Faulk Trophy Finalists

MARSHALL FAULK TROPHY

Most awards tend to go to players from the big time conferences. The players of the SEC and Big XII have plenty of awards to compete for, so we created an award that will go to the best player in the nation NOT in a BCS conference. The award is named for the great Marshall Faulk of San Diego State fame.

I narrowed down my list of finalists to five. All are deserving, but only one will be awarded the Marshall Faulk Trophy.

J.Pike's Finalists

JOE BURNETT
(Senior CB, Central Florida)
Key Stats
Defense: 44 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss;
4 interceptions (103 return yards), 11 passes broken up;
Special Teams: 1 blocked kick;
Kick Returns: 745 yards, 28.7 avg, 2 td;
Punt Returns: 378 yards, 14.5 avg
An explosive playmaker who is a threat to score any time he gets his hands on the ball

CHASE CLEMENT
(Senior QB, Rice)
Key Stats
Passing: 3,812 yards, 41 td, 7 int;
66.4 completion percentage;
317.7 yards per game;
Rushing: 621 yards, 11 td
51.8 yards per game;
369.5 all purpose yards per game, 52 total tds
A poor man's Colt McCoy

NATE DAVIS
(Junior QB, Ball State)
Key Stats
Passing: 3,446 yards, 26 td;
265.1 yards per game;
Rushing: 277 yards, 4 td;
286.4 yards total offense per game;
A gutty, talented quarterback who led the Cardinals to a 12-1 record


JERRY HUGHES
(Junior DE, TCU)
Key Stats
48 tackles;
14 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss;
2 interceptions (1 returned for touchdown);
6 forced fumbles, 3 fumbles recovered;
Guided one of the best defenses in the nation;
Harassed quarterbacks all season


BRIAN JOHNSON
(Senior QB, Utah)
Key Stats
Passing: 2,636 yards, 24 td;
68.3 completion percentage;
219.7 yards per game;
Led Utah to a perfect 12-0 regular season thanks to his steady play;;
The favorite for the Faulk Award most of the season

WEEK ELEVEN - Gameday Preview

Michigan (+7½) over Minnesota
The Michigan defense was torched to the tune of 522 yards and 48 points a week ago against Purdue, but I still have faith in them. Defensive end Brandon Graham and the front seven are more than capable of corralling Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber when he runs, and Donovan Warren and Morgan Trent are solid corners who should be able to prevent Weber from throwing the ball all over the yard. I like Minnesota to find a way to win this game at home, but I don’t think it will be by more than a touchdown.

Wisconsin (-10) over Indiana
Wisconsin has their running game back, as evidenced by the 281 yards on the ground last weekend against Michigan State. That doesn’t bode well for Indiana, who ranks eighth in the Big Ten against the run. I expect John Clay and P.J. Hill to have big games in leading a Wisconsin rout.

Rice (-9½) over Army
Army is improving, but they still can’t match Rice’s firepower. Chase Clement and the gang shouldn’t have a problem scoring between 30 and 40 points on Army, which all but guarantees at least a ten point win.

Arizona (-39) over Washington State
Washington State has been generous all year. Despite huge spreads like this one, they have failed to cover in all 8 of their games against 1-A competition. In fact, the Cougars average margin of defeat in Pac-10 play this season is by a whopping 52.8 points! Arizona has scored over 40 points four times this season, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them top 60 here.

Other games I like, but don’t feel good enough about to give them “Lock” status:
Purdue (+9½) over Michigan State
Tennessee (-25½) over Wyoming
Iowa State (+10) over Colorado
Penn State (-7) over Iowa
Virginia (+3½) over Wake Forest
N.C. State (+4½) over Duke
Florida Atlantic (-21) over North Texas High
Cincinnati (+8) over West Virginia

WEEK TEN - Preview

With two top ten matchups (Texas at Texas Tech & Florida vs Georgia), one of the best traditional rivalries (Nebraska at Oklahoma), and perhaps the final Spurrier/Fulmer meeting on the docket this weekend it would be easy to overlook the rest of the schedule. But here are three games flying under the radar you should know about. One will be a good old fashioned smashmouth football game with a spotlight on running the football and playing defense; another features a future potential Faulk Trophy winner; and the other is going to be a shootout in which 40 points probably won’t be enough to get the win.

