The College Football Blog: 2009 Season Awards

2009 College Football Season Awards

This is the first time I’ve given out college football awards and it was more difficult than I expected. I predict the award winners before the season but that’s different. In that situation I’m making picks based on what I think will happen and how I think the voters will act. Now I’m actually giving out my own awards and it was not easy.

Instead of giving out the traditional awards (Heisman, Lombardi, Thorpe, etc.) I just made up some basic player of the year type of awards. Let me say that my picks are going to be different from the mainstream. I’ve always thought that “preseason All-America” teams and “preseason All-Conference” teams were given too much importance. But college football is a large and difficult to cover sport. Often times it seems like postseason awards are little more than preseason awards with a different name. Performance sometimes takes a backseat to hype, name recognition, potential, etc.

With my awards I tried to avoid this. Certainly part of the criteria was choosing the best player but I also focused on the actual on-field performance this season. Particularly with the player of the year awards and position awards I tried to look at who had the best season and not just who is the best player. I also created my own version of the Heisman Trophy. It’s called the Brent Musburger Most Outstanding Football Player Award. This award is about who the best player is but it’s also about winning.

I also made up an All-American type team which I’m calling the All-Horse Collar Team. For this I will admit that I focused more on who the best player is and a little less on which player had the best year. It’s always hard to do offensive line awards because you pretty much have to watch film in order to know what’s really going on. I decided to have an All-American (or All-Horse Collar) offensive line rather than two guards, a center, and two tackles.

One final note about these awards: I did try hard not to be overly biased against teams from smaller conferences. Of course there is no way to give out awards in football without taking team success or failure into account. You can do that in some sports but not football. It’s the ultimate team game. I did give out some team awards as well just for fun. Finally, I ranked some of the best and worst moments of the season.

Conference Awards

ACC

Offensive Player of the Year: CJ Spiller-RB/KR-Clemson
Runner Up: Ryan Williams-RB-Virginia Tech

Defensive Player of the Year: DeAndre McDaniel-SS-Clemson
Runner Up: Robert Quinn-DE-UNC

Coach of the Year: Paul Johnson-Georgia Tech
Runner Up: David Cutcliffe-Duke

Most Surprising Team: Georgia Tech
Runner Up: Duke

Most Disappointing Team: NC State
Runner Up: Virginia Tech

Best Moment: September 7th. Miami and Florida State stage a high-scoring thriller in primetime on Monday night to close out the first weekend of the season with a bang. The conference’s two most important programs look explosive on offense again after the rivalry had been characterized by boring, ugly “defensive” struggles in recent years. The return of this rivalry game to relevance comes when the conference is badly in need of a shot in the arm, at the close of the disastrous opening week of the season.

Worst Moment: The first and last weeks of the regular season. It’s impossible to narrow it down to just one moment in a season of low lights. The season couldn’t have started much worse for the ACC. ACC teams went just 1-4 in 5 week 1 games against FBS opponents from outside the conference…and just 3-2 against FCS teams. Duke and Virginia lost decisively at home to Richmond and William and Mary respectively. Maryland got demolished by Cal; Baylor won at Wake to snap a 9 game road losing streak; NC State and star QB Russell Wilson managed just 3 points in a home loss to South Carolina. And once again, the team picked to win the ACC and challenge for a spot in the BCS Title Game lost the kickoff classic to Bama in the Dome, with Virginia Tech going down this time. Then months later, in the final week of the regular season, the ACC went 0-3 against the SEC, with Florida State getting humiliated by Florida; Atlantic Division champ Clemson losing by 17 to a South Carolina team that came into the game 6-5; and Costal Division champ Georgia Tech getting run over at home by a Georgia team that came into the game 6-5.
Best Game: Tie. Week 1: Miami @ FSU. See above. Canes win 38-34 on Monday night. Game ends when Miami defenders break up a pass in the end zone on 4th down and goal.
ACC Championship Game: Georgia Tech vs. Clemson. The rematch proves to be even better than the 30-27 roller coaster in the regular season. Clemson comes from behind to take the lead in the 4th but the Tiger defense can’t stop GT from answering with the game winning score, as the Jackets win the title with a 39-34 victory.

