Cornerback Leonard Johnson performance grade:
LJ33.jpg
It may be just a matter of opinion, and of course everyone is entitled to their own, but as an alumnus and booster of both schools who had the privilege of cheering for both and seeing them both play in college, I'd like to know the basis for your statement that Danny Wuerffel was not as good as Dave Brown. During his two seasons as a starter, 1995 and 1996, Wuerffel led the Gators to two national championship games, winning the title in the second appearance and losing only one game in each of those two seasons; and it wasn't just because he was surrounded by talented teammates. Regarding his individual stats and achievements, I'll simply copy this summary from his Wikipedia page:
"Wuerffel was a first-team All-American in 1995, and a consensus first-team All-American in 1996. He received the Sammy Baugh Trophy in 1995, the Davey O'Brien Award in 1995 and 1996, and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 1996, and was named the Quarterback of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus in 1996. Wuerffel declined to be included on Playboy magazine's All-America team as well as its Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, saying, "That's not the type of person I am or would like to portray myself as." His Gators teammates picked him as the squad's most valuable player in 1995 and 1996; his coaches chose him as one of the Gators' team captains. He was later named to The Gainesville Sun's Florida Gators Team of the Century in 1999, was chosen by the Sun as the number one player in the first 100 years of Gators football, and was listed as a member of the Florida Gators 100th Anniversary Team in 2006.
He is one of only two Heisman Trophy winners to also receive the Draddy Trophy, which is presented annually by the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame to the nation's top football scholar-athlete. Wuerffel was also a first-team Academic All-American in 1995 and 1996.
He finished his Gator career by completing 708 of 1,170 passes for 10,875 yards with 114 touchdown passes, the best in SEC history and second-most in major college history. His career pass efficiency rating of 163.56 was the best in major college history and his percentage of passes which went for a touchdown (9.74) ranked first in collegiate history. In 1995, his efficiency rating of 178.4 set a single-season collegiate record. During his Heisman-winning season of 1996, he completed 207 of 360 passes for 3,625 yards (an SEC record at the time) for 39 touchdowns (leading the nation) and his efficiency rating of 170.6 made him the first quarterback to ever post a rating of 170 or better in back-to-back years."
Dave Brown was a very good quarterback. Wuerffel was a legend, among the best ever. In my opinion, this comparison is not really a close question.
Cornerback Leonard Johnson performance grade:
LJ33.jpg
Bob Green
The win got us some love from Funny Maine:
https://youtu.be/vARzN1RGyyU
1. Please don't group Ted Roof and Cut together in any analysis. (Insert obligatory 'Ted Roof is a good man' reference here -- and indeed he is.)
2. With the benefit of age and hindsight, of course it was worth it. It was UNC. I think I'll make that photo this year's Christmas card.
The win got us absolutely no AP love. Still not a single vote. Quite a few more in the Coaches Poll tho.
Before we leave this topic, I want to say how happy I am about this blowout. I well remember the vicious cheap shot that Thad Lewis suffered at Va Tech in 2006. It knocked him out of the game with a concussion. Va Tech laughed off the assault at the time. The conference office refused to take action. I’m pretty sure Coach Cutcliffe didn’t mind running up the score a bit so this game would stick in Bud Foster’s mind. I hope that concussion won’t impair Lewis’ mind.
If you want to use success in the NFL as your measure, then you're certainly welcome to your opinion that Wuerffel was "not as good as" Brown. While it appears to me that Brown's record of performance in the NFL wasn't appreciably better than Wuerffel's -- both had more interceptions than TDs -- Brown's career NFL passer rating was a little higher, so there's that. In any event, I'm a college sports fan; and while I wish them well when they move on to the NFL or NBA, my interest in players is based entirely on how they perform and contribute to the success of their college programs. By that measure, at least, I beg to differ with your opinion that Wuerffel was not as good as Brown. Denigrate him as a "product of the system" if you like, but the fact that he wasn't a success in the NFL does not in my judgment diminish Danny Weurffel's stature as a tough, talented, and tremendously successful quarterback.
QH movin' on up the 2019 espn college football QBR:
http://www.espn.com/college-football/qbr
Still above *that* Heisman candidate who led his team to a rousing 1 point win over the cheats .
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Yeah, hopefully a win over Pitt by more than Penn State will get the voters attention. Of course, Duke performed better against MTSU than Michigan (also away vs home) and was up the same amount as Iowa (also at home) going into the 4th quarter. Although honestly based upon how the team reacted last season after getting ranked, I can wait a bit more...