2007 Matt Stat Awards

The Matt Stat Awards are given to the players that had the best statistics in college football this season. Awards are not determined by feelings, team success, politics or bribery. Winners are based only on cold hard cash. Err, I mean stats.

Best Quarterback
The candidates are: Colt Brennan (Hawaii), Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) and Paul Smith (Tulsa).

The award goes to Graham Harrell, Texas Tech. This season Harrell threw for 5,298 yards, 45 touchdowns and completed 72.67% of his passes. All of those stats were best in the nation.

Brennan receives an achievement award for ending his career with 20 NCAA records.

Best Tailback
Surprisingly two finalists from last year (Ian Johnson and Steve Slaton) are not ranked among the top 25 in yards per game this season.

This year’s candidates are: Matt Forte (Tulane), Darren McFadden (Arkansas) and Kevin Smith (UCF).
Leading the nation with 2,448 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns, the winner is Kevin Smith. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry and 188.31 yards per game. Smith is 180 yards away from breaking Barry Sanders’ record of 2,628 yards in a season.

Best Receiver
The candidates are: Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech) Ryan Grice-Mullen (Hawaii) and Jordy Nelson (Kansas State).

The receiver who had a nation’s best 125 receptions, 1,861 yards, 10.42 receptions a game and 155 yards a game is Michael Crabtree. Crabtree is only a freshman and could easily win this award the next two years.

Wrap Him Up Award
This award goes to the player with the most tackles this season. The candidates are: Dan Connor (Penn State), Jordon Dizon (Colorado) and Scott McKillop (Pitt).

The winner is linebacker Scott McKillop. McKillop made 151 tackles, 98 of which were solo tackles. Dizon led the nation with 107 solo tackles.


Sack Man Award
The candidates are: Greg Middleton (Indiana), George Selvie (USF) and Ken from Kroger.

Ken stepped up his sacking ability on my groceries, but still fell short again. Greg Middleton is the recipient of this year's Sack Man Award. Middleton collected 16 sacks which were 1.5 more than Selvie.

Blowin' Up Backfields Award
Awarded to the player who recorded the most tackles for loss. The candidates are: Shawn Crable (Michigan), Nick Reed (Oregon) and George Selvie.

Selvie, the runner-up for the Sack Man Award, takes the prize. Selvie recorded an 31.5 TFL. Incredibly 31were solo TFL. Combine that with his 14.5 sacks and Selvie was a one man wrecking crew.


Golden Arch Award
The Golden Arch goes to the kicker who made the most field goals per game. The candidates are: Gary Cismesia (Florida State), Colt David (LSU) and John Sullivan (New Mexico).

This year's winner is John Sullivan. Sullivan made 26 of 29 field goal attempts (.897) and averaged 2.36 made field goals a game.

For the final two awards we travel out of the world of the objective and into the nether regions of most awards, the subjective.

Best Analyst
The candidates are: Gary Danielson (CBS), Bob Greise (ABC) and Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN).

Herbstreit wins again. Having to share the booth with Brent Musburger for the entire season deserves more than a big paycheck.


Worst Analyst
The candidates are: Doug Flutie, Mark May and John Saunders.

Although it was close, Saunders edges out Flutie and May. Flutie adds little factual or insightful information while May might still believe that South Florida deserves to be ranked No. 1. However, Saunders receives the award for his steadfast belief that the BCS is better than a playoff.