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Update [2007-12-9 2:4:9 by River City Rage]: Congrads to Tim Tebow. He's a damn fine person, and a damn fine person to build a team around. I'll be back tomorrow AM with the Jaguars live blog!
I don't wander the hallowed grounds of College Football very much on this site. Frankly, I leave that to sites that are far smarter or funnier than mine.
This is not to say that I don't have an opinion or two. I very much follow College Football, I have a few rooting interests, and a strange obsession with unique offensive styles.
My favorite offense of all time is the Flexbone and it's multiple variants run by Navy. It's like watching football through a time machine. Full Backs and Wing Backs and Wing T's and full backs that act like full backs, and the Triple Option. Nothing levels the playing field like a well executed Triple Option. Fake the hand off to the full back, or don't, look at the defensive end, cut in for a gain, or don't, pitch it to the running back, or don't. It's fascinating.
There's another offense that I go out of my way to watch, and that's Run and Shoot. I think it's because I'm a purist at heart and believe strongly that the best way to win is to run the ball and establish a physical grinding attack between the tackles. Were I to coach, I'd live and die by the idea that "when in doubt, run the ball" is the ultimate maxim.
I know what you're thinking. "How can a so-called "purist" love watching the Run and Shoot?"
I love watching it because it works contrary to every principal I know. I love it because they keep on throwing the ball when they're up by two touchdowns, I love it because they're throwing the ball when they should be eating clock, I love it because when the throwing doesn't work, they throw it some more. I look at the 4 and 5 wide receiver sets and the on the fly adjustments by the receivers. I think it's fun to watch, it's gotta be fun to play (unless you're a running back), and it's certainly a nice change of pace from all the Spread-Option that we're seeing all over the place.
I know, you're thinking "How can he hate on the Spread Option if he likes the Triple Option?".
What can I say, I'm weird.
That said, I can tell that if you've read this far you must be interested in my "endorsement" for the Heisman Trophy .
Without any surprise, I completely and totally endorse Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan for the Heisman Award tonight. Despite the amazing season by Tim Tebow and the outlandish ability of Darren McFadden, I'm all in on the Brennan bandwagon.
Why?
Because he's completely and totally devoted himself to blowing away the idea of the "Run and Shoot" as a "system". Colt runs the offense with a higher degree of involvement than any other Run and Shoot qb I've seen. Sure, his "system" encourages a huge amount of yards through the air and requires very good wide receivers, but you can make similar arguments for Tebow and the Florida offense. Florida doesn't have a terribly strong running attack, so Tebow is almost required to run well, otherwise there's no way he'd have anyone open to pass the ball.
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Everyone plays in a system. That's part of the modern offense. The best college player should be the one that utilizes their system and creates the best results on the field. Hawai'i stayed in some close games on the arm of Colt Brennan. Sure, they won the games he missed from injury, but why should that effect him? Sure, Hawai'i didn't have the toughest schedule, but when Michigan decides to play Appalachian State (ouch) instead, and Michigan State pays the school to not play, they had to scrounge for teams that were willing to play them. Not many "big time" schools are willing to fly to Hawaii for a game, so they're in a pinch, unless you expect them to play every game on the mainland.
There are some little things as well. Colt learned Samoan so that he could call plays in the native language of many of his team mates. He grew dreadlocks at one point to be like his wide receivers, hell he even dyed the Islands on his head to show his team spirit. Sure, he's had his problems in the past, but it looks like he's dived right into his team and grown up.
I know there is a slew of arguments out there about "systems" and how Tebow is the vastly superior quarterback and all that nonsense. I know that Tebow is going to probably walk off the stage in New York with a great honor. I'm not that invested in the guy that I'll be heartbroken.
But I will go out on a limb here and say that Colt will do better in the NFL than Tebow. Colt's a couple of small adjustments in his throwing motion away from a good pocket passer, Tim's a little further away (or a Knee Injury) away from being an NFL style qb.
Also, and I know you can't factor in last season, but Colt's been absolutely consistent as the starter.
- 424 for 606 / 5,402 yards / 50 TD : 19 INT / 135 rush yds, 11 TD
- 444 for 559 / 5, 549 yards / 58 TD: 12 INT / 396 rush yds, 6 TD
Another thing to keep in mind is that Hawaii has a recruitng budget of about $50,000. Florida's is about $600,000. They probably spent 50 grand in wooing Tebow. The programs are not on a level playing field and that should mean something.
We don't know how well Tebow will do next season with a growing running game and the fact that the SEC isn't going to sit back and let the Meyer offense run amok. Adjustments will be found and counters to that offense created. When Tebow has the same numbers or at least has similar dominance despite all this next year, by all means crown him the king of College Football.
But that should be next year.
There are about 50 different things I've said here that you can argue with. To be honest, I'm not as interested in fleshing out my argument here as I should, probably because I'm tired.
But tonight, when we're all watching the Ceremony, know that I'm rooting for Colt!
-Chris