Comments: Spiller is a pretty obvious choice for offensive player of the year, although VT running back Ryan Williams was also super. Spiller is often slowed by injury but when he’s able to play he is spectacular. He can hurt you in so many ways. Spiller scored 20 TD’s: 11 rushing, 4 receiving, 4 on kick returns, and 1 on a punt return; and he also scored a 2-point conversion and threw a TD pass. He ran 201 times for 1145 yards (88.08 per game); caught 33 passes for 445 yards (34.2 yards per game); completed 1 of 2 pass attempts for a 17 yard TD; returned 9 punts for 208 yards (average of 23.11); and returned 21 kickoffs for 714 yards (average of 34.00). Spiller racked up a total of 2512 all purpose yards (1st in the ACC), averaging 193.2 yards per game (1st in the ACC), and averaged 122.3 yards from scrimmage per game (2nd in the ACC). Spiller was the leading scorer in the conference with 122 points, averaging 9.6 points per game (2nd in the conference). And you have to remember that Spiller was constantly hampered by injuries. In some ways you have to take downgrade him because of that but it’s also impressive that he was still able to put up all those numbers, despite missing a lot of time, and not really taking advantage of a few games against weak competition. Spiller had just 2 of his 20 TD’s against the 2 weak opponents on Clemson’s schedule—Coastal Carolina and Middle Tennessee State (if you can really consider MTS weak)—with only 39 rushing yards and 0 receptions.

Choosing a defensive player of the year is much harder than choosing the offensive player of the year. I went with McDaniel, as he led the conference with 8 picks, racking up 128 yards in returns and taking 1 back to the house. He made 52 solo tackles, 85 total tackles, recorded a pair of sacks for -11 yards, had 5 TFL (tackle for loss) for -17 yards, and forced a fumble. McDaniel made 2 INT’s against GT and he was enormous in the Miami game, intercepting 2 passes and returning them for 105 yards and a score in the Tigers’ OT win on the road.

Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech were easy choices for coach of the year and biggest surprise. Tech was good last year but I don’t think anybody thought they would go 11-2 and win the conference title. Duke was much more competitive than most people expected, winning 3 conference games.

NC State was also an easy choice for the most disappointing team. With Tom O’Brien in his 3rd year in Raleigh, 7 starters back on both sides of the ball, and Russell Wilson returning for his sophomore season, the Wolfpack was supposed to improve upon last year’s 6-7 record. They had won the last 4 games of the regular season last year before losing to Rutgers in the bowl when Russell got injured. But NC State took a step back this season, going 5-7 with a 21 point loss to Duke at home. Even though Virginia Tech had a very good season, you still kind of have to call it a disappointing season considering the expectations, and the fact that they didn’t even reach the conference championship game.

Big XII

Offensive Player of the Year: Danario Alexander-WR-Missouri
Runner Up: Jordan Shipley-WR-Texas

Defensive Player of the Year: Ndamukong Suh-DT-Nebraska
Runner Up: Brandon Sharpe-DE-Texas Tech

Coach of the Year: Gary Pinkel-Missouri
Runner Up: Paul Rhoads-Iowa State

Most Surprising Team: Iowa State
Runner Up: Missouri

Most Disappointing Team: Oklahoma
Runner Up: Colorado

Best Moment: September 5th (the early part of the day). Oklahoma State takes care of Georgia for one of the biggest wins in the program’s history. Baylor comes of age with a win on the road at Wake Forrest. Missouri—expected to be starting a rebuilding year—thrashes Illinois for the 3rd year in a row in St. Louis. What a start to the year for the up and coming Big XII!

Worst Moment: September 5th (evening). A dream turns into a nightmare for the Big XII Conference, as Oklahoma—picked by many to win the conference and return to the National Championship Game—loses Heisman winning QB Sam Bradford to injury and suffers a 1-point loss to BYU in Dallas. This would be just the first of a continuous flow of problems for the conference in a very disappointing and trying year for the Big XII.

Best Game: Week 13: Kansas vs. Missouri in Kansas City. Kansas 41, Missouri 39. The Tigers snatch the game away from the Jayhawks in the final moments, dealing their hated rivals a crushing loss--their 7th straight to finish off a nightmarish season--and sending Fat Mangino out a loser. A really, really big loser.

Comments: I’m sure I would get killed for picking Alexander as the offensive player of the year but the guy’s numbers speak for themselves: 107 catches; 1644 yards; 137 Y/G; 13 TD—all high marks in the conference. I know the obvious question is “where the hell is Colt McCoy?” But to be honest, folks, I don’t think McCoy had a great season. He’s a good QB and he runs one of the best offensives in college football but he regressed this season. Last year McCoy completed 77% of his passes for 3859 yards and 34 TD against just 8 picks. This season he completed 70% of his passes for 3512 yards and 27 TD against 12 picks. Last year he ran for 561 yards and 11 TD; this year he ran for 348 yards and 3 TD. He has been sacked 30 times this year. McCoy did not play very well against Texas and he straight up choked in the Big XII Championship.

