Collin Klein still ahead but Johnny football surges ahead...
Week 5 of the rankings:
1. Collin Klein-QB KSU- Questions remained whether Collin would play or not but he did play and turned in an average night for the Wildcats passing for 145 yards with no TD’s and a pick but added 50 yards on the ground and 2 TD’s. KSU only put up 260 total yards against against TCU on Saturday night. I just can’t take Klein out of the top spot because they still haven’t lost and that’s big reason is because of him.
2. Johnny Manziel- QB-Texas A & M- I have been on the Johnny football bandwagon all year. The bandwagon has been picking up passengers but after rolling into to Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Saturday and beating the Crimson Tide I think the bandwagon will be full. The things this freshman QB is doing is amazing considering he has passed for the 3rd highest yards in the SEC and leads the SEC in rushing. As a matter of fact Johnny football is the only runner in the SEC to top the 1000 yard mark. The Aggies have played and won 3 straight road games in the SEC, not an easy feat. Against the Tide this weekend Manziel was a very efficient 24/31 for 253 yards and 2 TD’s passing to go along with 92 yards on the ground.
3. Braxton Miller-QB-Ohio State-The Buckeyes had a bye week and sit at 10-0. Braxton drops a spot this week which I do not like to do since he didn’t play but had to take in account what Manziel was doing. The next 2 games will be a test for Braxton Miller and Ohio State as they go on the road to face Wisconsin and finish off against rival Michigan.
4. Manti Te’o- LB-Notre Dame- Not only is Manti a tackling machine and team leader for the Fighting Irish defense he can also make the timely interception as he has grabbed his school record for linebackers 6th pick in the game Saturday night against Boston College. He also is tied with Derron Smith of Fresno State for 2nd in the nation in interceptions. Impressive to say the least as he is the only non-defensive back in the top 10 in the country in interceptions.
5. Marqise Lee-WR-USC- Marqise makes his way into the top 5 for the first time this season. Hard to leave him out of anyone’s list considering he leads the nation in receptions with 98 but also receiving yardage with 1447. The sophomore a season ago racked up 73 receptions for 1143 yards so he has already topped that mark.
5. (Tie) Marcus Mariota-QB-Oregon-The Ducks are undefeated and headed straight towards a chance at the National Title and a huge reason why is first year QB Marcus Mariota. He has flat out been amazing, but it’s been tough to pick a guy on this team because the numbers are so spread out. However after back to back 300 yard passing performances with 6 TD’s coming against Cal on Saturday night Marcus truly belongs in the discussion for the Heisman. As a matter of fact Mariota hasn’t thrown a pick in the last 4 games. For the season Marcus has 28 TD passes to just 5 picks and has ran for an impressive 516 yards on the ground.
DROPPED OUT:
AJ McCarron-QB-Alabama- It’s was easy to keep AJ in the top 5 as long as the Tide were crushing opponents but tough to justify numbers wise when they dropped a game at home. AJ had not thrown a pick all season but threw 2 against the Aggies this Saturday.
Kenjon Barner-RB-Oregon-After putting up crazy numbers against USC to a tune of 321 yards rushing, things didn’t go so well for Barner against Cal as he had 20 carries for only 65 yards in this game. Besides it’s time to give Mariota from Oregon more props for now. To his credit he did leave the game in the first half with injury but game right back.
Week 4 of the rankings, Klein strengthens has an iron grip on the top spot
1. Collin Klein-QB KSU- Just add another top 25 victory to Collin Klein’s resume. The Wildcat offense was up and rolling right along holding onto the football for an impressive 37 minutes and 15 minutes more of possession time than the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Klein passed for 245 yards and ran for another 64 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Klein has been in the end zone 12 times in the last 3 weeks. He was injured in the 3rd quarter and did not return and we will have to keep our eye out on that.
