The difference in the game was the field goal kicker for Stanford. Although the botched handoffby Luck didn't help... but it's not what lost Stanford the game.
Furthermore, Weeden hasn't outplayed all 5 of those QB's. The only one he clearly outplayed was Landry Jones, who put up an absolute stinker. Jordan Jefferson would've outplayed Landry Jones in that game. I think Weeden outplayed RG3, but it wasn't in some lopsided landslide.
Weeden didn't 'outplay' Nick Foles. That game was a dead heat between those two QB's.... Oklahoma St. just has a better team. Weeden definitely didn't 'outplay' Luck last night.
The point is, 'outplaying' the other quarterback in a college game has nothing to do with outplaying him in the NFL. Otherwise, John Beck would've been able to outplay Matt Ryan in the NFL. JPW would've been able to outplay Matthew Stafford in the NFL.
Hell he's almost 30 years old CK, he should be outplaying these young kids anyway.
Brandon Weeden did outplay RGIII in that game, it wasn't even close, statistics didn't tell the real story. This running argument about Weeden's age and his competetvie advantage as per the younger college players- this isn't high school, these are grown men. Look at the underclassmen coming out- the AJ Green's, Julio Jones' of the draft world, they're ready to go. Look at a guy from down here who played one year at Kentucky and is now making some noise for the Detroit Pistons, Brandon Knight. Different sport, but he's mature enough at 19 to contribute. Danny Kanell could barely bench 135 at FSU his freshman year- send him to the NFL then and he'd get killed. But he got a whole lot stronger in the next 3 years, was physically mature by the time he went to the Giants.
These NFL prospects are grown men, most of them 21-23 years old. I think that there is some small merit to this idea of a physical competetive advantage as prer Weeden, but it is way, way overblown. Look at the size of these NFL prospects coming out- these are full grown men, or very close to full grown men- look at the linemen, these dudes are huge. Weeden's major advantage in college football is not age and maturity, it's that he is so damned good that he can soundly beat and outplay most of his competitors.
In terms of Weeden/Luck or any other comparison, I really don't care all that much who won the game- Stanford's kicker screwed the pooch, I really couldn't give a sh**. But it does say something that Weeden played well against these other teams with top QBs and led OSU to victory- there is a subtle difference there. And at the end of the day it's about how the QB played- Blackmon had a monster game and monster season, but it's hardly fair for some to claim that Blackmon has carried Weeden. Weeden should be judged on his own merits, that isn't really all that difficult to do. And as big a backer of Weeden as I have been, if I had to pick out the superior player in the game, aside from Blackmon, I'd probably go with Luck this time around. But I still love Weeden, and I will say that I found your "not half bad" comment regarding him to be conspicuously dismissive. You do have it right on DeCastro, though- people can b**** and moan all they want to about him being an OL, he's a top notch talent and would be a tremendous addition to the Dolphins. DeCastro/Weeden/Fleener would be just fine with me.
