5 Thoughts - Dec. 6

- 5 Thoughts Week 1 (What to do with BYU) 
- Week 2 (The problem with the polls, and the new star QBs)
- Week 3 (The sleeper team to watch out for)
- Week 4 (The Big East apology)
- Week 5 (To Tebow or not Tebow)
- Week 6 (Bama vs. Florida ... already?)
- Week 7 (The pecking order for the national title)
- Week 8 (The Landry Jones era begins)
- Week 9 (Why not Boise State?)
- Week 10 (The at-large BCS teams will be ...)
- Week 11 (The future of Notre Dame)
- Week 12 (The best BCS possibilities)
- Week 13 (The face of the anti-playoffers)

1. He lost the battle, but ... Part 1

By Pete Fiutak

Hook up each and every Heisman voter to a lie detector and ask who’s “the most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2009,” and see how that syncs up with how the voting finally comes out.

I’ve always viewed the Heisman, the greatest individual award in all of sports, as an honor that belongs to the signature player in a given college football season. That doesn’t necessarily mean it should go to the best player or the most talented player; that’s what the NFL Draft is for. It should go to the one player who defines a season to such a degree that we will all look back on that year and say that he was the guy (or at least as much as the voters possibly can before the bowl games). In lieu of one player who might be the one who makes the year, then yeah, the Heisman Trophy really should go to the guy who really was the best of the bunch.

The most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2009 is Ndamukong Suh, defensive tackle, Nebraska.

Alabama RB Mark Ingram will win it, although I’m not quite sure why, outside of the voters thinking they're supposed to vote for him. It’s debatable whether or not he’s the best player on his own team, and while his numbers are great, they aren’t better than Stanford’s Toby Gerhart (my No. 2 choice on the ballot), and he didn’t have to carry his team like Gerhart did.

Ingram was strong against Florida in the SEC Championship, but as that game proved, it’s not like the Tide running game was going to whither up and die without him. Ingram averaged four yards per carry on the way to a great 113-yard, three-touchdown, 76-receiving-yard day, but Trent Richardson (7.3 yards per carry) and Roy Upchurch (8.1 yards per carry) were every bit as effective. But I don’t want to make this an anti-Ingram debate in any way; I voted him third on my ballot considering he was so amazing in the biggest games of the year … except for the close-call against Auburn. Gerhart was consistently better, while Suh was consistently unbelievable.

In case you didn’t get the memo, the Nebraska offense stinks. The great Longhorn D had a lot to do with that, but the Huskers really are that sad offensively, and yet they came within a microsecond and a 46-yard bomb of a field goal from winning the Big 12 title and going to the Fiesta Bowl, because of Suh and the defensive front.

America got turned on to Suh’s greatness on Saturday night as he ragdolled the Texas offensive front with 12 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks in what has to go down as one of the greatest individual defensive performances of all-time. But while he was spectacular when the team needed him the most, it wasn’t like this was a shock, making him and his season all the more incredible.

Despite being doubled and triple teamed on every play all season long, Suh managed to lead the team with 82 tackles with 12 sacks, and 19.5 tackles for loss. He also broke up ten passes (and is the only down lineman in America ranking among the top 100 nationally), came up with 21 quarterback hurries, and blocked three kicks, with two coming against Iowa State to keep Nebraska’s dead offense alive. To put this in perspective, Florida LB Brandon Spikes made 62 tackles on the year, and TCU pass rushing extraordinaire, Jerry Hughes, made 11.5 sacks.

It’s time for a pure defensive player to win the Heisman. While Suh plays a little fullback in short-yardage situations, this isn’t a Charles Woodson situation. The former Michigan star should’ve won the 1997 Heisman just because of his defensive play, but he beat Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf, Ricky Williams, and Randy Moss because he was a strong receiver and a punt returner, too. Now it’ll be interesting to see how many of those who wrote the “Suh should be a finalist” articles actually voted him as the most outstanding player this year, and if they didn’t, they need to make a case why not. If they didn't, they'll regret it.