2. Braxton Miller- QB OSU- The Buckeyes are now a perfect 10-0 on the season after pounding Illinois on Saturday. They have 2 games remaining at Wisconsin and rival Michigan to end the season. Can they go undefeated? I say yes and a big reason is Braxton Miller. Even though Urban Meyer’s crew can’t go to the Big 10 title game and to a bowl game they still can run the table and make a statement. Against Illinois on Saturday Braxton threw for 226 yards with 2 td’s and no INT’s. On the ground Braxton racked up 73 yards rushing and added another TD.
3. AJ McCaron-QB Alabama- Many times a Heisman winner has a moment when he took care of business in the clutch and made a defining statement. Saturday night with Alabama’s backs against the wall in front of a hostile crowd in Death Valley McCarron put the Tide on his back and led a 72 yard drive that culminated with a T. J. Yeldon 28 yard catch and run to put the Crimson Tide up 21 to 17 with 51 seconds remaining. As far as stats in the game McCarron only threw for 165 yards and a TD which is not overwhelming at all but he retains his position with that incredible drive. McCarron has yet to throw an INT on the season.
4. Johnny Manziel- QB Texas A & M Johnny football continues to dominate, after going on the road and crushing Auburn this time Johnny went to Starkville, MS and put one on 15th ranked Mississippi state by passing 30/36 for 311 yards and adding 129 yards on the ground and 2 TD’s. Manziel has now passed for over 300 yards and ran for at least 100 yards 3 times this season. For the year Manziel has 2527 yards passing with 16 touchdowns to go along with 922 yards rushing and 15 more touchdowns. He won’t win the Heisman but he is certain to finish in the top 5. Huge test this week as the Aggies who play in their 3rd straight road game by heading to Alabama.
5. (Tie)Manti Te’o- LB Notre Dame- Pittsburgh gave Notre Dame all the wanted and nearly won this game. Te’o racked up 7 tackles and half a sack in this game. Manti now has 87 tackles on the season.
5. (Tie) Kenjon Barner-RB Oregon- Last week Kenjon was outside looking in but no way he can be left out after putting up 321 yards and 5 touchdowns. For the season Barner has 1295 yards and 19 touchdowns. Oregon’s offense is so good all the way around but Barner is standing way out amongst the crowd.
Week 3 of the rankings, Klein strengthens has an iron grip on the top spot
1. Collin Klein- QB- K-State- Well KSU is already sending out the Klein for Heisman brochure as they well should, complete with a band-aid across the front. Fitting for the pound for pound toughest player in the Big 12 conference. Klein once again was at the top of his game as he dispatched yet another top 25 team, this time Texas Tech. Klein was efficient in the passing game going 19/26 for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns and if that wasn’t enough ran for 83 yards and 2 more touchdowns giving him 11 td’s the last two weeks against ranked opponents.
2. Braxton Miller- QB Ohio St- Braxton continues to impress on the field. What also impresses is the fact the Buckeyes aren’t playing for anything as they cannot go to a bowl game this season or the Big 10 title game yet are sitting a 9-0 on the season and the biggest reason is the play of Braxton Miller who knocked out of the game last week came back strong and passed for 143 yards and a td and added 134 yards rushing and 2 td’s on the ground.
3. AJ Mccaron-QB Alabama- Mccaron’s numbers won’t blow you away and he is starting to climb many Heisman watch list as well he should be. AJ has the Crimson Tide on cruise control. He has now thrown for 1684 yards 18 td’s and yet to throw an interception. He is very worthy of this list as he guided Alabama to a national title last year and still keeps Bama undefeated this season.
4. Manti Te’o- Linebacker Notre Dame-Notre Dame went to Norman, OK and took care of business as they shut down the Sooners high powered offense and held the Sooners to just 13 pts at home. Notre Dame is only the 5th team to go to Norman and beat a Bob Stoops team since he began coaching at Oklahoma (side note my #1 guy Collin Klein did this earlier this season). Te’o continued to shine racking up a team high 11 tackles and interception and a sack as he is the most dominant defense player in college football this season.
