The Confidential

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Archive for the month “December, 2011”

14 Dec 2011
2 Comments

Todd Graham to Leave Pitt for Arizona State

Todd Graham will leave Pittsburgh to become the new football coach at Arizona State.  According to ESPN, Graham has issued the following statement via text to his team:

“I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head coaching position at Arizona State,” Graham said in a text message sent to players on the Pittsburgh team. “Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited me from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham.”

If so, this will force Pitt to endure a coaching change for two consecutive years (not to mention the whole Mike Haywood debacle).  Worse yet, this is not exactly a great market for head coaches right now.  As it is, Graham is somewhat of a consolation choice for the Sun Devils.

If true, the next question will be who should coach Pittsburgh.  Or who will?  One has to wonder if the Panthers will at least inquire about the availability of Jim Tressel?  Although he turned down Akron, Pittsburgh is nearby and a talent-rich area.  Also, with the looming move to the ACC, it might not be a bad way for the Sweater Vest to re-establish his image.  This is not even rumor though.  Just throwing it out there as an idea.  Beyond that, it is difficult to know where Pitt should turn.  Let the rumor mill get started.

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , ,
14 Dec 2011

Jim Boeheim and Syracuse Sued–Ironically

Is the lawsuit against Jim Boeheim and Syracuse University about the money or is it about justice?  Unfortunately, it may not matter because the lawsuit could very well be a setback for victims’ rights.

To be sure, the two victims/Plaintiffs have told us that the lawsuit is not about the money.  But, admit it, whenever you hear the words “it is not about the money,” the first thing that comes to mind is that “it must be about the money.”  When it is a free agent taking 5% more to move across the country, it is always accompanied by a statement that it is not about the money.  Instead, it is often portrayed as a “respect” issue.  Of course, the disrespect arose out of a lack of offered money or the timing of the offer.  If you have to say it is not about the money, people hearing that tend to think it is because it absolutely is about the money.

The Bernie Fine matter is not about free agency.  Instead, this lawsuit is based on Boeheim calling the accusers “liars” and stating that they were doing this for the money.  Surely, the irony in someone filing a civil lawsuit for monetary damages was lost on nobody, including the Confidential.  But if that irony is not enough, note that the two accusers/Plaintiffs claim that this lawsuit is about justice for other victims.  Mike Lang’s statement was as follows:

“Coming forward was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my life, and I hope by doing this, I can help other victims have the courage to also come forward — not just in this case, but in any case in which they have been abused,” Lang said.

Stop and think about that for a moment.  It’s not about the money, it is about justice and encouraging other victims to come forward.

The problem is that, from a justice standpoint, Bernie Fine has already been fired.  Jim Boeheim was taken to task by the media for his non-sympathetic comments and ultimately had to apologize.  In apologizing, Boeheim actually cleared the way for other victims to come forward in this and all cases.  Boeheim and his wife are even going to focus on supporting victims.  By all accounts–short of Bernie Fine being convicted–these two accusers/Plaintiffs have already been quite vindicated.  Quite a step forward for both of them and other victims’ rights.

Until yesterday.  In filing the lawsuit, the two accusers/Plaintiffs demonstrated that justice will not be served unless they get more publicity and cash damages in their pocket.  Again, like everyone else who professes that it is not about the money, the knee-jerk reaction is skepticism.  If Fine was still suspended, it would be understandable that they would need to press forward.  If Boeheim had not been criticized in the media or had not provided the sincere apologies, it would be understandable that they would need to press forward.  But Fine was fired.  Boeheim apologized.  The Onondaga County District Attorney called the two accusers/Plaintiffs credible just a few days earlier.  If there was ever a point for these two accusers/Plaintiffs to feel that Syracuse and the nation supported them, it was the point of time that existed on Monday, December 12, 2011.

Despite all of that, Tuesday, December 13, 2011, brought a lawsuit.  Not a lawsuit against Fine–the perpetrator of the crimes.  This is not the Goldmans suing OJ Simpson because the criminal proceedings failed to establish his guilt.  This is not even the situation with third accuser Zach Tomaselli, who is suing Fine and only Fine.  Instead, the two plaintiffs/accusers went after Jim Boeheim and Syracuse University.  The deeper pockets.

