Sunday, November 29, 2009

Media Slurping The Kool-Aid of Tim Tebow's Heisman

This is a special Sunday edition of Word On The Farm.  There won't be too many Sunday topical blogs, but after this weekend's college football action, I didn't think waiting until Monday would be a good idea.

The Word Of The Day is Kool-Aid.

I am sick and tired of the media's man-crush on Tim Tebow.  Gary Danielson, Skip Bayless, Verne Lundquist, and anyone else who believes that Tim Tebow's intangibles should make up for his lack of statistics in order to give The Golden Boy a second Heisman Trophy needs to stop drinking his kool-aid.  Yes, his intangibles are amazing.  His leadership skills are second to none on the football field, and his character is just as flawless.  However, leadership and character skills are not the criteria for the Heisman Trophy, and neither is career achievements.  Simply put, Tebow has been responsible for 25 fewer touchdowns this year than he was in his sophomore campaign when he won the Heisman.  That does not compute to another trophy, not when there are plenty of other candidates who are much more worthy of that honor.

I don't care what he does next week against Florida.  Mark Ingram lost ANY chance he had at the Heisman Trophy on Friday when he was sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter against Auburn because he wasn't moving the ball.  The fact that the Crimson Tide used the oh so handy excuse of a minor injury to cover that up to keep him in the Heisman race doesn't overshadow the fact that he did have a bad game on a national stage.  Especially when...

Colt McCoy had a HUGE game against Texas A&M to vault into the lead for the Heisman.  One more game against Nebraska next week like he had on Thursday and you can etch his name as a Heisman winner.  He will have to overcome a very solid Cornhusker defense, however, in order to do this.  It should be a great matchup between McCoy and Nebraska star tackle Ndamukong Suh, whose name has also been mentioned this year as a possible candidate.

Toby Gerhart might have had something to say about the Heisman race last night, rushing for over 200 yards for the third time in the last four games against a weak Notre Dame run defense.  He ran for three scores, and also threw his first career touchdown pass against the Irish.

Why isn't Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore getting more love for the Heisman than he's getting?  All he has done in his sophomore season is throw for 3053 yards, 38 touchdowns and only THREE interceptions in 362 attempts.  Those are numbers that any quarterback would love to have.  While he hasn't had that big 450-500 yard passing game that the Colt McCoys, Jimmy Clausens or Case Keenums have had, he's the reason the Broncos are going to the BCS.  That's right.  Boise State is going to the BCS.  More on that shortly.

Imagine what the race would look like if Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike hadn't gotten hurt and missed essentially four games.  When he got hurt, he was the front runner for the award.  He came out in his first full game since October 15th against Illinois and torched the Illini for 399 yards and 6 touchdowns.  Pike looks like he could very well be a first round pick in next April's NFL Draft.

Now onto the Bowl Championship Series.  Thanks to the upsets of Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, and Georgia Tech this week, you can absolutely put Boise State into the BCS as an at-large team along with TCU.  For the first time in BCS history, there will be TWO non-BCS conference schools playing in the BCS.  Here are my projections for the BCS games:

Rose Bowl: Ohio State (Big Ten Champ) vs Oregon (Pac Ten Champ)
FedEx Orange Bowl:  TCU (highest non-BCS team) vs Georgia Tech (ACC Champ)
Allstate Sugar Bowl:  Alabama (at-large team) vs. Cincinnati (Big East Champ)
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:  Boise State (at-large team) vs. Penn State (at-large team)
National Championship Game:  Florida (BCS #1 - SEC Champ) vs Texas (BCS #2 - Big 12 Champ)

Some of you might ask me why I'm taking Penn State over Iowa as the last at-large team even though Iowa beat Penn State earlier in the season.  Look at how each of these two teams finished.  Penn State has won seven of their last eight.  Iowa's last three games were two losses and a 12-0 win over Minnesota.  Penn State also has the bigger fan base and is more likely to travel to Arizona to play in the Fiesta Bowl than Hawkeyes fans.  Face it, it's true.  Besides, it's a sentimental pick, I want to see JoePa get one last game of glory, even if I don't think the Nittany Lions have a prayer against Boise State.

I need to throw this out there.  I always thought of Pete Carroll as a classy guy, even if the USC program has undergone a lot of turmoil in recent years due to possible recruiting violations and character issues with their players.  While I don't condone UCLA's calling of the time out with 48 seconds left after USC downed the ball, what Pete Carroll did having Matt Barkley throw a useless 48 yard TD pass is completely bush league, and then to have the entire Trojans team come out onto the field and taunt the Bruins after the score is even worse.  If I were a player on the UCLA Bruins, I don't care who I would have had to run over, there would have been a fight.  Coaches shouldn't let their emotions get the best of them, especially in a rivalry game, but what Pete Carroll did was completely bush.

