Daily Blog •December 2, 2011

 

My Heisman Top 5:

  1. Trent Richardson, Alabama-Richardson has a combined 1,910 rush/rec yds with 23 TD’s while being the best player on one of the two best teams in the country this year! When breaking down Richardson’s numbers even further, it is remarkable considering the fact that he has faced EIGHT total defenses that rank in the top 51 with FIVE of them in the top 20! If you want to compare Richardson’s numbers to former Alabama RB Mark Ingram who won the Heisman in 2009 they are better! Thru 12 games, Richardson has 1,583 rush yds (6.0) with 20 TD’s with 27 receptions for 327 yds (12.1) and 3 TD’s. Ingram (thru 12 gms) meanwhile had 1,429 yds (6.5) and 12 TD’s to go along with 28 receptions for 246 yards (8.8) and 3 TD’s. To top it off Richardson has put together his best performances this year in the biggest games. He had 111 rush yds (4.3) and 2 TD’s vs Penn St’s #11 D, 211 combined rush/rec yds vs Arkansas, 208 combined rush/rec yds vs Florida’s #11 D, 169 of Alabama’s 295 total yards vs LSU’s #2 D and in the Iron Bowl needing a big performance to top it off he ran for a career-high 203 yards (7.5) with another Heisman-caliber run similar to his outstanding run vs Ole Miss earlier this year. Simply put, Richardson is the best player in college football this season playing a top notch schedule and putting forth clutch performances to help his team win games.
  1. Case Keenum, Houston-The Houston QB’s get knocked for being system QB’s, but if we are talking about what player is the most valuable to his team than any other in the country then Keenum could get the nod. Without Keenum last year (10 gms if you count UCLA where he got inj’d), the Cougars were 3-7 and avg’d 33 ppg and 461 ypg (down from 42 ppg and 563 ypg in ’09), now this year with basically the same team Houston is 12-0 ranked in the top 10 with a shot at a BCS game avg 53 ppg and 613 ypg! Keenum is #1 passing for 393 ypg, completing 73.2% of his passes (#2) and has an incredible 43-3 ratio which is on pace to set the NCAA record. I have not even mentioned that Keenum owns nearly every major career passing stat in NCAA history! Not only does Keenum deserve to be invited to New York, but I feel he deserves consideration to win it! 
  1. Andrew Luck, Stanford-The Heisman Trophy is about being the best college football player in the country for that particular season. If we are talking about the best college football player for the upcoming NFL Draft in April, then Luck clearly is that player and will get his reward by being selected 1st next year. However, this season with arguably one of the best OL’s in the country, with a stable group of RB’s and a talented bunch of TE’s, Luck has not put the numbers worthy of getting the Heisman. He has faced only two defenses that rank in the Top 50 including 8 teams that finished 80th or lower! The 4 best defenses he faced (USC, Oregon, Cal, ND) he avg 269 ypg (68%) with a 12-5 ratio and keep in mind 2 of those interceptions were returned for TD’s while a third vs ND would have been ret’d for a TD if not for a horse collar tackle. Simply put, if you’re an NFL GM Luck is your guy, but if you’re voting on who the best player was in college football this year then Luck would not be in my top 2.
  1. Robert Griffin III, Baylor-I was all set to put Griffin among my top 2 until last week. All year I thought that the most valuable player for any team was RGIII but Baylor proved that wrong this past weekend. Griffin was knocked out of the game at the end of the 1H with a concussion and did not return. In the 1H, BU had 31 points and 294 yards. You would expect with a backup QB that BU would have been fighting a possible upset and of course, have much less production. But, in Art Briles QB-friendly offense, Nick Florence actually outdid Griffin (7-11-106) in his half. Florence hit 9-12-151 yds. BU scored 35 pts with Florence to 31 with Griffin vs Texas Tech’s feeble D and BU also gained 323 yards under Florence and just 294 under Griffin. There is no doubt that Griffin is among the best players in the country and deserves to get invited to New York, but no longer do I think he is the most valuable player in America which has him dropping on my ballot.
  1. Matt Barkley, USC-Anytime you are setting school records on almost a weekly basis at a program like USC you deserve mention. Barkley had a fantastic junior campaign while leading the probation-stricken Trojans to a 10-2 record with not much to play for other than pride. Barkley has thrown for an avg of 294 ypg (69%) with a great 39-7 ratio (school-record TD passes). What’s more impressive is that he averaged an outstanding 314 pass ypg (72%) with a 16-2 ratio in USC’s four biggest games this season (ND, Stanford, Oregon and UCLA). Barkley has played himself into being a surefire Top 10 NFL pick and deserves to be among the top 5 in the Heisman.

