FanPost

Question for Sayre and other College Football Fans as Broncos Move Forward


I will be the first to admit that I am not as knowledgeable about the ins and outs of college football as I'd like to be. With so many teams and in so many different conferences it's hard to follow them all, or even all of them in one or two conferences. With such a range of talent in college football I've always held the belief that when a good college team plays a season, only a handful of their games could offer the same parity as the NFL.

Thus, the long-held belief that success in college is not a good indicator of success in the NFL. We've had the discussion on MHR at least a hundred times in different threads arguing about the continued success of Tebow in the NFL. We are all aware of the strong opinion that college stats become "meaningless" as a player moves into the NFL.

Andrew Luck is the first player in my memory that has completely blasted that theory away. Ask just about anyone in regards to the prospects of Andrew Luck and they will tell you he's going to be NFL elite. Names like Elway and Manning are tossed around like it's a sure thing. Many analysts say that he will be BETTER than Elway and Manning.

I've done my best to watch Stanford games on Saturday's when I get the chance to see what this kid is all about and, again, I don't have a scouts eye, but I guess I just don't see what everyone else sees.

I recently watched the Stanford vs. Washington State University game. The TV announcers gushed over Luck to the point it was nauseating. Every pass this kid made was perfect and even the pick he threw was of no consequence. All of this against a team that isn't even ranked. This brings me to my question.

How can Andrew Luck command his draft value when he plays on a team that has only 2 or 3 ranked teams on its schedule all year?

How can Luck be eligible for the Heismann trophy when he's blowing up teams like the Buffs? I mean, are you kidding me? This is the Standford Cardinal's schedule. Ranked teams in bold

  • San Jose State Spartans (not ranked)
  • Duke Blue Devils (not ranked)
  • Arizona Wildcats (not ranked)
  • UCLA Bruins (not ranked)
  • Colorado Buffaloes (what a joke)
  • Washington State Cougars (not ranked)
  • Washington Huskers (Ranked #25)
  • USC Trojans (I consider them a ranked team)
  • Oregon State Beavers (not ranked)
  • Oregon Ducks (Ranked #10)
  • California Golden Bears (not ranked)
  • Notre Dame Fighting Irish (not ranked)

I count 2 ranked games. 3 if you consider USC to be a ranked team as they serve their suspension

Now let's take a look at a team like the Texas A&M Aggies who are led by a WR turned QB by the name of Ryan Tannenhill. Their schedule looks like this. Again, ranked teams in bold.

  • SMU Mustangs (not ranked)
  • Idaho Vandals (not ranked)
  • OSU Cowboys (ranked #4)
  • Arkansas Razorbacks (ranked #9)
  • Texas Tech Red Raiders (not ranked)
  • Baylor Bears (ranked #20)
  • Iowa State Cyclones (not ranked)
  • Missouri Tigers (not ranked)
  • Oklahoma Sooners (ranked #3)
  • Kansas State Wildcats (ranked #11)
  • Kansas Jayhawks (not ranked)
  • Texas Longhorns (ranked #24)

By my count I've got at least 6 ranked matches this year. Matches against some of the best teams in the entire NCAA.

Last week:

  • Andrew Luck threw 4TDs/1 INT for 336 yards and a 63.9% completion rating against an unranked WSU.
  • Kellen Moore threw 4TD's/0 INT for 338 yards and an 87.7% completion ratings against the terrible CSU Rams.
  • Ryan Tannenhill threw 6TD's/1 INT for 415 yards and a 67.6% completion rating against the #20 ranked Baylor Bears.

Tannenhill has a 101.3 rating, with 1742 yards, 13TD, and 6 INT while having played the #4, #9, and #20 ranked teams.

Luck has a 127.3 rating, with 1719 yards, 18 TD, and 3 INT while not having played even one ranked team.

Tannenhill... does he make it into the 4th or 5th round?

How does Luck get all this hype?

Luck, like Kellen Moore, is excelling in a bad conference and against bad teams. Kellen Moore is said to be third round worthy or worse. People on MHR are asking if it's worth selling the entire draft to get Andrew Luck. What am I missing here?

Knowing that Andrew Luck plays in a conference with weak competition how comfortable are you selling part of, or the entirety of an NFL draft to select a player who will never face a great college football team like LSU?

I'm amazed how many people in Denver are getting on board the suck for Luck train, including people in our media, who are calling for the Broncos to lose as many games as possible to get this one kid... when out of the other side of their mouth they are saying nobody could have done well with the actual football team we have had over the past two years.

Perhaps they forget that if we draft a QB at #1 and sell the draft to get him... we'll be in an even worse situation than we were before.

Purposely sucking for a player... that just seems like the perfect setup for karma to gutter a team for the next 5 to 10 years.

Convince me on Andrew Luck, because the idea that we are excited about another miserable season for this guy just makes me nauseated.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.