5. Johnny Manziel- QB- Texas A&M- Johnny football re-joins the list this week after crushing Auburn, Johnny led 7 scoring drives and was resting one series into the third quarter but had already racked up 260 yards passing and 2 td’s to go along with 90 yards rushing and 3 more td’s on the road. The Aggies as a team racked up 671 yards the most ever on Auburn. The 63 points by Texas A & M is the most yielded by Auburn since 1917!
DROPPED OUT-
MATT BARKLEY- QB USC—Hard to drop a guy after throwing for 493 yards but they lost again and Barkley had 2 interceptions.
LOOK OUT FOR-
Kenjon Barner-RB Oregon Ducks- Oregon is racking up points this season using a host of players from QB Marcus Mariota, De’Anthony Thomas and of course the electric Kenjon Barner who has put 974 yards rushing, 158 yards receiving and 15 total TD’s.
Week 2 of the rankings, Klein strengthens his hold at #1 but there is movement.
1. Collin Klein- QB KSU- Who says Klein can’t throw? He passed for a career high 323 yards and 3 touchdowns going an amazing 19/21. I realize you can find people in nursing homes around the country that could put up 250 on West Virginia but still he was flat out dominating and did nothing but strengthen his lock on the top spot. With the 3 passing td’s he also added 4 rushing touchdowns giving him 7 on the night. Just give him the trophy.
2. Braxton Miller- QB OSU- Miller didn’t have the best of games and left this game to go to the hospital to be checked out, thankfully he passed all his test and was released. Like Klein, he has been the catalyst for their respective teams remaining undefeated.
3. AJ Mccaron- QB Alabama- a common theme in the list this week is career high passing #’s. Collin Klein topped his career high Saturday night and in Knoxville, AJ Mccarron was doing the same. He threw for a career high 306 yards for the nation’s top ranked team. He also added 4 td passes. Often he is overlooked, but the fact he has not yet thrown a pick with all the pressure surrounding him should be respected.
4. Matt Barkley- QB USC-Barkley enters the list this week as he started first in a lot of list before the season started. Barkley threw 6 td passes Saturday night and is the new td passing leader in the storied history of USC. However, playing against Colorado’s defense is a stat builder as they are a horrible football team, but Barkley has put up the #’s to be a legit contender but the gap between Barkley and Klein is like the Grand Canyon at this point.
5. Manti Te’o- Linebacker Notre Dame- Manti is starting to climb a lot of lists and should be as the main reason Notre Dame still is undefeated is the play of their outstanding defense. A huge game this week at Oklahoma and Te’o will be climbing many charts despite being a defensive player. Against BYU, Te’o added 10 tackles to his already impressive season.
DROPPED OUT-
GENO SMITH-QB West Virginia—Geno could still find his way back in very easily but back to back losses and a couple of picks against KSU has dropped him out of the running.
JOHHNY MANZIEL-QB Texas A & M- Johnny Football takes a back seat this week with the loss at home to LSU. He only accounted for 27 yards rushing on 17 attempts. He also threw for 276 yards but threw the ball 56 times! He had a chance to beat LSU in this game but just didn’t get the job done.
LOOK OUT FOR-
SETH DOEGE- QB Texas Tech- Tech has been one of the surprise teams in the country this season after a huge collapse last season after beating OU in Norman, something only done but 3 times in Stoops tenure. The senior QB passed for 318 yards and 7 td’s on Saturday on the road against TCU. 5 times this season Doege has passed for over 300 yards including 499 yards last week against West Virginia.
It’s that time of year as the new BCS rankings come out to try to make some sense out for the most coveted individual honor in college football the Heisman trophy.
1. Collin Klein- Threw for 187 yards and rushed for 105 this week on the road at Iowa State. So far for the season Klein has passes for 1074 yards, 7 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. On the ground Klein has rushed for 510 yards and added another 10 td’s. These aren’t eye popping stats but they don’t need to be as he has KSU undefeated and in first place in the Big 12 before this weekend’s big showdown with West Virginia. Klein is the most valuable player for his team in the nation and the toughest pound for pound player regardless of position in the Big 12.