Most importantly–let’s go back to the purported basis for the lawsuits–protecting other victims.  What happens if another victim comes forward on Friday?  Now that the two accusers have become Plaintiffs, will the consensus be that this new victim is merely hopping on the litigation bandwagon?  After all, this victim did not come forward until after the lawsuit was filed.  If there is a new round of abuse in some other area of the country–those communities will have to grapple with the question of whether it is real or just a fabricated money grab. Will future alleged victims be criticized for not filing a lawsuit?  Will the failure to hire a Gloria Allred be seen as “proof” that these victims are not willing to have their theories tested in a court of law?  Will the rest of the nation determine that it is a minor scandal because the court system is not involved?  Will future victims reach a determination that coming forward only leads to litigation one way or another–a risk that ends up leading to more victims choosing to silently suffer?  The answers to these questions may very well end up being adverse to victims.

If the accusers/Plaintiffs REALLY wanted to help victims, they had every opportunity to do so without pursuing litigation.  A combined effort by Lang, Davis, the Boeheims, Syracuse law enforcement, and Syracuse University could have made a real difference in changing the culture.  A coalition like that would have changed the community and could have helped change things nationally.  However, that utopia was no match for the allure of publicity and cash.  So, instead of taking three steps forward, this issue will have taken two steps forward and then one step backward.  The two accusers/Plaintiffs have decided to leave it to other victims to victims to take it to the next level.  So much for helping other victims.  That is not merely irony, but disappointing.

What do you think?  Is this lawsuit really going to help other victims everywhere?

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
14 Dec 2011

Slow Week for ACC Hoops

In case you have not noticed, this is a very slow week for college basketball.  This includes the ACC.  Presumably, the players are concentrating on final exams as the semester comes to a close at most colleges and universities.

There will be a brief respite from the respite tonight as Maryland (5-3) hosts Florida International (3-6).  For Maryland, the season started out rough with a 3-3 start.  The low point was certainly a 26-point loss to Iona.  Yes, THAT Iona.

However, Maryland has rebounded with a decent stretch of performances.  Maryland stayed with unbeaten Illinois, only losing by 9 points.  The Terrapins used that gutsy performance to proper them to a victory over Notre Dame in their next outing.  And, soon enough, the Terrapins will get Sophomore Pe’Shon Howard back from his broken foot.  As a Freshman, Howard averaged about 20 minutes a game.  Although he only averaged 5.4 points per game, his assist to turnover ratio was nearly 2:1.  Maryland could use his ability to distribute the ball.

Coach Mark Turgeon’s debut season has been a bit rocky, but all is not lost.  The middle-of-the-pack in the ACC is wide-open.  Other than Boston College, just about any team could end up finishing in 5th or 6th place.  While that probably will not be Maryland, time will tell.  A win tonight would keep the positive momentum going.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , ,
13 Dec 2011
5 Comments

Boeheim Was Right: It’s ALWAYS About the Money

When does Jim Boeheim get HIS apology?  Well, he gets at least one of them today.

Jim Boeheim was criticized by some members of the media, and certainly taken to task on this forum, for his pointed statements regarding Bernie Fine accusers Bobby Davis and Mike Lang.  Recall that Boeheim was forced to apologize for saying that it was all about the money. When Boeheim finally apologized for those statements, the sentiment was that Boeheim should not have interfered with the alleged victims’ pursuit of justice.  After all, saying it was about the money disregarded the possibility that these time-barred claims were being advanced solely to prevent future harm.  The heartfelt apologies by Boeheim certainly did the trick in removing the focus away from Boeheim.

But we were all wrong.  Or at least those who criticized Boeheim were wrong.  It turns out that the accusers were always after the money all along.  ESPN is now reporting as follows:

Two men who say they were sexually abused by a former assistant basketball coach at Syracuse University are announcing that they are suing the school.

Bobby Davis and Mike Lang say they were molested by former assistant coach Bernie Fine when they were children. He has denied the allegations. A third man also has accused Fine. The U.S. attorney’s office is investigating.

The two men have hired Gloria Allred to handle their case.