By now, everybody knows about Ndamukong Suh. He’s been will known to many college football fans for a long time but it was remarkable to see the reputation and recognition of a defensive tackle explode over the course of a week or so. Suh was the most dominant player in football this year. More on him later.

For me, Missouri was the big surprise for the conference this year. The Tigers aren’t going anywhere as long as Gary Pinkel is around. The Mizzu lost 12 starters and slew of star players but the Tigers still found a way to win 8 games. Iowa State was also much better than expected in Paul Rhoads’ first season.

On the other hand, Oklahoma’s season was an absolute disaster. Just about every key player was injured at some point during the season. They lost a number of stars to injury, including the defending Heisman Trophy winner. Still, the Sooners went into the season expecting to lose 1 game at the most, and quite possibly going undefeated on the way to the BCS Title Game, yet they somehow wound up going just 7-5. Meanwhile, Colorado continues to fall short of even the most modest of expectations.

Big East

Offensive Player of the Year: Mardy Gilyard-WR/KR-Cincinnati
Runner Up: Dion Lewis-RB-Pittsburgh

Defensive Player of the Year: Lawrence Wilson-LB-Connecticut
Runner Up: Doug Hogue-DE-Syracuse

Coach of the Year: Brian Kelly-Cincinnati
Runner Up: Randy Edsall-Connecticut

Most Surprising Team: Cincinnati
Runner Up: Connecticut

Most Disappointing Team: Rutgers
Runner Up: Louisville

Best Moment: November 21st. Those gutsy Huskies from Connecticut pull out a 33-30 win over the Fighting Irish on the road in double overtime, finally winning their first game in the memory of falling teammate Jasper Howard after 3 consecutive heartbreaking defeats.

Worst Moment: December 10th. Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly deserts his undefeated team before their Sugar Bowl matchup with Florida, deciding to take the money and the fame at Notre Dame. It is the 2nd time in 3 years that the head coach of the Big East champion has abandoned the team before their BCS game in order to take another job (Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan a couple of years ago prior to the Fiesta Bowl with Oklahoma).

Best Game: Week 13: Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh. Cincinnati 45, Pittsburgh 44. The Bearcats storm back from a 21 point deficit to tie the game at 38 in the 4th quarter. The Panthers go back on top with 1:36 to play but a missed extra point leaves the door open for Cinci. Tony Pike fires a TD pass to Armon Binns with to tie the game with 33 seconds left and the extra point puts the Bearcats ahead for the first time in the game. Cincinnati hangs on to win it by a point, finishing the season 12-0 and winning the Big East.

Comments: I gave Gilyard the nod for offensive player of the year over the freshman Lewis because he was the guy who came up with the big plays over and over for the undefeated Bearcats. The diminutive Lewis was a workhorse for Pitt, carrying 297 times and rushing for 1640 yards and 16 TD’s. Gilyard was a multi-purpose, big play, clutch performer for the best team in the conference. Gilyard caught 80 passes for 1150 yards (95.8 per game) and 11 TD, all 1st in the Big East. He also scored a rushing TD and a 2-pt conversion. Mardy returned 16 punts for 202 yards (averaging 12.63) and a TD and also returned 34 kickoffs for 1074 yards (31.59 per return) and 2 TD. Gilyard scored 15 TD’s and accounted for 92 points, 7.7 per game. He led the Big East with 2442 all-purpose yards, 203.5 a game.

Lawrence Wilson didn’t have a dominant season but he led the conference with 76 solo tackles and 136 total tackles. Wilson recorded 4 sacks, 10 TFL, and forced 3 fumbles. Doug Hague may be one of the more obscure players mentioned in this blog, but he recorded 9.5 sacks, 16.5 TFL, intercepted a pass, forced 2 fumbles, and had 4 pass breakups and 5 hurries for the Orange.

Brian Kelly was the obvious choice for coach of the year, although Randy Edsel has been very impressive at UConn as well. Cinci and UConn were the two surprise teams in the Big East this year. Meanwhile, Louisville has not recovered from Bobby Petrino’s exit, and Rutgers could manage only an 8-4 record out of one of the easiest schedules any BCS conference team has faced in recent memory.

