Brian Cook is one of the premier college bloggers around and one of my colleagues at the AOL Fanhouse. In general I respect his opinion but he is way off in his critique of Matt Ryan. The tone of this series is "we college bloggers know more than the NFL talking heads, because we've actually paid attention to these potential draftees the past four seasons" is solid. But I question if any blogger has watched as much Matt Ryan as I have. (As a reminder, I watch back and log every BC football game. I have been doing so since Matt Ryan's sophomore year.)
What has Cook seen? Maybe the Thursday night games or a few portions of BC games here and there. I don't blame him. His Saturdays are occupied by Michigan football. He's not impressed with Ryan. Fair enough. I am not surprised a tall, white, pocket passer boors a Michigan man. On the surface Ryan is cut from the same mold as Grbac, Griese, Brady, and Henne. The same mold that the Wolverines are ready to abandon. In his takedown of Ryan, Cook bullets these three issues:
Yes, Boston College had the nation's fourth-ranked passing offense, but Ryan was 62nd in passer efficiency. He completed 59% of his passes -- okay, not great -- and flung 19 interceptions to go with his 31 touchdowns.
The completion percentage is misleading. BC averaged 2.1 drops per game in 2007. If you add those potential completions to Ryan's total, his percentage jumps to 63.8% (which is closer to what he completed in 2005 and 2006). His 31 TDs and 19 INTs are also misleading, as I'll get to in a minute.
Yes, "Matty Ice" led quite a comeback in BC's critical matchup against Virginia Tech, but BC was in that hole largely because he spent the first 55 minutes of the game throwing passes anywhere but the approximate vicinity of BC receivers. He ended up completing fewer than half of his 52 attempts, had two interceptions to go with his two touchdowns, and had a passer rating of under 100. In the rematch he again threw 52 passes; this time he managed to complete more than half but had two interceptions and no touchdowns in a 30-16 loss.
BC wasn't in the hole because of Ryan. He had one bad pick, but the game was actually pretty even. Neither team could do much in the torrential downpour. No one could throw. The best arms in the NFL would have struggled under the same conditions. The hole (VT's 10 points) came off of questionable calls. Once the rain lifted somewhat Ryan picked the Hokies apart in the famous comeback. As for the rematch in Jacksonville, Cook goes straight to the stat line while leaving out the context. If Matt Ryan had any NFL caliber pass catchers around him, BC would have had more passing touchdowns. Late in the game with BC trailing 23-16, Ryan hit Kevin Challenger on a perfect slant that should have been a tying TD. Instead Challenger was brought down by the Hokie Safety in an open field arm tackle. On that same drive Ryan threw his first INT of the game on desperate 4th down pass under duress. The final INT came on another heave in BC territory with less than 20 seconds left. Put a little more talent around Ryan and the game would have had a different ending.
All of Ryan's stats, dubious as they are, came in the weakest BCS conference, the ACC. BC's nonconference schedule was Army, UMass, Bowling Green, and Notre Dame. In the bowl game, a 10-3 team that had gone to the ACC championship game played 7-5 Michigan State, which had gone 3-5 in conference.
This is nitpicking. Show me one of these college QBs who didn't pad his stats against the weaklings. Ironically, Ryan didn't even have his best games against these guys. Regardless, Ryan's stats were just as padded by 400 yard games against Wake and Georgia Tech or his 300 yards in a comeback at Clemson.
I know I am biased but Ryan wasn't a one season wonder. He was first team ACC in 2006 too and 5-0 as a starter in 2005. I respect college bloggers, but don't think many were paying attention to BC or Ryan. I think this is one case where the Mel Kipers and Mike Mayocks are right and the new voices are wrong.
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7 comments:
"There's an uncanny consensus amongst college football fans on Ryan: Jesus, that kid is overrated."
My opinion - this attitude is out there because Matt played for BC and nothing more. He comes out of one of the factories and no one is saying this.
I have friends who are Michigan men, they are great fans and great people, but they have the same argument as this blogger and sincerely believe in their hearts that Henne is better than Ryan. Please, Henne is made of glass, he would have ended up at the hospital if he took that hit at Clemson in '05 in place of Ryan.
I was at both of Ryan's games against Va Tech. 1) The downpour was incredible, not sure how anyone could have excelled in those conditions - it was miserable to even sit there! 2) the Va Tech touchdown wasn't a catch in bounds (given them the 10 point lead). Also, in the ACC championship, much like Florida State, Matt pressed because the game was on the line and threw two bad picks to end the game.
Also, the ACC was by FAR a better BCS conference than the Big East. BC may have padded their out of conference schedule, but look at some of the teams out of conference records in the Big East who boosted their overall conference resume.
I agree with joe bags. #12 plays for LSU, USC, Ohio State or Michigan, and he goes #1 and everyone loves him.
Here's to hoping Matt proves all his critics wrong ...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7604221474768283476
Link to hockey highlight video.
I was three years old when Flutie threw the Hail Mary, so despite being at all of his home games, I cannot say that I remember him.
With that aside, there is no doubt in my mind that Matt Ryan is head and shoulders above any BC quarterback over the past twenty years. Head and shoulders.
There are critics of Ryan right now because he's at the top of the pile of potential picks. He is bright, says the right things, and impresses all of the print and tv media guys. So angry bloggers decide, "oh, I know better than the idiots who are swayed by his personality, and I'm going to tear this guy to shreds." They say that they're doing it from personal knowledge--from watching Ryan play--but they're really doing it from three scattered memories and 14 box scores.
