What follows is so far beyond man crush that it can be categorized as man love. I have decided who should win the Heisman trophy. His name is Tim Tebow and he is undoubtedly the best player in the country.
The only other player I will even entertain an argument regarding is Dennis Dixon.
Lets take a look at how they compare.
Dixon Passing- 167 for 246= 67.9 comp percentage. 2074 yds. 20/3 TD to int. 8.4 per attempt. 163.1 passer rating. Rushing- 103 carries for 549 yards= 5.3 avg. 8 TD’s.
Tebow Passing- 173 for 255= 67.8 comp percentage. 2,532 yards. 23/5 td to int. 9.9 yds per attempt. 177.1 passer rating. Rushing- 170 carries for 718 yards= 4.2 avg. 19 tds.
Same completion percentage similar number of attempts. Tebow has a game and a half more of yards and a game more passing TD’s, although UF has played one more game than Oregon. He holds a much higher rating because his yards per attempt are more (which partially debunks the inevitable critique the uneducated voter will throw out- Florida doesn’t go down the field, they only throw short passes and the playmakers get yards). Where Tebow wins the Heisman is not on yards or stats though, it is on points. The guy has accounted for 42 TDs compared to 28. The Gators have gained 4502 total offensive yards this season. Tim Tebow has accounted for 3250 of them. That equals 72.19%. You tell me who means more to their team? Granted, I don’t know the first thing about Oregon, but I do know that if push comes to shove they can lean on future first round draft pick Stewart to tote the rock. Tebow has no such option. Teams have to gameplan to stop the run against Stewart, and as such Dixon has coverage advantages in the secondary. When they do stop the pass, Dixon gets a great deal of yards off of scramble plays. On the contrary, Tebows runs are mostly option or designed draw plays, as he is UF's only real running threat. Sure he has Harvin and Caldwell, but those guys have truly yet to show that they can take over a 4th quarter of a game. Especially when it comes to getting tough yards that keep drives alive. My point there is that it helps Dixon a heck of a lot more to have Stewart than it does UF to have its great WRs, even if they will be first day draft picks.
To detractors who might not want to give Tebow credit for having so many rushing touchdowns because he is UF's short yardage back and Dixon is not Oregon's I say: Oregon doesn't give the ball to Dixon in short yardage because they have better options. UF on the other hand, does not. It relies on Tebow in short yardage because he is their best short yardage player and most reliable ball carrier. They don't hand the ball off to others because they would not get the same result as if Tebow were running. They give him the ball in those situations out of trust, necessity and respect for his abilities. For a voter to overlook that as meaningless is an oversight and truly a testament to a lack of knowledge of the game of football. Short yardage plays are gut checks; they are the margin plays of football (see for example UF's loss this year to LSU). To have a player on your team that consistently gains the "heart" or "toughness" yards is a the benchmark of his value to the team. If anything, this component should be an x-factor that will serve to differentiate two comparable candidates.
Anyone who calls out Tebow's 2 more interceptions probably doesn’t recognize that 3-4 of his picks were not his fault. (2 Riley Cooper wrong routes, one ball off of CI’s helmet running the wrong route, and one ball where Fayson did not make a play on the ball). Yes, Tim Tebow has made 1-2 mistakes this year. Shocking, I know.
If you want to critique wins and losses, lets do it. Tebow’s team has 3 losses. What happened in those three loses? Tebow had 276 yards of total offense against Auburn, despite having plays called by a man still on drugs from emergency surgery 12 hours earlier. That was by far Tebow’s worst game, but he also had the least help in that game. If memory serves me, UF ran something like only 50 plays. He still threw for a TD and ran for a TD. The Gators were a blocked field goal, one particularly bad series of play calling and a shanked punt away from squeaking that game out. That loss was a team loss, certainly not one I could pin on Timmy’s shoulders at all. Gators win that game and this discussion is over. BUT, they didn’t, so I must continue.
LSU game- anyone who watched the game knew that it came down to the Gators inability to stop LSU on critical defensive plays. Tebow was the only reason UF was in that game to begin with, so I will not put that loss on him in any way. Georgia game- UF squeezed out a 42 point turd defensively and Tebow was sacked six times. Oh did I mention that he still accounted for 3 TD’s (one rushing) despite having a shoulder that needed multiple shots of numbing agents before the game? To synthesize, the Gators losses are IN NO WAY the fault of Tim Tebow. To fault him is particularly unfair. You cant say the same for McFadden, Ryan, etc… In every big game, McFadden shows up with 75yds or less, and Ryan is always good for 3 picks. Dixon may be a baller, but he is no Tim Tebow. If you don't believe that, take a survey of college coaches and ask them who they would want as their guy. 98% say Tebow and 100% say Tebow if survey is anonymous.
