ABC / ESPN / IBM have been counting down the Top 25 All-Time College Football players. They've listed numbers 25 through 11. Help me figure out who's in the top ten. Here's who we have so far...
No. 11 Charles Woodson No. 12 Earl Campbell No. 13 Glenn Davis No. 14 Hugh Green No. 15 John Elway No. 16 Tom Harmon No. 17 Bronco Nagurski No. 18 Jim Brown No. 19 D. Butkus No. 20 Charley Trippi No. 21 Archie Griffin No. 22 George Gipp No. 23 Johnny Rodgers No. 24 Reggie Bush No. 25 Ernie Nevers
This tells us they're not afraid to name defensive players or legendary figures. Here's some possibilities: Marcus Allen, Sammy Baugh, Brian Bosworth, Billy Cannon, Ron Dayne, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Doug Flutie, Paul Hornung, Rocket Ismael, Bob Lilly, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Anthony Munoz, Joe Namath, Brian Piccolo, Jim Plunkett, Gale Sayers, Emmitt Smith, Roger Staubach, Lawrence Taylor, Andre Ware, Doug Williams. Probably one or two legends from Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Nebraska, or Oklahoma.
MY top ten: 10. Archie Manning: a huge hero. 9. Jerry Rice: small school, big numbers. 8. Deion Sanders: better than Woodson. 7. John Hannah: greatest lineman ever? 6. Red Grange: didn't he help put the game on the map? 5. Jim Thorpe: revolutionalized the game. 4. O.J.: greatest of the USC tailbacks. 3. Tony Dorsett: broke the all-time NCAA rushing record. 2. Barry Sanders: just as amazing at OK State as he was in the pros. 1. Herschel. Broke the NCAA rushing record for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, finishing third all-time in rushing in only three years.
Most college football teams want to look like Miami or Oregon, who seems to get a Nike makeover every year. This is not a good thing. Stripes on pants now change direction and shape…as they do on jerseys, wandering across the back and front. Great traditions have been thrown out the window. Kids can like the look, but it’s hilarious to hear Coaches and AD’s loving the looks…sounds like the emperor has new clothes!
1. LSU: great stripes.
2. USC: simple & classic top to bottom.
3. Syracuse: they pull off the orange & navy.
4. Auburn: consistent, traditional stripe pattern. Too bad the team is so bad.
5. Alabama: Great, all the way down to the white shoestrings they wore last year.
6. Tennessee: They get it. Loved the throwbacks with the orange shoulders.
7. Texas: simple, but the pants need stripes.
8. FSU: Love the white pants with 2 stripes.
9. OhioState: Nike’s messing with a classic.
10. UCLA: but I hate the current numbers: busy!
11. Georgia: Nike hasn’t messed it up completely.
Honorable Mention: Hawaii, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State (need grey facemasks!), Stanford.
Nike Ugly: Boise State, Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Maryland, Miami, Oregon, Oregon State, Pitt, Portland State, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
Georgia Tech’s Unis are outdated and way too busy. The stripes on the collar and pants don’t match the traditional stripes on the sleeves, and were trendy in the early 80’s. The jerseys have enough patches to make a NASCAR driver proud. The black facemasks are ugly. Suggestion: return to the mustard jerseys and white helmets worn in the throwback game last year.
Helmets look best when they’re uncluttered, and a classic look is tops. Extra points for a grey facemask, but white is OK…especially with a white helmet.
Most of the calls have been going Florida's way. That spot on the fourth down spot could've gone either way.
Another personal foul before the half...the Gators are playing with fire. Nice job to just bat the hail mary pass down. Still a lot of football left, as Meyer just said.
The Buckeyes can't afford to hand thier heads...UGA came back down 18 to win the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and contibuted the comeback to integrity. We'll see how OSU does!
Up two touchdowns, that was a dumb move by the Gator defender to push Smith well after the pass. Earlier they got away with the offsides penalty. The Buckeye TD, followed by the kickoff out of the end zone, has helped swing momentum back toward OSU.
