the fourth quarterback to throw for more than 300 and run for more than 150 in a game, but really, he deserves it for this one game against that defense? And Florida's Tim Tebow? I agree with fellow CBSer Gregg Doyel, he may be the sentimental favorite of God-fearing people everywhere, but his performance against that awful FSU defense shouldn't earn him any brownie points either.
And remember how ordinary both these guys played for most of the season? Just sayin'.
Lesson 2: If the media wants to gloss on someone who played at peak level each week and kept his team unbeaten in this "the-season-is-a-playoff" world, then here's your Heisman choice:
Kellen Moore, Boise State.
Yeah, we know. Heisman voters have short memories. But unlike McCoy and Tebow, Moore has been consistently good all season. And he just beat red-hot Nevada 44-33, while still leading the country with an incredible 38-to-3 TD-to-INT ratio and an untouchable 168.7 efficiency rating. Strike the pose, right? Pffft, yeah.
Lesson 3: You want freakish stats that prove Player of the Year worthy? Here's your Heisman choice:
Case Keenum, Houston.
Look, the dude can't play defense for Houston, but he seems to be paying the price for losses to UTEP and UCF. Yet, in every game this season, he has put up silly video game-like numbers. In the 73-14 bombarding of Rice, Keenum went 25 of 31 for 323 yards and two TDs. And that was in one half of football. Unlike McCoy and Tebow against their weak opponents, Keenum wasn't still in the game throwing bombs in the fourth quarter up by half-a-hundred.
Lesson 4: Who are we foolin'? The best skill position player in the country is Toby Gerhart.
This guy does a better John Riggins impersonation than John Riggins. After running through Notre Dame's defense (OK, OK, it's full of wilting flowers as well) for 205 yards and throwing a touchdown too, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said in an on-field postgame interview, "This guy deserves the Heisman. You should talk to him, not me."
Since the Heisman, for some reason, can't go to the best football player in the country regardless of position (yes Ndamukong Suh, I see you there), give it to a guy that has run for 223, 178 and 136 yards against three ranked teams before Saturday's destruction of the Irish. That's one thing that differentiates him from those pretty boy QBs.
Lesson 5: We should just let the oddsmakers in Vegas set the BCS standings because the voters sure don't know what they're doing.
Here's another example: Oklahoma State was ranked No. 12 in the BCS standings going into the game with OU, but the Sooners were favored by 10 points. Ten! So if this is true, why was OSU rated so high? What would OSU have been ranked if the oddsmakers did the weekly Top 25? And ta-da! We're all wondering the same thing after seeing that performance on the field vs. the Sooners. Darn those Vegas guys are good.
Lesson 6: We learned that the lesson LSU should've learned last week wasn't really learned.
Just about the exact same scenario as last week's debacle against the Rebs arose this week against Arkansas. So what happens? Down by three with just over a minute left, the Tigers called their final timeout after the first play of a drive with 1:05 remaining. Huh? That was followed by numerous throws over the middle or near tackles in the field of play on swing passes. Luckily for the Tigers, when they got close, Miles decided not to tempt the fates and got his field-goal unit on the field with nine seconds left for Josh Jasper's game-tying kick. Then, Arkansas' Alex Tejada missed another clutch field-goal attempt in OT, leading to LSU's 33-30 win.
Good thing it worked out. Could you imagine the radio talk shows if Arkansas could've made a tackle or two inbounds on that last drive and a hurried field goal was missed? Crikies!
On another note, the Tigers' all-white unis and old-gold helmets made them look like Tulsa.
Lesson 7: Here's what Bobby Bowden meant when he said he "wants to coach next year but needs do some soul searching."
He'll hope the FSU administration allows him to coach another year because Penn State's Joe Paterno certainly will and he doesn't want JoePa to win the coaching victories race. There, now you know.
Lesson 8: The ACC Championship Game should be canceled.
Clemson lost badly to a middle-of-the-pack South Carolina team 34-17. Georgia Tech lost to a middle-of-the-pack Georgia team 30-24. Now the two less-than-middle-of-the-pack ACC weak sisters will play for the conference title. It's obvious that the ACC's best can't beat the SEC's middlers. Just call the ACC title game a push, invite neither team to the BCS and let's all move on.
Lesson 9: We saw sportsmanship reach a new low and vitriol in a rivalry reach a new high in the USC-UCLA game.
Hey look, it's great that ESPN had that special feature where Pete Carroll and USC dedicated this week to a blind 10-year old kid, because he would have seen a horrible display of sportsmanship at the end of that USC-UCLA game. And considering Carroll saw his team suffer the indignity of having Stanford go for two points while up 48-21 a few weeks ago, seems odd that he'd dole out the smack like this.
Lesson 10: Five rule changes I'd like to see for next year:
1. Offensive facemasking
I've mentioned it before, but I actually saw it called only once this season.
2. Knee pads must be worn and actually cover the knee.
When I played, referees were militant about making us stretch our pants below the knee, as they were designed to. Now you rarely see it.
3. Self-made messages on eye blacks and body parts.
The eye black thing is stupid and out of hand, but seeing LSU's Terrance Toliver with initials and numbers drawn in silver marker on his biceps was Ochocinco-esque.
4. Tacklers walking over or standing over players after making a tackle.
Tell Grant Taeff to screw the pregame handshake and do something about this.
5. The helmet-to-helmet personal foul call.
It's football. A game played by tough-minded men at collision speed. Some things can't be helped.
Lesson 11: Seeing all those lower divisions have great and memorable playoff games this weekend is a sock in the gut to every fan of the FBS.
No real explanation needed here. See you next week.
