No respect for s.e.c tailbacks obviously. I cannot believe that no Georgia or alabama tailbacks made finalist for the doak walker award. Montee ball?? a back from an 8-5 wisconsin team,kenjon barner??ucla whoever?? ESpecially after the performances by eddie lacy,tj yeldon and todd gurley in the s.e.c championship game i assumed that at least one of these guys wouldve made finalist for the doak walker award. Look at the defenses thse guys play against in the s.e.c as opposed to what the finalist that were chosen face. Big ten defenses?? Pac 12 defenses??(besides maybe stanford) Wow unbelievable. http://www.tidefans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186125
Notice how Alabama always conveniently omits LSU? (J. C. Copeland) This IMHO is to ensure that any contested recruits (to come in future years) select Alabama. Especially if they really want them in a big way.
SEC backs share the load. Lacy and Yeldon, Gurley and Marshall. Hill and Ware and Ford and Blue, etc. We are better then everyone else, but we have learned to share and play well with the other kids.
And yet an SEC QB or RB brings home national honors every year. 2006 Doak Walker: Darren McFadden 2007 Heisman: Tebow Davey O'Brien: Tebow Walter Camp: Darren McFadden Doak Walker: Darren McFadden 2008 Maxwell: Tebow 2009 Heisman: Ingram 2010 Heisman: Newton Maxwell: Newton Walter Camp: Newton Davey O'Brien: Newton 2011 Doak Walker: Trent Richardson 2012 Davey O'Brien: Manziel Heisman: ?? (Manziel??) and for purposes of The Doak Walker Award year, Its not like SEC teams had a harder time running the ball than anybody else. You've got to remember that the SEC has some outstanding offensive linemen (Tebow had a great OL, Newton had a great OL, Manziel had a great OL, etc) Here's the BCS conference teams that finished in the top 65 (LSU was #65) in average rushing yards per carry this year. Looks like the ACC had the hardest time rushing the ball... SEC (7) #3 Texas A&M #5 Alabama #34 Geogia #45 Tennessee #49 Florida #64 Miss State #65 LSU PAC (6) #1 Oregon #9 Arizona #27 USC #38 Cal #47 UCLA #59 Stanford ACC (5) #6 Florida State #8 Georgia Tech #26 UNC #44 Miami #55 Clemson Big Ten (6) #10 Nebraska #14 Wisconsin #19 Ohio State #28 Northwestern #34 Michigan #51 Purdue BIG 12 (8) #12 Oklahoma State #24 Baylor #31 Oklahoma #33 West Virginia #37 K State #45 Texas #50 Kansas #54 Texas Tech
Speaking of getting robbed by not even being a finalist for the Doak Walker, check out Arizona soph RB Ka'Deem Carey... - 146.42 rushing ypg (#1 in nation) - 1,757 rushing yards (#2 in nation behind NIU's RB) - 20 rushing TD (#3 for BCS conference RB behind Oregon's Kenjon Barner and Wisconsin's Montee Ball, who each had 21) - 6.39 ypc on 275 att (#5 in nation for a BCS conference RB with min 150 att, behind UNC's Giovani Bernard, 184 att; Oregon's Kenjon Barner, 248 att; Alabama's TJ Yeldon, 154 att; and Alabama's Eddie Lacy, 184 att)
This includes QB yards so its not that representative of a Doak Walker candidate. Take the Flying Manzini out of A&M's rushing yards and they are way down. Just trying to stay on topic...
