Smith's Record Chase
by tnt31305December 5th, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Filed under: Sports
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Who is the best running back in college football? The sports writer favorite seems to be Mike Hart, Darren McFadden and Ray Rice. But what puzzles me is that none of them led in any categories for national recognition. They do not lead in rushing yards or scoring. So why is it that they seem to be the front runners for the Doan Walker Award, the best running back award? I wonder, does playing in a certain conference really? If those lousy sports writers ever took numbers serious, like they do with the BCS, they would know that UCF running back Kevin Smith leads the college football world in scoring, rushing yards, and rushing attempts. When defenses are up against Kevin Smith, they are not trying to stop a normal being; they are trying to stop a god. Compared to the front runners of those sport writer�s minds, Smith has only had one game where he rushed less than 100 yards. If someone looked at Hart, McFadden, and Rice�s numbers, they have rushed less than 100 yards more frequently than Smith has. Smith has stayed consistent with his numbers throughout the year, yet gains no recognition for the Doan Walker or Heisman Award. There is so much injustice with the college football world. Even Smith�s rival at Tulane didn�t get recognition. Tulane�s running back Matt Forte has always been a step ahead of Smith for the rushing title until last week where he stumbled into a 120 yd game and Smith over took him by rushing more than 200 yards. If you ask me, the front runners for the Doan Walker award should be between Kevin Smith and Matt Forte, the two leading rushers in the NCAAF, with Smith getting the nod. If anyone watched a UCF football game this season, they would see the gaudy numbers Smith puts up without playing the entire game. Yes, that�s right; Smith doesn�t play the entire game. He instead takes a rest after the game is well in hand. If he played the entire game every week, he could have eclipsed well into 3000 yards instead of a measly 2100 yards. So what could be holding Kevin Smith back from attaining any awards possible? The answer lies within the conference he plays in, Conference USA. Let�s face facts, Conference USA is great, but in college football, if you�re not in a BCS conference, then you�re worth nothing to ESPN. College football is nothing like the NFL where you would think that team with a really good record is ranked higher than a team with a mediocre record. A 6-5 team in the PAC 10 has a better shot at gaining a BCS bowl than the 9-3 UCF Knights. How bad is Conference USA you ask? We�ll take into account that if UCF beats Tulsa for the conference title game, they are only good enough to play in the Liberty Bowl where, UCF being the number 1 team in Conference USA, they get to play, at best, the sixth best team in the Big East. So having a good record in the college football is like running for president in the United States, and if you�re not a Democrat or Republican, chances are that you�re not going to be nominated. If only UCF played in a better conference for sporting news, such as the ACC or SEC, Kevin Smith would win the Doan Walker Award and maybe even the Heisman. Smith is so good that he has broken Emmitt Smith�s record for rushing yards in the state of Florida. Yes, the Emmitt Smith, from the University of Florida, who later went on to set the NFL career rushing record. Additionally, with the Conference USA Championship game this week and the Liberty Bowl next week, Kevin Smith can easily rush past Barry Sanders to hold the Division 1-A single season rushing mark for himself. Yes, the same Barry Sanders, who is also considered a college football god. But for a few minor details for those of you who wished that Kevin Smith had committed to a better conference, here is the answer I have for you, it�s not his fault. Kevin Smith has always been a talented football player. Back in high school, he was his school�s running back until his senior year where he was converted into a defensive back. When he wanted to get signed as a running back to those �better teams� they wanted him as a safety instead of his natural position, running back. Thankfully, here at UCF, they were the only school willing to give him the opportunity to play as running back, and now that he is peaking in his college career, and is returning for his senior year, UCF could be on the way of gaining a BCS bowl and Smith could get all the recognition he rightfully deserves. With the way Kevin Smith runs the football, it is so hard to understand why he got snubbed the Doan Walker Award. Smith didn�t even make it as a finalist for the vote getters. If the award goes out to the nation�s best running back, shouldn�t the leading rusher and scorer at least be a finalist, even if that same person plays in Conference USA. Kevin Smith doesn�t have to be upset about getting snubbed; he has the entire UCF Student Body to be upset for him. All I am saying is that the numbers don�t lie; if eclipsing the 2000 yard mark for rushing doesn�t get you national recognition, then I truly don�t know why Lee Corso or Kirk Herbstreit have jobs on College Gameday. If they already decided who they like as a player without looking at the numbers, then why discuss it. They�re basing their votes on opinions, not numbers. All I can say now is that next season Kevin Smith will not be snubbed ever again. |
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to be the best you have to beat the best. C-USA is an awful confrenece. 6 of the 12 teams have losing records. 415 rushing attempts in a season. thats a record. give darren mcfadden 100 more attempts hell get 2200+ yrds 20+ tds. give mike hart 200 more attempts hes got 2500 more yards. if you run 400 times youll have those stats too.
tim tebow(who will prob win the heisman) has 22 rushing tds and 29tds passing. 51 tds overall. last year colt brennan threw 58 tds. he didnt get the hiesman. beating up on awful teams proves nothing.
Smith also has rushed for 1000 yards in his last four games, alone.
Take it easy and take care,
-Todd
-Todd
C-USA is indeed an awful conference. But remember Smith's blockers are only as good as the C-USA defense they're playing against.
-Todd