It's DejaVu All Over Again

They call him Shoelaces up in Ann Arbor. His game is shifty and sleek and if you listen to those who root for the maize and blue, Denard Robinson is the epitome of all things good in college football.

In two games as a starter for the University of Michigan this year, Robinson has thrown for 430 yards and 2 touchdowns while racking up a whopping 455 yards and 3 scores on the ground. His performance thus far has even drawn the praise of former Rich Rodriguez quarterback Pat White who has called Robinson a “Beast.”

Shoelaces is single-handedly resurrecting the Wolverine tradition and proving Rich Rod to be the genius he was hired to be. The more this young signal caller improves his quarterback rating, the more his legend and fan t-shirt tributes will grow.

Believe it or not, Robinson’s emergence as a star also coincides perfectly with Michigan’s return to the Top 25. A feat made even more impressive considering it was done in serendipitous fashion by beating Notre Dame in South Bend on national television.

Now, before we assume this story has the fairy-tale ending that sees everyone yelling “Go Blue” in Pasadena, let’ read the rest of this story, for some reason it sounds very  familiar.

There you go, if you look closer at the writing on the page, you’ll notice every time this story mentions Robinson, you see another name that has been scribbled out. The reason this story sounds so familiar is because it’s the exact same tale we watched unfold with former Wolverine golden boy, Tate Forcier.

In consecutive years, Michigan has opened the season with the same question marks surrounding the team and its coach. They have a new starting QB that is supposed to be a prototypical fit in the Rich Rod offense. Rodriguez is again mired in turmoil and his system has yet to stick with his players.

They opened the season at home with a very winnable game against an inferior opponent. For the second straight year, a win against the Fighting Irish all but guaranteed the U of M a spot in the AP rankings. Feel free to stop me if this is beginning to sound like a replay of last season.

Now, sitting at number 20 in the nation, Shoelaces will rack up another 1,000 all purpose yards while smacking around UMass and Bowling Green. Then, in his most impressive game of the year, Robinson will lead Michigan to a victory against the Big Ten’s perennial bottom feeder, Indiana.

By the time Michigan State rolls around, Robinson will have the Wolverines undefeated and pushing for a spot in the Top 10. But again, this is almost exactly what happened last year with Forcier under center.

This story is not intended to be a declaration that the Wolverines will finish the season below .500 and miss a bowl game for the third straight year but it’s also important to recognize the underlying factors in Robinson’s performance.

Credit is due to Michigan for beating UConn and Notre Dame and starting the season 2-0, but wins over these two programs is hardly something to boast. UConn is the third best team in a conference that has failed to achieve a single marquee win this season, unless you consider Syracuse beating Akron a big win.

As for Notre Dame, they may finally have a coach that will lead them back to respectability in a few years, but it’s a team that is both rebuilding and learning a new scheme that is hardly known for its defensive stoutness. Not to mention they are breaking in two new safeties, a new quarterback and three new starters on the offensive line.

It is also true that Robinson has been much more effective than Forcier in his ability to run the ball, but Robinson is also averaging 20 more rushing attempts per game compared to his predecessor. This may be due to the loss of Brandon Minor and the Wolverines inability to find a suitable number one back, but the reason Robinson is putting up the statistics two people would is because he’s performing the roles of two players each game.

This may be a fine strategy for the Wolverines to employ at the start of the season, but what happens when they get into the heart of the conference schedule. Five of the final seven teams Michigan faces this year will be in contention for a New Year’s Day bowl game and will bring a little more defensive ferocity than the Colonial Athletic Association can provide.

Robinson may prove me wrong and go on to be the second Rich Rod quarterback to fail miserably in the NFL, but without a few compliments in the offense to limit the hits Robinson has to take each game, one has to imagine his durability may become an issue. After all, isn’t that what happened with Tate Forcier last year?

Back To The Heisman

One of the best things about the start of football season is the sudden influx of football talk.  Television networks everywhere begin to roll out their coverage and a solid chunk of sports fandom breathes a collective sigh of relief.  At the Bleachers, there's no ill-will towards Major League Baseball or the Premier League, who dominate the second half of the summer, but they don't call the months prior to football training camps the dry season for nothing.