Temple (3-5) @ Navy (5-3)
(Saturday, 2:30 pm, CBS College Sports)
If you’re looking for a good old fashioned smashmouth football game this weekend, you should probably tune in to CBS College Sports at about 2:30 this weekend. Navy will roll out their triple option attack and try to penetrate the solid Temple defense. To give you an idea of how old fashioned this game could be, consider this: Navy didn’t thorw a single pass in their win over SMU a week ago. With quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada back in the fold, they’ll have at least the threat of a play action pass, but you can still bet on the ball staying on the ground more often than not. That is a direct challenge to a surprisingly stout Temple defense. The veteran Owls, led by Junior Galette, have been terrorizing MAC foes of late. In their five conference games they have limited opponents to 66 rushing yards (2.0 yards per carry!), and 16.2 points per game – not too shabby. But I don’t think Temple has enough offense to pull out a victory.
J.Pike’s Pick: Navy 17, Temple 10

UAB (2-6) @ Southern Miss (2-6)
(Saturday, 7 pm)
Sure, these two teams only have four wins between them this year. But there will be enough young talent on the field that you should pay attention anyway because both of these programs are capable of taking a big step forward in Conference USA next year. New Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora has a good offensive mind, and he’s got some weapons at his disposal. Junior running back headlines the attack with 969 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns. But freshman wide receiver DeAndre Brown is the player that has Golden Eagle fans excited. At 6-foot-5, Brown is piling up touchdowns at an alarming rate (9 so far) thanks to the mismatches he creates in the red zone. But the Blazers possess possibly the most exciting player you’ve never heard of in junior quarterback Joe Webb. Webb is an excellent athlete that is improving his passing every week. He has the numbers (1,726 yards, 8 td passing; 723 yards 7 td rushing) that will put him in the running for the Faulk Trophy next season if he gets a little more help around him. Look for this game to be close at halftime, but Southern Miss will pull away in the second half as UAB has consistently played poorly after halftime this season.
J.Pike’s Pick: Southern Miss 31, UAB 20

Rice (5-3) @ UTEP (3-4)
(Saturday, 8:05 pm)
I’m not sure why this game isn’t on television because it should be the highest scoring game of the weekend hands down. Rice won last year’s meeting despite giving up 48 points. This year both teams will be without top defensive players this week due to injury, so the Owls might need to score more than 56 this time around to secure the W. Oh yeah, I should also mention that Rice is allowing 36.5 points per game, and last week UTEP gave up 77 points and 791 yards to Tulsa! Each quarterback should have a field day Saturday night. Euless Trinity alum Trevor Vittatoe paces the Miners with his excellent 16-4 TD/INT ratio. Chase Clement is like a mini-Colt McCoy (2,360 yards, 24 td passing; 402 yards, 7 td rushing) and has positioned himself as a serious underdog candidate for the Faulk Trophy. I’ll give the slight edge to Rice here because although they don’t have as much talent as UTEP does on paper, they have played more consistently up to this point.
J.Pike’s Pick: Rice 63, UTEP 51

WEEK EIGHT - Preview

This week we feature exciting matchups from the MAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt, and Mountain West that all have shootout potential

Western Michigan @ Central Michigan
Is this the battle that will decide the best team in Michigan? Not quite – the Spartans at Michigan State might have something to say about it. But both of these teams are probably better than Michigan right now. Each team is led by their outstanding quarterback – Tim Hiller for Western and Dan LeFevour for Central. Hiller is a really good pocket passer, while LeFevour is more in the Tim Tebow mold. The winner of this game will end up challenging Ball State for the MAC West division crown. I’ll give the Chippewas a slight edge since they are at home, but this should be one of the more entertaining games of the weekend.
J.Pike’s Pick: Central Michigan 36, Western Michigan 34

