College Football Thread -- What will we do in the offseason?

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Grandpa Troll


Ask Archie Griffin, Ohio State RB, back to back winner 1974-1975

The second one canceled out the first one

[Imran Siddiqui]

Roger Staubach, then? Or Paul Hornung. Or Jim Plunkett? Marcus Allen? Alan Ameche? .

If we are including NFL MVP's, then Barry Sanders? Earl Campbell?

[PLATO]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
McFadden got my vote.

Funny how the two best players in the SEC played on teams that both finished 3rd in their respective divisions.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Roger Staubach, then? Or Paul Hornung. Or Jim Plunkett? Marcus Allen? Alan Ameche? .

If we are including NFL MVP's, then Barry Sanders? Earl Campbell?

So you're saying that, out of 50 years or so (not sure how far back you went) of awards, 9 of the top 50, or 18%, went on to do great things in the pros. I'd consider that ... disappointing. Particularly because you haven't mentioned a single person who is still active, or I think who won it in the last two decades (when did Barry win it?)

[DanS]

The college game is made no more significant by references to the NFL. It's a red herring.

It's about like those bad game announcers on ESPN always talking about how this or that kid from Eastern State U will do on Sundays -- as if we're supposed to judge the kid's play in college on some NFL criteria.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by snoopy369
So you're saying that, out of 50 years or so (not sure how far back you went) of awards, 9 of the top 50, or 18%, went on to do great things in the pros. I'd consider that ... disappointing. Particularly because you haven't mentioned a single person who is still active, or I think who won it in the last two decades (when did Barry win it?)

I just named a handful. I'm not going through every single one . And that's just SuperBowl winners and MVPs. Plenty of others did great things in the NFL without either (Tony Dorsett for one, Tim Brown as another).

Sanders, btw, was 1988. If we are talking about recent winners who have done well in the NFL, why not discuss Carson Palmer? And Leinart and Bush had potential to do good, but they are fairly new. Ricky Williams was having a good career until he decided pot was more important than football.

[Lord Avalon]

Barry Sanders, 1988.

OTOH, you have Heisman winners (since 88) who didn't do much in the NFL: Andre Ware, Ty Detmer (although he has had a long career as a backup), Desmond Howard (success as a KR, but not WR), Gino Torretta, Charlie Ward, Rahaan Salaam, Danny Wuerffel, Chris Weinke, Eric Crouch, Jason White.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Have any of the others, though... won a "trophy" in the rest of their careers? I bet they have.

[Deity Dude]

Wasn't Desmond Howard the Super Bowl MVP?

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
Barry Sanders, 1988.

OTOH, you have Heisman winners (since 88) who didn't do much in the NFL: Andre Ware, Ty Detmer (although he has had a long career as a backup), Desmond Howard (success as a KR, but not WR), Gino Torretta, Charlie Ward, Rahaan Salaam, Danny Wuerffel, Chris Weinke, Eric Crouch, Jason White.

I'd agree with that list, minus Howard; so 9 out of 20 heisman winners have done essentially nothing in the NFL - only 1 of those played a significant number of years(8+), iirc (Detmer). I'd wonder what the average pro career of Heisman winners : runner ups : 3-5th place players would be ...

[Lord Avalon]

Howard was on there because being a specialist is disappointing compared to being a WR playing all the time. I almost included Ron Dayne as well.

Runners up had/have good NFL careers in some cases, not so good in others. College performance is no indication of pro.

1988: 2nd, Rodney Peete, 3rd Troy Aikman, 4th Steve Walsh
1989: Anthony Thompson, Major Harris, Tony Rice
1990: Rocket Ismail, Eric Bieniemy, Shawn Moore
1991: Casey Weldon, Ty Detmer, Steve Emtman
1992: Marshall Faulk, Garrison Hearst, Marvin Jones
1993: Heath Shuler, David Palmer, Marshall Faulk
1994: Ki-Jana Carter, Steve McNair, Kerry Collins
1995: Tommie Frazier, Danny Wuerffel, Darnell Autry
1996: Troy Davis, Jake Plummer, Orlando Pace
1997: Petyon Manning, RYan Leaf, Randy Moss
1998: Michael Bishop, Cade McNown, Tim Couch
1999: Joe Hamilton, Michael Vick, Drew Brees
2000: Josh Heupel, Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson
2001: Rex Grossman, Ken Dorsey, Joey Harrington
2002: Brad Banks, Larry Johnson, Willis McGahee
2003: Larry Fitzgerald, Eli Manning, Chris Perry
2004: Adrian Peterson, Jason White, Alex Smith
2005: Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn
2006: Darren McFadden, Brady Quinn, Steve Slaton
2007: Darren McFadden, Colt Brennan, Chase Daniel

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Deity Dude
Wasn't Desmond Howard the Super Bowl MVP?

Yes, 1996 in the Packers win over the Patriots. He had 224 combined return yards, including a 99-yd kickoff return that put the game out of reach. He's the only special teams player ever to win the award.

FWIW Dept:
In 11 NFL seasons, Howard caught 123 passes for 1,597 yards, rushed for 68 yards, returned 244 punts for 2,895 yards, and gained 7,595 yards returning 359 kickoffs. He also scored 15 touchdowns (7 receiving, 8 punt returns).

[Lord Avalon]

Let's see, that's about 11 catches for about 145 yds and .64 TDs a year. I'd say that's a disappointment as a WR, which is why I listed him.

[-Jrabbit]

I won't dispute you, Lord A. I was just answering DD's question.

But I would suggest that anyone who manages to have an 11-year NFL career is not a total bust. Plus, he did have over 10,000 career return yards and won the Super Bowl MVP.

[Lord Avalon]

Hmm, I was thinking more along the lines of Heisman winners with disappointing NFL careers, which could be, but aren't necessarily busts.

Given his success in college at WR and the Heisman, I thought his potential was greater than just being a return man. But you just can't tell till you see how they perform in the bigs.