Play Reggie Ball in the Gator? Hopefully Gailey doesn't make decisions based on his reaction to the AJC. I've been frustrated with Ball for years and figured Bennett wasn't a good enough option. Does make me wonder why they never got a good QB recruit. Is this a slump that Ball is in, or just inconsistency? The press has been particularly unimpressed the last two postgame interviews by Ball...does he just not care any more? He did run hard against Wake, but I've never seen him throw worse. Big difference between Ball and Matt Stafford.
Interesting comments in the Bradley column...that Gailey played Ball to stay on the good side of Atlanta high school coaches. Other comments are revealing about poor coaching decisions. Any chance to bring in offensive genius Ken Whisenhunt? We need to keep that defensive coach.
Figured GT would play like they did. Hate to waste the great defensive effort the last two games. After falling flat in a few of the most recent bowl games, hopefully that won't happen again, since West Virginia will be tough anyway. The GT defense is so good that they could've beaten UGA and Wake had they not turned the ball over (and kept throwing it out of bounds when the defensive strategy was to commit pass interference). I just hope they don't get embarrassed in the Gator Bowl.
Sounds like the new AD is on the ball, and wants to build a winner. Hard to clean house after a 9 win season. Calvin sure could've been a lot more productive. After not running reverses for 2-1/2 years, why did they try it on 3rd and one? I hate end-arounds!
But I wanted Ball benched before Bradley wrote that column. The QB doesn't need to be a running threat when you've got other weapons...look at UGA, Auburn, etc. I like Florida and Arkansas' offenses...letting different players take the snaps and throw passes, since so many athletes were HS QBs.
Another typical Georgia Tech game today in the ACC Championship: good defense, irratic passing from Reggie Ball, dropped passes, questionable play-calling from Patrick Nix, and stupid penalties.
Typical ending: On 4th and ten Ball can’t get a pass off, instead running out of bounds. Has he ever made a good play with the game on the line? (save the victory at Clemson won by Calvin). Gailey then punted, never to see the ball again.
Wake usually plays turnover-free and mistake-free football, but has several penalties. Passes are completed when the QB can get the ball off, but Wake has yet to solve the GT pass rush. Tech needed to score more and not turn the ball over to win.
Ball’s 4th down interception was thrown into a mass of four defenders, and the return past the line of scrimmage made the play a disaster. Luckily it was the only turnover. Nessler and Griese correctly called out Ball on the Jacket’s second drive, when he missed two wide open deep receivers for touchdowns. The 4th quarter / 1st down INT was like a punt, but the defense had just sat down. The tired defense gave up an 80 yard drive for the game-winning FG.
Calvin has dropped two today, after having a drop or two in the last few games. James Johnson hasn’t stepped up. All ACC RB Choice hasn’t gotten enough touches to establish himself. A great strategy to throw deep against single-coverage, but it backfires with Ball throwing out of bounds or far off the mark.
The hurried 4th down QB sneak was another bad play. It is bad coaching and bad QB leadership to let the clock run down and not getting a measurement. To his credit, Ball ran better than he had all year.
Nessler and Griese are among the best announcers in the country. Why they need the inane Paul McGuire to rant in the rain is beyond me. Several times Nessler, Griese, and replays have shown McGuire’s comments to be far off the mark.
Tech has yet to throw Calvin on a fade route, instead putting him in motion and running him on end-arounds on 3rd & one – when Johnson hasn’t run these plays in college (except the last game or two). Bell has made two FGs, but is too unreliable to ride all the way to victory. Tech needs to get in the end zone. After driving the ball down the field on the first drive, Nix hasn’t called those plays again.
Another bad call: Instead of donning the good-looking gold jerseys they won in all year, Tech breaks out the navy jerseys they wore in the 1980’s…when they were winning three games a year. I know, they wore them in 1990 when they won the national championship.