Southern Miss @ Rice
This matchup between two of the better teams in Conference USA will feature an impressive amount of skill position talent. Rice boasts arguably the best quarterback in the league (Chase Clement) and one of the most underrated wide receivers in the nation (Jarrett Dillard). Clement is a small college version of Chase Daniel – he’s small, but quick and efficient. He powers a potent passing game that also features rising star tight end James Casey, who has already caught 54 passes this season. Southern Miss features the best running back in the league (Damion Fletcher), the best freshman receiver in the league (DeAndre Brown), and one of the best pass catching tight ends in the nation (Shawn Nelson). That’s a lot of athleticism going up against two teams that put defense on the backburner - a shootout is imminent. Rice has the advantage with a more experienced team so the Owls should come out on top.
J.Pike’s Pick: Rice 37, Southern Miss 31

Arkansas State @ Louisiana-Lafayette
Arkansas State has slowed down after their scorching start. After a win over Texas A&M early, they have cooled off to 4-2 with recent losses to Memphis and Southern Miss. The Ragin’ Cajuns on the other hand are just getting heated up. Their running game ranks tops in the land and running back Tyrell Fenroy (842 rushing yards) and quarterback Michael Desormeaux (708 rushing yards) are starting to really run wild. Give UL-Lafayette the edge as they are on a roll and playing in front of the home folks.
J.Pike’s Pick: Louisiana-Lafayette 34, Arkansas State 26

Air Force @ UNLV
UNLV looked like they might be a surprise team in the Mountain West after their early season win over nationally ranked Arizona State. But it turns out ASU might not be very good this year and the Mountain West is better than anybody expected (other than my partner, B.Pike – he knew what was brewing out west). Air Force is once again one of the most efficient teams in the nation. They’ll make UNLV pay for every mistake they make, and fight for yet another victory over a more talented opponent.
J.Pike’s Pick: Air Force 26, UNLV 20

WEEK FIVE - Preview

UPSET WATCH

Maryland @ #16 Clemson
Why it could happen: Clemson isn’t exactly setting the world on fire. For all their talent, they haven’t managed to put together a complete game yet this year. Maryland on the other hand seems to be hitting their stride since Chris Turner took over at quarterback.
Why it won’t happen: Clemson’s defense won’t allow Turner to make the same plays he made against Cal. James Davis and the running game put up 249 rushing yards against the Terps last year, and I expect them to approach that again this weekend. But it won’t be easy.
J.Pike’s Pick: Clemson 26, Maryland 18

Marshall @ West Virginia
Why it could happen: Marshall was up on West Virginia at halftime in last season’s matchup, and Mark Snyder finally has the Herd back on the winning track in 2008.
Why it won’t happen: West Virginia has struggled to find an identity early on, but they at least got back to the running game last week against Colorado. Pat White and Noel Devine have too much speed for the Marshall defense and they’ll find their way to the end zone more times than the Herd offense will.
J.Pike’s Pick: West Virginia 32, Marshall 27

UPSET WARNING

Northwestern @ Iowa
Why it will happen: Northwestern is better than anybody is giving them credit for so far. They play solid defense and have two playmakers on offense (QB C.J. Bacher & RB Tyrell Sutton) that Iowa can’t match. Northwestern can flat out manufacture more points than Iowa. Bacher will have a big day.
J.Pike’s Pick: Northwestern 27, Iowa 17

Colorado vs Florida State
(@ Jacksonville, FL)
Why it will happen: Florida State is one of the worst offensive teams in the nation right now. The play they have gotten from their quarterbacks the past 7+ years has been atrocious, and it has led to the deterioration of the offense to the point it’s at now. The Noles still like to talk trash and attempt to intimidate their opponents before the game (see photo evidence from last week's loss to Wake Forest), but that doesn’t work as well when you’re a .500 team. In fact it just makes you look like a bunch of morons. Colorado running back Rod Stewart will send Florida State away on a Downtown Train with a 2-2 record.
J.Pike’s Pick: Colorado 21, Florida State 13

Northwestern (+8) over Iowa
There’s no way Iowa is 8 points better than Northwestern because I think Northwestern is better than Iowa straight up.