Big Ten

Offensive Player of the Year: John Clay-RB-Wisconsin
Runner Up: Keith Smith-WR-Purdue

Defensive Player of the Year: Greg Jones-LB-Michigan State
Runner Up: Brandon Graham-DE-Michigan

Coach of the Year: Kirk Ferentz-Iowa
Runner Up: Pat Fitzgerald-Northwestern

Most Surprising Team: Northwestern
Runner Up: Indiana

Most Disappointing Team: Illinois
Runner Up: Michigan

Best Moment: September 12th (the early part of the day). Freshman QB Tate Forcier fires a last second TD pass to give Michigan a 38-34 victory over Notre Dame. For the moment, Michigan appears to be back, and Ohio State has USC at home later that night. It looks like it could be a huge day for the conference.

Worst Moment: November 7th. Undefeated Iowa is struggling early in their contest with Northwestern at home, when QB Ricky Stanzi is pummeled in the end zone. The result of the play is a defensive touchdown and it is the last play Stanzi will be involved in during the regular season. The Hawkeyes now find themselves behind, with an inexperienced QB in the game, and they never fully recover, losing 17-10 to see their undefeated season and any hopes of playing for a national title go down the drain. And the game everyone was looking forward to—Iowa at Ohio State the following week—loses most of its sizzle.

Best Game: Week 11: Iowa @ Ohio State. Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 (OT). Despite losing some of its national importance, the game between the two best teams in the Big Ten turns out to be a classic. Iowa hangs in the game despite playing with a very inexperienced QB. The game goes to OT where the Buckeyes win on a field goal to clinch the conference title and a trip to the Rose Bowl.

Comments: The Big Ten is lucky that it had John Clay this season. Other wise they would really be hurting for offensive player of the year candidates. Clay ran for 1396 yards and 16 TD, easily leading the conference. In fact, no other player scored double digit touchdowns this year in the Big Ten. The top passer in the conference threw 13 picks. Keith Smith was the closest thing to an offensive standout after Clay, and Smith only scored 6 TD’s.

Greg Jones was rock solid at linebacker for the Spartans. Jones led the conference with 141 total tackles and was 2nd with 62 solo tackles. He made 9 sacks, 13.5 TFL, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble. Jones also had 8 hurries and knocked down a pass. A lot of people probably would have gone with Brandon Graham as the defensive player of the year. Graham had 9.5 sacks and led the conference with 25 TFL for -103 yards. He forced 2 fumbles, blocked 2 kicks, and scored a defensive touchdown. However, Graham was the best player on an awful team, while Jones was the best player on a team that went 6-6 with 5 losses by 8 points or less, including 3 losses by 3 points or less.

Iowa and Northwestern were the surprise teams for the conference this year and the obvious choices for any coaching awards. Particularly NW’s success was a major surprise. Iowa was expected to have a good season and they ended up having a great season, especially considering that they were undefeated before they lost their senior QB to an injury. While Indiana didn’t win many games this year, they were in almost every game, and if the Hoosiers don’t take a step up in the next few years under Bill Lynch it certainly won’t be due to a lack of fire, grit, determination, and intensity.

Illinois and Michigan were two of the biggest disappointments in all of college football this year. Ron Zook is very fortunate to still have his job after winning only 3 games this year on the heels of a 5-7 campaign last year. Coach Rodriguez will almost certainly not survive a 3rd straight losing season in Ann Arbor.

Pac-10

Offensive Player of the Year: Toby Gerhart-RB-Stanford
Runner Up: Jacquizz Rogers-RB-Oregon State

Defensive Player of the Year: Rahim Moore-FS-UCLA
Runner Up: Brian Price-DT-UCLA

Coach of the Year: Chip Kelly-Oregon
Runner Up: Jim Harbaugh-Stanford

Most Surprising Team: Oregon
Runner Up: Stanford

Most Disappointing Team: USC
Runner Up: California

Best Moment: September 12th. The young and unproven Trojans go into Columbus and come away with an 18-15 win over Ohio State, going on a long drive for the winning score late in the 4th. It looks like perhaps it will be business as usual for USC.

Worst Moment: September 3rd. The Oregon Ducks see their season teetering at the edge of a cliff just one game into Chip Kelly’s first campaign in Eugene. After being shutdown by Boise State on the blue turf in a 19-8 loss in the opener, star running back LeGarrette Blount throws a punch at a Boise State player and has to be restrained from going into the stands after some fans. Initially Blount is ruled done for the rest of the year. It doesn’t look like it will matter much at this point, as Oregon looks headed for a rebuilding year anyway.

