FB: American Rivers Conference

[Walston Hoover]

Walston-Hoover's favorite Christmas movies CLIP OF THE DAY-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DARnIsN2bc&feature=related

[Klopenhiemer]

Did anyone see the article on ESPN about how McCoy, Bradford, and Timmy T from Florida were only players invited to this years Heisman Trophy Award Ceremony?  I guess Mike Leech is fuming over this one.  I have a hard time understanding how Herrel puts up more yards than any QB in the NCAA and beats McCoy and is not invited to Downtown Athletic Club.  What a joke.  Its all about the politics.  Thank goodness our lowley d3 teams do not have to deal with this type of politicking on a daily basis.  Maybe Rod B was running a pay to play senario for the Heisman Trophy finalists!

Leech's system is frowned upon - it is looked as a "system" that, no matter what, the QB can throw for 4k yards and 35 TDs - if you look in the past, it's true.  Cost Brannen (Hawaii) wasn't invited last year, and he had the best statistical season of the year.  If you take Harrell off the team, you could insert their backup, and they are probably still 9-3 at worst.  McCoy was Texas this year - led them in passing (of course) and rushing.  Harrell did beat Texas, but McCoy didnt lose the game - Crabtree won it.  If you take McCoy off his team, they suck.  He probably should have gone, but its tough when 2 players from teh same team are that high profile, they take votes away from eachother.  Personally, it doesnt matter who goes, because it's Tebow who is going to get it IMHO.

I hate the "system" excuse that the pundits put out there. Every school has a "system." Tebow is a "system" qb as well.
That is the media's excuse to vote for who they see as the best story to win the Heisman.

Thank you.  TME, nice points, but I have to agree with Hoover.  Tebow is a system QB and he will be frowned upon at the next level.  Throw to Percy Harvin first or Tebow run second.  He has done a great job in Urban Myers scheme, as did Alex Smith, but Tebow is not the next Johnny Unitis.  Graham Herrel can play at the next level and will.  I feel is as compitent of QB as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco and look at the success they are having.  Colt McCoy should shine at the next level as well.  He is a winner and great athtlete to boot.  Tebow boasts one thing, insane speed around him to open the field up for a throw first/run with Tebow first system. 

[Walston Hoover]

I'm going to catch some grief for this one. With the many times my wife has watched this movie, it has grown on me ( a little)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pikz3DMhu54&feature=related
I probably won't be around much this weekend or Monday so I better get ahead of the game.

[Walston Hoover]

Last clip of the day.
Too many good clips from this movie to pick just one-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zhy_5aD7ks&feature=related

[sportsknight]

I'm going to catch some grief for this one. With the many times my wife has watched this movie, it has grown on me ( a little)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pikz3DMhu54&feature=related
I probably won't be around much this weekend or Monday so I better get ahead of the game.

That's an automatic 10 point decuction off your Man Card.

[Walston Hoover]

The only reason I ever sat down to watch it the first time was that a young lady by the name of Kiera Knightly caught my eye

I'm going to catch some grief for this one. With the many times my wife has watched this movie, it has grown on me ( a little)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pikz3DMhu54&feature=related
I probably won't be around much this weekend or Monday so I better get ahead of the game.

That's an automatic 10 point decuction off your Man Card.

[Dsquared]

Did anyone see the article on ESPN about how McCoy, Bradford, and Timmy T from Florida were only players invited to this years Heisman Trophy Award Ceremony?  I guess Mike Leech is fuming over this one.  I have a hard time understanding how Herrel puts up more yards than any QB in the NCAA and beats McCoy and is not invited to Downtown Athletic Club.  What a joke.  Its all about the politics.  Thank goodness our lowley d3 teams do not have to deal with this type of politicking on a daily basis.  Maybe Rod B was running a pay to play senario for the Heisman Trophy finalists!

Leech's system is frowned upon - it is looked as a "system" that, no matter what, the QB can throw for 4k yards and 35 TDs - if you look in the past, it's true.  Cost Brannen (Hawaii) wasn't invited last year, and he had the best statistical season of the year.  If you take Harrell off the team, you could insert their backup, and they are probably still 9-3 at worst.  McCoy was Texas this year - led them in passing (of course) and rushing.  Harrell did beat Texas, but McCoy didnt lose the game - Crabtree won it.  If you take McCoy off his team, they suck.  He probably should have gone, but its tough when 2 players from teh same team are that high profile, they take votes away from eachother.  Personally, it doesnt matter who goes, because it's Tebow who is going to get it IMHO.

I hate the "system" excuse that the pundits put out there. Every school has a "system." Tebow is a "system" qb as well.
That is the media's excuse to vote for who they see as the best story to win the Heisman.

Thank you.  TME, nice points, but I have to agree with Hoover.  Tebow is a system QB and he will be frowned upon at the next level.  Throw to Percy Harvin first or Tebow run second.  He has done a great job in Urban Myers scheme, as did Alex Smith, but Tebow is not the next Johnny Unitis.  Graham Herrel can play at the next level and will.  I feel is as compitent of QB as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco and look at the success they are having.  Colt McCoy should shine at the next level as well.  He is a winner and great athtlete to boot.  Tebow boasts one thing, insane speed around him to open the field up for a throw first/run with Tebow first system. 

Agreed... Tebow is just as much (if not more) of a system QB than Harrell.  If Harrell had the athletes Tebow does, he could've decimate all sorts of records.  In short, a 3-person invite list is boring for the Heisman celebration.  Invite Harrell and Shonn Green to the ceremony just to give them a taste of it.

[Alfredeneumann]

D²

What athlete does Tebow have that is any better than Harrell's,  Micheal Crabtree ? And what record doesn't he hold?