It will make me f*cking sick if people look at UF's losses as a reason why Tebow shouldn't win this award. UF is not a bad team. UF in all likelihood will end up a Top 10 team and playing on a New Years Day bowl. Going down to the last week of conference play, it is still contending for a shot to go to the championship game for the toughest conference in the country and why???????????? Because of Tim Tebow. Just because it has 3 losses does not mean that the year was a bust. UF has played competitively in all three losses and will finish with a damn respectable record. If they played Oregon or Oregon's competition, UF would probably F them up and they would do it because they have never seen or do not know how to defend a player like Tim Tebow. Man, I'm not even going to get into the whole SEC defenses vs. PAC-10 defenses. That point is stale and not worth my time restating it. It is in stone.
The fact of the matter is, at this point he is probably already the best player to ever put on the UF uniform. This is coming from a guy who has been to probably 70+ Gator games in my life. Gator football is in my blood, so yes, I am a qualified opinion. He will break the NCAA single season most rushing TD by a QB record, he will put up 50 total TDs before all is said and done, and he will have the best passer rating in the country. I don't even need to get into all of the SEC and school records he has already destroyed in only his 10th start in college yet do I? Lets face it, if he continues at this pace (which I have no reason to think that a kid who is grounded in God and family and has the best work ethic of an athlete I have ever seen) and stays 2 more years (doubtful, I know) he could wind up as the best player to ever play college football. I am dead serious when I say that. Plain and simple, the kid is better than Vick, better than Young and time will prove that. He broke every Florida high school passing record and is shredding SEC defenses throwing the ball. That is something neither Vince nor Vick have ever proved they can do consistently. The kid has taken every huge expectation we had for him and obliterated it. Tim Tebow has always done everything we have asked of him and more. He is a first class player and a top notch human being. There is no one I would rather have on my team. If I had to suffer through 6 losses this year just to see Tim Tebow be the quarterback week in and week out, I would gladly do it. You tell me, Heisman voter, how you don’t award a kid like that? If any other player receives first place votes, I swear that voter has not watched two Gator games. Any two. Timmy does it week in and week out in the best conference in the country. He ALWAYS shows up, even if others don't.
I promise you all right here and right now that I will bring furious rage and destruction upon my television if I watch that ceremony and he does not win. The sad thing is that because he is a sophomore and plays on a team whose defense often plays like the teenagers they are, he will likely not get the award. I see it coming now, and I am livid about it.
This is not a homer opinion, this is an analysis from a fan of college football. Please feel free to add or detract from this analysis. Really, someone who knows more about Dennis Dixon, please try to convince me why he deserves it more than Tim.
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14 comments:
I agree with most of what was written. The accepted truth, however, that the SEC is made up of twelve '78 Steelers and the rest of the conferences are a bunch of slapdicks bothers me.
Where is the proof that the SEC is so super awesome? They certainly do not beat up on other BCS conferences when they play each other. There is no real evidence that playing in the SEC this year is any more difficult than playing in the PAC 10, or the Big East for that matter. Whenever this issue is brought before a fan of an SEC team, however, they look at you like you are from another planet and simply dismiss you as some sort of football novice.
The most laughable of all SEC supremacy arguments is that SEC teams do not get motivated for non-conference games. Are you serious? Auburn didn't care about a home night game on national television against South Florida? That is ridiculous. Am I supposed to believe that Brandon Cox didn't try to complete passes against the USF secondary, but did against UF's?
I think the real truth is that the 6 BCS conferences are much closer to one another than most like to believe. That being said, after watching every important UF game so far this year, it is pretty clear to me that Tim Tebow is deserving of the Heisman trophy. Granted, I have only seen one half of one game involving Dennis Dixon.
Is anybody else concerned about the long-term physical ramifications of turning a QB, who can actually throw, into Mike Alstott? In ten years he is going to be the oldest 30 year old QB in NFL history.
By the way, you might as well smash your t.v. now. They aren't giving the Heisman to a Sophomore with 3 losses.
Even if he is the mostest super-nicest and the person most-groundest in God ever!
