College Football Rankings

College football rankings are always raising some eyebrows. This week seemed to intrigue me more than usual though. As usual #1 Florida handled business in “The Swamp”, beating down an overmatched and less athletic Tennessee team. Texas, number two in the AP top 25, also maintained consistency by defeating rival school, Texas Tech, at home. Both of the top two teams have stability at the quarterback position. However, previously ranked third but currently ranked twelfth, Southern California, had an injury of star freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, and had to play inexperienced, yet highly recruited backup, Aaron Corp. Without the leadership of Barkley, USC fell to current #24 Washington. Washington was winless last year, at a very embarrassing 0-12 with an in-conference record of 0-9. The winless in-conference record is even more pathetic than the 0-12, considering that the Pac-10 is one of the weakest BCS conferences in the nation. Washington’s performance against USC was extremely impressive, but the fact that it came after a winless season makes it that much more amazing. However, the back-story of this game is the icing on the cake. Steve Sarkisian was USC’s ex-offensive coordinator. Unfortunately for USC he is now Washington’s new head coach. Previous #4 and current #3 Alabama defeated North Texas easily and also has an notable win vs. a fellow ranked team in Virginia Tech. Ole Miss is sitting at #4 currently after another solid performance by quarterback Jevan Snead. #5 Penn State defeated Temple, and is yet to be tested by a true powerhouse team. #6 California had some trouble with a tough opponent on the road in Minnesota but was carried by the amazing performance of their Heisman contending halfback, Jahvid Best. LSU and Boise State, at #7 and #8 respectively handled their week 3 opponents with easy. #9 Miami defeated Georgia Tech and jumped a ridiculous 11 poll spots. Miami beat Florida State in a close game and defeated Georgia Tech by multiple scores but a plus-11 week usually only occurs after top-5 win. If Miami wants to prove that they are worthy of a top 10 ranking then they need to beat a very skilled Virginia Tech on the road in an extremely hostile environment. Miami will need to establish a good passing game to beat Virginia Tech because of the absence of All-American corner Stephen Virgil. #10 Oklahoma re-established themselves as a team to beat by having freshman quarterback Landry Jones throw for 6 touchdowns against Tulsa. #11 Virginia Tech played in a thrilling game against Nebraska. Virginia Tech’s star quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw his the 2 most clutch passes of his career in the final 2 minutes of the game this week. The first was a broken play where Tyrod Taylor scrambled until he unleashed a miraculous strike to Danny Coale for an eighty one yard gain, putting Virginia Tech at Nebraska’s 3. The next play of Virginia Tech’s was a run by freshman running back Ryan Williams which was stopped short of the end zone. 2nd and goal was a play which many tech fans thought ended the game. Tyrod Taylor was sacked for a loss of 8 yards and the clock continued to run. 3rd and goal was the play that has defined Virginia Tech’s season to this point. Tyrod Taylor dropped back to pass and scrambled back and forth for ten seconds until he rolled right of the pocket and fired a laser-beam pass into the arms of wide receiver Dyrell Roberts, while being dragged to the ground by two Nebraska Cornhusker linemen. The play would later be reviewed and confirmed. The play turned out to be the game winner for the Hokies and led to the rushing of the field for the Virginia Tech faithful. #13 Ohio State beat Toledo convincingly, with the defense pitching a shutout. #14 Cincinnati and star quarterback Tony Pike rolled over an impressive Oregon State team. Texas Christian University, #15, and their high octane defense obliterated an outmatched Texas State team. #16 Oklahoma State rebounded after a gut wrenching loss to Houston, with a strong offensive performance against Rice. Houston continued dominance against subpar competition with another impressive showing by Case Keenum, a young Heisman dark horse. #18 Florida State pounded an overmatched #19 Brigham Young University and proved that they are a force to be reckoned with. The University of Kansas again showed that they are an outside chance to win the Big 12 title by destroying a rather pathetic Duke team. #21 Georgia beat Arkansas by exploiting a very fragile secondary with the speed and strength of A.J. Green a five star recruit out of high school. North Carolina remained undefeated by defeating East Carolina using the strength of running back Shawn Draughn. Michigan beat down Eastern Michigan by using a 91 yard run by Carlos Brown, their senior back-up running back. Why is he the back-up if he’s the man who’s running for 90 yards at a time? Brandon Minor may be a more typical every down back but the homerun threat presented by Brown is simply a weapon that deserves to be used. The run by Brown was the third longest in Michigan’s history. Georgia Tech fell from the rankings after losing to a very highly ranked opponent on the road in Miami and Utah lost to a undermanned Oregon team, who is currently missing their star junior college transfer running back LeGarrett Blount. Blount after a week one loss to Boise State on the road, punched a BSU player in the mouth knocking him clean out. He then proceeded to attack the crowd of Boise State and was restrained by players from his own team. The coach of Oregon decided that it was best for both the university and the team if LeGarrett Blount was suspended for the year. This week in college football was extremely crazy and it should be noted that every team in the top 25 was affected by both the pollsters (the people that vote on the college football rankings) and the players and coaches that participated in this week’s games. I was disappointed in many of the rankings but overall the week in college football was very fun to watch and it will for sure be a week that will be remembered for the rest of the college football season.