With college football stepping up to the starters block, analysts everywhere are giving you their impressions on which schools have the best shot at being crowned national champions, what schools are flying under the radar and who are the frontrunners for the Heisman trophy.  We're no different, so, without further ado, Heisman Finalist predictions I'm 86% sure you can take to the bank.

Let's begin with the incumbent, Mark Ingram.  The Alabama running back rushed for 1,658 yards, 4th highest total in the nation, and 17 touchdowns as a sophomore in the best conference in college football.  Ingram was also challenged with the unenviable task of being the go to option for an offense that had to break in a new Quarterback and Left Tackle.  Despite this, the greater the challenge Ingram faced the better he performed racking up 941 yards and 8 touchdowns in 6 games against Top 25 opponents.

What Ingram doesn't have on his side is history, there has only been one two time winner of the Heisman Trophy.  If the Flint, MI native recovers fully from his arthroscopic knee surgery and sees production comprable to his totals from a year ago, solid showings against Penn St., LSU, Auburn, Florida and Arkansas should be enough to garner him his second consecutive invite to New York.

We head up north to the land of cheese for our second finalist.  Wisconsin running back John Clay has rushed for 2,401 yards and scored 27 touchdowns in his two seasons at Camp Randall.  He also has the privilege of running behind what could be arguably the best offensive line in the country.  The Big 10 is full of talent on the defensive line this year, but the Badgers big uglies up front will pave the way to a very successful year for Clay. 

His biggest weapon in pursuit of a Heisman invite will be LT Gabe Carimi.  Carimi could be the first tackle selected in the 2011 NFL Draft and will neutralize the three biggest obstacles Clay has to face; OSU's Cameron Heyward, Iowa's Adrian Clayborn and Purdue's Paul Kerrigan.  Senior Guard John Moffit should also help get an extra push up the middle against OSU's Dexter Larimore and MSU's Greg Jones.  

Oregon's LaMichael James represents the third and final running back invited to the Heisman ceremony.  After a freshman season that saw James run for 1,546 yards and 14 touchdowns amidst controvesry, the sophomore is primed to be one of college footballs most electrifying athletes in 2010.

Oregon head coach Chip Kelly is also entering his second year in Eugene and knows exactly what his one man highlight reel is capable of.  Kelly will utilize James at nearly every position on the field to maximize his touches and create offensive mismatches.  Combine this with a schedule that features only one respectable defensive match-up in Tennessee, a school learning a new scheme, and it doesn't take much to envision a very big year for the Ducks number one threat.

This Heisman list would be incomplete without a few quarterbacks mixed into the fold, the first of which is Boise State's Kellen Moore.  In two years as a starter for the Broncos, Moore has amassed over 7,000 yards passing while throwing for 64 touchdowns.  He also dropped his interception total from 10 in '08 to only 3 last year in Boise's high octane offense.

Most importantly, BSU is 16-1 with Moore under center.   The only collegiate loss of his career came against fellow mid-major powerhouse TCU in the 2008 San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, a loss that was avenged a year later in the 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.  Should the junior continue his progression as a player; 4,000 yards, 40 touchdowns and another undefeated season (including a possible BCS championship birth) should be more than enough to merit Heisman consideration.

Washington's Jake Locker is the last invite to the Bleachers Heisman party.  Locker has only served two full seasons as the Huskies starting quarterback but the improvement between his freshman and junior year was impressive.  His passing yards, completion percentage, touchdowns and passer rating all took major leaps from where they were in 2007.

With another year under Steve Sarkisian, a 3,000 yard 30 touchdown season is within Locker's grasp.  Those stats should be enough to garner an invite considering this years weak quarterback class.  Locker's challenge is whether or not the Senior can do enough to make the Huskies a contender in the Pac10.  At the end of the day Locker is simply an NFL caliber arm on a bad team.  If he has any hope of winning this years Heisman, he'll need to turn a 6-6 team into a New Year's bowl contender.