So, there it is.  Despite having an amazingly unique opportunity to advance the interests of those abused in all of society, and despite Syracuse University firing Bernie Fine, that is not enough for the accusers.  Instead, it is time to “cash in.”

As it turns out, Boeheim was right.  So the Confidential apologizes.  You were right.  You probably still should not have said it.

But you were right.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
13 Dec 2011

The Confidential’s Basketball Top 30 for December 13, 2011

With over 300 teams in college basketball, the top 25 is just not enough anymore.  Here is the Confidential’s Top 30 for December 13, 2011:

  1. Syracuse (10-0).  Although Syracuse has not faced the same level of difficult opponents as some of the other elite programs, they have beaten Florida, Stanford, and Va Tech.  Big test at North Carolina State on Saturday
  2. Ohio State (8-1).  Losing to Kansas is nothing to be embarrassed about.  Doing it without your best player (perhaps the best player in the nation) makes it all the more reasonable.  Wins over Duke and Florida.
  3. Kentucky (8-1).  Again, losing to undefeated Indiana is not the end of the world here, especially for a team that has beaten North Carolina and Kansas.
  4. North Carolina (8-2).  There is no reason for a two-loss team to be this high in the standings.  But the rest of the undefeated teams have played far weaker schedules.  Wins over Wisconsin and Michigan State already.
  5. Duke (9-1).  Not many teams can lose by 20 and still be ranked in the top 5.  But Duke has beaten Kansas, Michigan, and Michigan State.
  6. Louisville (9-0).  Undefeated, but not the best grouping of wins.  Vanderbilt is decent though.  They get Memphis this weekend.
  7. Marquette (9-0). Like North Carolina, they have a win over Wisconsin.  Unlike North Carolina, no notable wins anywhere else.  Mississippi is probably the best.
  8. Kansas (7-2).  Losses to Kentucky and Duke hurt, but the Jayhawks already have wins over Georgetown, UCLA, and now Ohio State.
  9. Missouri (9-0).  The Tigers are undefeated and have wins over Villanova, Notre Dame, and California.  Not too shabby.
  10. Florida (7-2).  Like Baylor, Florida has 7 mediocre wins.  Unlike Baylor, they tested themselves in road losses to Syracuse and Ohio State.  Why punish the team that tries?
  11. Baylor (7-0).  Not going to reward Baylor for slotting them ahead of a team that schedules harder and has the same resume of wins.
  12. Xavier (8-0).  They have wins over Vanderbilt, Purdue, Butler, and now Cincinnati.  Unfortunately, having to play short-handed the next few games is not going to help.
  13. Georgetown (8-1).  Wins over Alabama and Memphis give Georgetown the edge over Big East foes.  Only loss is to Kansas.
  14. UConn (8-1).  Loss to UCF remains a head scratcher, but the Huskies now have wins over Harvard, Arkansas, and Florida State.
  15. Pittsburgh (8-1).  Loss to Long Beach State is even more curious, but Pitt is rebounding nicely.  Wins over Tennessee and Oklahoma State are good starts.
  16. Wisconsin (8-2).  Losses to UNC and Marquette hurt, but Wisconsin has rebounded with a win over UNLV.  We’ll learn more when Big 10 play starts.
  17. Indiana (9-0).  Win over Kentucky, last-second or otherwise, is that chip to merit a ranking.  Next up?  Notre Dame.
  18. Michigan State (8-2).  Rebounded nicely from the losses to UNC and Duke.  Wins over Florida State and now Gonzaga.
  19. Illinois (10-0).  Only test so far is Gonzaga.  Maryland is not the usual Maryland.
  20. Murray State (10-0).  Win at Memphis is nice.  They also have a win over Dayton.
  21. Mississippi State (9-1).  Nice wins over West Virginia, Arizona, and Texas A&M.  The loss to Akron is hard to explain though.
  22. Vanderbilt (6-3).  Losses to Louisville and Xavier are excusable.  Cleveland State???  What is going on in Ohio?
  23. Harvard (9-1).  Handled pretty easily by UConn.  The win over Florida State is the big one.
  24. Michigan (7-2).  No shame in losing to Duke.  Virginia was winnable, but ultimately a loss.  Best win is over Memphis.
  25. UNLV (7-2).  The win over North Carolina was huge.  The loss to Wisconsin on the road is understandable.  Looking forward to game against Illinois.
  26. Stanford (8-1).  Wins over North Carolina State and Oklahoma State.  Only loss was after giving Syracuse a run for its money in New York City.
  27. Alabama (8-2).  Losses to Georgetown and Dayton.  Wins over Wichita State and Purdue though.
  28. Northwestern (7-1).  Drubbed by Baylor, but nice wins over Seton Hall and Georgia Tech.
  29. Virginia (8-1).  Only decent win is over Michigan.  Time will tell on the Cavs.
  30. Mississippi (8-1).  Very bad loss to Marquette.  Decent wins over Miami and Drake.