2. Braxton Miller-This sophomore QB is taking the Big 10 by storm and has guided Ohio State who is not eligible for post season to a 7-0 ranking and 3-0 in the Big 10. Like Collin Klein Braxton has done it on the ground and threw the air. Against Indiana this weekend Braxton passed for 211 yards and ran for another 149. On the year Braxton has thrown for 1271 yards, 11 td’s and 4 picks. On the ground 912 yards and 9 td’s.
3. Geno Smith- despite the Mountaineers being pounded in Lubbock they still can win the Big 12. Geno Smith has been off the charts with already 2271 yards passing 25 td’s to 0 interceptions which leaves Chiefs fans drooling.
4. Johnny Manziel-yes Johnny Manziel the freshman qb of the Aggies and one of the nation’s best kept secrets. The Aggies now playing in the toughest conference in the country are off to a 5-1 start with their only loss to undefeated Florida by 3 points. Against 23rd ranked La Tech this weekend Manziel passed for 395 yards and added 181 on the ground. For the season Manziel has passed for 1680 yards 14 td’s and just 3 int’s. On the ground Manziel has racked up 676 yards and another 10 td’s.
5. AJ Mccaron- Why not? After all he is the starting QB for the #1 ranked Crimson tide who already has a national title under his belt. This season his numbers aren’t eye popping and he does have a great running attack and defense as support but his play has been brilliant after throwing for 1170 yards 12 td’s and 0 int’s.
Outside looking in barely-
1. Manti Te’o- linebacker Notre Dame. Notre Dame is undefeated and a big reason is of the play of linebacker Manti TE’O who has 59 total tackles and 3 interceptions on the season. Against Stanford this weekend TE’O racked up 11 tackles and is a huge force on Notre Dames stifling defense.
Morning rain storms in St. Joe meant a cooler practice in the afternoon. But it gradually heated up and so did the intensity of practice.
Today we got to finally see alot of 11 on 11 action and the Chiefs 2012 picture began to clear up to some extent. Noticeably absent from practice was Jamaal Charles so it meant plenty of carries from Peyton Hillis. Not only have I been impressed by the way Hillis can make cuts from a 250 lb frame but also his pass catching ability.
What stood out today was just how good of a blocker Hillis is. Today, he was matched one on one with a linebacker and he looked quick and strong. What I like about Hillis is the fact he is an every down back. Sure, the plan is for Jamal to be healthy and return this year. However, if he can't, the Chiefs have a guy in Hillis that can pound defenses on first and second down then to either catch or block on third down.
As far as the quarterback play goes, I thought it was a down day for Matt Cassel. He and Stanzi threw a pick in the 11 on 11 drills. Brady Quinn continues to struggle to get the ball away, but he still had the best overall practice I've seen (including a great pass to undrafted free agent Josh Bellamy out of Louisville).
With all things being equal, if Matt Cassel goes down in a game it will be Quinn getting the nod with his NFL experience. What we need to see more from these QB's is 2 minute drills how they can handle the pressure. So far, that would only be a guess.
Dontari Poe had mixed results today. What I do like is his natural strength and ability to tie up blockers. He even made a nice play dicing throught the line and stopping a ball carrier in the backfield. I like the fact that he has this chip on his shoulder but I would like to see that translate into some nastiness. For example, he had a perfect opportunity to jack a running back to the ground today, but chose not to. I want to see him step up and develop a mean streak that is required for the position
Chiefs have a day off tommorrow with the next practice on Monday but the real evaluation time comes on Tuesday afternoon when the one and only practice between the Chiefs and the Cardinals takes place.
