TME to Dresdan_Beat By The Nudge

Did The Right Man Get The Stiff Arm?

Oklahoma Sooners QB Sam Bradford holding the stiff arm with one hand, the other in a cast. And up goes the spread in the NC Game.

We can all argue till the cows come home, and in Colt McCoy’s case that is literal and not figurative (the kid lives in cow country, pop. 714), but did Sam Bradford deserve the trophy over Superman,…er, Timmy Tebow.

Recent addition to The Nudge obsession list, Nudgette Reon Kadena

The Nudge yet again picked this one outright. Previously I had the “Awe Shucks Kid from Tuscola” picked to win the award. But that was before I came to my senses and realized that the voters in college football only vote on stats and what they hear other people saying alone. I would doubt that 10% of the voters involved in all college football ever have sat down and watched the performances of each of these kids in every game they played this year.

So by that logic, Bradford was the surefire winner:1) His team is playing for the crystal 2) He did have insane numbers. But if this award is handed out based only on insane numbers, then Houston QB Case Keenum should have won it. He put up 4768 yards and averaged 397.3 yards per game!

So the question must be asked “What was the quality of pass defenses that got Colt and Bradford those numbers that they finished the season with?

Don’t do the math, The Nudge already did it for you.

From the pass defense rankings only, Colt faced pass defenses ranked 78, 109, 111, 52, 73, 112, 119, 108, 92, 101, 113, and 94. The highest ranked pass defense he faced all year was against Ar-Kansas ranked 52 (he had a 185 yards). The second highest was against Colorado ranked 73 ( 262 yards). Unbelievable. The only pass defense he faced all year ranked in the top fifty of the all important Pass Efficiency Defense ranking was Oklahoma which ranked 41 and allowed a completion percentage of 55.1 and a QB rating of 117.

Bradford fared a little better. He faced pass defenses ranked 87, 62, 9, 101, 113, 103, 91, 94, 92, 108 and 119. There’s a lot of hundreds in there. The toughest pass defense he faced was TCU ranked 9 (411 yards, 4 TD’s) respectable performance. But after that, the best pass defense he faced came from the Mighty Washington Lushkies ( 304 yards, 5 TD’s) who didn’t win a game, at all, not even one. And they were the second highest ranking pass defense that he faced all year. In the pass efficiency defense ranking, Bradford went up against two teams ranked in the top fifty, TCU #9 and Cincinnati ranked #29.

Now take a look at the defenses that Tebow faced. Ranked in pass defense they are 80 Hawaii, 13 Miami, 4 Rocky Top, 58 Ole Miss, 52 Ar-Kansas, 79 LSU, 26 Kentucky, 30 Gawgia, 17 Vandy, 3 South Carolina, 8 Florida State, and 4 Bama. In pass efficiency defense rankings, Tebow faced #13, #15, #23, #25, #42, #43, #45, and #48. Eight of the fifty top teams in that category.

So what did you learn from all this? The Big Twelve pass defense sucks. And as long as the Big Twelve teams keep playing against each other, their Quarterbacks will look like stars and keep putting up sick numbers and getting all the publicity.

Sam Bradford and this man share one common characteristic, their both lucky S.O.B.'s

Normally The Nudge doesn’t like to toot his own horn (did I just say that), but five weeks ago, I told you who would be the top five vote getter's, and I was right on every one.

Coming soon, the first of the Bowl picks. I definitely have some Five Star picks already.

See ya sports fans. Urban Meyer’s in NYC and I have to go sit outside his hotel like a twelve year old when the Jonas Brothers come to town.

If your a Gator fan, Bradford winning the Heisman over Tebow is actually good news. The last four non-USC Heisman winners going into bowl games lost.

2007- Tebow in the Capitol One Bowl

2006- Troy Smith in the BCS Championship

2003- Jason White in the Sugar Bowl

2001- Eric Crouch in the Rose Bowl

By the way, who received the most first place votes, HUH?

Who will win The Stiff Arm?

The Finalists were announced for the most coveted individual trophy in all of sports. They are:

1) Colt McCoy, QB Texas
2) Sam Bradford, QB BoomerSooners
3) Superman...er, Timmy Tebow, QB Gators

I've said on this site in the past that I think that the award will be handed over to Colt McCoy because the voters feel that Texas had been robbed of their shot at playing Mizzoo in the Big (no pass defense) Twelve conference championship game. For the past two weeks, all the TV college football pundits have been talking about how McCoy has done more with less. So, with this logic, I have predicted Colt to walk away with this thing. But wait.

This would break away from one of my cardinal rules of Nudgedom. With this way of thinking, I'm giving the writers who vote on this award and this sport way too much credit for actually knowing what is going on, and that's something I never do.

So let's look at this thing from another perspective. All previous recipients of the award get a vote. So let's look at how some of the past winners will vote:

Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams will definitely going McCoy's way.

Wuerfful and Tebow will definitely voting Superman's way.

Jason White and Billy Sims will be going for Bradford.

Okay, so maybe that won't work. Let's look at it from another perspective: Stats.
The majority of the voters probably watched about ten college football games this year on average. So they'll probably rely their vote on stone cold stats.

Bradford has 4464 yards passing, 68.3% completion percentage, an unbelievable 48 passing TD's with a rating of 186.

The "Awe shucks" kid from Tuscola Texas has 3445 yards passing, 77% completion percentage, 32 passing TD's with a 179 rating. He does have 576 rushing yards with 10 rushing TD's.

Former Heisman Winner, Timmy Tebow has 2515 yards passing, with a 64.9% completion percentage with 28 passing TD's with a 176 QB rating. He rushed for 564 yards with 12 rushing TD's.

All right, that doesn't predict anything either. So just what do we have that's going to decide this thing. Let's look at it The Nudge Way.

Who has the hotter girlfriend?

This is Colt McCoy's girlfriend on the left. She's a track and field athlete that goes to Baylor. She's studying journalism.

And this is Tim Tebow's girl, according to the Internet. Nice Warlocks!

There is no information about Bradford's love cushion

So, whenever The Nudge doesn't know the answer to a question, I only ask one question:

"What would Tom Cruise do?"

And the answer..... Bradford walks away with the stiff arm. Me and Tom Cruise both think too many voters are going to look at his insane numbers and be blown away with the difference between 48 TD's and 32. Plus, Bradford's playing for the crystal, and that seems to influence the voters since 2003.

The Best uniforms ever, of any sport in history. Army this past week rocked the Camo look. The Nudge thinks that Army should make this look a permanent part of their wardrobe