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Doak Walker, more like Joke Walker...

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FLOUNDER

Doak Walker? More Like Joke Walker
Written by Rob Paden
Thursday, 07 December 2006
If you're a true college football fan and can pull that collective head of yours out of the SEC's posterior for a moment, you might come to recognize that the wrong man was collecting the trophy at tonight's Doak Walker presentation. You might recognize that ultra-talented athletes don't always come packaged in NFL-replica bodies. The nation and the media completely missed the boat on the McFadden vs. Slaton debate.

The bobbleheads at ESPN, CBS, Fox, and other news outlets have their minds made up. SEC football is the end-all and be-all of college athletics, and hell would freeze over if they considered anything outside of those lines. Thus explaining the long line of lips puckered up to kiss Arkansas running back Darren McFadden's ***. Let's get this straight. Darren McFadden is NOT the best running back in the country. Hell, he may not even be the best back on his team.

Media mouths motor on about measurables. Only a sophomore, McFadden has an NFL prototype body. Certainly he'll be drafted ahead of Steve Slaton. I'm not even questioning that. But let's get real for a minute. We all know that the NFL and college are completely different animals. Throw in the fact that Barry Sanders might have something to say about size predicting success, and it's fair to assume that just because he stands 6-2, 205 that he's not necessarily the best running back in all the land.

Fine, the McFadden boasters say. If not measurables, he certainly bypasses Slaton on the fact that week in and week out he faced SEC defenses, and had plenty of success in doing it. After all, we know the Big East is a watered down pile of rubble, and the only reputable defenses left with Miami and Virginia Tech. Right. Certainly West Virginia's level of defensive competition couldn't hold the jock to that of Arkansas' opponents. Close. The average defense that West Virginia faced gave up 145 yards per game on the ground, while the Razorbacks average opponent gave up 133. Twelve measly yards. Doesn't quite make up the 25 yard discrepancy between Mr. Slaton and Mr. McFadden, now does it?

Well, but come on, Rob, teams keyed on Darren because of Arkansas' lack of a passing game. Oh really? Arkansas passed for a measly 151 yards a game. Really makes West Virginia's 161 yards a game look like the 2000 St. Louis Rams, doesn't it? Yeah, but you can't forget that defenses couldn't key on Slaton, since Pat White rushed for 1074 yards at 7.5 yards per carry. How conveniently those same arguments forget the fact that Arkansas' Felix Jones rushed for 1018 yards on 7.3 yards per carry this season.

Certainly injuries play a role in McFadden's numbers. He was still able to produce, despite being injured for much of three games with a toe condition. That does make for some tough sledding, I must admit. Of course, I've also never tried to play an entire season of college football with a wrist that needed surgical attention, and then hurt the other wrist halfway through the year, still opting to keep toting the rock. Apparently even the pain in SEC country is harder to play through.

Assuming one buys all the lame excuses and propoganda put out by media outlets across this great land of ours, one can't help but look at the numbers. At least if you have any common sense about production. It's pretty clear that if you've been paying attention to anything outside of the Bible Belt, football is pretty strong in other parts of the country, and electrifying players play in stadiums outside of the deep south.

Take a look at the numbers and come back with any factual information that tells me that Darren McFadden is a better running back than Steve Slaton. I'll be waiting in silence.

Category McFadden Slaton Advantage


National Rushing Rank 10th 3rd slaton

Yards Per Carry 5.9 7.1 Slaton

Rushing Touchdowns 14 16 Slaton

Receiving Yards 149 340 Slaton

Receiving Touchdowns 1 2 Slaton

Total Touchdowns Responsible For 19 18 McFadden

All-Purpose Yards 2,005 2,073 Slaton

Yards Per Touch 6.9 7.7 Slaton

Games Under 100 Yards Rushing 5 2 Slaton

Games Under 100 Yards Total Offense 3 1 Slaton

Games Held Scoreless 3 2 Slaton

Games With 200+ Yards Rushing 1 2 Slaton

Games With 150+ Yards Rushing 4 6 Slaton

Games With 100+ Yards Rushing on Fewer Than 20 Carries 1 4 Slaton

Fewest Carries to Reach 100 Yards 18 8 Slaton

Rushing Against Common Opponent - Mississippi State 84 185 Slaton
 
Well, but come on, Rob, teams keyed on Darren because of Arkansas' lack of a passing game. Oh really? Arkansas passed for a measly 151 yards a game. Really makes West Virginia's 161 yards a game look like the 2000 St. Louis Rams, doesn't it? Yeah, but you can't forget that defenses couldn't key on Slaton, since Pat White rushed for 1074 yards at 7.5 yards per carry. How conveniently those same arguments forget the fact that Arkansas' Felix Jones rushed for 1018 yards on 7.3 yards per carry this season.
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That's a dumb argument. The difference is that Pat White and Steve Slaton were on the field at the same time on every play. So you cant just focus on one. McFadden and Jones, to my knowledge, werent on the field at the same time so you could literally focus on the one in the game.

And if numbers meant everything Quinn would have won the Heisman over Smith.
 
SEC defense v.s. Big East Defense does everyone see the difference?
 
Kirk Herbstreet said that Slaton cost himself a lot of awards during the Louisville game when he fumbled twice in the 2nd half, one leading to a Louisville TD. People remember what you did recently. Everyone will remember McFadden singlehandedly caring Arkansas even though they had no QB to speak of at the end of the season.
 
Rushing Against Common Opponent - Mississippi State 84 185 Slaton
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Slaton doubled McFaddens Total yards. That SKEET made has no backbone
 
Slaton is part of an option offense that allows him to run crazy in much wider holes. McFadden is a much better back.
 
FLOUNDER said:
Slaton doubled McFaddens Total yards. That SKEET made has no backbone
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Miss State started to play much better at the end of the season and comparing the Big East Defense's to the Sec Defense's
 
Slaton is a great back and had a great year. In addition to all the thin arguments in that article, there's also the subject of the Louisville game for Slaton. In their biggest game of the year, a nationally televised game with a huge audience, he coughed it up twice.
That game wasn't lost on the voters.
 
let's see, against louisville, slaton almost single-handely cost them the game. he was completely shutdown against USF, ending any hope of a BCS berth. mcfadden is a better player in a better conference and has his team in a better bowl game because of his efforts.
 
FLOUNDER said:
The bobbleheads at ESPN, CBS, Fox, and other news outlets have their minds made up. SEC football is the end-all and be-all of college athletics, and hell would freeze over if they considered anything outside of those lines. Thus explaining the long line of lips puckered up to kiss Arkansas running back Darren McFadden's ***. Let's get this straight. Darren McFadden is NOT the best running back in the country. Hell, he may not even be the best back on his team.
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The two bold statements are nothing short of ridiculous. ESPN seems to be anti-SEC to me, but they can't keep it in their pants over the Big 10 and Pac 10. The guys on Gameday routinely trashed the Gators on television, and had a one-loss UF team ranked #8 in their AP poll votes behind one-loss W VA, and one-loss Louisville, et al fairly late into the season.

He may not be the best back on his team? Right...
 
If they are trying to argue for Slaton, they should argue for Garrett Wolfe too.
 
Go ask UGA(and it's defense) if Steve Slaton(and WVU offense) is for real.
 
McFadden was the best RB in the nation this year, period.
 
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