Although these are the five names the Bleachers are staking its reputation on this fall, one slight concession needs to be allowed, a couple of replacement picks in case of injury.  Should Moore or Locker find themselves missing significant time due to injury, don't be surprised if Florida's John Brantley fills their shoes.

The Gators are again ranked in the Top 5 of the AP pre-season poll despite losing nearly half of it's starters from a year ago.  Brantley should have a smooth transition and prove that his predecessor, a magnetic player to say the least, was a product of Urban Meyer and a consistently amazing Florida recruiting class year after year.

Should any of the running backs find themselves hurt I offer up a replacement that some may consider slightly out of left field.  Last years Heisman race featured an all-world Defensive Tackle out of Nebraska, don't be too shocked if the voters try to find another fashionable nominee from the defensive side of the ball.  If that player exists, it's North Carolina's Robert Quinn. 

This Defensive End is an absolute monster that can not be stopped playing man to man.  The problem, however, is you can't double team him either.  UNC features a "pick your own poison" defense that can beat you from anywhere on the field.  You can't run up the middle with Marvin Austin clogging up the lanes, Quan Sturdivant can be lined up at Line Backer opposite of Quinn to create another defensive mismatch and you can't count on throwing the ball against a Tar Heel secondary that features four NFL caliber players.  As long as this UNC eligibility fiasco blows over realitvely quickly, Quinn could sack himself an invite to the Heisman Ceremony.

Is this Heaven? No, it's College Football

On a glorious fall afternoon on September 13, 2009, the Football gods decided to bless us with an amazing gift, NFL Red Zone. 

The intro rolled and there stood Scott Hanson, the face that would forever change Sunday afternoons.  One man offering football fans "Every Touchdown From Every Game."  It was to be a station like none other; no commercials, every score and live look-ins decided entirely by what games are the most intriguing at that moment.  No longer were football fans throughout the midwest forced to watch the St. Louis Rams get the business when they would have much rather been watching the Texans and Titans dual it out in an offensive slobber knocker.

And as myself and a few of my friends sat down on that glorious September afternoon with our jaws dropped in awe, you could just hear John Kinsella ask his son Ray, "Is this Heaven?"

We weren't in Iowa nor did we go have a catch, but for once, the corn field in Central Illinois this writer calls home seemed a little more tolerable. 

Now, with a new season under way and the Red Zone just a week away from it's triumphant return, everything seems right in the world.  But what about the NFL's younger brother, the NCAA.  The college game goes hand in hand with its professional version, after all, you can't have a football weekend with out college Saturday.

Games are being aired all day on the ESPN family of networks, Fox Sports has it's Big 12 and Pac 10 games of the week, the SEC and BigTen networks air every game the conference plays that week while the major networks show the weeks premiere match ups and, for some reason beyond me, still shows Notre Dame.

As a college purist, I find myself spending my entire Saturday glued in front of my television.  From the second College Gameday starts until the final whistle blows on the last west coast game I am riveted.  But what if the NCAA were to take a page from the NFL's book and start its own Red Zonesque station(s).

Imagine the possibilities. The NCAA "College Ticket," every college game as it's happening.   One second you could be watching Terrelle Pryor roll out in a naked boot for another Buckeye touchdown and then instantly be sent down to North Carolina where Robert Quinn and the bruising Tar Heel defense slam the door on a goal line stand.  Most importantly, you'll never again have to miss a stunning upset because you figured there was no reason to waste your time watching Michigan vs. Appalachian State.

And if that all seems to overwhelming to watch at one time, it can be easily broken down as well.  Break the games up and show them on regional stations.  Could conference sponsorships bar separation of certain teams in different regions?  Possibly, but that can be over worked by simply breaking the games up into a BCS Station and a Mid-Major Station.
 
As far as this writer is concerned, the only problem facing the college game is that it's just too big.  There's entirely way too much to watch without devoting your entire day to the game.  And trust me, you are still left catching up on everything you just weren't able to watch.  Imagine knowing who Ndamukong Suh was prior to the Big 12 championship game or being able to catch the rise of UCLA and Oregon State without having to see them play USC.
 
It's a problem the NFL realized and did an amazing job fixing and it would serve the NCAA well to figure out how to harness in the potential of a "College Ticket"