Man of the Match vs Tulane

[Wander]

OK, try number 2. Kind of harder to do for football, and it's hard to give statistics for defensive players, but hopefully this is semi-reasonable.

[Jim3k]

I wanna vote for the offensive line; or the defensive line...or just THE LINE!

This was a team effort and should be so recognized. Sure, the backs and Renfree did well, but without the line play, this win would not have happened.

[x] THE LINE!

[Acymetric]

Mentioned in the first thread that got locked when this one was made, but don't see how you can vote for the line the way Renfree got lit up today. Defensive line did look good, even after Kenny went out (worried about his injury).

[Jim3k]

Mentioned in the first thread that got locked when this one was made, but don't see how you can vote for the line the way Renfree got lit up today. Defensive line did look good, even after Kenny went out (worried about his injury).

Easy call. OL: Five rushing TDs; no sacks. Starting DL allowed no TDs; got 2 sacks. Tulane's offensive TDs came after the starters were pulled in 4th Q.

Understood about Renfree getting beaten up a bit, but football is a rough game. He's pretty tough. The OL still did a super job for him.

In any event, this win belongs to the team as a whole. Many players played well. Hard to pick out just one for MoM.

[uh_no]

Easy call. OL: Five rushing TDs; no sacks. Starting DL allowed no TDs; got 2 sacks. Tulane's offensive TDs came after the starters were pulled in 4th Q.

Understood about Renfree getting beaten up a bit, but football is a rough game. He's pretty tough. The OL still did a super job for him.

In any event, this win belongs to the team as a whole. Many players played well. Hard to pick out just one for MoM.

I have to agree. What the game demonstrates to me in terms of the line is that we have good skilled linemen, they've just been overmatched generally. Unfortunately the rest of the teams we play will likely have better linemen than tulane did today. I have no doubt in my mind that the team we put out there today handily beats richmond.

But I think the team today pretty much validated what we saw against stanford and BC, we're a pretty good football team. We showed it for 30 minutes against stanford, and then against BC, and we had a full game worth of success today. Renfree and his receiving core are great, we have a phenomenal passing attack. The defense can back it up against the best that the ACC can offer, I think. The rest of the season will have some exciting games for duke.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Our team is growing up before our eyes! Experience and maturity are a wonderful thing, and unfortunately you don't have that in the first game of the year (Richmond). I'm looking forward to the FIU game - I expect to the there.

I voted for Renfree. Except for his 1st quarter pass to the wrong team, he played very well!

[pbc2]

Sean has played very well the last 2 weeks and I expect that to continue this week against the FIU secondary that gave up a lot against UL-L.

On a side note, is Connor Vernon related to either Sheldon Williams or Greg Zoubek?

[NovaScotian]

Snyderwine

[killerleft]

Snyderwine

Didn't vote for Will, but his longish field goal might turn out to be the start of something very big for the team in later games.

[Jarhead]

After casting my vote for Sean Renfree I concluded that voting for one player does not get us to an answer. There are just too many people with pivotal roles for us to select just one man of the match. Probably 30 or more players participated in the game, but we could only vote for 7 players, 5 on offense, and only 2 on defense. Why not split it up two ways, maybe even four ways, offense and defense, and perhaps line and backfield? Selecting just one player means the the MOTM will likely be the quarterback, more so in a victory. After all, there is a good reason for selecting All Americans by position. As for the Heisman Trophy, that seems to have evolved into the most popular quarterback or running back, but that's something we don't need to worry about for a while.

[nocilla]

After casting my vote for Sean Renfree I concluded that voting for one player does not get us to an answer. There are just too many people with pivotal roles for us to select just one man of the match. Probably 30 or more players participated in the game, but we could only vote for 7 players, 5 on offense, and only 2 on defense. Why not split it up two ways, maybe even four ways, offense and defense, and perhaps line and backfield? Selecting just one player means the the MOTM will likely be the quarterback, more so in a victory. After all, there is a good reason for selecting All Americans by position. As for the Heisman Trophy, that seems to have evolved into the most popular quarterback or running back, but that's something we don't need to worry about for a while.

I don't know, I could get behind a Renfree for Heisman campaign next year.

[Wander]

After casting my vote for Sean Renfree I concluded that voting for one player does not get us to an answer. There are just too many people with pivotal roles for us to select just one man of the match. Probably 30 or more players participated in the game, but we could only vote for 7 players, 5 on offense, and only 2 on defense. Why not split it up two ways, maybe even four ways, offense and defense, and perhaps line and backfield? Selecting just one player means the the MOTM will likely be the quarterback, more so in a victory. After all, there is a good reason for selecting All Americans by position. As for the Heisman Trophy, that seems to have evolved into the most popular quarterback or running back, but that's something we don't need to worry about for a while.

I'll try to explain my reasoning a bit.

I had no magic formula in picking who went on the poll, other than simply watching the entire game and using my best judgment on which individuals had noticeable impacts on the game. Though I think the offensive line is the most underrated unit in all of sports, the nature of what an offensive line actually is makes it basically impossible for one particular player on it to stand out, except in extraordinary cases (say, Jake Long of Michigan a few seasons ago). The same goes for offense vs defense. I agree with you that the offensive and defensive teams are equally important, but the nature of the sport makes it harder for an individual defensive player to stand out. There are obviously exceptions, like Suh of Nebraska a couple years back (who I will never stop believing easily deserved the Heisman), but it's not like basketball where all positions are created (roughly) equal.