Recent NBA News

According to The New York Daily News, The Knicks are still extremely interested in acquiring All-NBA small forward Lebron James. To no one’s’ surprise the Knicks freed up a ton of salary cap space to house the superstar and his behemoth contract which will sure follow him. However the Knicks may have found a way around paying Lebron massive “salary cap-eating” contract. The Knicks look to offer Lebron his own television channel. Yeah I was thinking the same thing you probably are right now… how can a single player own his own station, let alone a show? Although Lebron James is the most dominant player in the game today can’t possibly deserve his own channel. He has won zero championships, and in his only NBA Finals appearance was a disaster to say the least, as his Cavaliers were destroyed by a faster more complete San Antonio Spurs team. Lebron does have very impressive career numbers and a couple of records under his belt as well, but he isn’t Michael Jordan. Let me provide some back-story to the phenom that is Lebron James. Lebron grew up in Ohio and was 3 time Mr. Basketball in high school. He went directly to the NBA bypassing college. He was drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his rookie season he was awarded the rookie of the year. In the following 4 years he was 1st-team All-NBA and 2nd-team All-NBA, each twice. Since 2005, he was named to NBA All-star teams. In 2009 he won the Most Valuable Player award. Lebron over his career has averaged 27.5 points per game, 6.7 assists, and 7 rebounds. These numbers obviously indicate he, like his idol Jason Kidd, is a threat for a triple-double at any time. Although these credentials seem ridiculously amazing, I don’t see them being worthy of a television station. Lebron’s television network only seems like a stupid ploy to get him to come to New York. No single person has a TV channel about themselves and having the first as Lebron seems to insult the fact that political leaders don’t have their own networks. Shouldn’t the President get his own channel before a sport athlete does? It seems to make little sense having the priority of a nation’s focus on an athlete rather than a political leader. However, there are a series of benefits that the Knicks could get if Lebron accepts the contract and channel offer. The Knicks gain a huge fan base by having the best and most famous player in the world on their team. This will increase home game attendance and television ratings. The Knicks will also profit huge from jersey sales and the launch of Lebron’s television channel (hopefully named LBTV). The rumor of Lebron’s TV channel is one that will take a couple of months to confirm, but it will surely be something that will be addressed by the Knicks organization in the future.
Dwyane Wade has openly stated that he is not going to resign a deal with the Miami Heat, until the end of the 2009-10 season. This is particularly terrible news for the Heat as Wade is by far their best player and he accounts for most of their points, assists, and blocks. Last year Wade accounted for 30.2 points per game, a number which will be extremely hard for the Heat to replace. Wade is a gold-medalist for the United States Olympic Basketball Team. It will be for difficult for the Miami Heat to find another player with similar talent, youth, and size. Wade similar to Lebron James is a phenomenal talent at a young age. If the Heat fail to sign Dwyane Wade they will need to either trade up for a high draft pick and pray that they get a young super-talent in the draft or try and make a blockbuster move in free agency. Their decision should lie on the number in the win column at the end of the year. If the win column is high then the Heat should pay big bucks for Dwyane’s next contract. If the number of wins is low then the heat should try and add talent through the NBA draft. I would recommend the Heat look at Willie Warren, sharp shooting, combo guard, out of Oklahoma. His upside is big and he can provide some of the scoring that Wade provided. The Heat should also scout out Xavier Henry. He is a freshman entering Kansas university, who is very long and athletic for his position, and possibly has the best potential out of his freshman class. They also can look into free agency to find already established talent. At the top of their list should be Ray Allen, one of the greatest three point shooters in NBA history. They should also take a look at Paul Pierce, another player who can extend a defense beyond the arc and also attack the rim. Anyway you look at it, Dwyane Wade refusing to resign until after the 2009-10 season is terrible news for fans of the Miami Heat.
In other recent news, Brendan Haywood stated Michael Jordan could beat half or the league today. This wouldn’t surprise people who think of the Michael Jordan being talked about in his mid 20’s and early 30’s… not as a 46 year old. Michael Jordan can still shoot a basketball, no doubt, but does he still have the physical strength to compete as a professional athlete? I doubt, even after significant training, that Michael Jordan could make another comeback. Michael has been out of sports for too long and it just seems illogical and basically impossible for him to return to the game of basketball.


http://www.sohood.com/crib/2009/09/10/nba-news-lebron-james-knicks-dwyane-wade-michael-jordan/

The Heisman: Stop Position Discrimination NOW!

