Starting with East Carolina’s Hail Mary, 51-49 win over Tulsa in the opening week, straight through to Auburn’s mindboggling rally at Alabama last week, this has been a breathtaking season.
We learned of a mad scientist in the Pacific Northwest, Chip Kelly, who began tinkering in a one-bedroom lab or an apartment on Morningside Drive as a Columbia assistant.
We learned that a player (Eric LeGrand of Rutgers who was paralyzed from the neck down, yet keeps improving) and a team (Mississippi State, which lost defensive end Nick Bell to cancer, yet kept winning) can preserve.
We have witnessed stunning upsets (Jacksonville State over Mississippi, James Madison over Virginia Tech) and shocking collapses (Texas). Yes, 2010 has been a very good year. Here’s the view of the best and worst from the Robbins’ Nest.
QUARTERBACK OF THE YEAR
Kellen Moore
QB, Boise State
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cam Newton
QB, Auburn
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ryan Kerrigan
DL, Purdue
COACH OF THE YEAR
Chip Kelly
Oregon
ALL-NEST TEAM
Offense
QB — Kellen Moore, Boise State
RB — LaMichael James, Oregon
WR — Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State
WR — Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina
WR — A.J. Green, Georgia
OT — Nate Solder, Colorado
OG — Marcus Cannon, TCU
C — Rodney Hudson, FSU
OG — Orlando Franklin, Miami
OT — Gabe Carimi — Wisconsin
TE — Ladarius Green — Louisiana-Lafayette*
Specialists
K — Chris Hazley, Virginia Tech
KOR — Eric Page, Toledo
P — Drew Butler, Georgia
PR — Cliff Harris, Oregon
Defense
DL — Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue
DT — Nick Fairley, Auburn
DT — Dontay Moch, Nevada*
DL — Da’Quan Bowers, Clemson
LB — Luke Kuechly, Boston College
LB — Vontaze Burfict, ASU
LB — Von Miller, A&M
LB — Akeem Ayers, UCLA
DB — Chimdi Chekwa, Ohio State
DB — Jayron Hosley, Virginia Tech
DB — Tejay Johnson, TCU
DB — Patrick Peterson, LSU
* Members of Post All-Underpublicized Team
THE CHARLES GRICE “LEFTY” DRIESELL “I CAN COACH” AWARD
Chip Kelly, Oregon — Had to find a starting QB after giving Jeremiah Masoli his walking papers. Ducks lead the nation in scoring and cool signal placards.
HARRY HOUDINI AWARD
Trailing 31-28 in overtime, Michigan State kicker Dan Conroy lined up for a 46-yard field goal attempt to force double overtime.
But holder Aaron Bates took the snap and threw a 29-yard touchdown pass for a wide-open Charlie Gantt. The play is called Little Giants but it took big, uh, guts for Spartans coach Mark Dantonio to call it.
PARTY POOPER AWARD
Dantonio suffers a heart attack after the win over Notre Dame.
FIELDS MEDAL
Awarded to Tennessee coach Derek Dooley for having 13 players on the field on what should have been the last play of what should have been a 14-10 Vols’ win. LSU scored from on a 1-yard plunge with one second left.
CAN’T KEEP ME DOWN AWARD
Trailing by 24 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Auburn, behind Cam Newton, whose father Cecil allegedly worked with a runner to try to secure payment for his son’s services in exchange for him enrolling at Mississippi State, rallies the Tigers to a 28-27 win for the ages.
SHAKE HANDS, COME OUT FIGHTING
Former Minnesota coach Tim Brewster chastising Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema for going for two when leading 41-16 with 6:39 left in a 41-23 win. Brewster is fired two weeks later.
FATHER OF THE YEAR
You got this one, right?
LINEMAN ARE PEOPLE TOO AWARD
Wisconsin lineman Gabe Carimi, after the Badgers ran for 338 yards without star John Clay in an 83-20 win over Indiana: “We still have the same linemen in there. We’re creating the holes, it’s not just the running backs.”
CHRISTMAS TIE AWARD
Texas, from BCS National Championship Game to no bowl.
WINSTON CHURCHILL ORATORY AWARD
Les Miles “explaining” his horrific play calling/clock management in the final minute of the Tennessee win. A YouTube must-see.
STATE OF DISGRACE
New Mexico: The Lobos went 1-11 and were 115th in scoring out of 120 teams. New Mexico State went 2-10 and were 116th in scoring, though the Aggies did explode for a 16-14 win over the Lobos.
SOUND BITES
“I could sit here and say, ‘Why did Oakland happen? Why did leaving Tennessee cause the trouble it did?’ Those things happened to prep me for this, to be a stable manager in a crisis. My model was Obama and his coolness under fire, the confidence he projects during disaster.” — USC coach Lane Kiffin.
Don’t know about you, but whenever Kiffin speaks, I immediately think, “Obama.”
“Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity.” — The NCAA after determining that Cecil Newton engaged in wrongdoing but his son knew nothing about it.
Uh-huh.
“Oh, yeah, exactly. I couldn’t put it any better. What is a white knight anyway?” — Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly when asked after the season-opening win over Purdue if he was the white knight the program has been waiting for.