Here's the real deal, from somebody (like everybody on this board), who has watched Ryan every snap for the past two-and-a-half-years. He can make every throw on the field. He generally makes good, quick decisions; he can throw the ball into the narrowest of seems, and, rest assured that he has had plenty of opportunity to do so given the quality of our receivers. He does not have flawless decision-making, but not even the other #12 in town can claim that. But he's most dangerous after he's made a bad decision. He keeps his confidence, and he will make up for it. He struggles the first five passes of the game; he makes up for it with the final 35.
But, frankly, here is what impressed me the most this year: everybody in the country knew what BC was going to do on almost every down. And because of Matt Ryan--that's right, BECAUSE OF MATT RYAN and nobody else on the offense--we were able to do it time after time. I have wondered a number of times what this team would have been like had we had a halfway decent offensive line. Ryan didn't struggle against VaTech because of the conditions...he struggled because he couldn't get a g-damn pass off. We couldn't pass block, and we certainly couldn't run block. Every play was a pass from Matty--and he wasn't exactly throwing to Randy Moss out there.
In no way do I intend to cast Ryan's teammates in a negative light. But it is unfortunately necessary to make this point: he took a mediocre, one-dimentional offense and turned it into a successful one. He is not a system QB--in fact, the system was built for somebody else. And he succeeded despite all of that.
Frankly, though, the most impressive thing about Ryan is the way he leads the team. You could tell from the first snap he took in the Wake Forest game three years ago how much his teammates preferred playing with him to QP. They knew that he wouldn't let the team fail; they also knew that nobody would work harder.
And with that done, let's consider Ryan's pro prospects as objectively as possible: he is, and the scouts almost unanimously agree, the best college quarterback in the country this year, and he has demonstrated a willingness to work his ass off to get better. Would you want that guy on your team? Take a look at the list of QBs who started for a team in the NFL last year. Ask yourself: in three years, how many of these quarterbacks will be better than Matt Ryan. Not only is the number in single digits, it's low single digits.
Great posts all.
I'm just back from vacation and haven't even had the chance to say THANK YOU Boston College Hockey Team - so proud that we are the national champions.
Concerning Matt Ryan, I must say that I'm not very impressed by Brian Cook. His "observations" about both games against Virginia Tech are telling. The conditions in Blacksburg were unbelievable - raining sideways, etc. - yet Cook degrades Matt for his effort prior to his leading the team to the two late touchdowns. Pretty shallow.
In the ACCCG - which I attended - Cook again keys on the two (late) interceptions. I agree with Bill and Ryan was pressured all day - especially in the 2nd half.
Those late interceptions were not indicative of Ryan's game - the first interception was 4th down and do or die, and he was pressured out of the pocket. In fact, except for the kicking game, Ryan would have been celebrated for calmly moving the team 80 yards down the field for the winning field goal. As I mentioned in another post, would we have respected Matt more if he just ate that ball?
The second one with just seconds to play in the game (and BC behind 23 to 16) was batted and was doomed before it started because the play call was late coming in. Every VT defensive player knew exactly what was going to happen, and the linemen were in the backfield as soon as the ball was snapped.
I haven't analyzed the other 17 interceptions, but give us a break, man. Matt was doing what BC fans demanded - make it happen, Matty Ice.
The point is - you can dislike Matt and cite statistics and so forth - but if you have seen him play, I don't believe you would degrade him like Cook. In fact Cook shows that he does not know what he is talking about, and I don't see how he can be referred to as a "premier college blogger".
I wish Matt the very best, and I know he will try his hardest for whichever team drafts him.
I just hope that his agent doesn't have him hold out. I want Matt in camp on time, devouring that play book.
Flutie22Phelan20 - I was a little older than you when Flutie threw that Hail Mary to Phelan (great catch under the circumstances) - 38 yoa -:) I can truly say that all BC fans at that time knew it was still possible with Doug - just an amazing college football player. Doug had many detractors because of his size. I liked Glenn Foley, but he was pretty irreverent ("I don't know what a Buckeye is and couldn't care less" prior to the Ohio State game, etc. - "I wasn't really interested in Notre Dame and don't even know where it is" prior to the famous victory). We had other top-notch QBs - but I agree with you about Matt - he stands out.
My Clemson friends have already mentioned that they will win in Boston on November 1st - why? - because we no longer have Matt Ryan. That sums it up pretty well - Clemson fans are more knowledgeable than one Brian Cook!!!!!!!
@ big jack krack - let your Clemson buddies look past us. ;)
We will have one of the best defenses in the ACC and they will have Tommy Bowden coaching in November ... just saying ...
Hello Brian - first of all, you are to be admired for attending that first Virginia Tech game in Blacksburg on a Thursday Night. As much as I try, I probably can't imagine how bad it really was.
Concerning Clemson - I agree with you, and look forward to beating them for the 4th straight time. (Deep down they feel the same way about Bowden).
Although I live now in Columbia, SC - I got my old season tickets back (50 yard line - I'm not getting any younger). My daughter and other family members will use the other tickets, but my wife and I will be at both the Clemson and Notre Dame games. (I've arranged to work from our RI facility that week) The Clemson people once again feel that they will win the Atlantic Division.
Boston College versus Pittsburgh in the Orange Bowl -:) It's fun to set goals.
Does anyone know if we will play ND in Hockey prior to the Football game? This could become/is a tremendous rivalry. I am truly sorry that we will not be playing each other in football soon. I think ND will get much better, and it will always be a thrill to play the Fighting Irish in football.
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