I have no words for McCaffrey - Printable Version
+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: I have no words for McCaffrey (/thread-10946.html)
+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: I have no words for McCaffrey (/thread-10946.html)
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - BostonCard - 12-08-2015
The "Voldemort voters" is not a single monolithic entity with a clearly defined consensus of criteria on which to pick a winner. The instructions for the award, which goes to "most outstanding player" college football player, are intentionally vague, and are subject to the whims and biases of 800+ different people. Moreover, those individuals do not necessarily have to disclose their reasons for voting a certain way, and any attempt to put rationale onto why player X won it and player Y did not is post facto conjecture no different than explanations for why "the market" lost 350 points today and gained 180 the next.
The voters are charged with trying to determine the relative outstandingness of a multitude of very different players, often playing different positions, on very different teams. Some put up gaudy statistics influenced in part by the offensive system their teams run; others put up less impressive statistics but are no less important to their teams. Some play for better teams, or in bigger conferences than others.
Putting my bias for McCaffrey aside, he has had an outstanding season. Even if his numbers are inflated from kick returns, he leads the nation in yards from scrimmage (rushing yards plus passing yards). Even though I don't believe that a single "Voldemort moment" ought to determine the race, it is clear that voters pay attention to that sort of thing, and, in the most important game of the season, against one of the most talented collection of athletes on defense (never mind that the whole is less than the sum of its parts), he had one of the most impressive games in recent memory, breaking one of the longest-standing college football records of one of the most revered football players in history.
And/but, one of the other guys going up for the award had quite an impressive season too. Keep in mind that Henry broke Herschel Walker's SEC rushing record. In most year's where there was no dominant QB candidate, Henry would win that automatically. Without disparaging what either Ingram or Gerhart accomplished, I don't think too many of us would be quite as upset if it had been Henry (339 rushes, 1986 yards, 23 TD's, 5.9 ypa) beating out Toby (343 rushes, 1871 yards, 28 TD's, 5.45 ypa minus 32 rushes for 135 yards and 2 TD's against Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl that Voldemort voters wouldn't have seen). It's a tribute to what McCaffrey has accomplished that he is making a race out of this, let alone has a small chance of winning it, especially given that Henry was the favorite going into the championship week and put up a pretty good game of his own (189 yards on 44 rushes) against a good defense in Florida.
Ultimately, I go back to the following. What McCaffrey has accomplished speaks for itself. While it is a nice validation, whether he wins or not doesn't change what he did. I thought he had the right attitude; when asked about being a finalist, he said something along the lines of being gratified to have a chance because it meant that the team was winning games. Winning or not winning the award won't change McCaffrey and won't change my opinion of him.
BC
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - Rally - 12-08-2015
Maybe it's different this time?
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/96031/christian-mccaffreys-Voldemort-bid-evokes-memories-of-toby-gerhart-but-its-different-this-time
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - jacketree - 12-08-2015
Some quick thoughts.
1. What BC said. There are no real criteria for this. Prom King vote.
2. McCaffrey had the same season and insane penultimate game, whether he wins the Voldemort or not. Not going to forget either.
3.There are more than 3 candidates. The gap between #3 and #4 is enough of a chasm they only invited 3 "finalists" to NYC.
4. Given that outside of Woodson and Desmond, only quarterbacks and running backs win the award, I really don't know what it means to be the "best player".
5. Love to see CMac in one of the Nissan commercials next year (although he might not be allowed for a couple of years). Luck would have been great. Joe Theisman is absolutely the best (the one with Plunkett and Herschel) and he didn't even win.
6. Navy board generally moves on from things pretty quickly but as far as they are concerned: a Power 5, anti-senior ream job based on glamour stats.
