This past season marked the 150th anniversary of college football. To celebrate, various news outlets (mainly ESPN) have been putting out lists of the best uniforms, games, etc. The other day, ESPN released their CFB 150 best players list. I have one question about their list… what the hell is going on at ESPN?
With a list like this, there will always be disagreements on where a certain player is, and who should be ahead of or behind them. Without nitpicking, there are some head scratchers on here, even if I choose not to rip apart the order.
The Criteria
In ESPN’s favor, this list isn’t called “CFB 150 Best Players,” instead using the phrase “The 150 Greatest Players.” This is a big distinction, as “best” more correlates to skill, while “greatness” is more about perceived success and hardware: National Champions, Heisman winners, and various other awards given to players. With that being said, this is supposed to be a college list, not NFL. ESPN seemed to bounce back and forth between overall contribution to football, and their time in college. For example, Peyton Manning was the second ranked QB (number 21 overall) on this list, behind Roger Staubach. Peyton Manning had a great collegiate career: Campbell Award winner, Maxwell Award winner, All-American, SEC player of the year, and runner-up in Heisman voting in 1997. With that being said, no Heisman, no National Championship, and won the SEC once. Is he really the second greatest QB in college football history?
No, Peyton Manning isn’t even the second greatest QB in SEC history. If you disagree with that, fine, but Peyton definitely isn’t the greatest QB in SEC history. That distinction goes to number 76 on the list: Tim Tebow. Remember Manning’s accolades I pointed out earlier? Tebow blows them out of the water. Two time Maxwell Award Winner, Heisman Trophy winner, Heisman finalist another year, two time SEC Offensive Player of the year, two time SEC and BCS National Champion. Tim Tebow has an argument to be the greatest college football player of all time. Instead, according to ESPN’s CFB 150 Best Players list, he is number 76, partially because he flopped in the NFL.
Comparing Eras
This is not exclusive to ESPN, but it is too hard to compare eras to make lists like this. For example, Jim Brown is #1 on this list. He was a great player, and should have a Heisman to his name (he doesn’t.) However, he played eight games a season, and the most yards he ran for in a season was 986, and 2,091 yards over three years at Syracuse. He was a consensus All-American once in 1956, and 2nd team All-American in 1955. Compare that to Derrick Henry, who ran for more yards in one season than Jim Brown did over three years. Should Derrick Henry be higher on this list than Jim Brown? Hell no.
Quarterbacks are even harder to compare. Sid Luckman was Columbia’s QB from 1936-1938. Was Luckman important to college football, and one of its greats? Maybe, but it’s hard to tell because you cannot find a comprehensive list of his stats. ESPN says he passed for 2,413 yards and 20 TDs in his career, so I guess we’ll take their word for it because I cannot find any other stats. Those passing numbers would be an okay showing in today’s game for a single season, but atrocious over a multiple season career. Some of you might be thinking, “well Kevin, football in the 1930s was more focused on the ground game,” and you’d be right. This illustrates my point. It is absolutely ridiculous to compare a player from the ’30s to 2020, and just adds confusion.
Baker Mayfield
I tried to use specific players on this list to illustrate a point, rather than just arguing where they were ranked. This one I cannot look past. You’re telling me that in college footballs 150 year history, Baker Mayfield is “one of its greats”? No, especially with some of the names left off, specifically Matt Leinart. Matt Leinart has a Heisman like Baker, same number of All-Americans, and same number of offensive player of the year awards for their respective conference. However, Leinart was a Heisman Finalist another year, and won a BCS championship (and was an AP National Champion twice.) “But Kevin, that BCS championship was vacated by the NCAA.” Yes, however ESPN did not care about that. How do I know? Reggie Bush was number 19 on their list, and he “voluntarily” gave his Heisman back after it probably would have been vacated anyway. And don’t argue how Baker was a walk on and did so much. Great for him, it’s a good story, but not deserving of a spot on this list.
This is not meant to knock any of the players I mentioned on this list. They are all more athletic than I will ever be in my life. What it is meant to do is illustrate just how pointless these lists are, and how stupid ESPN is.
