Category Archives: 2012

2012 Outland Trophy Finalists Announced

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Nov. 19, 2012
For Immediate Release

2012 OUTLAND TROPHY FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

DALLAS (FWAA) -– Three finalists for the Outland Trophy, the third-oldest player award in major college football, were announced by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) on Monday.

Awarded since 1946 to the best interior lineman in college football, the Outland Trophy will be given out for the 67th time early next month to either Alabama center Barrett Jones, Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel or North Carolina guard Jonathan Cooper.

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Davey O’Brien Finalists Announced

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2012

DAVEY O’BRIEN NATIONAL QUARTERBACK AWARD – FINALISTS

FORT WORTH, Texas —  The Davey O’Brien Foundation today announced the three finalists for the 2012 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, presented annually to the nation’s best college quarterback.

Collin Klein (Sr., Kansas State), Johnny Manziel (Fr., Texas A&M) and Braxton Miller (So., Ohio State) were selected by the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee, with the Fan Vote accounting for five percent of the total vote. The committee was asked to consider the following criteria: quarterback skills, athletic ability, academics, reputation as a team player, character, leadership and sportsmanship.

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2012 Maxwell and Chuck Bednarik Award Finalists

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Maxwell Football Club
Press Release
November 19, 2012
Philadelphia, PA

2012 Maxwell and Chuck Bednarik Award Finalists

Maxwell Football Club [MFC] President, Ron Jaworski, announced the 2012 finalists for the 76th Maxwell Award for the Collegiate Player of the Year and the 18th Chuck Bednarik Award for the Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year.

The respective lists include a field of three candidates for each of these awards as determined by the Semifinalist voting process which ended on Nov. 18.

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Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten

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by Travis Normand

According to the reports below, both Rutgers (Big East) and Maryland (ACC) are moving to the Big 10 conference.  Further, it is rumored that Louisville or UConn will be moving from the Big East conference to the ACC.  The moves by Rutgers, Louisville, and UConn come as no real surprise considering the fact that the Big East will be losing its automatic bid to the BCS in 2014.

Sources: Terps accept Big Ten invite
By Brett McMurphy and Dana O’Neil – ESPN.com
Updated: November 19, 2012, 12:42 PM ET

The University of Maryland’s Board of Regents voted Monday to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten and begin competition in the conference in the 2014-15 academic year, sources told ESPN. An afternoon announcement will be made in College Park.

Meanwhile, Big East Conference sources told ESPN that Rutgers will be announced as the 14th member of the Big Ten on Tuesday.

Once Maryland’s board voted and faxed a letter of application to the Big Ten on Monday, the conference’s council of presidents unanimously approved the Terrapins’ admission, a source said. Maryland, along with seven others, was a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953.

To read the entire article on ESPN.com, click HERE

2012 Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year Semifinalists

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Press Release
November 19, 2012
Philadelphia, PA

Maxwell Football Club [MFC] President, Ron Jaworski, announced the 2012 semi-finalists for the MFC Collegiate Coach of the Year Award. The list includes a field of 16 candidates for the award which have been selected by the MFC National Selection Committee.

All semi – finalists are listed in alphabetical order with the coach’s school designated.

MFC Collegiate Coach of the Year Semi-Finalists 

First Name Last Name University
Dave Doeren Northern Illinois
Sonny Dykes Louisiana Tech
Darrell Hazell Kent State
Brian Kelly Notre Dame
Chip Kelly Oregon State
Mike MacIntyre San Jose State
Urban Meyer Ohio State
Jim Mora UCLA
Will Muschamp Florida
Bill O’Brien Penn State
Mark Richt Georgia
Mike Riley Oregon State
David Shaw Stanford
Bill Snyder Kansas State
Kevin Sumlin Texas A&M
Dabo Swinney Clemson

Voting for of the Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year award will begin on Tuesday, November 20th and close on Tuesday December 4th. Eligible voters include Maxwell Football Club members, NCAA Head Football Coaches, Sports Information Directors and selected national media. Brady Hoke of the University of Michigan was the 2011 winner of the award.

