College football hands out most of its awards this week, but we here at Dr. Saturday thought we’d hand out some awards of our own.
It’s been a busy season with a lot of twists and turns, so it’s only fitting that we celebrate the best and the worst of the 2014-15 campaign.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
There’s not much to say about Mariota that hasn’t already been said. He finished the year completing 68.3 percent of his passes for 3,783 yards, 38 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He has flirted with being the best player in college football for the past couple years and this year he finally reached the summit. He’ll likely be the Heisman winner and he has his team in the College Football Playoff. Since this likely will be his last collegiate season, it’s not a bad way to leave.
Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
Not only has Mariota been the best player on the offensive side of the football, he's been the best player in college football. But is there any reason to convince you of this? Special mention goes to J.T. Barrett for his emergence in Ohio State's offense and the 45 total touchdowns he accounted for that set an Ohio State record. If Barrett hadn't broken his ankle against Michigan, he's likely heading to New York to finish behind Mariota in the Heisman balloting.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Scooby Wright, LB, Arizona
One of the best moments of Wright’s season (at least for me) was when he stripped the ball from Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota to seal an improbable upset. Wright is a major reason why the Wildcats were playing for the Pac-12 title despite being picked to finish fourth in the South Division.
Scooby Wright, LB, Arizona
Wright's stats are insane, especially relative to the rest of his Arizona teammates. He has 89 solo tackles (153 total), 14 sacks and 28 tackles for a loss. William Parks is second on the team with 13 tackles for loss. No other Arizona player has more than four sacks. Wright is undoubtedly the focal point for opposing offensive coaches and he still can't be stopped.
COACH OF THE YEAR
P.J. Fleck, Western Michigan
If you don’t know who P.J. Fleck is, it’s time to get acquainted because he’s quickly becoming the hot name in college coaching. In just two seasons, he turned Western Michigan from a 1-11 Mid-American Conference cellar dweller to an 8-4 contender in the MAC West. Western Michigan had not won eight games since winning nine in 2008. If he’s able to make Western Michigan a division or conference winner, he could find himself in the hunt for a major job.
Gary Patterson, TCU
This one is pretty chalk, too. Patterson gets the nod not only because of his team's performance this season but because of his willingness to change his team's offense before the season began. Knowing his team needed a spark, Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham became TCU's co-offensive coordinators and with Trevone Boykin at quarterback, TCU had one of the best offenses in the country. Patterson's bold approach paid off in 2014. Now we'll see if it's sustainable.
GAME OF THE YEAR
Western Kentucky 67, Marshall 66, Nov. 28
Another off-the-beaten-path pick here because a lot of people didn’t see this game, but it was one that ruined Marshall’s undefeated and likely elevated WKU quarterback Brandon Doughty to the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year over Marshall’s Rakeem Cato. WKU jumped out to a 42-28 lead, but Marshall crawled back and tied the game at 59 with 39 seconds remaining. In overtime, Marshall scored the first TD, WKU matched it and then completed the two-point conversion for the win. The 133 combined points were the third-highest total in the FBS over the last 10 seasons. This one was exciting from beginning to end.
Baylor 61, TCU 58
Not only would this game stand alone as one of the best in 2014, it provided us with the top talking point of the rest of the season. The game featured over 1,250 yards of offense and a 21-point Baylor comeback that began with a Devin Chafin TD run with just under 11 minutes to go and ended with a Chris Callahan 28-yard field goal that went through the uprights as time expired. Just think if one of the game's participants had made the playoff?
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Ohio State
This might have been the most difficult category to pick because teams such as Georgia Tech, TCU and Georgia Southern all deserved a nod here. But in the end, Ohio State’s ability to capture the Big Ten title and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff with its third-string QB is what put them over the top. The Buckeyes were pretty much left for dead after QB Braxton Miller went down and they lost to Virginia Tech, but coach Urban Meyer rallied his team and they played amazing football. Winning the Big Ten title with second and third-string QBs was just a testament to the Buckeye’s recruiting and development. It’s difficult to argue with this pick.
Missouri
Fresh off an SEC East Division title, the Tigers were picked to be in the bottom half of the East in 2014 because of the losses of Kony Ealy and Michael Sam and multiple key members of its offense. The departure of Ealy and Sam were offset by Markus Golden and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Shane Ray and while Missouri's offense looked downright impotent at times, the Tigers' defense was fantastic again and pushed Mizzou to a second-straight SEC East title. Think Missouri will be undervalued again in 2015?
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
South Carolina
When a giant banner of coach Steve Spurrier was placed outside of Williams-Brice Stadium, Spurrier made a comment that people would start throwing eggs at it if the season started to slide. At the time, no one could have predicted just how bad the Gamecocks would be. They started the season getting blown out by what we later learned was a mediocre Texas A&M team and things didn’t get much better with losses to teams such as Kentucky, Tennessee and ultimately rival Clemson. The 6-6 record — after being picked to run away with the SEC East — was the worst for the Gamecocks since going 6-6 in 2007.
