Need help selecting the Heisman?

ESPN blogger Chris Low provided some very interesting information on Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tim Tebow yesterday evening. He compared the defenses that each Heisman finalist faced in 2008 and the results are not shocking. Tebow has face six defenses in the Top 25, while Bradford has face one and McCoy none.

Here is the list that Low provided:

Sam Bradford
No. 2 TCU
No. 26 Cincinnati
No. 50 Texas
No. 66 Nebraska
No. 72 Texas Tech
No. 86 Oklahoma State
No. 87 Baylor
No. 94 Kansas
No. 99 Missouri
No. 110 Washington
No. 113 Texas A&M
No. 117 Kansas State

Colt McCoy
No. 65 Oklahoma
No. 72 Texas Tech
No. 73 Arkansas
No. 79 Colorado
No. 86 Oklahoma State
No. 91 Missouri
No. 93 Florida Atlantic
No. 94 Kansas
No. 99 Missouri
No. 113 Texas A&M
No. 114 Rice
No. 115 UTEP

Tebow
No. 3 Alabama
No. 4 Tennessee
No. 11 South Carolina
No. 13 Florida State
No. 15 Ole Miss
No. 25 Miami
No. 28 Georgia
No. 29 Vanderbilt
No. 36 LSU
No. 37 Kentucky
No. 59 Hawaii
No. 73 Arkansas

I'm not saying Low's analysis proves Tebow should win, but the argument of comparing statistics should take this evidence into account. However, Tebow may lose the Heisman this year for the same flawed reason he claimed it last year.

OU doesn't deserve it, but Sooners will win

Special Report

Retired Coach Rick
ACC correspondent

I still cannot figure out how Oklahoma is ranked above Texas. There is no rhyme nor reason for it. At this time Oklahoma might be better but they were not better when they played each other. If the BCS would have gotten it right we'd be watching Texas against USC in the title game.

Oklahoma will beat Florida. Everyone says their defense sucks. They play good defense and they have what we used to call, "Here he comes and there he goes speed!" Their overall quickness and speed is better than everyone else. They also have a quality everyone wants on their team and that is called, "nastiness with an attitude."

My prediction: Oklahoma 45, Florida 24. Bob Stoops will have them ready.

Can someone please tell me how Notre Dame deserves to be in a bowl game? This is the most undeserving bowl team in history.

Where's my Black Shirt?

After giving up 422 total yards and 35 points, Nebraska's coaching staff decided this was the week to give out 11 blackshirts to the defense--the first time in the Bo Pelini era.

Is this really the week to reward them? Sure, the Cornhuskers won 45-35 and sacked Kansas QB Todd Reesing five times and picked one pass. But I remember when Nebraska defenses stifled opponents and earned the Blackshirts.

Blackshirts went to defensive linemen Pierre Allen, Zach Potter, Ty Steinkuhler, Clayton Sievers and Ndamukong Suh; linebackers Phillip Dillard and Tyler Wortman; cornerbacks Eric Hagg, Armando Murillo and Anthony West; and safety Larry Asante.

“We thought the physical nature of the play on Saturday, the great effort our guys made running sideline to sideline, we felt like that was a performance where they earned the Blackshirts,” said Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini in a story in the Lincoln Journal Star.

Guess if you look at the history of the Blackshirts, the coaches aren't out of line with tradition and it should serve as a good motivating factor. (Most of the rest of this is lifted from the ultimate source Wikipedia).

The Blackshirts is the name for the first-string defense of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. However, during the 2007 season the players decided to remove them because of their uninspired play.

The term originally dates back to the early 1960s and refers to the black practice jerseys that Nebraska's first-string defenders wear in practice. The first string defense came to wear black practice jerseys in 1964, when a defensive coach went to a local sporting goods store to get yellow practice jerseys, and black was the only color available. Long-time sports information director Don Bryant credits much of Blackshirt mystique to defensive line coach George Kelly, who served on Coach Bob Devaney's staff until 1968. Kelly was often heard yelling and exhorting the Blackshirts during practices and scrimmages. Eventually, the rest of the coaches began calling the top defensive units by the same name.

Now where do I get mine?

Observations from Saturday's Games (Oct. 25)

The Big East and ACC were shaken up Saturday, while Michigan's "Little Brother" whipped up on it. Didn't get to see as many games as I would have liked (thank you ESPN 360) because of my own work requirements. But I'm watching Penn State-Ohio State right now and wanted to let everyone know what I observed this Saturday (besides a nice 30-22 victory by Marietta College over Muskingum College).