Week 14 Selections for Every Game

  1. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1ST PHIL STEELE Wkly Poll Comp
    PTS
    Comp
    Yds
    + / - Gm Grade Vegas
    8:00 PM West Virginia at South Florida USF WVU USF WVU USF WVU WVU
        By 3 84% 30-28 428-417 By 2 By 0.2 By 1
    FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2ND PHIL STEELE Wkly Poll Comp
    PTS
    Comp
    Yds
    + / - Gm Grade Vegas
    7:00 PM Ohio vs. Northern Illinois OHIO NIU NIU NIU NIU NIU NIU
        By 3 67% 34-33 495-275 By 6 By 2.6 By 3.5
    8:00 PM UCLA at Oregon ORE ORE ORE ORE ORE ORE ORE
        By 30 100% By 47-14 543-344 By 27 By 22.5 By 31.5
    SATURDAY,  DECEMBER 3RD PHIL STEELE Wkly Poll Comp
    PTS
    Comp
    Yds
    + / - Gm Grade Vegas
    12:00 PM Southern Miss at Houston UH UH UH UH UH UH UH
        By 24 97% 50-25 592-393 By 24.25 By 16.5 By 12.5
    12:00 PM Syracuse at Pittsburgh PITT PITT PITT PITT PITT PITT PITT
        By 24 94% 31-13 417-273 By 17 By 10.1 By 10.5
    12:00 PM Connecticut at Cincinnati Cincy Cincy Cincy Cincy Cincy Cincy Cincy
        By 14 94% 29-18 467-278 By 8.25 By 12.6 By 9.5
    12:30 PM Iowa St at Kansas St K State K State K State K State K State K State K State
        By 17 94% 27-14 367-303 By 17.25 By 8.2 By 10.5
    2:00 PM Wyoming at Colorado St WYO WYO WYO CSU WYO WYO WYO
        By 3 75% 32-19 429-421 By 10.75 By 2.2 By 5.5
    2:30 PM UNLV at  TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU
        By 45 99% 50-7 520-200 By 41.25 By 36 By 39
    3:30 PM  Texas at Baylor Texas BU TIE BU Texas BU BU
        By 7 77% 30-30 434-396 By 3 By 2.1 By 2.5
    3:30 PM Utah St at New Mexico St USU USU USU USU USU USU USU
        By 10 87% 40-25 454-416 By 12 By 11.6 By 13
    4:00 PM Georgia vs. LSU LSU LSU LSU LSU LSU LSU LSU
        By 7 95% 30-16 315-270 By 14 By 5.6 By 13.5
    4:00 PM ULM at FAU FAU ULM ULM ULM ULM ULM ULM
        By 1 66% 35-19 363-274 By 12.50 By 12.6 By 7.5
    4:00 PM Middle Tennessee at North Texas NT NT NT NT NT NT NT
        By 7 73% 34-24 434-416 By 13 By 4.1 By 5.5
    4:05 PM Idaho at Nevada NEV NEV NEV NEV NEV NEV NEV
        By 25 94% 33-16 552-265 By 17.50 By 24.3 By 20
    4:30 PM Troy at Arkansas St Ark St Ark St Ark St Ark St Ark St Ark St Ark St
        By 17 88% 40-17 534-293 By 20.50 By 22.1 By 17.5
    6:00 PM New Mexico at Boise St Boise Boise Boise Boise Boise Boise Boise
        By 45 99% 57-4 573-147 By 51 By 50.4 By 49
    7:30 PM Brigham Young at Hawaii BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU BYU
        By 17 84% 35-19 420-365 By 15.75 By 3.8 By 7.5
    8:00 PM Oklahoma at Oklahoma St OU OKST OKST OKST OKST OKST OKST
        By 1 59% 40-32 532-523 By 4.25 By 2.5 By 3.5
    8:00 PM Virginia Tech vs. Clemson VT VT VT VT VT VT VT
        By 10 70% 37-21 420-360 By 14 By 5.6 By 7
    8:00 PM Fresno St at San Diego St SDSU SDSU SDSU SDSU SDSU SDSU SDSU
        By 6 86% 32-24 451-411 By 8.75 By 9.8 By 8
    8:17 PM Wisconsin vs. Michigan St MSU WISC WISC WISC WISC WISC WISC
        By 1 80% 34-26 395-305 By 9 By 7.1 By 9.5
      LW 15-8 (65%)            
      YTD 584-193 (75%)