College Football Awards: All-America Teams Being Released Left And Right

For more on Miles and the LSU Tigers, visit SB Nation blog And The Valley Shook.

Bill Connelly: Richardson was the No. 1 running back and No. 2 receiver on one of the two best teams in the country. If you like advanced stats, he’s your guy. If you like aesthetics, then he’s your guy. He is one of the strongest runners in the country, but he can literally juke you to the ground as well. And he was single-handedly responsible for 37 percent of Alabama’s total yardage.

Bill Connelly: There was a dead heat between Ball and LaMichael James for the second running back slot. Why did Ball get the nod? Because of two numbers: 38 and 55.6. Ball scored a ridiculous 38 touchdowns in 2011 and has a chance to break Barry Sanders’ single-season record (39) in the Rose Bowl. Meanwhile, he was an advanced stats dynamo; he posted a plus-55.6 Adj. POE, which means he generated over nine touchdowns more than an average back in 2011. He was 18 points ahead of No. 2 (Richardson, at plus-37.7). He is powerful, smooth and ridiculously efficient. James (18 touchdowns, plus-34.5 Adj. POE) was very good, but Ball was better.

Houston Case Keenum, who led the nation in both touchdown passes and passing yards, was not named an All-America. That was somewhat indicative of the situation at other positions, as the first-team offense and defense were made up entirely of players from so-called BCS schools and just four players from non-BCS schools made the second team.

Unsurprisingly, Alabama and LSU, who will meet in the National Championship Game, had the most players named to the first teams. Alabama led the way with four players (two on offense and two on defense), while LSU had three players (all on defense)

College football All-America team season deluges on, with five media outlets releasing dream squads as of late. We’ve already got the Walter Camp team and the FWAA and AFCA lists, and now it’s time to see what some others think. It’s always time to see what others think!

Here are Sports Illustrated’s, CBS Sports’, Scout’s, ESPN’s [slideshow alert] and Pro Football Weekly’s [auto-video alert].

The NCAA recognizes five annual All-American lists: the Walter Camp, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Sporting News and Associated Press.

Here’s a link to the Walter Camp, and below are the FWAA and AFCA.

Here, to help explain to the straggling non-believers why Griffin deserved the honor, is Mark C. Moore of the new (and great!) Baylor Bears blog Our Daily Bears:

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck won his second award of the night, picking up the Maxwell Award over Trent Richardson and Kellen Moore. Earlier, Luck was named the Walter Camp Player of the Year. He becomes the second Stanford quarterback to win the Maxwell award, joining Jim Plunkett.

SB Nation’s 2011 college football awards stream will have the winners of each college football award, because it’s a college football awards stream.

The 2011 college football awards ceremony was tonight, with the winners being presented with their respective awards. Here’s a run down of who won what award:

Davey O’Brien Award (best quarterback):

The winner of the 2011 Doak Walker award is Alabama running back Trent Richardson.

Richardson beat out some stiff competition.

Sophomore Robert Woods started out the 2011 season with a bang in USC’s 19-17 victory vs. Minnesota. He recorded 17 receptions for 177 yards and three receiving touchdowns. Woods finished with a Pac-12 leading 111 receptions and 15 touchdowns. Woods is the first USC wide receiver to be named a Biletnikoff finalist since Dwayne Jarrett was in 2005.

SB Nation’s 2011 college football awards stream will have the winners of each college football award, because it’s a college football awards stream.

SB Nation’s 2011 college football awards stream will have the winners of each college football award, because it’s a college football awards stream.

The Davey O’Brien Award was established in 1981 in honor of former Texas Christian University quarterback Davey O’Brien. In one of the best seasons ever by a college player, O’Brien took home the Heisman, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards in 1938, becoming the first player ever to do so.

SB Nation’s 2011 college football awards stream will have the winners of each college football award, because it’s a college football awards stream.

Walter Camp 2011 All-American First Team Offense

Walter Camp 2011 All-American First Team Defense

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was named the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award winner Thursday.

Luck is the first Stanford quarterback since Jim Plunkett in 1970 to receive the award. He is also the eighth Pac-12 player to earn top billing.

Luck, who is a finalist for tonight’s Davey O’Brien and Maxwell Awards, led the Pac-12 and ranked fifth nationally with a 167.50 pass efficiency rating. He threw for Stanford single-season record 35 touchdowns, had nine interceptions and completed 70 percent of his passes.

