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"Top Men" at ESPN rank the 150 best college football players of all-time; VY #81, Bush #61

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  • Author

So where does ESPN squeeze in Joe Burrow tomorrow? Better single season than Cam had.

1 hour ago, satyanash said:

Nine out of ESPN's top 10 all-time are RBs. That should have been indicative of a flaw in their methodology from the start.

its not surprising since most QB's(even heisman winners) flame out in the pros.  for about 120 of the 150 years the RB's got all the publicity.

Mike Evans should be on the list as he won the heisman for the insurance salesman.

How do you hype a game as the greatest college team of all time against one guy, then when the one guy wins rank him #81 of all time?

44 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

Orlando Pace at 51. Go fuck yourselves ESPN.

Literally the best OT in college history. Ridiculous.

VY was the best college football player of all time, nobody will ever convince me otherwise. He beat two Heisman winners and the two time defending national champ in the greatest game in college football history. Case Closed. Everyone else can battle it out for #2. 

Tebow ahead of VY? Lmao. But I forgot, many still give him credit for the title in 2006 that was Chris Leak's team.

If VY came back for his senior season, he would have blown through the schedule and beat that Florida team for a national title.

Mike Ditka ahead of VY? Lmao.

VY is absolutely a top 20 at bare minimum college football player.

32 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

So where does ESPN squeeze in Joe Burrow tomorrow? Better single season than Cam had.

Best single season for a QB I've ever seen. Obliterated a ridiculously tough schedule. Could have put up 49 on Clemson's D. Destroyed Bama. Put up over 500 yards on Auburn. Another 40 burger on Florida. Another 40 burger on us back before we decided it would be best to jump off a cliff. Set record after record. Vince has the best game of any QB though imo in terms of legacy. Hyped as one man against what was supposed to be the greatest team ever and he won. He was in-Vince-ible. He won what anyone with a brain will accept as the greatest game of all time. When this list is redone in 25 years or whenever they get bored next Vince will be in the top 10 as will Burrow once the anti-recency bias wears off (please tell me more about how Roger Staubach was the best QB of all time).

  • Author
9 minutes ago, The_Great_Hornsby said:

VY was the best college football player of all time, nobody will ever convince me otherwise. He beat two Heisman winners and the two time defending national champ in the greatest game in college football history. Case Closed. Everyone else can battle it out for #2. 

I don't know. Jim Brown did kick his own extra points...

2 hours ago, EZ$ said:

Manziel didn’t even make the list. Only aggy was JD Crow and his awesome heisman year when he rushed for around 500 yards. 

Does anyone really think these white dudes from pre-integration are among the greatest players ever? What a goddamn joke. 

11 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

Does anyone really think these white dudes from pre-integration are among the greatest players ever? What a goddamn joke. 

A complete joke.  Barry Sanders not in top 10.  "well he only played one season"...well in that season he had more yards/TD's/YPC than your number one did in 3 god damn seasons.  Also do these people not have eye balls?  Fuck the stats, use your eyes.  Pace was an absolute manchild during his time at tOSU.  Terrible lists are everywhere but this one got so much hype you'd think they'd try to get it right - as aggie08 said.  Why do I follow this dumb shit so closely? 

Only 1 man on the fucking planet has ever been the MVP of 3 straight National Championship games.  Let's put 96 others in front of him.

This can be proven objectively that Vince is #1.  The number 2 is repeated.  Vince won 2 Rose Bowls in 2 visits.  In his last Rose Bowl he put the team on his back to beat 2 Heisman Trophy winning players suited up at the same time.  Vince was most outstanding player 2 times.  Vince was a threat in 2 different and almost equal ways.  He could be scary as hell and beat you with his running or he could beat you with his passing.   Finally, Vince's team was #2 in the country all year, and not considered a  threat to win the Rose Bowl.  

Come to think of it, Vince should be #2.  Dueces were wild! 

 

It's still almost unbelievable, that there were 2 Heisman Trophy winning players suited up for a team that was favored to continue a 30 something game winning streak, and they Lost! Vince was literally more than twice as good as the Heisman winners at USC.  