2. He lost the battle, but ... Part II.

By Richard Cirminiello

Pittsburgh lost an epic heartbreaker on Saturday to Cincinnati for the Big East championship, but the future remains very bright in Western Pennsylvania.

The Panthers’ 45-44 loss left many lasting impressions that could linger well beyond the bowl season. Of course, blowing a three-touchdown lead in a de facto title game won’t easily be forgotten. However, neither will the performance of RB Dion Lewis, who nearly carried Pitt to the finish line on his modest shoulders.

Lewis was fantastic throughout the season, exceeding all expectations in his first year as current Philadelphia Eagle LeSean McCoy’s successor. On Saturday afternoon, he was heroic, turning a school-record 47 carries into 194 yards and three touchdowns. Oh, the nation’s No. 3 rusher was playing in high school at this time last year.

At just around 5-8 and 195 pounds, Lewis is neither the biggest nor the fastest back around, but no physical limitation is going to keep him from being the best. When you watch him on film, he runs with the kind of vision, instincts, and balance after contact that just can’t be taught. When the hole is closing, he’ll find a way through it. When the play appears dead, he’s tip-toeing for more yards. And when the defense is gassed in the fourth quarter, he’s exploiting its fatigue. He does all of the little things well for a running back, and he’s just getting started in his progression.

Even in one of the most painful losses in school history, the Pitt Panthers can point to an undersized silver lining clad in a No. 28 sweater. Lewis is the kind of bona fide star, a building block, who’ll get the program back in this position another time or two before he’s through.

3. Zemek Rules

By Matt Zemek 

While America rightly focuses on the bowl games, let's remind ourselves that it's the end of another regular season. As the sport steps away from its every-Saturday routine (with the sole exceptions of Army and Navy, of course), it's time for the coaches, officials and other relevant administrators who revise the sport's rules to make some changes before the 2010 season begins.

Here are the 10 rules most in need of revision:

1) You need to be touched down, as is the case in the NFL. ---- Kneeling to catch a pass in the open field should no longer equal a tackle. Period.

2) All plays must be reviewable by replay, at least to the fullest extent possible. ---- Penalties have to be subject to review, because they're so important to the flow of games. Getting the call right is what matters, not the on-field call. (But if the on-field call can't conclusively be overturned, replay booths can't play God.)

3) Forget the "football move" after a catch. ---- Look, if you catch a ball and tap a foot down in bounds, BOOM, that's a catch. End of story. Yes, the "football move" concept was designed to reduce fumbles, but football is football, and quarterbacks will simply have to do a better job of not putting their receivers' bodies in jeopardy. Remove that well-intentioned but unproductive concept from the rule book.

4) You can't be allowed to call a timeout just before a field goal. ---- Self-explanatory, isn't it?

5) Defensive pass interference must be a spot foul. ---- Football should not incentivize bad behavior. No realm of human endeavor should incentivize bad behavior.

6) If a punter flops and tries to draw a roughing-the-punter penalty, he should be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. ---- This is not currently enforced or called. It needs to be in the future.

7) Re-insert the five-yard face mask. ---- The Big East officials in the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh game chose to overturn their own face mask call, and erroneously so, because they didn't want to ding the Bearcats for 15 yards.

8) If an offensive player fumbles just outside the opponent's goal line, and the ball rolls out of the end zone (side or back, doesn't matter), the opposing team should get the ball, but on the 1, and not at the 20 following a touchback. ----- A touchback is too stiff a penalty for an un-recovered fumble.

9) Offensive pass interference should be a 25-yard penalty. ----- If defensive interference is a spot foul, well, offensive interference has to carry a bigger punishment, too.

10) No, you can't return blocked PATs or 2-point conversion turnovers for points. ------ A conversion should remain a conversion, not a chance to lose the Conference USA East Division championship the way Southern Miss lost it to East Carolina on Nov. 28.

4. But they'd still probably win the Rose Bowl

By Richard Cirminiello

Yes, there was more to the final weekend of the regular season than Alabama’s domination of Florida in Atlanta and Texas’ thrilling last-second defeat of Nebraska in Dallas. Quite a bit more, in fact.