That is the single gayest thing I have ever read. I can see you in your little office chair humping your hand and thinking about Timmy and his greatness.
Yikes.
He will not win the Heisman, and does not deserve it. End of story.
Oh, and extra points to you for ripping only black players in your comparisons (Dennis Dixon, Vince Young and Michael Vick).
You're a gem, Hustle.
Very well written.
I don't think Tebow will win it this year because of the politics involved. He may win it next year or his senior season (if he stays) with lesser stats because Moody and Rainey will be legit RBs.
And to Mr. Ostertag, Auburn's loss to USF was the SEC's worst OOC loss. I would like to believe the power conferences are very similar to each other but UF just scored again on Ohio State. And the Cal-Tenn series was a split. Vandy, the 11th team in the SEC, could beat half of the Pac 10 or Big 10. They didn't get the 23rd ranked total defense based on pundits. Maybe the talent is similar, but the coaching and demands are not.
Maybe Vanderbilt could beat half of the PAC 10 and maybe they couldn't. How could you possibly know? There is simply no evidence this year that the SEC is significantly better than the other conferences. They have a completely bland out of conference record. All of this could be resolved if teams agreed to schedule tougher OOC games. Unfortunately, it is in no SEC team's interest to do so, especially because they get a pass for poor OOC scheduling because everyone just drinks the kool-aid of how awesomely tough their in conference schedule is. Vanderbilt plays at home against Wake Forest in two weeks. That should be a fairly good barometer of your hypothesis.
For the record, I think 6-4 Mississippi's State's 38-13 loss to WVU is the SEC's worst OOC defeat.
I think the X-factor that Tebow brings is leadership and enthusiasm. What other quarterback is regularly in the weight room lifting more than the linemen?
Where is this weight room you speak of?
"Oh, and extra points to you for ripping only black players in your comparisons (Dennis Dixon, Vince Young and Michael Vick)."
Even i have the reading comprehension skills to see that the references to vince young and michael vick's were compliments in that they are probably the two most dynamic college qbs of the past 20 years. keep hope alive!
A couple good points here and a couple bad ones.
First, you admit to knowing nothing about Oregon and that is fairly obvious.
Oregon has ZERO wide recieving threats due to season-ending injuries to Dixons #1 AND #2 targets. Yet he still puts up good passing yards. You knock Harvin's ability to come through in the 4th, I can knock Dixon's wideouts for an inability to catch a pass that hits them in the chest.
Tebow has 2 picks that can be taken off the board? Dixon has at least 2 I could take off under those lines. A Hail Mary at the end of a first half (far more excusable than any pick recorded) and a badly tipped ball.
Nobody out west knows how to defend a player similar to Tim Tebow? Jake...Locker...Pacific Time Zone Tebow. Not as strong, but much faster.
Nobody out west plays D or plays in the SEC? First, USC is regarded by many as the best defense in the nation. Dixon didn't destroy them, but he played well enough to win. The SEC is a grand 0-1 vs the Pac-10 this year with a losing record to them (and .500 vs the other BCS conferences) in the BCS era. So don't hide behind a weak "but he plays in the SEC!" argument. The ducks have the 12th hardest schedule in the nation; no SoS arguments work.
Finally, value to his team. This is where your lack of knowledge really hurts your argument.
Dennis Dixon is EVERYTHING to Oregon. His command of the spread option is what makes the offense so good. His ability to read a D and make the quick decision to keep or handoff is not shared by any of his backups. His mobility is especially not shared. Dennis Dixon is every bit as important to his 1 loss national title contending team as Tebow is to his 3-loss out of the picture team.
All that said, Tebow deserves to be in this argument but your teams performance matters in the Heisman as does your class. Tebow won't and shouldn't beat Dixon...
To anybody who still seriously believes the SEC is tougher than the Pac-10:
Wake. Up.
He wont have the best passer rating. Sam Bradford will
CHASE DANIEL!!!!!!!
Being from Florida, I'm obviously a huge Tebow fan, but everyone needs to cool it with the "greatest UF player ever" talk. True, he is a remarkable talent having a fantastic season, but his passing game is still majorly flawed. His passer rating is superb and he makes good decisions for the most part, however, when teams don't have to play the run as much, he can't carve up a defense. I was at a bar with about 14 Gator fans during the LSU game, and not 1 person honestly thought he was going to lead an 80 yard drive with a minute left, because his passing game isn't at that level. He hopefully will get better at precision, but right now he has to improve so UF can play from behind when need be.
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