The Heisman; one of sport’s biggest blunders. This year could end up the same as many other recent years. The potential recipients of the prestigious award always possess a multitude of traits, skills, and other qualities that can put them in position to win. Nevertheless the reasons for which the award is being given to the recipients has been twisted and misconstrued over time.
The Heisman is often considered the award for the “MOP” or the Most Outstanding Collegiate Football Player of the Year. In recent years however it has been awarded to the most prolific offensive backfield player of the year. There position specific awards that can be given to players in the back field as well as every other position in football, including some special teams positions. Some of the position specific awards and cumulative awards are, the Chuck Bednarik Award, awarded to the best defensive player in the nation, the Butkus Award, given to the top linebacker in the nation, the Davie O’Brien, given to the top quarterback in the nation, the Doak Walker Award, given to the top running back in the nation, the Fred Biletnikoff award, given to the nation’s top receiver, the Jim Thorpe award, given to the top defensive back in the nation, the John Mackey award, given to the nation’s best tight end, the Johnny Unitas Award, which is given to the nation’s top senior quarterback, the Lou Groza award, given to the nation’s best and most consistent kicker, the Maxwell award, given to the nation’s best player, the Outland trophy, given to the top interior offensive or defensive lineman, the Ray Guy award, given to the nation’s best punter, the Remington award, given to the nation’s best college lineman, the Ted Hendricks award, given to the best defensive end in the country, the Vince Lombardy/Rotary trophy, given to the nation’s best offensive or defensive lineman who displays both talent and character, the Walter Camp award, given to the best player in the country as chosen by the coaches of D1 football, and of course the Heisman trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s most outstanding player. It is safe to say that many of the positions stand very little to no chance of having a Heisman winner. These positions are offensive linemen, defensive interior lineman, tight ends, punters, fullbacks, and kickers. Left on the available positions list are quarterbacks, halfbacks, wide receivers, defensive ends, linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties.
This is only further confirmed by ESPN’s Heisman Watch. Currently the top Heisman vote-getters are quarterbacks, running backs, safeties, a wide receiver, a defensive end, and a linebacker. Quarterbacks currently occupy the top three spots of the Heisman voting. This however does not mean that Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy are the nation’s best players. In the last 9 years only quarterbacks and running backs have won the Heisman. This is simply because of the attention that the players get because they have the ability to put points on the scoreboard. However, defensive players can put up points, but sparingly. Defensive players are the unsung heroes of football. Although they don’t score as often as a running back, they stop scores, force turnovers, and get the ball back for the offense to score. The last and only player to win the Heisman and not start consistent downs on the offensive side of the ball was Charles Woodson. He was a contributor on the defensive side of the ball, as a cornerback, and as a punt returner. In order for Woodson to beat out Peyton Manning, a quarterback who held favoritism in the eyes of many offensive-minded voters, he would need to put up number which the college game had never seen before. Woodson had a very solid punt returning season in 1997, where he returned 36 punts for 301 yards and a score. The average yardage, 8.4 yards per punt return, is still extremely impressive as compared to today’s college athletes. He also had 9 pass breaks ups on the defensive side of the ball. His most exciting statistic was his ability to incept the ball though. He had an astonishing 8 interceptions his junior year. This was enough to earn himself 200+ more votes for the Heisman than runner-up Peyton Manning. There have only been two wide receivers to win the Heisman and both also had seasons that are rarely seen by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Two tight ends have also won the award, but no positions have won the award more frequently than the running back and quarterback positions.
This year’s predicted leaders for the award are Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, Jahvid Best, and Eric Berry. Eric Berry is the only defensive player on the list, and judging by his less than stellar performance against the cupcake-esque Western Kentucky, he won’t be a candidate for the Heisman much longer. Sam Bradford started off where he left last season, shredding and dicing an unlucky non-BCS conference’s defense as the former Heisman winner should. His luck quickly came to a halt though, as he was “jacked up” by a BYU linebacker and had his shoulder injured. The future is not looking bright for Bradford’s chances as most Heisman winners play in all or all but one of their teams games, and Bradford’s injury is one where he is expected to miss two to four weeks. With Bradford and Berry looking down on their Heisman Watch statuses, three contestants remain. Each of the three remaining players on ESPN’s Heisman Watch after week one offer their own story to convince voters to drop a “first placer” on them. Tim Tebow was the only player to ever win the Heisman while listed as an underclassman (sophomore or younger). He also is the only player in college football history to run for 20 TD’s and throw for 20 TD’s in a single season. He won the Heisman in 2007 with 32 touchdowns passing and 23 touchdowns rushing. The number of points he, singlehandedly, put up on the scoreboard that year was more than many teams did. Tim Tebow is a media-magnet and he has always been regarded as a top prospect and choice for the Heisman. Colt McCoy, a young Texas University gunslinger finished second last year in Heisman voting. He is known for his strong and accurate arm as well as his ability to scramble. He is yet to win the award but many experts are confident this is his year. The last prospect is Jahvid Best. Best is a burner for a running back. His sophomore year he broke out with explosive games against Michigan State and Washington State. He gets a majority of his team’s yards on the ground and his playmaker ability is one of the best in the country.
All three candidates have reasons for winning the Heisman but the favorite should most definitely be Tim Tebow. He is currently leading the #1 team in the land, the Florida Gators, and he is always in the news. Nevertheless none of the top 3 vote-getters were anything other than quarterbacks and running backs. The discrimination toward less offensively prolific positions must end. Heisman voters must take a look at wide outs like Dez Bryant and Jordan Shipley or defensive playmakers like George Selvie and Taylor Mays. The reign of offensive superior positions will hopefully end soon and when it does I’ll be the first person standing and applauding.