Let’s see. Oregon is headed to Pasadena. Cincinnati and Boise State remained two of the nation’s five perfect teams. Rutgers lost to West Virginia for the 15th straight time. Washington walloped Cal to finish the year with momentum. Georgia Tech overcame C.J. Spiller to win the ACC title. Fresno State beat Illinois, 53-52, in the most miraculous finish of the year. You Tube the name Devan Cunningham for proof. Oh, and, in case you missed it, USC lost to Arizona to finish 8-4 and in fifth place in the Pac-10.

Every program eventually suffers through a dip. The Trojans are no exception, but will 2009 be a minor speed bump or a full-fledged detour from the dynastic days of the past decade? Only time will tell, but you could see cracks in the foundation over the last few years, especially on offense. Ever since 2005, when Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart were still around, USC has been painfully bland on offense and unable to employ all of its gobs of blue-chip talent. The coaching staff, namely Pete Carroll’s offensive assistants must shoulder the blame for not getting the most out of this group. This season was no exception. No more than 28 points on eight different occasions, including games with Washington, Washington State, Arizona State, Stanford, and at home Saturday against the Wildcats.

Yeah, I know, USC played the year with a true freshman quarterback, but that became a poor excuse as the season developed. Matt Barkley is not your typical rookie, and he was surrounded by enough skill position talent and an offensive line considered to be among the nation’s best before the season began. Plus, as good as Barkley is going to be, he regressed down the stretch, a clear indictment of first-year quarterback coach and play-caller Jeremy Bates.

Carroll has the talent to be right back in the national title hunt next year. He always will at Troy. However, he better consider juggling his staff in the offseason, attracting some proven veteran assistants rather than the young upstarts that he seems to prefer. In other words, isn’t it time for the next Norm Chow to be calling plays and mentoring Barkley in 2010?

5. Where's that Senator from Utah now?

By Michael Bradley

All is perfect in the world of college football today, since Alabama and Texas will meet for the “national championship” next month in Pasadena. Yep, the Tide won its semifinal game with Florida Saturday in Atlanta, while Texas survived a Colt McCoy brain cramp and used Hunter Lawrence’s big leg to subdue Nebraska’s defense. The result might not have been exactly what BCS pooh-bahs were pining for all year – Tim Tebow vs. McCoy – but pitting two tradition-bound programs like Bama and Texas against one another is pretty attractive. So, everything has worked out perfectly, right?

Uh, not quite. Remember back in 2004, when Auburn went undefeated and was left out of the national title picture? Well, that’s nothing compared to what we have this year. Three teams have completed perfect campaigns and have been shunted aside by a system that rewards only two schools. The amazing thing is that many have been so desensitized by the whole Big College Swindle that few are screaming bloody murder about a system that is obviously flawed. Here we are, three months into a season, and we have an unprecedented glut of teams that have won all their games. Yet, it is universally accepted that Texas and Alabama are without question the best two teams, even though the Longhorns hardly looked overpowering in beating a one-dimensional Nebraska team and struggled the week before against Texas A&M, and Bama needed late-game heroics to beat Tennessee and Auburn, two teams who combined for one more victory than Boise State.

While the college football world puts its brain on “coast,” BCS overlord Bill Hancock dispenses pro-bowl propaganda that is gleefully lapped up by media sycophants as Gospel. Hancock is trying to tell us that arguing about football is better than watching exciting games and that we couldn’t possibly have a playoff system because it might take a little brain power (and those who support the BCS do have a “little” brainpower) to figure it out. It’s an unbelievable situation, and one that doesn’t figure to get any better, now that espn has taken over the Big College Swindle for the next several years. Nobody does mind control like the four-letter network, so get ready for any even bigger does of agitprop in the coming years. As for TCU, Boise State and Cincinnati, tough luck. You may have been screwed by the system, but at least you have some great stuff to put on your media guide covers next year.