Does Big College = Big Game Ability?

[Fish-Head]

Ok.. Lets face it, one of the truly great intangibles is the ability to handle pressure. While I understand the 'playing against better competition angle' I'm wondering do you agree that playing at a Big college like Michigan over say a small college like University of Delaware gives the young player a truly better advantage at performing in Big Games? Obviously I'm thinking of Flacco vs Henne... Do you think Baltimore reached? What were some of the reasons they took him ahead of our guy? How about a Flacco vs Henne breakdown in your words...

 

[Pinkboy]

Well all I know is that people talk about Henne being 1-3 in bowl games. But people never bring up that losing a couple of those games weren't his fault.. Henne had a 96.0 QB rating in those games. That's pretty damn good production in high pressure games.

People always say he had wicked talent around him.. That's false.. Michigan's defense was average, and below average alot of times. Mike Hart is slow, look where he was drafted.. Also look where the other skill position players were drafted.. Brady Quinn had players drafted higher than Henne had during his tenure recently.

Furthermore, as CK pointed out, Michigan's O'line wasn't really good. Aside from Jake Long there is nobody there who is good. There is one guy that is okay (forget his name right now) , but that's it for that line. The rest of Michigans O'line stunk..

And let's not forget about Michigan's terrible coaching and not opening the playbook.. I read a Michigan newsletter after the last bowl game when they knew Lloyd Carr was done for. And players said that the first time they really opened up the playbook was in the bowl game against Florida.. Well guess what, Henne had almost 400 yards and 3 TD's when they decided to showcase his talents and not shorten the playbook so much.

 

[cwsox]

I cannot comment on Flacco since I have never seen him play - I have seen Henne play a lot the last four years - but the argument you are setting up, while typical in sports, is really bogus

it has nothing to do with where they played - it now comes down to their ability to perform in the NFL

there have been great NFL players from small schools and flops from big schools

actually the first pro quarterback that I ever saw playing in college was Kenny Anderson of D3 Augustana and at half time he had led his team to a 3-2 lead over my college's not very good team -

Kenny Anderson played 1971-1986 in the NFL for Cincinnati, started most of those years, and took his team to the Super Bowl and since retirement has coached for the Bengals, Jags, and now the Steelers

and he was a Division III - D3 player - who looked not so very good when I saw him

he would not have been a better player had he played D2 or D1AA or D1A - the fact that he played North Park, Wheaton, Carroll, Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan and Milliken during his college career in the CCIW rather then the SEC or Big 10 and never played against a D1 team meant nothing -

it has to do with the player, not the division of football that they play in

it is up to the scouts to see if they can discern NFL ability

Henne - Flacco - it is up to them as individuals, has nothing to do with where they played

 

[Fish-Head]

I cannot comment on Flacco since I have never seen him play - I have seen Henne play a lot the last four years - but the argument you are setting up, while typical in sports, is really bogus

it has nothing to do with where they played - it now comes down to their ability to perform in the NFL

there have been great NFL players from small schools and flops from big schools

actually the first pro quarterback that I ever saw playing in college was Kenny Anderson of D3 Augustana and at half time he had led his team to a 3-2 lead over my college's not very good team -

Kenny Anderson played 1971-1986 in the NFL for Cincinnati, started most of those years, and took his team to the Super Bowl and since retirement has coached for the Bengals, Jags, and now the Steelers

and he was a Division III - D3 player - who looked not so very good when I saw him

he would not have been a better player had he played D2 or D1AA or D1A - the fact that he played North Park, Wheaton, Carroll, Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan and Milliken during his college career in the CCIW rather then the SEC or Big 10 and never played against a D1 team meant nothing -

it has to do with the player, not the division of football that they play in it is up to the scouts to see if they can discern NFL ability

Henne - Flacco - it is up to them as individuals, has nothing to do with where they played

I was not trying to 'set up' an argument as much as I was looking for reasons you think Baltimore picked Flacco over Henne... I guess I was tiring of the Henne vs Beck stuff since they are both 'our guys'...

I had Henne rated higher than Flacco and for me the 'big school' is a definite advantage... so I was wondering what you guys thought pushed Flacco to the first over our guy...

 

[cheyannefan]

I was not trying to 'set up' an argument as much as I was looking for reasons you think Baltimore picked Flacco over Henne... I guess I was tiring of the Henne vs Beck stuff since they are both 'our guys'...

I had Henne rated higher than Flacco and for me the 'big school' is a definite advantage... so I was wondering what you guys thought pushed Flacco to the first over our guy...

I think, in the draft, it has more to do with what can a player develop into that we have not really seen. Let's face it, J. Russel vs. Brady Quinn- Quinn could make the throws and had a pretty successful career. Russel had a huge arm, but not necessarily the fundamentals Quinn had. NFL scouts were intrigued by what Russel might be able to do with that big arm and coaching, they already knew what Quinn could do. Russel went #1 and Quinn #22.