Oklahoma
Yes, the loss of Trevor Knight against Baylor was a big one, but Knight was injured after Baylor had a big lead against the Sooners in Norman and he quarterbacked Oklahoma's loss at home to Kansas State. Add in the crazy loss to Oklahoma State (who wants to bet Bob Stoops won't re-punt on a similar running-into-the-kicker penalty in the future?), the Sooners had lost three games at home for the first time since 1997. So much for being extremely reactionary and thinking Oklahoma's Sugar Bowl win over Alabama was a sign of 2014 greatness.
MOST TIMELY FIRING
June Jones, SMU
OK, OK, June Jones resigned from SMU and wasn't fired, but it was time for him to go regardless. He noted in a radio interview earlier this week that he had contemplated leaving in 2013 and then thought about leaving in June and August. His heart was no longer in the SMU job and it was clear in the way the team played. While SMU only won one game this year, the Mustangs were much better off without Jones at the helm, and their future under newly-named coach Chad Morris looks very bright.
Florida, Will Muschamp
Yes, Muschamp coached the final two games of the year, but the decision to cut ties with Muschamp in mid-November gave Florida a leg up on Nebraska, Michigan and now Wisconsin in terms of an official coaching search. And when athletic director Jeremy Foley identified his target in Colorado State's Jim McElwain, he went and got him, even if it took some buyout hassling. And for Muschamp, it was a timely move too. He was able to quickly figure out what teams wanted his services as a defensive coordinator if he plans on coaching in 2015.
FIRING THAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED
Norm Chow, Hawaii
Is there a more apathetic program in the country than Hawaii? It was just seven years ago that it completed an undefeated regular season, was playing in the Sugar Bowl and boasted a Heisman-worthy quarterback. But in the past few years it's been seemingly content with mediocrity. Chow has done nothing during his time on the Island. He’s 8-29 and there’s nothing that suggests the team is getting any better. I know the school is having money problems and that might be why its content with keeping Chow instead of bidding for a new coach, but the program isn’t going to make financial progress if it continues losing.
South Florida, Willie Taggart
Is Taggart heading into a make-or-break season in 2015? After the season, USF got rid of both coordinators and Taggart is going to have his third offensive coordinator in three seasons in 2015. In two seasons at South Florida, Taggart's teams are a combined 6-18. While a coach should get three or more seasons to see what he can do at a school, the frequent turnover in such a short time frame makes you wonder if this arrangement is going to work out at USF.
BEST STORY
Minnesota’s Jerry Kill
A year ago, Minnesota coach Jerry Kill missed the bulk of the season while dealing with seizures. But he got his seizures under control and came back this season to make the Gophers a contender in Big Ten West. Minnesota was one game away from playing for a conference title, which is amazing considering it was picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten West. And for his efforts, Kill was named Big Ten Coach of Year. It’s quite the turnaround story.
A raccoon selfie goes wrong
Stop typing the angry emails and read this entire paragraph, animal lovers. The story of Jack Gangwish's raccoon selfie isn't the pick here because of the raccoon's ultimate fate. It's because we still can't get over the fact that Gangwish apparently decided that it'd be a great idea to pull over and take a picture with a raccoon. It's absolutely ridiculously funny — as long as Gangwish doesn't have rabies. And the whole episode got PETA to write a letter to Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst, which seems totally unnecessary. Plus, Gangwish posted this at the beginning of the season.
BEST SPECIAL UNIFORMS
Texas A&M’s 1939 throwbacks
We’ve seen a lot of throwbacks, but what put these over the top for me were the helmets that were made to look like the leather helmets of old. The old-timey brown shoes also were a nice touch. Adidas definitely tried to get as authentic as possible for these throwbacks. Unfortunately for Texas A&M, the replica didn’t bring the Aggies the undefeated season the 1939 team had.
Texas Tech's masked toreador helmets
This is a two-part Texas Tech post. In the best category are these awesome special edition lids.
WORST SPECIAL UNIFORMS
Northwestern’s Gothics
These uniforms, which were supposed to be pay homage to the architecture on the Northwestern campus, might have been some of the worst uniforms I’ve seen in some time and that’s saying something with Maryland constantly trying to construct the ugliest uniforms on Earth. The weird Gothic writing combined with the akward arch on the back of the helmet was incredibly underwhelming and a waste of a good special uniform.
Texas Tech's Lone Star uniforms
And here's the worst entry for Texas Tech. Just... no. No. The blue and the black don't work together.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!
And don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
from Yahoo Sports http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/the-2nd-annual-dr--saturday-college-football-awards-180422534.html