Ole Miss (+23) over Florida
Florida isn’t clicking offensively yet this year and Urban Meyer is too busy complaining about the new clock rules to fix it. Last year it was his running backs’ fault the Gators couldn’t run the ball. You might want to take a look in the mirror sometime, Urb? Houston Nutt will have Ole Miss ready to play and they’ll make it a game into the fourth quarter.

Cincinnati (-10) over Akron
Now that Tony Pike has proven himself at quarterback, I expect Cincinnati to continue putting up 40 point games against inferior opponents such as Akron. Cincy wins big as Pike continues his late bid for the Heisman Trophy.

Rice (-18½) over North Texas High
Rice quarterback Chase Clement is actually pretty good. Facing one of the best high school teams in the state of Texas might be imposing for Hurst L.D. Bell, but Clement will have no problems. Rice will roll to a four touchdown win. At least North Texas High can get back to concentrating on winning their district and making State after this beat down.

Other games I like, but don’t feel good enough about to give them “Lock” status:
Duke (-7) over Virginia
Arkansas (+27½) over Texas
Colorado (+6) over Florida State
Purdue (+2½) over Notre Dame
Marshall (+15½) over West Virginia
Navy (+16) over Wake Forest
Oregon (-19½) over Washington State

Week Three Preview

Here are a few games that deserve your attention despite the fact they aren’t getting the hype of, say, Ohio State v USC this week. Each contest features non-BCS conference teams that will be in contention for bowl games and conference titles.

Central Michigan @ Ohio
Fresh off their near up set of Ohio State, the Bobcats of Ohio get to face MAC favorite Central Michigan. Central is coming off a big loss to #1 ranked Georgia, so they’ll be hungry to face someone on their own level again. Dan LeFevour will be too much for the Ohio defense.
J.Pike’s Pick: Central Michigan 34, Ohio 20

Air Force @ Houston
This might be the toughest game of the week to pick. Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun has done extremely well so far in Colorado Springs, and he looks to have a pretty good defense in tow this season. New Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin has been up and down in his first two games at the helm, and so far he can’t count on his defense to come up with stops. This game could go either way, but I’ll go with the disciplined Falcons of Air Force in a difficult non-conference road game.
J.Pike’s Pick: Air Force 28, Houston 24

Rice @ Vanderbilt
Both teams are 2-0 and coming off big wins. Vanderbilt came up with one of the program’s biggest wins in recent memory when they knocked off South Carolina on Thursday night. Rice simply scored three touchdowns in the final 7 minutes, including a game winning interception return for a touchdown with 11 seconds left, to overcome a 15 point 4th quarter deficit. This should be one of the more entertaining games of the week.
J.Pike’s Pick: Vanderbilt 31, Rice 27

Southern Miss @ Arkansas State
Who knew this would be a game to watch? Arkansas State jumped on my radar with a win over Texas A&M in week one, and Southern Miss was able to keep it relatively close against Auburn last week. I think Arkansas State’s bubble bursts here. Southern Miss has a talented team with a very potent offense. Corey Leonard and Arkansas State might pile 80+ points on 1-AA competition, but they won’t here. Welcome to the Mid-Leagues, Red Wolves.
J.Pike’s Pick: Southern Miss 34, Arkansas State 24

Bowling Green @ Boise State
Ian Johnson, the man responsible for scoring the game winning 2-point conversion against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl two seasons ago, is still in the backfield for the Broncos. That means he’ll get the ball early and often. Bowling Green visits the Smurf Turf after a puzzling first two weeks that saw them beat Pittsburgh and then get blown out by Minnesota. Boise shouldn’t have any problems, especially running the football.
J.Pike’s Pick: Boise State 37, Bowling Green 21