Best Game: Week 6. Arizona @ Washington. Washington 36, Arizona 33. There were a lot of great games in every conference this year and there wasn’t anything particularly special about this game through the first 57 minutes or so. But then the single craziest play of 2009 college football season occurred. Because it was a fairly meaningless game, and because it was a late-night, west coast game, the play got almost no coverage, and many people don’t even know what actually happened. I am convinced, however, that if the same such play had occurred in a national title game, a conference title game, a rivalry game, or even a big regular season matchup between ranked teams in the SEC or Big XII, the play would have been as memorable and as well recognized as the other classic moments (Flutie hail Mary; band on the field; Colorado’s miracle against Michigan; etc, etc). The play has to be seen to be understood, but essentially, a safe pass behind a wide open receiver turned into a pick 6 that gave the Huskies a miracle win, 36-33.

Comments: Obviously Gerhart was the offensive player of the year (1736 rushing yards, 26 TD, 160 points) but Jacquizz Rogers would have been the best player in the Pac-10 in almost any other season. Rogers ran for 1377 yards and 20 TD, caught 74 passes for 509 yards and a TD, and also threw a TD pass.

It may surprise that a crap team like UCLA has both the defensive player of the year and the runner up. But both Rahim Moore and Brian Price had outstanding years. Moore led the country with 9 picks and he had a sack, 4 TFL, a forced fumble, and 7 pass breakups. Price led the Pac-10 with 22.5 TFL for -94 yards and he also had 7 sacks, a pass breakup, hurry, and 2 forced fumbles.

Chip Kelly did a fantastic job with Oregon this year, as did Jim Harbaugh at Stanford. I actually thought Oregon was going to go through a significant rebuilding year this season and I felt pretty good about my prediction after the Ducks problems in Idaho. But they turned things around and had a dream season. Stanford was the only other team that managed to beat Oregon this year.

Both Oregon and Stanford blew out USC this season, as the Trojans were easily the most disappointing team in the Pac-10. Cal was disappointing but there’s nothing unusual about that.

SEC

Offensive Player of the Year: Mark Ingram-RB-Alabama
Runner Up-Tim Tebow-QB-Florida

Defensive Player of the Year: Javier Arenas-CB/KR-Alabama
Runner Up: Rolando McClain-LB-Alabama

Coach of the Year: Rich Brooks-Kentucky
Runner Up: Nick Saban-Alabama

Most Surprising Team: Kentucky
Runner Up: Mississippi State

Most Disappointing Team: Mississippi
Runner Up: Georgia

Best Moment: December 5th. For the 2nd year in a row, #1 faces #2 in the SEC Championship with a trip to the BCS Title Game on the line.

Worst Moment: September 12th. For the 8th consecutive season Tennessee makes the rest of the conference look bad with a hideous performance against a non-conference opponent. This time the Vols lose 19-15 at home to UCLA as double digit favorites. In 2008 they lost the opener at UCLA as 7.5 point favorites and later in the season lost at home to Wyoming as 27 point favorites. In 2007 the Vols surrendered 45 points to Cal in a 14 point loss. In 2006 the Vols were 4.5 point favorites over Penn State in the Outback Bowl but they lost 20-10. In 2005 they gave up 41 points to Notre Dame in a 20 point loss. The year before they lost at home to ND as a 7 point favorite. In 2003 they were 4.5 point favorites against Clemson in the Peach Bowl and they were beaten by 13. Just a year before the Vols had been in the Peach Bowl and had had their asses handed to them by Maryland of all teams, 30-3.

Best Game: Week 13. The Iron Bowl. Alabama @ Auburn. Alabama 26, Auburn 21. The Tide comes back from an early 14 point deficit to take the lead on a clutch drive late in the 4th and then hangs on for the win to finish the regular season 12-0 for a second straight year.

Comments: Ingram’s stats don’t wow you but he’s the most important offensive player on the best team in the country.

A lot of people probably question why I think so much of Javier Arenas. The main thing is that Arenas makes as many plays as any defender in the game. Arenas made 65 total tackles in 2009, 42 solo tackles. He recorded 5 sacks for -53 yards and 11 TFL for -75 yards. Arenas intercepted 3 passes and had 4 pass break ups. He also had 4 QB hurries. And the fact that Arenas is both the main punt returner and the main kick returner for Bama puts him into another category. Arenas returned 19 kickoffs for 551 yards, averaging 29 per return. He returned 29 punts for 474 yards and a TD, averaging 16.34 per return. Arenas had 1047 all-purpose yards. If you didn’t go with Arenas you would still most likely end up choosing an Alabama defender, whether it’s LB Rolando McClain or safety Mark Barron.

