East Coast Bias

Does East Coast Bias exist in college football? People who live on the West Coast scream about it where people in the East laugh it off. Now, I grew up in California and currently reside in NYC so you know what I think. The reason I ask is that after the Heisman Trophy was awarded this weekend, you could start to hear rumblings about the East Coast Bias rearing its ugly head. I am not here to argue who about the result (that will be tomorrow's post), I just wanted to throw out an actual quote from an unnamed Florida Heisman voter, who voted 1. Ingram 2. Tebow 3. McCoy:

“The reason that I voted for Ingram, Tebow and McCoy was because I saw them play the most. I never saw Gerhart play an entire game (we work all day Saturday and Saturday night) and only saw a few minutes of Suh’s game against Texas. I refused to vote for somebody based on highlights."

Ladies and gentleman, I couldn't have defined it any better if I tried. That is exactly what people on the West Coast have been crying about for decades. How can you be a Heisman Trophy voter if you don't watch as much college football as possible? Of course this isn't new news as all we have to do is remember back to last year when actual Harris Poll voters said they hadn't seen undefeated Utah play. Nice to see the East Coast Bias is alive and kicking.

My Heisman Trophy Ballot

"The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity."

That is taken directly from the Heisman Trust Mission Statement. The question is, "Who was the most outstanding college football player in 2009?" I will disagree with a lot people here, but no where in the statement does it say "Who is the best player on the best team". Unfortunately over the last decade the voting has been slanted towards players who are on the best teams. This award is an individual award, not a team award. This line of thinking is what leaves us with such past greats like Jason White, Eric Crouch, Gino Torreta and Chris Weinke winning the award. I want names like Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders, Herschel Walker, etc. Guys who when we look back at the award in 10 years are thought of as all-time greats. That is what the award is supposed to symbolize. So without further ado, here is my top 3.

1. Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
1,736 rushing yards, 26 rushing tds, 144.7 ypg
Game Totals: 121, 82, 113, 200, 134, 96, 123, 125, 223, 178, 136, 205
Gerhart led the nation in rushing yards, rushing tds, and was 2nd in yards per game. He finished with 10 of his 12 games over 100 yards, including his last 6 over 120 yards. That is called consistency. He saved his best for his biggest games (223 yards vs Oregon, 178 vs USC, and 205 vs Notre Dame). He did all this while taking 21 units at one of the finest academic institutions in the country. He also led Stanford to a second-place finish in the PAC-10 their first Bowl Game since 2001. That my friends is excellence.

2. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
82 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 10 pass breakups, 1 int
Those statistics are almost unheard of for a defensive tackle. There-in lies the problem. He was a monster all season but some people will have a hard time voting for a defensive player to win the Heisman. The statements says "most outstanding player" and doesn't make the distinction between offense and defense. In my opinion, it is just being lazy that voters ignore defensive players because the stats aren't as obvious. Anyone who has watched Suh this year, knows he was outstanding. He is also in line to be the top draft pick in next year's NFL Draft.

3. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
1,542 rushing yards, 15 rushing's tds, 118.6 ypg
Game Totals: 150, 56, 91, 50, 140, 172, 246, 99, 144, 149, 102, 30, 113
Ingram did have 113 yards to beat Florida in the SEC Championship Game, but the previous week he had only 30 vs arch rival Auburn. He finished with 8 of his 13 games over 100 yards. While Ingram had a great year, are we even sure he is the best player on his own team? The Crimson Tide had 3 other first team All-Americans. Imagine what Gerhart's statistics would look like if he had that kind of help. Ingram also would have by far the worst ypg than any of the previous 10 RBs to win the Heisman Trophy. In fact, he would have finish with the lowest rushing yardage and rushing td totals of any of the previous winners at his position despite playing in 2 more games. That doesn't sound like a Heisman season to me.

I left Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow out of my top 3 and here is why. McCoy threw 8 tds and 8 int in games versus teams that finished .500 or better. Simply put, he didn't play well against good competition. Also, anyone who knows my family history (Hatfield) knows I can't vote for a McCoy. Tebow threw 8 tds and 5 ints in his 9 SEC games. That just isn't going to get it done at the QB position. Just the fact that he made it to NY for the ceremony boggles my mind.

