CFB: Who is the greatest Quarterback of the 21st century? The Final Four
Part one outlining the rules of this exercise.
Although this article will serve as a spoiler alert for the previous articles that are linked you can still click the links for two reasons: One, to find out why I selected each Quarterback and two cause I get paid per click. Ok, number two was a shameless plug.
Final Four:
Matt Leinhart, Vince Young, Jonny Manziel, Deshaun Watson.
In previous articles, I outlined why each candidate should win their respective sections (links above). This article will focus on why each candidate should not win. This is done so that you have both aspects.
Leinart: Trying to find a flaw in Leinart’s game while in college is like trying to find a bad Denzel Washington movie…..It does not exist. He is however in violation of the Jamies Winston rule. Leinart was surrounded by thirteen offensive players who were drafted in the NFL during his time at USC.
Young: I looked back at each game of Young’s career trying to find a stretch of games where he did not play well and Texas won due to the defense or ground game. (For the record this is why Cam Newton was not selected….look back at his biggest games and he was very average). I found one bad game since he became a full-time starter in 2004. The 2004 Red River Showdown Young was held to less than 100 yards passing and less than 60 yards rushing. Outside of that game, Young continuously rose to the occasion in big games:Â 2004 Rose Bowl, 2005 Red River, 2006 Rose Bowl.
Manziel: Manziel had some big games in his career: 2012 vs Alabama, 2013 Cotton Bowl vs Oklahoma, 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl vs Duke. However, he never won the SEC let alone the SEC West. (The SEC West is a brutal schedule, but at this stage in the game the smallest edges will prevail). In his two years has a starter Manziel was 2-5 against ranked SEC West foes. Another factor against Manziel is the schedule; Texas A&M non-conference schedule in the two years that Manziel was a starter: SMU, South Carolina State, Sam Houston State, Rice, UTEP, not exactly challenging. The question remains, how much of Manziel’s numbers were inflated playing cupcakes?
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Watson: Much like Vince Young, Deshaun Watson continuously performed well in big games. In two ACC Conference games and four playoff games, Watson threw for 1848 yards and 15 touchdowns; he chipped in 534 yards rushing with 11 touchdowns. Sure, you could say it was against the ACC and a bad Oklahoma defense, but those two games against Alabama were insane. Alabama had twenty-four players drafted into the NFL from those two years. The fact that Watson never won the Heisman or placed into the All-American team is criminal. He is, however, the greatest quarterback in College Football History.
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