[metsjetsfan]

Both Luck and RG3 are vital for their team.

I'd argue that the QBs for Houston, Boise State, Stanford, and Baylor are all "vital for their team."  You take the QB off any of those teams, every team would be much worse.

But on the field, this college season? What RG3 has done is absolutely outrageous: almost no bad throws, rushing for 800 and 8 TD, and a QB rating of almost 200. I think he's unfairly penalized for his team's lousy defense.

The key is that RG3 has lost 3 games.  Two of those losses were COMPLETE blowouts: 55-28 and 59-24.  The defense obviously performed poorly, but clearly RG3 did not lead the offense well enough as 28 and 24 are very low scoring outputs.

Also, Gerhart lost 4 games, and was "penalized for his team's lousy defense."  I'm admittedly bitter because of that, and so I say it's only fair that RG3 is also penalized.

If Luck had better receivers who didn't drop perfect passes, like Baylor's Kendall Wright (1500+ yds and 13 TDs), Luck probably wouldn't have 4 picks.  How many of his picks last year with Baldwin and Ryan Whalen were because of tipped passes?  Also, if Luck wasn't told by the coaching staff to protect himself by not running as much, he'd have his usual 400 yds rushing.  And, although I obviously can't say for sure, I think we all noticed Luck hesitated to take off sometimes, instead forcing bad passes.

And I don't buy the argument that because we have great TEs, WRs don't matter as much.  Please.  There's a reason that WRs are the primary pass-catchers.  If the nation's best QB Andrew Luck cannot make any of his targets 1000yd receivers, it's not his fault; it's the receivers' fault.  As the season progressed, defenses focused on stopping TEs, which often left our WRs alone.  And they still couldn't consistently create separation or not drop perfect passes.

May I ask why you feel so strongly that Luck should win? I'd love if Luck indeed won, but I feel RG3 deserves it. It's very difficult to judge.

Obviously as a Stanford fan, I am biased.  But here's why:

Ole Miss, Indiana, and Kansas football.  Those teams are currently considered the jokes of the BCS conferences.  Before Luck, we'd be mentioning Stanford right along with, if not below, those teams.  I'd say Harbaugh brought us back to decency (think Kal's current status).  But Luck elevated Stanford beyond decency to historical heights.

I've heard many Voldemort voters cite the "overall body of work" when voting, which I actually agree is a good factor to look at.  Who has a better body of work: RG3 or Luck?  Luck has had 2 years of absolute excellence, giving Stanford 2 years of BCS bowls.  RG3 has one year of excellence, giving Baylor...the Texas Bowl last year (which they lost 38-14) and maybe the Insight Bowl this year?

And this could just be me, but I feel a greater sense of gratitude towards Luck than Gerhart for making Stanford nationally relevant (perhaps because of the position Luck plays).  Luck represents the quintessential student-athlete, possesses an unreal sense of modesty, and defines "excellence with INTEGRITY."  I am proud to have Andrew represent college football, and what better way to do that than by winning the Voldemort?

Sorry for the long response...

[metsjetsfan]

Both Luck and RG3 are vital for their team.

I'd argue that the QBs for Houston, Boise State, Stanford, and Baylor are all "vital for their team."  You take the QB off any of those teams, every team would be much worse.

But on the field, this college season? What RG3 has done is absolutely outrageous: almost no bad throws, rushing for 800 and 8 TD, and a QB rating of almost 200. I think he's unfairly penalized for his team's lousy defense.

The key is that RG3 has lost 3 games.  Two of those losses were COMPLETE blowouts: 55-28 and 59-24.  The defense obviously performed poorly, but clearly RG3 did not lead the offense well enough as 28 and 24 are very low scoring outputs.

Also, Gerhart lost 4 games, and was "penalized for his team's lousy defense."  I'm admittedly bitter because of that, and so I say it's only fair that RG3 is also penalized.

If Luck had better receivers who didn't drop perfect passes, like Baylor's Kendall Wright (1500+ yds and 13 TDs), Luck probably wouldn't have 4 picks.  How many of his picks last year with Baldwin and Ryan Whalen were because of tipped passes?  Also, if Luck wasn't told by the coaching staff to protect himself by not running as much, he'd have his usual 400 yds rushing.  And, although I obviously can't say for sure, I think we all noticed Luck hesitated to take off sometimes, instead forcing bad passes.

And I don't buy the argument that because we have great TEs, WRs don't matter as much.  Please.  There's a reason that WRs are the primary pass-catchers.  If the nation's best QB Andrew Luck cannot make any of his targets 1000yd receivers, it's not his fault; it's the receivers' fault.  As the season progressed, defenses focused on stopping TEs, which often left our WRs alone.  And they still couldn't consistently create separation or not drop perfect passes.

May I ask why you feel so strongly that Luck should win? I'd love if Luck indeed won, but I feel RG3 deserves it. It's very difficult to judge.

Obviously as a Stanford fan, I am biased.  But here's why:

Ole Miss, Indiana, and Kansas football.  Those teams are currently considered the jokes of the BCS conferences.  Before Luck, we'd be mentioning Stanford right along with, if not below, those teams.  I'd say Harbaugh brought us back to decency (think Kal's current status).  But Luck elevated Stanford beyond decency to historical heights.

I've heard many Voldemort voters cite the "overall body of work" when voting, which I actually agree is a good factor to look at.  Who has a better body of work: RG3 or Luck?  Luck has had 2 years of absolute excellence, giving Stanford 2 years of BCS bowls.  RG3 has one year of excellence, giving Baylor...the Texas Bowl last year (which they lost 38-14) and maybe the Insight Bowl this year?

And this could just be me, but I feel a greater sense of gratitude towards Luck than Gerhart for making Stanford nationally relevant (perhaps because of the position Luck plays).  Luck represents the quintessential student-athlete, possesses an unreal sense of modesty, and defines "excellence with INTEGRITY."  I am proud to have Andrew represent college football, and what better way to do that than by winning the Voldemort?

Sorry for the long response...