If the season ended today, all of these teams could be in the Big Dance.  We will see how it plays out though…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
12 Dec 2011

ACC Basketball Rankings: December 12, 2011

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  Here is how we view the ACC basketball schools as of December 12, 2011:

1.  Syracuse–Not overly impressive in defeating Marshall, but an appropriately lopsided win over George Washington.  At 10-0, likely to be #1 in the nation.

2. North Carolina–At 8-2, the Tar Heels look to have righted things again.  The win over Long Beach State was closer than expected against even a battle-tested team.  Still, no reason to drop the Tar Heels yet.

3. Duke–Duke’s win over Washington was nice, but not enough to leapfrog North Carolina.  The Blue Devils are 9-1 on the season though.

4. Virginia–At 8-1, the Cavs had a light week this week.  But they took care of George Mason by 20 points.  No reason to drop them in the standings.

5. Pittsburgh–At 9-1, the Panthers have rebounded nicely from the loss to Long Beach State.  A very good win over Oklahoma on Saturday.

6. Virginia Tech–One of two 7-3 teams, the edge goes to the Hokies here.  They lost to a challenging Kansas State team, before rallying late in the week to beat Rhode Island and Norfolk State.

7. Florida State– The Seminoles are also 7-3, but remain in need of a quality win.  For now, this keeps Florida State behind Georgia Tech.

8.  North Carolina State–At 6-3, the Wolfpack will get their chance to make a move this week.  Syracuse visits on Saturday.

9. Georgia Tech–At 6-4, Georgia Tech had a nice rebound week by beating instate rival Georgia and instate foe Savannah State.

10. Maryland–At 5-3, Maryland is showing some life again.  The win over St. Mary was another step in the right direction.

11. Miami-At 5-4, Miami is reeling against tough competition.  Games against Memphis and West Virginia would be challenging for the top 5 teams in the conference, much less the Hurricanes.

12. Wake Forest– At 6-4, the Demon Deacons are a tough team to figure out.  After beating Texas Tech, there was hope that Wake could beat Seton Hall.  It was not to be.

13. Clemson–At 4-4, the Tigers last two losses were to South Carolina and Arizona.  They need an easier game soon to stop the current slump

14. Boston College--At 3-7, the only team in the ACC with a losing record.  For more on the Eagles, see this analysis.

Agree?  Disagree?  Let us know!

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11 Dec 2011

Hoops Recap: Sunday Improvement for the ACC

Yesterday, the ACC struggled to a 3-3 record among current conference teams.  Sunday got much better as the league went 4-0.

Florida State improved to 7-3 with a 75-60 over North Carolina-Greensboro.  The Seminoles’ defense did the job, allowing only a 35% shooting percentage.  However, the offense struggled to the tune of 26 turnovers.  Overall, Florida State has a balanced attack, with none of the 9 players to get action to exceed 30 minutes.  Michael Snaer led the way with 14 points.

Virginia Tech also improved to 7-3 with its 73-60 win over Norfolk State.  The score was a bit misleading, as CBS noted:

The Spartans (6-4), who have quality victories over Drexel and Texas Christian and lost to Marquette by just two points, kept the game close throughout and cut the lead to 65-59 on Chris McEachin’s 3-pointer with 2:58 left in the game. But Virginia Tech’s Dorenzo Hudson hit a free throw with 2:05 left to make it 66-59. After McEachin missed a 3-pointer for Norfolk State with 1:40 to go, Eddie put the game away, draining his final 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining to push the Hokies’ lead back to 10.