T-minus two days and counting before the inevitable announcement that Notre Dame and Charlie Weis have come to a mutual buyout agreement of his contract.  He said it himself, 6-6 is unacceptable as coach of the Fighting Irish.  Don't blame this year on Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate.  If Notre Dame had a better record, both of these guys would be mentioned as top Heisman Trophy contenders.  I would like to see both Clausen and Tate stick around one more year, as they would be the front runners along with Boise State's Kellen Moore.  If the Fighting Irish can install a halfway decent defense, there is no reason they can't finish 9-3 or 10-2 next year.  Then again, they were supposed to do that this year with their schedule.  Rumors are running rampant that Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is at the top of their wish list.  That would be a major coup for the Irish if they can get him out of Oklahoma.

Enjoy the NFL games today.

10 comments:

  1. If you are arguing that Tim Tebow shouldn't win the Heisman because his stats are as good as his Heisman year and then go onto say that Colt McCoy deserves then you sir are an absolute idiot. Tim Tebow's stats are better than Colt McCoy's this year (More TD's, less INT's, more signature wins, higher passer rating, etc) and it's not even close. And to add on top of that of how Colt McCoy's numbers aren't even as good as last year, a year in which he didn't win the Heisman leads me to believe he shouldn't win it again since his stats are worse than not only his from last year, but also from Tim Tebow's this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. For Sohaib to think that Tebow has suppior stats than McCoy must be a classic SEC homer. Come on sir, Tebow and McCoy have both both benefited from suspect scheduling, but i hardly doubt Tebow has "signature wins" unless you count the gift wrapped Arkansas game in the Swamp. McCoy at least has thrown for over 3,000 yards, while your boy tebow hasnt thrown for 2,000.
    My vote goes to Gerhart as the most outstanding college football player. He does more than run the ball for Stanford, he sets the table for what they do offensively and the attitude of the team.....O yeah, he's not the big rah rah guy when the camera's rolling looking for attention like another heisman canidate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wouldn't be upset if Gehart won it. I would be if McCoy won it. Toby Gerhart has had a great year, unlike McCoy. And BTW John Stumpf Tim Tebow has about 2200 yards passing and another 800 on the ground.

    I just think people need to stop drinking the Colt McCoy "Kool-aid"

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow mccoy had 3000 yards passing in the big 12, what an accomplishment **sarcasm**

    ReplyDelete
  5. John "The Legend" StumpfDecember 1, 2009 at 11:42 AM

    O thank you Sohib, my mistake Tebow had broken the all important 2,000 yard mark. Well Sohiab i just dont know how we can give the heisman to a man who's offense has struggled all year with him at the helm. We now know that Percy Harvin was the single most imnportant person on that team for the past 3 years, hell tebow should give him his 07 trophy. Without the straw that stirs the Florida drink Tebow has shown an inability to carry this offense to an elite level......their defense, in a conferense of inept offenses, are winning them games.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am also tired of all the fawning over Tebow - however, I'm just as tired of hearing people complain about hearing about him. I am guessing that they would rather hear bad news about someone. Gossip and bad news excites them. They hate to see a good person succeed.

    The Heisman is not about intangibles? Statistics alone do not make a good Heisman winner.

    Someone said they evaluate a candidate based on whether or not his team would survive if he were not able to play. That's not a bad approach but I prefer to look at it this way. . .

    If you were to build a team from all the players available, who would be your first choice? Now, how many of the contenders are quickly eliminated? You're down to McCoy, Gerhart and Tebow. No to Suh. No to Masoli. No to Tate, Spiller, Shipley, Moore, Rodgers, and yes, even Ingram.

    ReplyDelete
  7. why no start with Suh? if your building a team why not start with the most dominating defensive player in the country?

    Any way your adolesent idea of picking the heisman by who you want to build your team around is obviously not well thought through. For instance, if I want to run a pro offense, sorry im not picking mccoy, i might draft tebow in the 6th round as an H-back/Fullback hybred. But as far as a quarterback goes I want Ryan Mallet. So if your making the "who do you want to build a team around" idea it like everything else comes down to what you want. If im looking for a quarterback who is a battering ram, but cant take the ball under center and cant make a 3 progression read i want tebow. If i want a quarterback that cant be under center, and has a difficult time throwing over 10 yards, however is deadly accurrate from 2-5 yard rang i want Mccoy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You sure are quick to call someone adolescent. I hate it when people get on here talking like you know football but start by name calling. Grow up John.

    ReplyDelete
  9. DWay i called the idea adolesent....you know immature thought....didnt take time to think it through.....word vomit.....take it in context sir

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think he was talking about a college team, not NFL potential. . . and, it's actually not a bad way to look at it. Would you pick Masoli, Tate, Spiller, Moore, . . . first? If not, then he's not the most outstanding player and should not be considered for the trophy. Even with a Florida loss and a less than stellar game for Texas, Tebow and McCoy should at least be considered with Ingram and Gerhart.

    ReplyDelete