The Ultimate Double Standard

As a perfect compliment to Ian's prior post, I wanted to talk about one of those college football phrases that make me want to PUKE, style points, also known as "the eye test".

From previous posts, it's obvious the two big fish Notre Dame and it's fans are chasing this year, a National Championship and a Heisman. We need help to get into the BCS Championship game. We also seem to be on the outside looking in in the Heisman race for Manti Te'o. A look at why will show the hypocrisy that is college football.  

Stats vs. Style Points

Let's look first at the BCS Championship. We currently sit at #3 with no possible hope to overtake Oregon or Kansas State. One of them has to lose. This is an absolute joke. The "eye test"? Who's eyes are we talking about? Is it every media member in America who said ND would get demolished by first Michigan State, then Michigan, then Stanford then especially Oklahoma? How about the college football experts who pick games each week? Corso has a 64% record picking winners. Herbstreet is about the same at 62%. Most other "experts" are around that same area, assuming they pick a wide range of games. Check for yourself. So I guess they are around 63% correct in assuming ND is no one of the top 2 teams? Look, it's clear that "the eye test" is a joke. It is meaningless. Instead, look at the cold hard facts. The stats and records of Notre Dame compared to Oregon and KSU. Brian Kelly summarized it best. Ian's post needs repeating:

"If you want style points, look at our defense, look at the schedule we played, 10 FBS teams."

Scoreboard!

Now let's look at the Heisman and see the absolute hypocrisy. While the announcers go absolutely out of their way to say why the style points supersede the schedule, the stats and quite simply LOGIC to define the BCS race, it's the ABSOLUTE OPPOSITE for the Heisman race. Here, it's all about stats. The best player with the best stats on the best team. So let's look at the candidates. 3 undefeated teams. 3 front runners.

Collin Klein
A QB who handles the ball every offensive play. He scores tons of TDs, passing and rushing. Have you heard his name before this season? A name which he even spells wrong!

Kenjon Barner
A RB on a pinball offense with some gaudy rushing numbers. Was he even a candidate before rushing for 300+ against USC? See I take issue with this because he wasn't a candidate before that. Also, he is just a cog in the wheel. Remove him, and Oregon is the EXACT SAME TEAM.

Manti Te'o
The best player on the team. He leads in tackles, interceptions and heart. He imposes fear into the opposing team, while being universally loved by opponents as well. Without Manti, Notre Dame has 2 or 3 losses this year. That's just a fact. He has literally transformed Notre Dame, and his off-the-field actions are now legendary. There are so many stories, articles and posts to support this, I can't even start to list them here.

So here, "the eye test" is 100% clear. Manti IS college football. However, the media decides instead to use a statistical test to rule him out. It just makes me sick.

I give up. All I want is 12-0. Let the rest of this crap take care of itself. I'll be pissed when we get passed over for the BCS Title and Heisman, but I know something else. Notre Dame will be ranked in the Top 5 next year, and be an even better team. The morons who are holding the BCS and Heisman away from us won't be able to do it for much longer!