Rich Brooks has done something pretty impressive in Lexington. The Wildcats will be playing in a bowl game for their 4th straight year. There really was no team in the SEC that was all that surprising. But Mississippi failed to live up to expectations and Georgia suffered through much more of a down season than most anticipated.

Conference USA

Offensive Player of the Year: Case Keenum-QB-Houston
Runner Up: Donald Buckram-RB-UTEP

Defensive Player of the Year: Bruce Miller-DE-Central Florida
Runner Up: Van Eskridge-FS-ECU

Coach of the Year: Kevin Sumlin-Houston
Runner Up: June Jones-SMU

Most Surprising Team: Houston
Runner Up: SMU

Most Disappointing Team: UTEP
Runner Up: Tulsa

Best Moment: September 26th. Houston ekes out a 29-28 win over Texas Tech for a second consecutive win over a Big XII opponent, having shocked Oklahoma State in Stillwater in the previous game. At that moment the dream of a BCS buster coming out of Conference-USA is very much alive.

Worst Moment: October 3rd. After back to back wins over Big XII powers, Houston goes on the road to face a UTEP team that has already lost to Buffalo at home, to Kansas at home by 27 and to Texas by 57. Somehow, the Cougs give up 58 points to the Miners and lose by 17. The dream of a BCS game for C-USA dies.

Best Game: Conference USA Title Game: Houston @ ECU. ECU 38, Houston 32. The league’s two best teams battle it out until the final gun in the best title game yet in the young conference’s history.

Comments: Keenum’s numbers are astounding regardless of the conference he plays in. He threw over 650 passes and completed over 70%. He fired 43 TD with only 9 picks and also scored 4 touchdowns on the ground. And he led Houston to the conference title game and wins over Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Mississippi State.

Bruce Miller had 11 sacks for Central Florida, also recording 15.5 TFL for -107 yards. Eskridge would also have been a good choice, as he had 93 total tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 6 INT, and 7 pass breakups.

June Jones has resurrected the SMU program that was literally dead. But Kevin Sumlin had Houston ranked in the top 15 at one point. Houston and SMU were both surprising teams in the C-USA this year. Tulsa and UTEP were a couple of major disappointments. It may be time for Mike Price to be let go in El Paso.

MAC

Offensive Player of the Year: Freddie Barnes-WR-Bowling Green
Runner Up: Dan LeFevour-QB-Central Michigan

Defensive Player of the Year: Brian Wagner-LB-Akron
Runner Up: Adrian Robinson-DE-Temple

Coach of the Year: Al Golden-Temple
Runner Up: Dave Clawson-Bowling Green

Most Surprising Team: Bowling Green
Runner Up: Temple

Most Disappointing Team: Akron
Runner Up: Toledo

Best Moment: September 12th. Dan LeFevour leads the Chippewas to a miracle win over Michigan State on the road, 29-27, with help from the officials and an onsides kick along the way.

Worst Moment: November 21st. Temple’s star running back Bernard Pierce is injured and is knocked out of next week’s showdown with Ohio which will decide who wins the MAC East.

Best Game: Week 6. Bowling Green @ Kent State. BG 36, Kent State 35. The Falcons and Flashes go at it in a barn burner that features several scores in the final minutes.

Comments: While I think the Dan LeFeavor is the best player in the MAC, you really can’t deny the season Freddie Barnes put together. There’s something distinctly video gamish about a guy catching 138 passes for 1551 yards and 16 TD’s. Wagner was top notch for Akron at linebacker, making 72 solo tackles and 132 total tackles, recording a sack and 7 TFL, intercepting 2 passes and returning 1 for a score, notching 3 pass breakups and 2 hurries, and forcing 2 fumbles.

While Temple was a great surprise, Bowling Green was the biggest surprise for me. I did not see the Falcons winning a single game this year. Akron and Toledo did not play as well as expected.

MWC

Offensive Player of the Year: Max Hall-QB-BYU
Runner Up: Andy Dalton-QB-TCU

Defensive Player of the Year: Carmen Messina-LB-New Mexico
Runner Up: John Fletcher-DT-Wyoming

Coach of the Year: Gary Paterson-TCU
Runner Up: Kyle Whittingham-Utah

Most Surprising Team: Wyoming
Runner Up: Air Force

Most Disappointing Team: Colorado State
Runner Up: BYU

Best Moment: September 5th. BYU stuns Oklahoma, 14-13, at new Texas Stadium. A BCS bowl appears almost a lock at this point, as the Cougars have all of their tough games at home and figure to be favored in each contest the rest of the way.