10. Oregon State: Don’t like the black on black. Nice stripes, though.
9. Clemson: Purple on purple? Plus the ugly, skinny Nike stripes. Nice helmet.
8. West Virginia: Great team. Hate the Broncos look.
7. Cal: See West Virginia.
6. NC State: Always bad.
5. Georgia Tech: Hate the black masks and huge neck stripes. Loved this year’s throwbacks.
4. Mississippi State: Should stay away from the burgundy pants.
3. Maryland: Red pants without stripes, coupled with black shoes and socks, makes the team look like midgets.
2. Boston College: Such an old school name and place – why do they have their funky names and numbers?
1. Wake Forest/Vandy/Army/Navy/Purdue/Southern Miss/Central Florida/Missouri: Gold helmets and pants together with black jerseys. Great when left simple, like the Irish. But the more complicated the uni gets, the uglier it gets as well.
No surprise the Gator Bowl doesn't want Tech. They sign a contract with the ACC, then every year the bowls try to finagle and cherry pick. Tech doesn't travel well, but 4 of the last 5 bowls were out west...Emerald Bowl, Champs Sports, Humanitarian (Boise), Silicon Valley, Seattle Bowl. At least now GT has an AD who digs into these things BEFORE Tech gets the shaft. It's all about the money for the bowls, and teams fall in line so they can practice an extra 5 weeks.
Colin Cowherd is similar to 680's John Kincaid, whose sole talent is making listeners mad. Kincaid says he likes coaches like Bill Parcells who get on players publicly (you see how long Parcells lasts at any one place, and the shape of the team he leaves behind). But when Arthur Blank says that everyone's performance will be under review, and that an 8 - 8 record is unacceptable, Kincaid thinks that's too much pressure for professional football players making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Kincaid is still upset at the way Terrell Owens upset his Philadelphia Eagles' apple cart. Despite the fact that he likes Parcells, Kincaid refuses to rank the Cowboys among the NFL's best teams...because of Owens. At least Buck Belue quite often puts Kincaid in his place.
GOLF: Tiger knew it would be tough to win at East Lake, though he said he definitely would play next year if he qualifies. He came in second in both China and Japan, no doubt making mom happy by playing over there. In Japan he was tied for the lead with P. Harrington going into the last round, and led by something like 4 shots with 6 holes to go. Then Harrington went 6 under for the last few holes to force a playoff, and birdied both playoff holes to win.
Get that free Callaway Golf magazine? Did you get the recent one with Arnold Palmer on the cover? Amazing story about all the stuff he's saved in his barn in Latrobe PA.
What sportsmanship! Instead of running out the clock, Rutgers keeps running plays to score an un-needed touchdown. What class.
I don't care if it pads some stats or gets a guy a record. Just makes that record more empty.
UGA had the chance to do the same thing two weeks ago when they upset Auburn, but head coach Mark Richt chose to run out the clock. That's class, and good sportsmanship.
Rutgers could learn. Perhaps that's why they've struggled so in the past. Perhaps not all of thier coaches will jump off the bandwagon for better jobs. Blame them?
Wonder how they'll fare against West Virginia next week?
Once again Reggie Ball found a way to lose the game...like botching that first and goal. That second-down pass to Calvin was off, like many first half passes. The fumble resulting in the TD. Slipping on the two-point play. Game ending INT. Thankfully only two more games - probably losses.
The WRs haven't helped...drops by both Johnsons, Dunlap stepping out of bounds before getting the first. Kick returners standing there with the ball. Offensive lineman jumping. I can't type enough to keep with the mistakes. The Tech D only gives up eight points - one touchdown. The offense was pittiful.
UGA freshman Matt Stafford showed what a real QB can do.
Didn't take the SEC replay official long to "review" the fumble recovery/touchdown by UGA. Both a Tech and UGA player were on the ground...it appeared the UGA player had recovered, the 43 hollered for his teammate to give him the ball. The ball should've been down at that point. Unbelievable. Perhaps when I see the replay 50 times I'll change my mind.
That play I saw. In the first half there were two pass interference calls right in front of the refs that weren't called, according to the radio.
No relation to Dale! Lifetime Georgia boy...enjoys visiting the rest of the USA. The CPA is my buddy with a finger on the pulse of MLB. I'm a GT grad who also appreciates UGA. Love the Braves & MLB, tolerate the Falcons, Hawks, & Thrashers. A worker bee enjoying Little League & ballet - my excuse for not having hours to write & research. More ramblings can be found at www.sacrifice fly.blogspot. com
