The biggest story in the almost completed 2010 college football regular season is the controversy surrounding the young man considered the best player in the country, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. Over the past two weeks, allegations that Newton's father was calling around and specifically requesting that Mississippi State University pay over $100,000 for his talented son to play for that university has tainted Newton's Heisman Trophy prospects.
Heisman voters have until December 6 to cast their ballots on choosing who they believe is the best player in the nation. What do they do without specific evidence? And does it matter that much in the end? Surely on a moral scale nobody wants to reward criminal behavior, but it is just the Heisman.
We ask because this Sunday in San Francisco at 4:05 PM EDT, the Tampa Bay Bucs take their surprising 6-3 record against the 3-6 49ers, who will be led by their new quarterback, Troy Smith.
Smith was the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner while playing for Ohio State University. But have you heard much about him since he came to the pros? Not really, because he's been rather nondescript in his first three years in the league. So much for the Heisman in what it's done for his life. Yes, it rewards the best college player in the country, but when you get some perspective on it, you realize it rewards the best quarterback or running back, while avoiding defensive players and linemen completely (Charles Woodson in 1997 for Michigan being the excep
But now because of San Francisco's six-year frustration with their #1 pick of the entire 2005 draft, relative bust Alex Smith, Troy Smith has been given the helm to start this weekend by coach Mike Singletary, as his team fights for their playoff lives.
Yes, even at 3-6 the 49ers are still in it. Hey, it's the NFC West, ranked recently by the Wall Street Journal as the worst division not just in the NFL, but in all of the four major sports. But the 49ers have been a regal bust this season. Picked by many publications to win the division, and even by some semi-delusional sorts to compete for the NFC championship, the Niners, facing a tough schedule, shockingly lost their first five games.
However, over the past 8 years the Bucs have gone into San Francisco on three different occasions, all when they were the favored, better team. And all three times the 49ers have beaten them, most recently in dramatic fashion on December 23, 2007. And they are 3-1 over the past month.
The Bucs have beaten the bad teams this year, but haven't convinced that many people they're for real, because though they came oh so close in Atlanta, they haven't fared well against good competition. Despite their record, the 49ers will be hungry on Sunday, as they believe they can beat Raheem Morris' crew and get back in contention in the NFC West, fairly or not, one team is allowed to get into the playoffs.
It should be an entertaining day, as this Sunday on paper is the best so far of the 2010 season for professional football. At 1:00 p.m. the resurgent Oakland Raiders go to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Unfortunately, the CBS network has given WTSP the very unappealing Jacksonville-Cleveland game to show locally, since obviously they believe the entire state of Florida gives a hoot about the Jaguars (but if anybody wandered around town during the Super Bowl week, or just go into a sports bar any sunday during the season should realize, there are a load of Pittsburgh fans in Tampa Bay).
Running simultaneously against the Bucs on local TV however will be one of the sport's heavyweight rivalries, Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts going to Foxboro to face Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. In the aughts, this became the NFL's greatest matchup, matching the titantic San Francisco-Dallas games of the 1980's and 90's. The Colts have actually dominated the series of late, but the Pats are on a roll after demolishing PIttsburgh last week in one of Tom Brady's finest games. Peyton Manning continues to flourish even with a depleted running game and a rotating cast of characters to throw to.
And the late night game on Sunday features two of the NFC's best, the NY Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles, with QB Michael Vick coming off a spectacular performance that has led sportswriters to argue that it stands as one of the finest single games by a quarterback ever. One game we've heard people compare it to was Brett Favre's throwing for 399 yards against the Oakland Raiders back in December of 2003, a game this reporter attended and disgustedly left before the 4th period began (I am a Raider fan). In any event, we're betting the Giants have something to prove and Vick can't be as good.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2010.