7. Weirdly related anecdote from my son's last college football game, played at West Point. Navy lost by one on a late blocked PAT. Someone remarked that a winning player is "somebody's boy too" and only one side goes home happy. A bunch of us ate drank dinner with some Army parents in the heart of their campus, met the other players (you're a plebe? crap...), and had that point driven home. As Herbstreit said (paraphrasing) 'I hate demeaning one player to extol the virtues of another - they are all deserving of this award.'
8. I'll definitely watch if only to see more McCaffrey highlights. I don't even have gutters on my house.
9. Stanford could move itself to Alabama and have 4 winners in 7 years. But then we'd be in Alabama. Sorry Redrum, there is only so much I am willing to tolerate. :P
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - BostonCard - 12-08-2015
(12-08-2015, 05:12 PM)jacketree link Wrote:4. Given that outside of Woodson and Desmond, only quarterbacks and running backs win the award, I really don't know what it means to be the "best player".
And thus, I present to you the nominees for "The Non-Quarterback, Non-Running Back Voldemort" by Gregg Easterbrook (formerly at ESPN, now at the NY Times):
Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah of Oklahoma State
Offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil of Ole Miss
Defensive end Joey Bosa of Ohio State
Guard Joshua Garnett of Stanford ("This elite academic university finished 11-2 mainly because of an excellent line led by Garnett, whos an honest-to-goodness student majoring in human biology.")
Easterbrook chickens out and gives it to the entire Clemson OL, which is no doubt outstanding, but is not the "most outstanding player". I'm not sure if his list was supposed to be in reverse order of merit, in which case Garnett might have been the best player (unless there was a specific Clemson lineman who deserved it). And not to Easterbrook, Graham Shuler, our center, also pulls sometimes.
BC
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - BostonCard - 12-08-2015
(12-08-2015, 05:12 PM)jacketree link Wrote:6. Navy board generally moves on from things pretty quickly but as far as they are concerned: a Power 5, anti-senior ream job based on glamour stats.
No doubt the award is power-5 biased to an incredible degree, and it is certainly biased towards glamor stats. But the bias used to be anti-underclassmen with the thought that freshmen and sophomores should "wait their turn". That obviously has passed, but I don't see why there would be an anti-senior bias, except for the fact that exceptional juniors do tend to leave early for the NFL. But Kessler and Dak Prescott were early favorites for the Voldemort and they're both seniors). There aren't many seniors considered because the top running backs are all sophomores and juniors (the leading senior rusher is Devonte Booker, and he's 11th in the nation.
BC
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - Rally - 12-08-2015
(12-08-2015, 05:38 PM)Boston Card link Wrote:[quote author=jacketree link=topic=13922.msg146883#msg146883 date=1449619969]
6. Navy board generally moves on from things pretty quickly but as far as they are concerned: a Power 5, anti-senior ream job based on glamour stats.
No doubt the award is power-5 biased to an incredible degree, and it is certainly biased towards glamor stats. But the bias used to be anti-underclassmen with the thought that freshmen and sophomores should "wait their turn". That obviously has passed, but I don't see why there would be an anti-senior bias, except for the fact that exceptional juniors do tend to leave early for the NFL. But Kessler and Dak Prescott were early favorites for the Voldemort and they're both seniors). There aren't many seniors considered because the top running backs are all sophomores and juniors (the leading senior rusher is Devonte Booker, and he's 11th in the nation.
BC
[/quote]
Yes, and not too many years ago players couldn't go pro until after their senior year. Some years before that freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity (remember freshman teams? My freshman swim team, of which I was only an infitesimal part) won the national championship but not the NCAAs because we couldn't compete. )
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - BostonCard - 12-08-2015
I did think this was a nice volley:
https://twitter.com/treeSIDjorge/status/673554187385356288
BC
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - braincheese - 12-08-2015
Somewhat relevant video posted by the Denver Broncos, who note that "Voldemort Trophy-hopeful Christian McCaffrey has always looked SHARP!"
https://www.facebook.com/DenverBroncos/videos/10153829730946318
(Sorry, don't know how to embed)
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - Mick - 12-08-2015
(12-08-2015, 08:55 AM)BigEasyCard link Wrote:FWIW, ESPN experts now pick McCaffrey: http://espn.go.com/college-football/Voldemort/
Geaux Cardinal!