BCS = Blatant Corrupt System

First off, my computer rankings agree with Alabama vs Texas in the National Championship Game. I have very little argument against this game. My problem is with the Fiesta Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl should be ashamed of itself and I have to believe they were pressured by higher ups into matching up TCU vs Boise State. This game serves no purpose. The whole intrigue of a Non-AQ team playing in the BCS is to see how they would match up against the elite from the automatic qualify conferences. How great was it last year when Utah throttled Alabama or when Boise State shocked the world versus Oklahoma? Sadly, we won't be able to see if undefeated Boise State or TCU could keep the trend up. I guess the BCS decided it needed to protect the interests of the six BCS conferences as either of these teams would have given Cincinnati, Iowa, Georgia Tech, or Florida a run for their money. What the BCS did was basically invite the red-headed step children to the party and force them to sit at the kiddie table. This is an absolute joke in my mind.

My main issue stems from the Fiesta Bowl. I won't believe that they thought TCU was the best option to "anchor" their bowl game. The whole month leading up to yesterday we heard that they wanted a Big Ten school. That makes perfect sense because those teams are in cold-weather city and have huge alumni bases. The goal of these bowls is to make money. Iowa offered the Fiesta Bowl much more in this capacity than either TCU or Boise State. TCU is in Dallas and is a quick flight to Phoenix. Iowa is going to be freezing in January and people would be lining up to spend an entire week in the sun. Iowa has a much larger alumni base than TCU. Iowa was the team that should have been chosen using the criteria that the bowls have used the since the BCS started. In my opinion, the BCS stepped in and told the Fiesta Bowl (or paid-off) to select TCU. It was already a given that Boise State was going to be the last team standing and thus be Fiesta Bowl bound. The corruption has to stop and I can't wait until it does. Bring on a playoff!

The Heisman Trophy should go to....

The Heisman is supposed to go to the Most Outstanding Player in College Football, not the best player on the best team. The Top 3 candidates (at least what the media is reporting) are Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, and Toby Gerhart. I personally wouldn't have Tebow in my Top 5 but that is another story. If I was given a vote, I would give the Heisman Trophy to Toby Gerhart. Sure Stanford has 4 losses, but that isn't Gerhart's fault. Blame his defense which is currently ranked #65 in the country. By the way Florida is #1 and Texas #9 for those scoring at home.

Argument for Gerhart:
1. Gerhart has finished strong. In his last four games, three of which came against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 20, Gerhart rushed for 742 yards (185.5 YPG) and 12 TDs.
2. Gerhart was at his best when he played the best. In four games against teams currently ranked, Gerhart rushed for 158.3 YPG and 12 TDs (against unranked teams, Gerhart ran for 137.9 YPG).
3. Gerhart didn’t pad his stats against bad teams. Against Washington State and San Jose State (two of the five worst rush defenses in the country), Gerhart gained “only” 121 and 113 yards – figures which represent two of his four lowest rushing totals this season.

Argument against Tebow:
1. Tebow has finished strong in his last five games but, none of those five opponents are ranked. The stretch consisted of Georgia (10th in SEC in scoring defense), Vanderbilt (2-10, winless in SEC), South Carolina, FIU (119th in nation in total defense) and Florida State (108th in nation in total defense).
2. Florida has also faced only one ranked opponent this year (No. 15 LSU). Tebow was 11-16 for 134 yards with a TD and Int, though that was his first game following a concussion suffered at Kentucky.
3. Tim Tebow’s last two games accounted for two of his three highest offensive outputs of the season (311 vs FSU, 317 vs FIU). As mentioned above, those teams are in the bottom 13 nationally in total defense.

Argument against McCoy:
1. McCoy also has finished strong but in his last four games, Texas faced zero ranked teams -- two teams that went 1-7 in the Big 12 (Baylor and Kansas) along with Texas A&M and UCF (which are 111th and 112th nationally in pass defense).
2. Texas has faced only one team currently ranked this season (No. 22 Oklahoma State). McCoy threw for 171 yards on 16-of-21 passing and a TD in a game which the Texas defense/special teams accounted for two TDs.
3. 19 of Colt McCoy’s 27 TD passes and four of his five best passing games have come against teams which currently do not have a winning record. Against opponents with winning records, he's thrown for eight TDs and five Ints.

So there you have it. Gerhart has been the better player against better competition. Being on an undefeated team helps McCoy and Tebow, but that is more of a team accomplishment (think Jason White over Larry Fitzgerald in 2003 was a mistake?) and not what the Heisman is supposed to be about. Do the right thing and restore order to the way the process is supposed to work. Vote for Gerhart!