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Throw 'em on the wall and see what sticks....
by David Whitney - Thursday Nov 26, 2009
The other day, I was in the living room, paying only furtive attention to the television. At the time, my kids were watching this relatively harmless show about a teenage girl and her two friends who puts on their own comedy-variety "web show" called "iCarly." In this particular episode, the gang was running a contest where each kid hurled a frosting-laden cupcake against a door, and the winner was the one who's cupcake stayed stuck to the door the longest.
It was the ultimate war of attrition and stickiness.
I think I may take the same approach to the Heisman Trophy this year. Write all the names down on slips of paper, dunk them in syrup, launch them before an electric fan, watch them stick to the wall, and declare the winner to be the one that remains standing after all the others have fallen to the ground.
Okay, laugh if you must.
Got a better idea in this goofy college football season?
We started this season with the presumptive second-round triumvirate battle among Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy. Bradford didn't make it more than 20 minutes into the season before turning his shoulder into a Tinkertoy set, whle McCoy's played a survival game wherein he throws to Jordan Shipley if he's not running some variety of draw play, and Tim Tebow shocked the world with a season that is, at best, very good.
But its a far cry from the "Most Outstanding Player in College Football."
And its not too far removed from the broader issue with the game this year - it isn't that there are one or two great teams, its that there are a bunch of teams that evoke only this grand "ehhh?" from the crowds. As most might suggest that the Heisman has unoffically morphed into "Best Player on the Best Team," the biggest problem is identifying the best team - then realizing there might well be multiple players outside those rosters just as deserving in an otherwise spectacularly unspectacular season.
Lets face it - the rest of the college football world thinks pretty much the same way. The latest ESPN Experts' Poll splatters votes from Alabama's Mark Ingram to Tebow, even tossing a few bones the way of Boise State's Kellen Moore. Yes, Kellen Moore. (I'll leave a brief pause in here for your own joke, or simple guffaw of stifled hysterical laughter).
It seems, though, and for no particular reason, that Ingram has gained momentum in the straw polling for no other reason than, well, there's no other candidate that's substantially more compelling. This is to take nothing away from Ingram, but the fact that the sophomore has gained some presumptive traction is at least a much a concession to the belief that Alabama will upend Florida in the SEC title game, thus giving him the nod as the "best offensive player" on the presumptive best team. I"m not sure I go along with that, because Alabama's offense is nothing special, and surely a Heisman frontrunner should be doing dizzying, compelling things on the field to merit frontrunner status. Surely, ringing up over 550 yards over the last three games catches the eye, but do three games equate to the kind of season-long performance we've come to designate as Heisman-worthy?
If we're truly in the business of looking for the "most outstanding player" in the game, I can't help but think someone's missing the boat in not taking note of Nebraska's scary-good defensive lineman who's every bit as good as his name is hard to pronounce. Ndamukong Suh, and no I didn't just drop a box of marbles on my keyboard or utter an oath in a foreign language, is perhaps the single most dominant interior defensive lineman to hit the college game in three decades or more. Suh singlehandedly transforms the Husker defense into one of the most underrated and formidable units in the country this season. He's anchored a Nebraska defense that has just won the Big 12 North (which might actually be a liability in some voters minds), and made one of the most pitiful offenses in Division I (no, I won't say "FBS") into one claiming a division title. If you blink, you'll miss him, because this senior is headed to a large-scale payday next fall when he grabs some plum first-pick money in the NFL draft. Yeah, he really is that good. And, yeah, he really deserves mention in the conversation as the "most outstanding player" in the college game.
Who, ultimately, will win the blasted trophy? Who knows. Perhaps the only thing more frustrating than the odd quality of this year's college football is knowing that the difficulty in finding the "most oustanding" this year may just be an exercise in futility. Instead of one truly dominant player, maybe there truly are just a bunch of 'em that are just really, really good; just not Heisman good in any other year but this. Kinda like the season.
Who wins? Hash it out. I'm gonna go get my slips of paper and maple syrup.
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There's still a Stoops looking for a title
by David Whitney - Sunday Nov 08, 2009 Just when you thought it was safe to say that no coach named Stoops would be competing for a conference title in 2009, a Stanford henpecking of Oregon spun a storm in the desert that has put an unexpected contender into the fray of the Pac 10.
Don't look now, but Mike Stoops' Arizona Wildcats are poised to make a run at the conference throneroom.
Whoulda thunk it?
Barely a season ago, Mike Stoops was teetering on the brink under Arizona AD Jim Livengood's cautious eye. Never having enjoyed the kind of success expected of him when he was hired in 2003, Stoops bounced through 2008 faced with the alternatives of either getting Arizona bowl-elgible or getting himself unemployment-eligible. Undaunted, Stoops took the challenge and guided the Wildcats to not just a winning season, but a Las Vegas bowl win over BYU. That was good enough for Livengood to give Stoops a three-year extension.
Now, in 2009, Stoops has rewarded Livengood's faith by leveraging the success of last year's 8-5 campaign into not only continued employment, but into a solid spot in the Top 25 and bowl eligibility eight games into the season. And given the topsy-turvy world of Pac 10 football, its no joke to point out that the Wildcats are now poised to make a run at the conference title with with four games to play.
In the last few years, mentioning "Arizona" in the same breath as "Rose Bowl" would have brought snickers and giggling. This year, however, nobody's laughing. After years of living under the shadow of more traditioanl powers and the knowledge that Arizona remains the lone team in the Pac 10 never to have made the storied Pasadena destination, this year's Wildcats at least have put themselves in a position to be included in the conversation ordinarily domainated by the likes of USC.
To say the least, a conference title will be an uphill battle for the Wildcats. Three of their final four games will be on the road, and against the better half of the Pac 10. Of those final games against Cal, Oregon, Arizona State, and USC, only Oregon will be played in the friendly confines of Tuscon. But uphill battles seems to suit Arizona just fine, as Stoops has managed to rebuild an offense minus the school's record-setting quarterback, Willie Tuitama, and then retooled again after losing tight end Rob Gronkowski for the year to injury. The 'Cat offense has rallied around sophomore quarterback Nick Foles, putting Arizona 2nd in Pac 10 passing. Combine the patchwork offense with a serviceable if not dominant defense, and you have the unexpected ingredients of a true contender for the conference.
Although the task ahead of the Wildcats is signifcant, it's not insurmountable. Early-season championship favorite Cal now sports three losses, and likely now finds itself without star Jahvid Best after sustaining a concussion in one of the most frightening injuries you'll ever see. Stanford exposed Oregon as a team vulnerable to, well, offense, while Arizona State's punchless offense could not overcome a USC defense that just surrendered 47 to Oregon the week before. And the Wildcats have to believe they're at least as much of a match for USC as were their cross-state rivals.
There's certainly no guarantee that the Wildcats are headed for the Rose Bowl. Yet the mere fact that a clear path exists between Tucson and Pasadena is a monument to the work Stoops has done, and the dividends he is starting to reap. Only time will tell if this great start is destined to finish as Arizona's breakout year. If nothing else, he's laid a groundwork for what could be much higher expectations going into 2010.
Keeping the Stoops family name in the college conversation this deep into November is merely a bonus.
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