Don’t tell the service academies, but the regular season has come to a close.
Would of preferred her Booty over Ingram
Now that Saturday’s games have ended, the focus is narrowed to the slate of bowl games on the horizon. Though we will certainly be dissecting every bowl game in the near future, we have decided to throw Satchel Paige’s words of caution to the wind. We are going to look back on the season before facing the bowl extravaganza.
Awards
Individual
Players of the Year
Offense
Peter: With all due respect for Colt, Tebow, Ingram, and even CJ Spiller, my vote for player of the year has to go to my man Mardy Gilyard. Left field, I know. But if you look at the stats (and I have), no one out on the field did more in fewer touches than Gilyard. He averaged 18 yards a play. 18.
Slingin' balls like a baker slings dough
Bjorn: I’m going to go with Case Keenum. Much like the forgettable Texas Tech QB’s of the past 8 years, I don’t think we’ll be hearing about him in the pros. However, his numbers were too far ahead of the next guy to ignore. He threw the ball 75 times in one game this year, twice, and still boasted a 71% completion rate. Great college QB.
Defense
Peter: Call me a homer, but I have to go with Earl Thomas. While I can understand some resistance to him winning the defensive player of the year award, it will be a travesty if he doesn’t take home the Thorpe award. He is the type of dynamic player that doesn’t come along that often. His future will only be getting brighter.
Bjorn: It was a pleasure to watch Earl all year, but I’m going to go with Ndamukong Suh. Each team planned their schemes around stopping this guy yet he always had an incredible game. I’m still frightened by his performance in the Big 12 championship. His offense owes him an apology. Whether it was due to the ineptness of our offense linemen or our coaching, that was one of the greatest performances by a defensive player I’ve ever seen.
Biggest Surprise
Peter: Toby Gerhart. You’ll have to excuse my past ignorance of Stanford football, but even after gaining more than 1,000 yards on the ground last year, this cat was a surprise. He is definitely a legitimate Heisman contender and quite worthy of inclusion on the Downtown 5. I’m very curious to see how his career in the NFL turns out.
Bjorn: Ditto. I had no idea such a beast lurked amongst the redwoods. His ypr were about the same last year, prob should’ve given it to him more Jim.
Biggest Letdown
Peter: Jevan Snead. Oh, what a year can do to a prized quarterback under a few years of Houston Nutt “tutelage.” Did anyone’s stock drop more than Mr. Snead? Just a few months ago I was hearing talk about him being the number one QB prospect in the draft? Now, I ain’t hearing anything at all.
Bjorn: Tim Tebow. Sam Bradford’s decision to play another year was still worse, but with his choice Tebow has erased any faith that he can be a qb in the league. Oh, and that plaque, with “the promise”? Tarnished.
Most Improved
Peter: There were plenty of folks ahead of him in passing efficiency this year, but they were all names you’d expect. They were, in short, hot shot QBs. Bill Stull, however, was not a hot shot last year. Hell, with 10 ints to 9 tds, he wasn’t much of anything beyond the dude that gave the ball to LeSean McCoy. This year was different. Without McCoy, he had to step up. And he did. His passer rating shot up over 30%, he threw 21 tds to 8ints, and he raised his completion percentage over 7 points. Improvement, children…improvement.
Bjorn: Jerrod Johnson. He put up decent numbers last year, but this year’s were much better, and got them into a bowl game. With him at the helm, Aggies look poised to strike in 2010.
Some might say he "press-err-veered"
Coach of the Year
Peter: You can call it sentimental, but I am going to go with Randy Edsall. Sure, the record doesn’t look like much, but no coach had to deal with more strife on or off the field than Coach Edsall. After the tragic loss of a star player, the Huskies dropped three straight games. And these were not just normal loses. Without even taking into account the manner in which the games ended, they were achingly difficult losses to swallow: a combined ten points total. One might assume that after suffering such emotional heartbreaks that a team might crumble under the depressing weight. It is a testament to Coach Edsall and his program that the Connecticut Huskies did no such thing. They took their lumps, difficult as they were, and came back to win three straight games against Notre Dame, Syracuse, and South Florida. Now they are going bowling.
Bjorn: Nick Saban. Winning at ‘Bama isn’t rare, but Saban has made the vaunted SEC tremble yet again and if he decides to stay put for more than 4 years, he could fall in line with some of the greats of that conference.
Team
Most Improved
Peter: There were a few candidates on my radar for this particular award, but at the end of the day I think you have to consider the achievements of the Stanford Cardinal. With a bruising rushing attack and an adept freshman at QB, Coach Harbaugh has the Cardinal on the right track. Last year they finished the season by dropping three straight. They strung together one winning streak of two games. This year? 8-4 with several solid victories against quality programs. They should be a force in the Pac10 next year even with out the Great White Hope.
Bjorn: This category and the next are very similar. Unless the improvement was expected…either way, the Hawkeyes made quite a jump.
Biggest Surprise
Peter: Iowa? Yes, I hate to see them in a bowl game. Yes, I think they have no right to have won that many games or be in any position near a BCS game. But, you have to give those pesky shits credit. They won the ball games and exceeded our expectations. Touche, Ricky Stanzi…Touche.
Bjorn: Iowa was the biggest, but Cincinnati was right behind for me. The Big East is an underrated conference as far as competitiveness goes, and they survived it.
It never gets old...
Biggest Letdown
Peter: You would be forgiven for thinking that I was going to call out Ole Miss. Instead, I’m just going to take this time to point out that our good friends from north of the Red River began the season at #3.
Bjorn: Hands down, OU.