1. Nate the Great. I have been raving about Ball State's Nate Davis all season. I think everyone else is finally catching up. Davis did about everything in the No. 20 Cardinals 38-16 victory against Eastern Michigan. Not only did he throw for 241 yards and two scores, he also caught a TD pass. I'd like to say this BSU (not Boise State) could be a BCS buster at 8-0, but the Mid-American Conference is so disrespected I don't see them cracking the Top 12 of the BCS rankings.

2. LSU defense. Really! I'm supposed to take this team serious after giving up 50-plus points in two of the past three weeks? Well I'm not and I don't think too many other people are either. I should have listened to 'Eye when he kept saying that their early wins were against inferior teams. The only two tough opponents (Florida and Georgia) just attacked the vaunted Tiger defense and uncovered many weaknesses.

3. Give me Mo. It's not like anything Georgia's Knowshon Moreno does should surprise me. But his effort against LSU was more like a season highlight reel. He finished with 163 yards, but it was his 68-yard TD run in the third quarter that totally silenced the LSU crowd. It should be noted that LSU's Charles Scott was equally impressive as he gained 144 yards and scored two touchdowns.

4. Big 12 classic. No. 1 Texas did enough to remain on top of the rankings, especially after back-to-back tough weeks and possibly looking ahead to No. 8 Texas Tech. But give No. 6 Oklahoma State a lot of credit for giving the Longhorns more than most expected in Austin. Looks like T. Boone Pickens is getting his $168 million worth (or whatever the value of his gift is now after the stock market crash). Texas QB Colt McCoy looked almost human as he threw a critical interception, but the future Heisman Trophy winner still threw for almost 400 yards. Now can Texas get up again this week?

5. Leave it to Wannstache. Just when it looks like Pitt is finally turned a corner under Dave Wannstache, the Panthers blow a game (see Rutgers 54, Pittsburgh 34). I know QB Bill Stull had to be carried off the field after hitting his helmet with a teammate, but Pitt was already struggling with Rutgers. This was bad for the Big East. Pitt, despite a loss to Bowling Green, had established itself as a legitimate team for the conference. That seems to have fallen back to WVU after Thursday's impressive win over Auburn. Throw in South Florida's loss at Louisville and the Big East is having a bad year.

5. ACC shakeup. Think the Big East is confusing, well fans of the ACC are just as confused. Following another weird week the favorites to win the conference are Florida State, Maryland and Virginia. FSU isn't so crazy, but Maryland and Virginia were written off after the first or second week. Give Ralph Friedgen and Al Groh some props for the job they have done keeping their teams focused. Many credible sources have always told me what an excellent coach Friedgen is. However, I've never heard many positives about Groh. He's got my respect now.

6. More ACC wackiness. I keep telling folks to stay away from the ACC if your picking games. I tried it again this week since it was an SEC team (Vanderbilt) playing the ACC (Duke). This seemed like an easy one, but I should have know that David Cutcliffe would have the Dookies ready for the Commodores.

7. Taking notice now. I'm not on the bandwagon, but I'm not as anti-Texas Tech as I was just 24 hours ago. The Red Raiders 63-21 whipping of Kansas was a legitimate win. Kansas is a mid-level team in most conferences, but this is the kind of win Tech needed. The hype heading into this week's game with No. 1 Texas is going to be something the folks in Lubbock have never witnessed before.

8. What's bad about the Big 12. Missouri will still likely make the conference championship game because the North Division is so crappy. Great Missouri getting the crap kicked out of them. The most exciting part of this game will be at halftime when some 5-foot-8 white guy tries to win $1 million throwing footballs at moving Dr. Pepper bottles.

9. Bama fans. Alabama's game with Tennessee isn't even over yet, but I know they are having a good week. The Tide will finish off the Vols and the win could finish Phil Fulmer at Tennessee. That's a very good week for the folks in Tuscaloosa. But I also know they enjoyed Auburn's loss at West Virginia an awful lot also. My sister lives there and when she wore her WVU jacket the next day, a number of Bama fans responded very positively.

10. Herbstreit kids. Kirk Herbstreit has cute kids. But he needs to stop bringing them onto the Game Day set every time they are in Columbus. There always seems to be one of his genetically superior sons who breaks down like a little girl lost at the mall. Enough. Leave them at home with mom.

LSU fan gets defensive

Now if just the Tigers would play some this season. A lot of fans have felt this way. This dude got to express it to everyone watching.