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Toby #4; Taylor #10 - Printable Version

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Toby #4; Taylor #10 - FarmBoy - 02-11-2014

Ranked RB's from the Pac12 of the BCS era, per Athlon

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/top-10-pac-12-running-backs-bcs-era

Gaffney #25 (pretty good for only having 1 season as a featured back.)

Any guesses on how many aneurysms this is causing on BI?

Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - Papa John - 02-11-2014

Well C a l has four players on the list, so the BI folks are probably not too upset. On the other hand, Athlon had this to say about T. Gaffney:

"Led Stanford to back-to-back Pac-12 titles ..."

Um, not quite.

Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - BostonCard - 02-11-2014

Quote:1. Reggie Bush, USC (2003-05)
Stats: 433 att., 3,169 yds, 25 TDs, 95 rec., 1,301 yds, 13 TDs, 2,081 ret. yds, 3 TDs

The superstar recruit from La Mesa (Calif.) Helix brought a unique skill set to the evolving running back position. Sort of a first of his kind, the all-purpose talent was unstoppable with the ball in his hands. He played a prominent role on the 2003 national championship team before providing 908 yards rushing, 509 yards receiving, nearly 1,000 return yards and 15 total touchdowns during USC’s 2004 romp to a second national title. He exploded as a junior, rushing for 1,740 yards on a ridiculous 8.7 yards per carry and scoring 19 total touchdowns, coming up just short of his third national title. He earned his second consecutive Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year award as well as the Doak Walker, Walter Camp and Voldemort Trophy. His career 7.3 per carry average is fourth all-time and his legacy is only somewhat tarnished by the scandal that put USC on probation and caused him to "return" his Voldemort.

I don't know how you can say that his legacy was "only somewhat tarnished".  He is not a Voldemort trophy winner; that was returned and his title was removed.  Moreover, he was retroactively declared ineligible for the 2004 season, which means that the statistics never happened (though interestingly they still show up on the NCAA website).  He did not provide anything during USC's 2004 romp to a second national title because USC didn't win a second nation title; it was vacated (because of Bush). And the probation that USC underwent was hardly insignificant.  I don't know how you can look at what he did on the field and ignore what happened off it.

BC

Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - BostonCard - 02-11-2014

(02-11-2014, 03:15 PM)Papa John link Wrote:Well C a l has four players on the list, so the BI folks are probably not too upset.

Yeah, but it must chap their hidethat Toby wound up higher than Lynch.

BC

Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - Papa John - 02-11-2014

(02-11-2014, 03:48 PM)Boston Card link Wrote:[quote author=Papa John link=topic=9546.msg83726#msg83726 date=1392156915]
Well C a l has four players on the list, so the BI folks are probably not too upset.

Yeah, but it must chap their hide that Toby wound up higher than Lynch.

BC
[/quote]
Perhaps, but I bet that 1-11 and 63-13 chap their hides even more. C a l must be the chappiest place on earth.

Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - 71Bear - 02-11-2014

BC...

Not really.  Lynch was a very good RB but Gerhart was a Voldemort finalist.  IMO, Best (deserves the #5 slot) and Arrington were both better college backs than Lynch.  Marshawn's reputation has grown because he is, by far, the best UC back playing in the pros.



Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - BostonCard - 02-11-2014

Best was hurt by the fact that he was injured his junior year and left after three years of eligibility, so he was only the featured back for one full year.  He'd be higher had he been healthy all of 2009.  Likewise, Arrington was only the featured back in 2004.  The site seems to emphasize production over multiple years, which is why Lynch gets ranked higher despite never having a monster season (though as the article notes, he was P10 Offensive POY).  Like Stepfan Taylor, he gets credit for putting up stats consistently over multiple years (2 as a starter and one as Arrington's backup).

Or, put another way, only one player is ranked higher than Arrington despite having fewer rushing yards, and Maurice Jones-Drew had 1300 receiving yards in his career, and only MJD and Arrington are ranked higher than Best despite having fewer rushing yards.  In fact, Arrington and Best have the fourth and fifth fewest yards on the list; only MJD, D'Anthony Thomas (another guy with big receiving and returning numbers), and Gaffney, who is the last guy on the list have fewer career yards.  On the basis of career production, it is harder to argue that Arrington and Best deserve to be higher on the list.

Now, if you want to argue that Best (especially) is a better running back than a lot of the guys on the list, you can make that argument.  That's what's fun about these sorts of lists.

BC

Re: Toby #4; Taylor #10 - 71Bear - 02-12-2014

I take the Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it" approach.  I'm not interested in the stats, I am interested in seeing a guy make plays that no one else makes.

For example, Gerhart carrying guys on his back late in the 2009 Big Game (Harbaugh lost that one by not continuing to use his horse)  or Best's run v. UCLA in the Rose Bowl - I was there and I still can't believe the cut he made to get away from a gaggle of Bruins (I just watched it again on youtube) or Best's performance v. Washington State in 2009 (another youtube favorite).

Sure, fans from every school could come up with their favorite players and plays.  However, I'll stack Best's against just about anyone...