But the Hokies were able to fend off this surprisingly tough foe, led by Jarell Eddie’s 24 points.

In its final tune-up before hosting Syracuse on Saturday, North Carolina State defeated North Carolina Central, 65-60.  The Wolfpack held a 10-point lead at halftime, but were never able to put away the Eagles.  C.J. Williams led the way for North Carolina State with 21 points.  Credit the team board work too; although no individual put up gaudy rebounding totals, North Carolina State held a 41-30 advantage in that category.

Finally, the ACC’s day was so good that even Boston College nabbed a rare win.  The Eagles were able to defeat Stony Brook soundly, 66-51.   Patrick Heckmann came off the bench to lead Boston College with 18 points.  With the win, Boston College improves to 3-7.  A win is a win is a win.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11 Dec 2011
1 Comment

Hoops Recap: Saturday Not Kind to the ACC

Although future ACC member Syracuse was able to win and likely grab onto to #1 in the next polls, the current ACC did not fare as well–splitting its 6 games on Saturday.

Actually, another future ACC member, #15 Pittsburgh, did its job with 74-68 win over 6-3 Oklahoma State.  As is typical, the Panthers were outstanding defensively and on the boards.  The Cowboys were held to 40.9% shooting and were outrebounded 37-23.  Ashton Gibbs led Pitt with 17 points, while Lamar Patterson was a box score stuffer with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.  With the win, Pitt moves to 9-1.

And #7 Duke certainly did its part, defeating a surprisingly tough Washington Huskies squad, 86-80.  Although the Blue Devils opened strong with a 14-point halftime lead, Washington made it interesting late.  This was particularly impressive as the Huskies had been in New York all week, starting with a Jimmy V Classic loss to Marquette.  But credit Duke for starting strong and doing enough at the free throw stripe down the stretch to win.  Duke had 7 players play 20 minutes, and 6 of them contributed at least 8 points.  Austin Rivers led Duke with 18 points, allowing Duke to get to 9-1.

Similarly, #4 North Carolina was able to fend off upstart Long Beach State, 84-78.  This one was the opposite of the Duke game, with Long Beach State controlling the first half before succumbing to the Tar Heels talent advantage in the second half.  While the knee-jerk reaction is to wonder how North Carolina was not able to destroy a 4-5 team from California, recall that Long Beach State upset Pitt on the road and only narrowly lost to Kansas too.  The North Carolina quartet of Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Reggie Bullock, and Tyler Zeller scored 78 of North Carolina’s 84 points.  But credit Kendall Marshall too–he dished out 16 assists, the fourth time this year he has had 14 assists or more.  North Carolina is now 8-2 on the season.

In a test game for Wake Forest, they lost to Seton Hall on the road, 68-54.  The Demon Deacons were unable to stop Herb Pope, who scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the host Pirates.  While nobody was expecting a win over 9-1 Seton Hall, this game  certainly was not one where Wake Forest was going to be overmatched from a talent standpoints.  Overall, Seton Hall figures to little more than a middle-of-the-pack Big East team.  But that was still too much for Wake, which falls to 6-4.  Wake Forest was led by Travis McKie’s 17 points.

In another ACC-Big East matchup, West Virginia handled Miami, 77-66.  Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers were coming off a win over Kansas State on Thursday, but had enough in the tank to defeat the visiting Hurricanes.  Truck Bryant led West Virginia with 27 points, including 5 three-pointers.  Miami was led by Malcolm Grant’s 17 points.  Although the early season started with great promise, the Hurricanes have now lost 4 of 5 in this very tough stretch of non-conference games.  Fortunately for Jim Larranaga, the difficulty eases up a bit before conference games start.

Clemson provided the third loss for the ACC on Saturday, falling to 7-3 Arizona, 63-47 in Tucson.  For the 4-4 Tigers, a trip to 7-3 Arizona was always going to be quite a test.  Unfortunately, only Andre Young was able to score effectively, as he led the Tigers with 17 points.  The team as a whole shot 31.7% from the field–which will never get it done.