Worst Moment: September 19th. Just 2 weeks after upsetting the Sooners, the Cougars are inexplicably obliterated by FSU, 54-28, in Provo.

Best Game: Week 13: Utah @ BYU. BYU 26, Utah 23 (OT). The two rivals battle into OT before Max Hall fires a TD that gives the Cougars the walk-off win.

Comments: Both quarterbacks were excellent this year. If you want to go with the leader of the best team, you take Dalton. If you want to take the guy who has done more statistically, you take Hall. Carmen Messina is a machine and seemingly the only decent player on the New Mexico roster. This guy registered 163 total tackles! There really was no surprising team in the MWC this year, although Colorado State was certainly a disappointment, as they basically lost for 3 months straight following a decent start.

SBC

Offensive Player of the Year: Levi Brown-QB-Troy
Runner Up: Lance Dunbar-RB-North Texas

Defensive Player of the Year: Danny Carmichael-LB-Middle Tennessee State
Runner Up: Chris McCoy-DE-Middle Tennessee State

Coach of the Year: Larry Blakeney-Troy
Runner Up: Rick Stockstill-Middle Tennessee State

Most Surprising Team: Middle Tennessee State
Runner Up: Louisiana-Lafayette

Most Disappointing Team: Florida Atlantic
Runner Up: Arkansas State

Best Moment: September 19th. Middle Tennessee State nips Maryland, 32-31, in College Park, as the Blue Raiders defeat the Terps for the 2nd consecutive year.

Worst Moment: December 3rd. Western Kentucky blows a 20-3 lead against Arkansas State and loses its 20th straight game, 24-20, to finish the season 0-12.

Best Game: Week 7: FAU @ North Texas. FAU 44, North Texas 40. Looking for their first win, the Owls fall behind 19-7 to the Mean Green before reeling off 30 answered points to take a 37-19 lead early in the 2nd half. NT then goes on a run, scoring 21 straight to retake the lead, 40-37. But FAU responds with a TD with less than 5 to play and the Owls hang on for the 44-40 win, extending NT’s SBC losing streak to 14 games.


Comments: Levi Brown was on a different level than his fellow QB’s in the SBC this season. Brown threw for 3868 yards this year, which was 1241 yards more than anyone else in the Sun Belt. Brown had 22 TD’s against 9 picks. Defensively, Carmichael recorded 12 TFL, 6.5 sacks, and forced 6 fumbles for the upstart Raiders. There are always a couple of disappointing Sun Belt teams. This year the two biggest disappointments were Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State.

WAC

Offensive Player of the Year: Kellen Moore-QB-Boise State
Runner Up: Ryan Matthews-RB-Fresno State

Defensive Player of the Year: Ryan Winterswyk-DE-Boise State
Runner Up: Deon Young-SS-Louisiana Tech

Coach of the Year: Robb Akey-Idaho
Runner Up: Chris Petersen-Boise State

Most Surprising Team: Idaho
Runner Up: Fresno State

Most Disappointing Team: Louisiana Tech
Runner Up: San Jose State

Best Moment: September 3rd. Boise State stifles Oregon in the season opener, winning 19-8, clearing the way for another run at a perfect season and a BCS bowl.

Worst Moment: December 6th. Boise State gets shafted again, as the Bowl dictators match the Broncos up against TCU for the 2nd straight season.

Best Game: Week 13: Utah State @ Idaho. Utah State 52, Idaho 49. In a classic WAC shootout to close the season, the Aggies end the year on a positive note, hanging on for a 3 point win over the Vandals. Utah State jumped out to a 31-7 lead but the Vandals turned the game around, scoring 28 straight, and Idaho had a 35-31 lead going to the 4th quarter. The lead changed hands twice more before Utah State put 2 scores together to take a 52-42 lead late in the 4th. Idaho cut the deficit to a field goal with less than 2 minutes to go but the Aggies recovered the onsides kick to seal the deal.

Comments: Ryan Matthews had an incredible season, rushing for 1664 yards and 17 TD in 11 games. However, whenever there’s a QB in your conference who throws 39 TD and only 3 interceptions, it’s going to be tough to win any offensive player of the year awards. There aren’t a lot of great options for the defensive awards in the WAC. They really don’t play that much defense in this conference.

Clearly the most surprising team in the conference was Idaho. The Vandals were among the most surprising teams in the entire FBS. Louisiana Tech had some tough luck but they still disappointed in not being able to gain eligibility. San Jose State disappointed in that they were much more awful than expected. No one thought they’d get to .500 but they fell off the cliff this year, losing 6 games by at least 20 points.