For more on the MFC: MaxwellFootballClub.org

The Maxwell Club and its awards are members of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s official website, ncfaa.org.

Building a case for Notre Dame

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by Travis Normand

No, I am not actually building a case for Notre Dame yet.  Like I said last week, they still have to play USC, and I am reserving judgement until after that game.  However, this doesn’t mean that others aren’t already trying garner support for Notre Dame’s number one ranking.

I received the following notes and stats today in an email from Notre Dame’s sports information department.  I know that a lot of people are not very impressed with the Irish, but take a minute to read the following information.  It may not change your opinion, but you have to admit,  some of these facts are pretty intriguing.

What is Notre Dame’s style?

  • It stops the run and runs the football. The Irish are one of four teams in the FBS that rush for more than 200 yards per game and allow less than 100 yards per game. Of those four teams, though, the Irish are the only team to have faced only FBS competition (no games vs. FCS teams).
  • It’s a stifling defense led by Manti Te’o that ranks No. 1 in the nation allowing 10.0 points per game. Only two FBS defenses in the last 10 years have allowed fewer points per game than this year’s Notre Dame defense.
  • It’s an improving offense under first-year starter Everett Golson that played one of its best games of the year today. The Irish totaled 430 yards of offense in the first half today vs. Wake Forest.

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The case for Johnny Manziel to win the Heisman

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by Travis Normand

Yes, I am fully aware that my HTML and CSS skills are lacking, and that my table below could be a lot cleaner.  I’m working on this.

However, with all the excitement surrounding Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M, QB) and his Heisman campaign, I thought of some stats that would be interesting to look at.  The table below essentially compares two things.

  1. It compares the 2012 stats of Johnny Manziel against those of Collin Klein (Kansas State, QB).  Why Collin Klein?  Because he, along with Manziel, is considered one of the top two players with a realistic opportunity to win the Heisman Trophy.
  2. The table below also compares Manziel’s (and Klein’s) stats against the last 10 Heisman winners.  The stats for the Heisman winners are from the season in which they actually won the award.  *Note: As of today’s date (Nov. 16, 2012) Manziel and Klein have only played 10 games this season and have at least two more before the Heisman is to be awarded.  The stats for the 10 Heisman winners are for complete seasons of 12, 13, or 14 games.
Player Games Played Rush Yds Rush TDs Pass Yds Pass TDs Tot. Off.
Johnny Manziel (QB) 10 1014 15 2780 18 3794
Collin Klein (QB) 10 748 19 2020 12 2768
Robert Griffin III (QB) 13 699 10 4293 37 4992
Cam Newton (QB) 14 1473 20 2854 30 4327
Mark Ingram (RB) 14 1658 17 n/a n/a 1658
Sam Bradford (QB) 14 47 5 4720 50 4767
Tim Tebow (QB) 13 895 23 3286 32 4181
Troy Smith (QB) 13 204 1 2542 30 2746
Matt Leinart (QB) 13 -44 3 3322 33 3278
Jason White (QB) 13 -56 0 3205 35 3149
Carson Palmer (QB) 13 -122 4 3942 33 3820
Eric Crouch (QB) 12 1115 18 1510 7 2625

All stats used in the above table where found here: http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs – *Note: If you find any typos or inaccuracies, please let me know by posting a comment below and I will update the table ASAP!  Thank you for the help.

Finally, the following graphic was made by the guys over at GoodBullHunting.com.  They did an excellent job putting this together.  However, while I have the same stats for Manziel (in my table above) as they have on their graphic below, our stats on Klein seem to differ.

Notice the stats that are fifth and sixth from the bottom titled “Games vs. BCS Top 10” and “Wins vs. BCS Top 10.”  Manziel has had three games against the BCS Top 10 and won one of them.  On the other hand, Klein has yet to play against any team in the BCS Top 10.

Manziel vs. Klein