Finally, Georgia Tech defeated Savannah State, 65-45.  While the Yellow Jackets deserve credit for being willing to travel to an in-state opponent of this caliber, this was never going to be much of a contest.  Brandon Reed and Daniel Miller combined to go 12 for 13 from the field, as Savannah State was simply overmatched.  With the win, Georgia Tech gets to 6-4.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
10 Dec 2011
1 Comment

Future ACC Member Syracuse Wins, Looks to Jump to #1 in Hoops!

While nobody knows when Syracuse (and Pittsburgh) will be joining the ACC, the Confidential is pleased to note that the Orange are starting to make a larger percentage of their noise on the court these days.  As the Bernie Fine issue fades into the background, the Orange moved to 10-0 on the season with an 85-50 win over George Washington.  Most importantly, with the win, Syracuse is primed to jump to #1 in the polls Monday.

The reason why Syracuse is likely to move to #1 is that the two teams ahead of them in the rankings, Kentucky and Ohio State, both lost on Saturday.  Meanwhile, the 4 teams behind Syracuse–Louisville, North Carolina, Baylor, and Duke–are unlikely to leapfrog a Syracuse team that has beaten Virginia Tech, Stanford, and Florida on the young season.

Once again, the Syracuse depth was too much for an overmatched opponent.  10 different players logged at least 13 minutes for Syracuse and each of them scored at least 4 points.  No starter was in double-figures in scoring; however, super-sub Dion Waiters scored 19 points–including an incredible dunk in transition.

In addition to Syracuse’s depth, the defense continues to be outstanding.  The Orange held George Washington to 30.6% shooting, including 16.7% from three-point range.  Syracuse had 11 steals, 8 blocks, and forced 18 turnovers.  Syracuse came into the game leading the nation with 12.44 steals per game.  They are in the top 10 in the nation in blocks.  Oh, and they are averaging nearly 80 points per game.  The season is young, but they are simply off to an outstanding start.

While it is too early for the ACC to take full credit for Syracuse being #1, if it cannot be one of the current ACC teams, at least it is a future ACC team!

Syracuse's Fab Melo (51) and CJ Fair (5) team up for the block (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more game photos, click here: (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , ,
10 Dec 2011

Heisman Trophy Preview

Later today, the Heisman Trophy will be awarded to college football’s “best” player.  As all know, the linemen and all but the most exceptional defensive players can be eliminated from consideration.  This year, there is one of those exceptional players–Tyrone Mathieu of LSU, a defensive back/specials teams player extraordinaire.  The rest of the contenders play the familiar positions: QB Andrew Luck, Stanford; QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor; RB Trent Richardson, Alabama; and RB Montee Ball, Wisconsin.  Here is how the Confidential ranks them (not a prediction of who will win the award):

1.   Robert Griffin III, Baylor QB.

While he now likely to win, there is good reason for this momentum.  Consider this–the last time Baylor won 9 games was 1986, 25 years ago.  Since the Big XII was formed in 1996, Baylor has put up the following win totals: 4, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 3, 4, 4, 7, and 9 (this year).  Under Griffin, Baylor has 16 wins the past two years, including two bowls.  In the non-Griffin, Big XII years Baylor won 39 games in 13 years (3 per year) and went to zero bowls.  8 per year under Griffin, 3 per year without him.  It’s one thing for a player to plug into a system and dominate.  Griffin has been a program changer.

And if you like statistics, look at these.  A 192.3 passer rating, better than Russell Wilson, Case Keenum, Kellen Moore, and some guy named Andrew Luck.  A top 5 completion percentage.  The 6th most yards passing.  An average of 10.8 yards passing per attempt, best in FBS.  36 touchdowns against 6 interceptions.  You can put those numbers up against any QB.  In fact, according to ESPN, Griffin had the highest QB rating ever: “You read that Griffin ‘broke the passing efficiency record’ and it sounds simple and rolls off the tongue. But really think about that: There are 120 FBS teams that suit up every year. That number’s fluctuated, but college football’s been going on for a long, long time.”