National Awards

The Brent Musburger Most Outstanding Football Player Award

Winner: Ndamukong Suh-DT-Nebraska

Runner Up: Toby Gerhart-RB-Stanford

Third Place: Tim Tebow-QB-Florida

Fourth Place: Mark Ingram-RB-Alabama

Fifth Place: CJ Spiller-RB/KR-Clemson

Sixth Place: Mardy Gilyard-WR-Cincinnati

Seventh Place: Colt McCoy-QB-Texas

Eighth Place: Case Keenum-QB-Houston

Ninth Place: Kellen Moore-QB-Boise State

Tenth Place: Andy Dalton-QB-TCU

Eleventh Place: Jacquizz Rogers-RB-Oregon State

Twelfth Place: Javier Arenas-CB/KR-Alabama

Offensive Player of the Year: Toby Gerhart-RB-Stanford
Runner Up: Case Keenum-QB-Houston

Defensive Player of the Year: Ndamukong Suh-DT-Nebraska
Runner Up: Javier Arenas-CB/KR-Alabama

Coach of the Year: Chip Kelly-Oregon
Runner Up: Brian Kelly-Cincinnati

Freshman Player of the Year: Dion Lewis-RB-Pittsburgh
Runner Up: Ryan Williams-RB-Virginia Tech

Quarterback of the Year: Case Keenum-Houston
Runner Up: Kellen Moore-Boise State

Running Back of the Year: Toby Gerhart-Stanford
Runner Up: Mark Ingram-Alabama

Wide Receiver of the Year: Golden Tate-Notre Dame
Runner Up: Danario Alexander-Missouri

Tight End of the Year: Dennis Pitta-BYU
Runner Up: Aaron Hernandez-Florida

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Ndamukong Suh-DT-Nebraska
Runner Up: Robert Quinn-DE-UNC

Linebacker of the Year: Greg Jones-Michigan State
Runner Up: Rolando McClain-Alabama

Defensive Back of the Year: Javier Arenas-Alabama
Runner Up: DeAndre McDaniel-Clemson

Place Kicker of the Year: Blair Walsh-Georgia
Runner Up: Grant Ressel-Missouri

Punter of the Year: Drew Butler-Georgia
Runner Up: Zoltan Mesko-Michigan

Most Surprising Team: Cincinnati
Runner Up: Oregon

Most Disappointing Team: Oklahoma
Runner Up: USC

2009 All-Horse Collar Team

First Team

Offense

QB: Tim Tebow-Florida
RB: Toby Gerhardt-Stanford
RB: Mark Ingram-Alabama
WR: Danario Alexander-Missouri
WR: Golden Tate-Notre Dame
WR: Freddie Barnes-Bowling Green
TE: Aaron Hernandez-Florida
Offensive Line: Stanford
K: Blair Walsh-Georgia
KR: CJ Spiller-Clemson

Defense

DE: Robert Quinn-UNC
DE: Brandon Sharpe-Texas Tech
DT: Ndamukong Suh-Nebraska
DT: Brian Price-UCLA
LB: Greg Jones-Michigan State
LB: Sean Weatherspooon-Missouri
LB: Rolando McClain-Alabama
CB: Joe Haden-Florida
CB: Javier Arenas-Alabama
SS: DeAndre McDaniel-Clemson
FS: Rahim Moore-UCLA
P: Drew Butler-UGA
PR: Javier Arenas-Alabama

Second Team

Offense

QB: Case Keenum-Houston
RB: Ryan Matthews-Fresno State
RB: CJ Spiller-Clemson
RB: Dion Lewis-Pittsburgh
WR: Mardy Gilyard-Cincinnati
WR: Jordan Shipley-Texas
TE: Dennis Pitta-BYU
Offensive Line: Alabama
K: Grant Ressel-Missouri
KR: Chris Owusu-Stanford

Defense

DE: Brandon Graham-Michigan
DE: Jeremy Beal-Oklahoma
DT: John Fletcher-Wyoming
DT: Allen Bailey-Miami
LB: Carmen Messina-New Mexico
LB: Von Miller-Texas A&M
LB: Sam Maxwell-Kentucky
CB: Perrish Cox-Oklahoma State
CB: Alterraun Verner-UCLA
SS: Earl Thomas-Texas
FS: Mark Barron-Alabama
P: Zoltan Mesko-Michigan
PR: Ryan Bryoles-Oklahoma