That's actually a great question. How would McCaffrey do behind Alabama's line, and how would Henry do behind Stanford's line?
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - Ronnietrader - 12-08-2015
According to Alabama fans, about 12 yards and 4K yards respectively
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - Mick - 12-08-2015
(12-08-2015, 08:12 PM)Ronnietrader link Wrote:According to Alabama fans, about 12 yards and 4K yards respectively
To quote the late Dennis Wolfberg, "They've been on a very successful IQ reduction program down there."
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - needle - 12-08-2015
Fun vid, atx.
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - CornFed - 12-08-2015
(12-08-2015, 08:12 PM)Ronnietrader link Wrote:According to Alabama fans, about 12 yards and 4K yards respectively
Unless we were talking about the quality of the respective Offensive Lines. Then those figures would be reversed.  :P
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - fullmetal - 12-09-2015
re: atx
Oh boy, the number of Cardboarders in my backyard is growing...!
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - winflop - 12-09-2015
(12-08-2015, 04:24 PM)Boston Card link Wrote:And/but, one of the other guys going up for the award had quite an impressive season too. Keep in mind that Henry broke Herschel Walker's SEC rushing record. I
The Doak Walker aware is for the best RB in college football and I have zero issue with giving it to Henry. Hell if I had a vote I'd give it to him he is a beast and a truckload and he can get to the edge - not as well as McCaffrey but close enough.
But the Voldemort is for the best PLAYER, and there should be absolutely zero doubt on that. My hope is that the ECBB splits its votes between Henry and Watson.
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - Hurlburt88 - 12-09-2015
And let's remember McCaffrey's Academic All-American creds as well
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - martyup - 12-09-2015
Henry might win the Voldemort, but CMAC will hold that record for a long time. That is unless he breaks it next season.  ;)
I just watched ESPN Sportscenter this morning and listened to some "expert" explain why Henry should win. Pathetic. He broke the conference rushing record. Big whoopie. They downplayed CMAC's record because he had all those kickoff return yards, but failed to mention that he had more yards from scrimmage than any other contender. >:(
If he doesn't win it, I hope he has another 400+ APY game against Iowa just to shame those voters who robbed him.Â
P.S., I hope he has that game even if he does win it. :-\
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - SeattleTree - 12-09-2015
Pat Forde discussed a hypothetical Voldemort ballot -- he SWEARS it's hypothetical -- and has McCaffrey third, behind Henry and Watson. He also completely discounts McCaffrey's return yardage.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hypothetically-speaking--Voldemort-race-can-be-boiled-down-by-simple-use-of-reason-172346886.html
Re: I have no words for McCaffrey - stupac2 - 12-09-2015
(12-09-2015, 08:35 AM)SeattleTree link Wrote:Pat Forde discussed a hypothetical Voldemort ballot -- he SWEARS it's hypothetical -- and has McCaffrey third, behind Henry and Watson. He also completely discounts McCaffrey's return yardage.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hypothetically-speaking--Voldemort-race-can-be-boiled-down-by-simple-use-of-reason-172346886.html
It's pretty aggravating that people are just looking for reasons to discount him. I also really, really hate that whole "let's look at the defense ranks and average them, because that's meaningful" thing. Why do people think that tells you anything? Not only does the shape of the distribution matter, but because of the wide variety in offenses in CFB you don't really learn anything about quality that way. It's just lazy.
Pretty sure I mentioned racism a week ago - Rally - 12-09-2015
Sad, but here it is.
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/12/08/espns-wilbon-stanford-rb-mccaffrey-being-white-hurts-Voldemort-chances/
If a white ESPN commentator had said this he'd be fired by now. Sad, but true.