For good measure, Griffin chipped in for 644 yards rushing and nine touchdowns.  While there were 10 quarterbacks to rush for more yards, none of them had a better QB passer rating than Griffin.  After all, he had the best passer rating of the season.  And the best passer rating in the history of the rating.  The Confidential has no idea how Griffin’s game will translate to the NFL, but the fact that Luck’s game will easily transfer is no reason to ignore the statistics and impact on a team/program.  Give him the Heisman.

2.  Montee Ball, Wisconsin RB.

Wisconsin finished the season 11-2.  Those two losses were on Hail Mary passes against Big 10 opponents Michigan State and Ohio State.  There is nothing Montee Ball could have done to prevent either result from happening.  In fact, in the Michigan State loss, Ball missed significant time during the game with an injury, before gutting out the rest of the game and scoring the touchdown that put Wisconsin temporarily ahead of the Spartans with less than 2 minutes to go.

And check out the statistics.  1,759 yards was most in the nation.  32 touchdowns rushing and 38 overall.  According to ESPN, only Barry Sanders had more in a single season.

The only reason the edge goes to Griffin here is because Ball played with a top QB.  Griffin was the top passer, but Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson was 2nd in that category.  That took some of the pressure off Ball at times, as teams had to respect both players.  The narrow edge goes to Griffin here.

3.  Andrew Luck, Stanford QB.

You want wins, Luck got 11 of them for the Cardinal.  That allowed Stanford to qualify for its second straight BCS bowl game appearance.  You want passing yards, how about 3,170 in a 12-game season?  You want touchdowns, how about 35 of them?  You want passer rating, how about 167.5?  You name the statistic, Luck put it up for Stanford.

However, it’s just not good enough this year.  Look at Griffin’s statistics–they are better across the board.  Moreover, by all accounts, Luck could be in the NFL this year.  In deciding to come back for one more year, Luck did what media pundits always love to see–the guy choosing college over the pros.  However, his statistics did not improve.  Stanford’s fate did not improve.  And, in the big game against Oregon, Luck had two interceptions and a fumble.  Luck had an outstanding season, but just not enough to justify awarding the historical relevance that comes with winning the Heisman trophy.  He’ll have to settle for a Super Bowl someday.

4.  Trent Richardson, Alabama RB.

Trent Richardson was the key offensive player on a team that will play for the national championship.  He led the SEC with 1,583 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns.  According to ESPN, his 23 total touchdowns were second in school and SEC history.  Against LSU, he rushed for 169 yards.  Not too many TEAMS did that against LSU.

Richardson has a few Heisman moments too, such as the long runs against Auburn and Ole Miss.  But, as you can see, those plays came against the bottom half of the SEC West.  And he cannot leapfrog the statistical season put up by Montee Ball.  Granted, Wisconsin likes to run up the stats against inferior teams, but Montee Ball had 32 touchdowns.  That is a hard number to overlook.  In some years, he had the season to deserve the Heisman.  Just not this year.

Also hurting Richardson is the absence of a Heisman moment.

5.  Tyrone Mathieu, LSU DB.

If you watched the big LSU games this year, you know that this guy was the sparkplug for a 13-0 LSU team.  When things looked bleak in big wins over Arkansas and Georgia, Mathieu took over with long special teams returns for touchdowns.  Against Arkansas, Mathieu had a 92-yard punt return to tie the game at 14-14 in the first half, serving as the catalyst for an LSU romp in the second half over the #3 team in the BCS standings at the time.  Against Georgia in the SEC championship game, LSU had zero first downs in the first half.  However, Mathieu’s 62 yard punt return touchdown kept LSU in the game, leading to another second half romp over the SEC East Champions.  Throw in a whole host of big defensive plays, including forced fumbles and interceptions, and it is easy to see how Mathieu is a finalist.

However, LSU is 13-0.  In this instance, their overall talent works against Mathieu.  The LSU secondary features Morris Claiborne, who led the team in interceptions and had some key specials teams plays of his own, such as the 99-yard kickoff return against West Virginia.  LSU had a top 5 defense overall, including 2 of the top 40 sack leaders in the NCAA.  And, when Mathieu was suspended for a game against then #20 Auburn, LSU still won 45-10.   Mathieu’s suspension has to be a factor too.  Although Mathieu is a special player on a very special team, that is not enough to leapfrog any of the top 4.

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in Football and tagged ,

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