Coral Gables, FL.- It’s officially ‘Canes vs the World, and nobody can say otherwise.
Earlier this afternoon, finalists for the top honors of college football were announced. The following major awards’ finalists were announced:
Maxwell Award (National Player of the Year)
Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award (Best Quarterback)
Doak Walker Award (Premier Running Back)
Biletnikoff Award (Most Outstanding Receiver)
Outland Trophy (Most Outstanding Interior Lineman)
Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year)
Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, Best Defensive Back
Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award (Most Outstanding Placekicker)
Ray Guy Award (Punter of the Year)
The Miami Hurricanes, the #8 team in the country that boasts the nation’s top passing offense, had multiple players represented in the semifinals of these awards, but didn’t make the Final Cut.
Prior to this afternoon’s selection, Miami QB Cam Ward, WR Xavier Restrepo and K Andres Borregales were all semi-finalists for multiple prestigious awards, and had the honest statistical backing to support a selection. However, the National Media’s bias against Miami made itself apparent, as the only player representative from Miami on the selection show was Cam Ward being selected as a Davey O’Brien Award Finalist, alongside Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.
Ward, who has tallied 3774 Yards (2nd CFB), 34 TD (1 CFB), 7 INT, 87.2 QBR (1 CFB), with a 10-1 Record on the year was a clear SNUB from the Maxwell Award, in favor of Dillon Gabriel, who sits behind him in nearly every statistical category, with some categories being by an extremely large margin.
Bringing things over to the Biletnikoff Award, Xavier Restrepo wasn’t included despite producing comparable numbers against far stronger competition. Restrepo, the top WR on the nation’s top offense that features four receivers over 500 yards (Restrepo, Isaiah Horton, Jacolby George, Sam Brown), was snubbed in favor of two players with no competition in the receiving room. The Biletnikoff Award Finalists include: Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan and San Jose State’s Nick Nash.
This season, Restrepo has recorded 60 catches, 979 yards, and 10 touchdowns while being in a crowded receiving room. In comparison McMillan has 78 catches, 1,251 yards and 7 scores, but is the only receiver in his room with over 350 yards, as opposed to Miami who has five receivers over 350 yards. As for Nash, he was clearly the beneficiary of a strength of schedule that just barely snuck into the top 90 (89), as opposed to Miami (6) (Per ESPN).
Finally for the Groza Award, clearly no thought was put into this whatsoever. Miami’s Andres Borregales has been automatic all season, recording 52-52 extra points, and 15-16 field goals. Borregales has hit from all lengths of the field, ranging from 20 yards to 56 yards all with elite efficiency. The only reason Borregales isn’t kicking more field goals is because his offense keeps ending up in the end zone. Even still, Andy’s far outclassed in state rival FSU kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, who’s been automatic, but only attempted 12 field goals and 15 extra points. While Ryan Fitzgerald is easily one of the nation’s most talented kickers, his atrocious offense can’t even get him into range, and five of those fifteen extra points came against an FCS school.
The College Football Awards Show for these prestigious awards, amongst many others is still slated for Tuesday, December 12 at 9:00 P.M. If not the ‘Canes, who should come away with some hardware? Only time will tell.