And so it was Saturday night at the stroke at midnight that University of Missouri and Texas A & M officially became members of the SEC. It also meant that TCU and West Virginia were now proud members of the Big 12 conference. We all knew it was going to happen, but it just felt weird on Saturday night looking at twitter and seeing SEC official twitter accounts welcome the Tigers and Aggies followed by pics of parties in the streets of Columbia. Twitter was like New Years Eve on Saturday night marking a new beginning for 4 teams.
For some the celebrations were grand like in Forth Worth, Texas where according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram the Frogs packed the famed Billy Bob’s and the stock yards while Coach Gary Patterson and TCU AD Chris Del Conte fired up the crowd. At West Virginia they are waited until Sunday to party as they threw a big BBQ and even had new Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on hand to celebrate.
This once again marks a significant time in college football. Last year was the year of conference hopping and this year was the year of getting a playoff finally in the books as last week the presidents approved the measure for a 4 team playoff.
So, last night was a night to celebrate for many and for others to maybe feel differently. I know in our town we have many feeling regarding conference re-alignment. Missouri fans are joyous of moving to the most powerful football conference in America yet many seem saddened to say good bye to their great rival in Kansas. For Kansas fans, its bitter sweet as well as they feel jilted by Missouri and age old rival leaving them high and dry. But what is for certain as the departures of Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, Texas A & M hasn’t hurt the conference as the Big 12 with the additions of TCU and West Virginia it’s as strong financially as it has ever been. Add into the fact of the Big 12 and SEC bowl alliance and the Big 12 sits right alongside of the SEC, Pac 12 and Big 10 as one of the premier football conferences in America. Sure, there was doubt but then came along Chuck Neinas who came in and really got this thing going back into a good direction. Bob Bowlsby will now lead the Big 12 into its new future and I think they are in good hands.
So good bye’s are always tough it’s just like a long time girlfriend of your family when you have to leave them and go a new direction in your life. You know the day is coming but it doesn’t truly feel real until it happens. Saturday night at midnight if happened and we know live in a world without Mizzou and KU together. Don’t be down be excited as I think it is going to be great to cover two great football conference in the SEC and Big 12. I can’t wait, let football season begin!
Well it’s been a fun week. Josh Vernier and I started with The Big Show and both of us were excited to get Jayice Pearson in the studio with us as well. First of all, let me say I am glad you have chosen to listen to the show. We plan on working hard on bringing interactive, discussion based sports radio with quality guests sprinkled in on subjects that we plan to talk about.
Right now the hot topics are clearly the NBA Finals and the matchup of Lebron V. Kevin Durant. Vernier likes to talk about the torch being passed from the greats of the game to a guy like Kevin Durant. The NBA finals are a chance for legends to be made and clearly either Lebron or Kevin Durant can take that next step.
This week also marked the last Chiefs practice before training camp in St. Joe. Josh and I plan on doing almost all of our shows live from St. Joe to be your eyes and ears for all the events that that transpire at training camp. We posed the question on the show this week as to what will be the main stories you want to see from camp. Overwhelmingly, it was Matt Cassel and rightfully so as he holds the key to the Chiefs 2012 success. Other popular topics are of course the development of Dontari Poe, the Chiefs 11th pick in the first round of this year’s draft. Let’s face it, he has all the size and speed you would want from a guy to play the nose tackle position and to be honest a man 346 pounds running a sub 5.00 40 yard dash should have you excited. But poor coaching at Memphis means Dontari will have to be on the fast track to be of value to the Kansas City Chiefs. Having said that, the right coachs are in place with this staff to get the job done in Romeo Crennel and defensive line coach Anthony Pleasant. So keep sending in those text and emails of what you want us to keep an eye on.
Conference re-alignment talk has stalled with nothing else to report on. But the first of a series of meetings between the BCS commissioners took place and a major story for the summer will be when they finally decide the exact format of how the post season will take shape. But at least we will be moving closer to a true national champion.
Again thanks for listening and being part of the show we appreciate it and look forward to bringing you a great product between 2 and 6pm on 610 Sports.