That said, I don't want the quarterback to be selected every time, and I'm thinking about how to change the format for coming weeks. Though I really like the idea of just picking one player per game, I think you may be right in that having separate offensive and defensive players is the way to go. I also think it's a good idea to do away with my notes in parentheses - I thought it would be helpful just to remind people of what happened during the game, but in retrospect, I think it puts too much of a pro-quarterback bias in the poll. For example, seeing "2 sacks, 5 total tackles" next to Hatcher's name looks kind of lame compared to all the numbers next to Renfree's, and it doesn't capture the importance of having an effective pass rush, even on plays where the opposing quarterback was not sacked.

I'm open to all suggestions (and probably need someone else to set this up for the FIU game on Saturday).

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I keep coming back to the idea that Jamison Crowder should be in the running... literally and figuratively. He brings some intangibles to the game that go far beyond the stats. Had that spectacular run not been taken back because of a suspicious penalty, people would be talking about what a big game Jamison played Saturday. Watch him when he runs, great change of direction along with speed. If he gets knocked down, he springs back up.

I would also have to say that it's quite difficult to narrow down to single out only one player for a great performance. What a wonderful problem to have!

Maybe the model to examine would be how football awards tend to be structured... freshman of the week, offensive or defensive player of the week....back of the week...

[Reilly]

Lots of contributors throughout ...

In support of Varner, he had the longest play from scrimmage in each of the drives leading to TD4, TD5 and TD6.

Crowder had returns of 25 yds (led to FG), 25 yds (led to TD), and 22 yds (led to TD).

Asack kicked off 8 times, all to the 7 or better, w/ none returned to the 30.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Lots of contributors throughout ...

In support of Varner, he had the longest play from scrimmage in each of the drives leading to TD4, TD5 and TD6.

Crowder had returns of 25 yds (led to FG), 25 yds (led to TD), and 22 yds (led to TD).

Asack kicked off 8 times, all to the 7 or better, w/ none returned to the 30.

Conner is so good it's become easy to expect outstanding play and perhaps take it for granted. You're right about Paul Asack... another great contributor to the roll over Tulane!

[Tulanefan]

Coach Bob Toledo of Tulane. The offensive wizard came up with three whole formations. I can't believe y'all figured it out so well. I also got to give credit to Tulane's defensive coaches. They disguise their defenses so well everybody knows what's up an hour before the snap. I mean Clark Kent's glasses amount to a better disguise. We couldn't fool Lois Lane.

At least Tulane under Toledo is consistent. Consistently following what looks like a big win with a stinker. Congrats Dukies, you have been in football hell over the last kazillion years. I hope you win many games and get out of that hell.

Now, the question is, do you guys take requests?


See, I am Tulane fan because I grew up in New Orleans. But I went to Loyola University-New Orleans. We are called the Wolfpack.-- have been pretty much since it opened in 1912. But we are a teeny-tiny NAIA school. You have a gigantic ACC school you are playing basketball against this year. You might know them. They are called NC State. They also are called the Wolfpack. Instead of sharing the nickname (which we had first) They registered the nickname back in the 1980s, and are now suing our little NAIA school to make us stop using our historic nickname. So, I request of you to beat the living hell out of NC State in basketball this year. Can you take care of this for me?

[Newton_14]

Coach Bob Toledo of Tulane. The offensive wizard came up with three whole formations. I can't believe y'all figured it out so well. I also got to give credit to Tulane's defensive coaches. They disguise their defenses so well everybody knows what's up an hour before the snap. I mean Clark Kent's glasses amount to a better disguise. We couldn't fool Lois Lane.

At least Tulane under Toledo is consistent. Consistently following what looks like a big win with a stinker. Congrats Dukies, you have been in football hell over the last kazillion years. I hope you win many games and get out of that hell.

Now, the question is, do you guys take requests?


See, I am Tulane fan because I grew up in New Orleans. But I went to Loyola University-New Orleans. We are called the Wolfpack.-- have been pretty much since it opened in 1912. But we are a teeny-tiny NAIA school. You have a gigantic ACC school you are playing basketball against this year. You might know them. They are called NC State. They also are called the Wolfpack. Instead of sharing the nickname (which we had first) They registered the nickname back in the 1980s, and are now suing our little NAIA school to make us stop using our historic nickname. So, I request of you to beat the living hell out of NC State in basketball this year. Can you take care of this for me?

Wow. That is incredible. Thanks for passing that nugget along. I suspect we can help you out on that one. Doesn't Nevada also have "Wolfpack" as their name as well? Is NCSU sueing them as well? (Cannot believe they are sueing a NAIA school over something this trivial. Thats nuts)

[Wander]

Wow. That is incredible. Thanks for passing that nugget along. I suspect we can help you out on that one. Doesn't Nevada also have "Wolfpack" as their name as well? Is NCSU sueing them as well? (Cannot believe they are sueing a NAIA school over something this trivial. Thats nuts)

Nevada is the Wolf Pack, with a space. Small difference, but probably relevant here.

[Newton_14]

Nevada is the Wolf Pack, with a space. Small difference, but probably relevant here.

Yeah, in terms of the suit it certainly will. Still can't believe they would sue over that. Especially a NAIA school.

[-jk]

IANAL, but I suspect there may be prior use that gives State trouble.

We have the Central Conn Blue Devils...

-jk