In his seventh season at LSU, Les Miles led the Tigers to a 13-0 record for the first time in school history. The Tigers have amassed 41 conference wins since Miles’ first season in 2005, which is more than any other SEC school. LSU’s current 8-0 record in league play was recently capped with a decisive 42-10 victory over Georgia, clinching Miles second SEC Championship with the Tigers.

SB Nation’s 2011 college football awards stream will have the winners of each college football award, because it’s a college football awards stream.

LSU finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in scoring defense, No. 2 in total defense, No. 3 in rushing defense, No. 8 in passing defense, No. 11 in sacks, and No. 5 in interceptions. They finished behind Bama in all of the first four categories, but played a significantly tougher schedule that included Oregon, Georgia, and West Virginia.

Chavis, to media after the event:

Stay tuned here for notes on each of the winners of 2011’s college football awards, which will be announced on a show airing 9 p.m. ET Thursday night on ESPN. As with bowl game pairings, sometimes these sorts of things make themselves known before they’re announced on TV.

Rule of thumb: it’s just like watching the Grammys. If a rap album is nominated for Album of the Year, it’s probably gonna win Rap Album of the Year.

The 2011 Broyles Award finalists have been released. The Broyles Award is given out annually to the nation’s top assistant coach in college football.

The 2010 Broyles Award went to Auburn University offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. Malzahn engineered one of the most exciting offenses to watch during the 2010 NCAA season and his team went on to win the BCS National Title.

Kuechly leads the nation in tackles, and is closing in on the ACC career record. David is 12th with 114, and Te’o ranks No. 26 with 103. Jones has made his mark via disruption, posting 18.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks. The other two guys’ credentials? They start for Alabama. That’ll do.

Hopkins has made 20 of 24 field goals this season and has been a perfect 41 for 41 in PATs. Saturday’s PAT brings Hopkins’ school record streak of consecutive extra points to 127 and he’s tied for fourth in the nation in field goals per game.

Bullock is Texas A&M’s all-time leading scorer with 337 points. After 11 games, he has secured 114 points, converting 21 of his 25 tries and 51 of 53 PATs. With an 84 field goal percentage, Bullock is tied for the number two rank among kickers in the nation in field goals made.

Luck has thrown for 2,937 yards and 31 touchdowns for the Stanford Cardinal this season. Considered by many to be the sure-thing No. 1 draft pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Luck had led Stanford to a 10-1 record so far.

The award was established in 1981 in honor of former Texas Christian University quarterback Davey O’Brien. In one of the best seasons ever by a college player, O’Brien took home the Heisman, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards in 1938, becoming the first player ever to do so.

Jameshas powered the Oregon Ducks with 1,285 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. He also has 180 yards and a touchdown receiving.

The award itself is named after former SMU running back, defensive back and place kicker Ewell Doak Walker. He would win the Heisman in 1948 while leading the Mustangs to an 8-1-1 record, eventually going on to a Hall of Fame career with the Detroit Lions.

Luck has throw for 2,937 yards and 31 touchdowns for the Stanford Cardinal this season. Considered by many to be the sure-thing No. 1 draft pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Luck had led Stanford to a 10-1 record so far.

Moore has thrown for 2,915 yards and 35 touchdowns with only six interceptions in ten games for the Boise St. Broncos in 2011. He has a quarterback rating of 177.5 and a 73.8% completion rate.

This evening, the finalists for 10 of college football’s major awards will be announced. For nine of them, a list of semifinalists was released in recent weeks; let’s take a look at what the advanced stats have to say about who should make the finalists list, who should be the front-runner, and who absolutely shouldn’t make it any further in terms of consideration.

I realize that using team stats to talk about an individual award is dicey, but the simple fact that Arizona State ranks 44th in Def. S&P+ and Kansas State ranks 60th should probably eliminate Burfict and Brown unless their stats are just spectacular. Burfict has a tendency for making the enormous plays (seven tackles for loss, five sacks), but he hasn’t made enough regular plays for ASU to be successful. Brown, meanwhile, has just 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and interception. Both are good, but neither are among the very, very best defensive players in the country. (Same goes for Kuechly, really.)