#doak walker

This Week in College Football History: Jan. 5-11

As part of an ongoing series throughout the fall, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame posts This Week in College Football History, which takes a look back at some of college football’s landmark moments over the last 146 years. RoadTripSports and College Football America is proud to present this year’s release in its entirety, courtesy of the National Football Foundation.

FEAT…

Marcus Mariota: More times than I can count I've heard from coaches that its not the one who makes the most big plays, but the one who makes the least bad ones. Mariota has yet to throw a interception this year and is the driving force behind an Oregon Ducks offense that ranks 2nd in the NCAA behind the Baylor Bears in points and yardage. Mariota has tremendous arm strength and might be the fastest quarterback in college right now, and whats more impressive Mariota has done this without his star tight end Colt Lyreia and De'Anthony Thomas for most of the season. Outside of Stanford I don't see any team that could stop the high powered Ducks offense. 

Johnny Manziel: Amazingly last years Heisman Trophy Winner has had very little hype outside of the Lone Star State. Manziel has been playing better this year, at least statistically. The only thing that is holding him back is the pathetic play of his defensive counterparts. When you score 42 against a defense that, outside of the A&M game, has not let an opponent go past 10 points. Manziel has less spectacular scrambles but his passing, especially in the pocket, has improved leaps and bounds. However, barring a disastrous 4 weeks by Oregon and Mariota, Manziel seems unlikely to bring home a second straight Heisman trophy, especially if he shares points with another Aggie in Wideout Mike Evans.

Jameis Winston: "Famous" Jameis might be the most polished quarterback to come into college since Andrew Luck and if he steadily improves he could see his name called very early when he decides to come out. Seeing a freshman complete more than 70% of his passes and have such a nack for getting the ball into the endzone he should climb draft boards at a startling pace. He could be much higher but the fact that the Florida State team is so stocked with talent on both sides of the ball takes away from this fabulous freshman campaign by Winston. If Winston did this at any other school, he could be the Heisman front runner

Lache Seastrunk: Seastrunk could easily be leading the nation in rushing if he wasn't pulled from most games at the half. He only has one game where he averaged less than 6 yards a carry. He is on of the most explosive runningback in the nation along with Wisconsins Melvin Gordon. Seastrunk has unbelievable speed and has surprising strength for a runner that only weighs in at 205 pounds. The Bears biggest test this season occurs this Thursday against the 10th ranked Sooners. I can't wait to see how the Sooners 33 stack defense handles the unparalleled team speed of Baylor. Seastrunk needs to have an incredible second half of the season to be considered in the running but he should be the front runner for the Doak Walker runningback award and has a good chance of bringing back Doak Walker back to Texas.

The nation's best running back will be named today with the announcement of the Doak Walker Award.  UCLA's Johnathan Franklin is a finalist alongside Oregon's Kenjon Barner and Wisconsin's Montee Ball.  The award will be given out during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show airing tonight at 4:30 on ESPN.

Franklin finished the season with 1700 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns along with 32 catches for another 319 yards and 2 more scores.  He set the Bruin career rushing record with 4,369 yards, the single season rushing record, the career all-purpose yardage record with 4,887, and the most 100 yard rushing games in a season with 9.

Salute to "The Mayor."

Article via goducks.com

University of Oregon running back Kenjon Barner is one of ten semifinalists for the 2012 Doak Walker Award, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors announced today.

Barner, a senior from Riverside, Calif., is tied for the national scoring lead at 13.33 points per game and ranks second in the FBS in rushing yards per game (143.89). This is despite the fact that only 69 of his 179 rushing attempts have come after halftime due to the lopsided nature of Oregon's victories during its 9-0 start.