 

There will never ever be a team with two Heisman Trophy winners eligible at the same time.  

 

 

 

This 150 list has no credibility if they left out Jim MacMahon or Ty Detmer.  Both rewrote the books with records that lasted for years.  

Archie Griffin at 4 is an absolute joke

5 minutes ago, TeddyBearStallion said:

This 150 list has no credibility if they left out Jim MacMahon or Ty Detmer.  Both rewrote the books with records that lasted for years.  

That's a good point, not a BYU fan by any means...but McMahon threw for 5000 yards in 1980 (if you include his bowl game win over the Pony Express of SMU).  Nineteen-Eighty.  Think about that.  That was an insane number for 20 years after that.  He would have thrown for another 5000 in 1981, but he started giving second half duties to a kid named Steve Young and still threw for about 4000.  He was a two-time Holiday Bowl MVP and was something crazy like 26-3 as a starter.  

And the Orlando Pace at 51 is just ridiculous.  Most dominant OL player of the last half century, maybe ever.  

Anybody broken it down by team?

It would’ve been pretty baller if they trotted OJ out there last night.

13 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Yeah when I read the list I knew it was going to trigger them.

13 hours ago, satyanash said:

Nine out of ESPN's top 10 all-time are RBs. That should have been indicative of a flaw in their methodology from the start.

Well historically speaking that's how the heisman voting goes but yeah self awareness is not their strong suit.

I couldn't believe they put Tebow at #76 that was probably the most shocking thing in the entire list.

3 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

Earl looks like The Godfather there.

My thought exactly.

44 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

Yeah when I read the list I knew it was going to trigger them.

Well historically speaking that's how the heisman voting goes but yeah self awareness is not their strong suit.

I couldn't believe they put Tebow at #76 that was probably the most shocking thing in the entire list.

if anything, you'd expect QBs to dominate the Top 10 given how it's only possible for a QB to win the Heisman Trophy now.

There's a reason so many of the best RBs in CFB history happen to be from the late '70s/80s... In those days, RB was where you put your best athlete. As strategy evolved into the '90s, defenses countered by putting their best players at LB. As a result, many of the best LBs in CFB history happen to be from the 1990s. It's not a coincidence, and ESPN cramming so many RBs from that time period into the top 10 shows they don't understand how that paradigm shifted.

it is clear that what these guys did after college had an effect on the list. especially a guy like B. Sanders. 

8 minutes ago, satyanash said:

It's not a coincidence, and ESPN cramming so many RBs from that time period into the top 10 shows they don't understand how that paradigm shifted.

It also tells you a bunch of guys in their 60s did the voting. Everyone thinks their idols and heroes were better than any other era. 

3 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Ricky and VY are way too low.

Ricky should have been ranked about where Earl is.

VY/Nobis/Ricky should all have been top 50 AT LEAST and Ricky being below Sims and Peterson is a fucking joke.

Nobis was a better LB than Butkus

23 hours ago, LonghornSean said:

Vince at 81 is ridiculous

 

Tommy Nobis 54

Ricky Williams 57

Bobby Layne 75

Doug Flutie #28.  No Colt McCoy.

12 hours ago, TheFlyingBoat said:

Best single season for a QB I've ever seen. Obliterated a ridiculously tough schedule. Could have put up 49 on Clemson's D. Destroyed Bama. Put up over 500 yards on Auburn. Another 40 burger on Florida. Another 40 burger on us back before we decided it would be best to jump off a cliff. Set record after record. Vince has the best game of any QB though imo in terms of legacy. Hyped as one man against what was supposed to be the greatest team ever and he won. He was in-Vince-ible. He won what anyone with a brain will accept as the greatest game of all time. When this list is redone in 25 years or whenever they get bored next Vince will be in the top 10 as will Burrow once the anti-recency bias wears off (please tell me more about how Roger Staubach was the best QB of all time).

Burrow really only played 2 years and one was mediocre.

16 minutes ago, bullet said:

Burrow really only played 2 years and one was mediocre.

And his one good year is the best in history. Now I'm probably over exaggerating when I say top 10 but still he played some monstrous defenses and destroyed them all like they were our defense against Kansas 

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