I'll guess the first place voting will be 31% for Winner, 29% for second and 26% for 3rd place finisher. That leaves 8-10% for Harrell and 4-6% for everyone else.

[the_mayne_event]

What make Harrell any better then the QB's of the past for Tech?  I agree that Tebow is a system QB, and also hate the hole "system" arguements that scouts throw out there.  Although, USC, Michigan (pre-RichRod), and LSU to name a few have more of the pro style offenses that make QB's have to throw to a reciever rather then a space.
The Heisman doesnt award who will be the best pro player - that would have to go to Crabtree or who I think will win the Heisman - Tebow is the best, most important player on probably the best team in the country.
The Heisman is the equivlant to the MVP, and that goes to Tebow - take him off that team, they are no where near the national championship.  He won the SEC championship, no one else did.
McCoy would be next.  He has the same arguement as Tebow, but voters in his region will also be inclined to vote for Bradford, which is why he will lose
Bradford is the most benificial of talent around him.  He has probably the best overall talent on his offense then all other guys up for it (Texas and Florida both have 0 running backs that are good, Okla has 2).  I believe that close to all of the starters for Oklahoma will be significant players in the NFL
Crabtree is more deserving then Harrell for the Heisman vote - but, like I said, its very hard for 2 players from the same team to get invited

[Dsquared]

D²

What athlete does Tebow have that is any better than Harrell's,  Micheal Crabtree ? And what record doesn't he hold?

I'll guess the first place voting will be 31% for Winner, 29% for second and 26% for 3rd place finisher. That leaves 8-10% for Harrell and 4-6% for everyone else.

Harrell doesn't hold any single-season records.  I'm talking moreso all-around cast of athletes.  Florida seems to be a better all-around offense, TT has Harrell and Crabtree.

[Dsquared]

What are people's thoughts about not having a position other than QB represented in the Heisman?  There were some fine QB performances this year... but not worthy of only have a 3-person Heisman ceremony IMO.

[sportsknight]

The "QB only" thing is a product of the trend that the Heisman has become more about being on a good team than being an outstanding player.  After tomorrow night, only 2 of the last 10 Heisman winners have been non-QBs (Reggie Bush and Ron Dayne).  To find the last Heisman winner that played on a team that was not a national title contender, you have to go back to 1989 and Andre Ware of Houston.  Beyond that, the last non-QB or RB to win was Desmond Howard in 1991.

I can see how players on the better teams get more attention.  They're on TV more often, get more coverage in the national papers/magazines, etc.  But just because a team isn't on a great team doesn't mean they aren't a great player.  I always go back to the 2000 Heisman race where Chris Wienke of Free Shoes University won for simply being on a good team, where Antwan Randle-El, who was probably the best individual player that season, didn't even finish in the top 5 in the Heisman voting that year.  Even a tremendous talent like LaDanian Tomlinson finished just 4th in the voting that season.

So how do you fix the Heisman?  Probably by changing who votes and when.  I kind of doubt that all the former Heisman winners keep up on the college football season enough to make an educated vote.  Besides that, a fair number of them are likely biased towards the school/conference they came from and that can factor in as well.  National media members are a good pool of voters, but only if they actually cover college football.  I wouldn't trust Joe Buck to make an educated vote over Chris Fowler.  More local or regional sportswriters may not be the best set of electors either.  I don't know if anyone else saw it this week, but both of the guys from the CR Gazette that have a vote published their vote and both had Shonn Greene in the top 3 or 4.  Did they do that because they really think Greene was that good, or do they want to appease their readers, or a mixture of both?

[doolittledog]

How often have we seen D2 or D3 or NAIA Heisman hopefulls getting any votes.  I can think of Joe Dudek at Plymouth St. in the 1980's  Carey Bender from Coe in the early 1990's...have there been any others that got many votes???

It takes a PR machine anymore...actually it has always needed a PR machine.  Joe Dudek wouldn't have got the votes he got without the Sports Ill. article about him.  You could have an IIAC QB pass for 2,500 yds, rush for 1,500 yds, kick, punt, be a return man, play in the band during half time and he still wouldn't get many Heisman votes unless he got a bunch of writers behind him.  Would he be any less deserving of a Heisman than some QB from a Big 12 team???

[Klopenhiemer]

How often have we seen D2 or D3 or NAIA Heisman hopefulls getting any votes.  I can think of Joe Dudek at Plymouth St. in the 1980's  Carey Bender from Coe in the early 1990's...have there been any others that got many votes???

It takes a PR machine anymore...actually it has always needed a PR machine.  Joe Dudek wouldn't have got the votes he got without the Sports Ill. article about him.  You could have an IIAC QB pass for 2,500 yds, rush for 1,500 yds, kick, punt, be a return man, play in the band during half time and he still wouldn't get many Heisman votes unless he got a bunch of writers behind him.  Would he be any less deserving of a Heisman than some QB from a Big 12 team???

I do believe that he would be less deserving to win the Heisman that a d1 player.  There have been some d1aa candidates that were worthy.  Steve McNair out of Alcorn State was worthwhile.  The level of competition between d3 and d1 overall is far to vast.  Do I think MUC could play with some of the bottom feeder d1 team, possibly.  But I dont think that MUC can hang with LSU. 

[Old Dutch]

Central's Dick Bowzer named AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year: 
http://www.central.edu/athletics/story.cfm?StoryID=2061
9/schedule/schedule.html[/url]).  Non-con games at St. Olaf and at home against Wisconsin Lutheran.

Congrats to Coach Bowzer on the honor.  He's the real deal, very intelligent, great teacher and coach.  Apparently a great coach on many things because his teams and his positions are always successful.  Fortunately I had Anat and Kines.  when he was gone to Mexico or something for the semester, otherwise I may never had passed it.