The Tilted Pylon: Season Recap
Don’t tell the service academies, but the regular season has come to a close.
Would of preferred her Booty over Ingram
Now that Saturday’s games have ended, the focus is narrowed to the slate of bowl games on the horizon. Though we will certainly be dissecting every bowl game in the near future, we have decided to throw Satchel Paige’s words of caution to the wind. We are going to look back on the season before facing the bowl extravaganza.
Awards
Individual
Players of the Year
Offense
Peter: With all due respect for Colt, Tebow, Ingram, and even CJ Spiller, my vote for player of the year has to go to my man Mardy Gilyard. Left field, I know. But if you look at the stats (and I have), no one out on the field did more in fewer touches than Gilyard. He averaged 18 yards a play. 18.
Slingin' balls like a baker slings dough
Bjorn: I’m going to go with Case Keenum. Much like the forgettable Texas Tech QB’s of the past 8 years, I don’t think we’ll be hearing about him in the pros. However, his numbers were too far ahead of the next guy to ignore. He threw the ball 75 times in one game this year, twice, and still boasted a 71% completion rate. Great college QB.
Defense
Peter: Call me a homer, but I have to go with Earl Thomas. While I can understand some resistance to him winning the defensive player of the year award, it will be a travesty if he doesn’t take home the Thorpe award. He is the type of dynamic player that doesn’t come along that often. His future will only be getting brighter.
Bjorn: It was a pleasure to watch Earl all year, but I’m going to go with Ndamukong Suh. Each team planned their schemes around stopping this guy yet he always had an incredible game. I’m still frightened by his performance in the Big 12 championship. His offense owes him an apology. Whether it was due to the ineptness of our offense linemen or our coaching, that was one of the greatest performances by a defensive player I’ve ever seen.
Biggest Surprise
Peter: Toby Gerhart. You’ll have to excuse my past ignorance of Stanford football, but even after gaining more than 1,000 yards on the ground last year, this cat was a surprise. He is definitely a legitimate Heisman contender and quite worthy of inclusion on the Downtown 5. I’m very curious to see how his career in the NFL turns out.
Bjorn: Ditto. I had no idea such a beast lurked amongst the redwoods. His ypr were about the same last year, prob should’ve given it to him more Jim.
Biggest Letdown
Peter: Jevan Snead. Oh, what a year can do to a prized quarterback under a few years of Houston Nutt “tutelage.” Did anyone’s stock drop more than Mr. Snead? Just a few months ago I was hearing talk about him being the number one QB prospect in the draft? Now, I ain’t hearing anything at all.
Bjorn: Tim Tebow. Sam Bradford’s decision to play another year was still worse, but with his choice Tebow has erased any faith that he can be a qb in the league. Oh, and that plaque, with “the promise”? Tarnished.
Most Improved
Peter: There were plenty of folks ahead of him in passing efficiency this year, but they were all names you’d expect. They were, in short, hot shot QBs. Bill Stull, however, was not a hot shot last year. Hell, with 10 ints to 9 tds, he wasn’t much of anything beyond the dude that gave the ball to LeSean McCoy. This year was different. Without McCoy, he had to step up. And he did. His passer rating shot up over 30%, he threw 21 tds to 8ints, and he raised his completion percentage over 7 points. Improvement, children…improvement.
Bjorn: Jerrod Johnson. He put up decent numbers last year, but this year’s were much better, and got them into a bowl game. With him at the helm, Aggies look poised to strike in 2010.
Some might say he "press-err-veered"
Coach of the Year
Peter: You can call it sentimental, but I am going to go with Randy Edsall. Sure, the record doesn’t look like much, but no coach had to deal with more strife on or off the field than Coach Edsall. After the tragic loss of a star player, the Huskies dropped three straight games. And these were not just normal loses. Without even taking into account the manner in which the games ended, they were achingly difficult losses to swallow: a combined ten points total. One might assume that after suffering such emotional heartbreaks that a team might crumble under the depressing weight. It is a testament to Coach Edsall and his program that the Connecticut Huskies did no such thing. They took their lumps, difficult as they were, and came back to win three straight games against Notre Dame, Syracuse, and South Florida. Now they are going bowling.
Bjorn: Nick Saban. Winning at ‘Bama isn’t rare, but Saban has made the vaunted SEC tremble yet again and if he decides to stay put for more than 4 years, he could fall in line with some of the greats of that conference.
Team
Most Improved
Peter: There were a few candidates on my radar for this particular award, but at the end of the day I think you have to consider the achievements of the Stanford Cardinal. With a bruising rushing attack and an adept freshman at QB, Coach Harbaugh has the Cardinal on the right track. Last year they finished the season by dropping three straight. They strung together one winning streak of two games. This year? 8-4 with several solid victories against quality programs. They should be a force in the Pac10 next year even with out the Great White Hope.
Bjorn: This category and the next are very similar. Unless the improvement was expected…either way, the Hawkeyes made quite a jump.
Biggest Surprise
Peter: Iowa? Yes, I hate to see them in a bowl game. Yes, I think they have no right to have won that many games or be in any position near a BCS game. But, you have to give those pesky shits credit. They won the ball games and exceeded our expectations. Touche, Ricky Stanzi…Touche.
Bjorn: Iowa was the biggest, but Cincinnati was right behind for me. The Big East is an underrated conference as far as competitiveness goes, and they survived it.
It never gets old...
Biggest Letdown
Peter: You would be forgiven for thinking that I was going to call out Ole Miss. Instead, I’m just going to take this time to point out that our good friends from north of the Red River began the season at #3.
Bjorn: Hands down, OU.