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It is about time. It has just become unavoidable at this point. I cannot keep my mouth shut any longer on this issue.
I made a deliberate decision to avoid this topic, racking my brain for story ideas, but it’s time.
At least I made it to the midpoint of the season before caving in. Alright, here goes, Red Wavers…
It is finally the right time for the “Ryan Mathews is the best player in college football” column.
Before I gave into peer pressure and while I was still racking the brain this weekend, I went to this newspaper’s handy-dandy Web site and typed “Ryan Mathews” into the search bar. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t repeat any old, worn-out ideas, you know?
In only .40 seconds, The Collegian Online produced 145 stories, columns and multimedia results. Just for fun, I searched “Barack Obama.” Only 141 results.
Mathews is more popular than the president of the United States and the leader of the free world – at Fresno State at least. Now that’s a column idea.
If this was an election year, I’m sure that Mathews, even though he is only 22 years old, would receive thousands of write-in votes on the ballots across the Valley. I could already imagine shirts with “Vote Green ‘V’ Party” strewn across the chest.
It doesn’t matter if you lean left or reside on the right; you cannot deny that Mathews is an astonishing talent – quite possibly the best to ever play for Fresno State. It’s hard to believe USC recruited him to be a cornerback.
Saturday night, he continued to impress potential voters.
Each time the junior tailback touched the football, Bulldog Stadium echoed with a collective gasp, each fan holding their breath waiting to see what the calm and collected candidate would do next.
Would it a be a 33-yard run finished with a straight arm that sent San Jose State’s best defender on a one-way trip to his back?
“[The straight arm] is a good weapon to use,” Mathews said. Sounds like a potential commander in chief to me.
Would it be an untouched 59-yard touchdown run?
“I was thinking to myself that I don’t want to get caught,” Mathews said. “That would be embarrassing.” He’s playing this close to the chest, but he knows he’s so far ahead in the polls that no one will catch him.
Mathews finished with 233 yards and one touchdown, averaging 11.6 yards per carry and boosting his season total to 974 rushing yards. Mathews is still leading the nation in rushing, now with 162 yards per game – 26 yards per game ahead of the nearest challenger. But, always quick to deflect praise to his campaign team (offensive line), he doesn’t take the credit.
“I don’t think I’m better than anybody,” Mathews said. “I don’t pay attention to that stuff. It’s all just numbers.”
But most people cannot help but pay attention to the numbers. This is a landslide like Ronald Reagan in 1988.
Mathews has two of the season’s top 10 rushing games: 238 yards against Boise State and 233 yards against San Jose State. He’s the only player with two games in the top 10.
He is currently 11th in the nation with 169 all-purpose yards per game, which totals rushing and receiving yards, as well as kick and punt returns. Mathews is the only player in the top 25 in all-purpose yards per game without even one kick or punt return yard.
In the total offense per game category, Mathews actually ranks quite low.
For all the naysayers out there, there is finally something to put in those nasty campaign commercials.
Mathews ranks 99th in the nation in total offense. But that low ranking might be skewed. He’s the only player on the list of 100 that doesn’t play quarterback.
Everything is lining up for Mathews. He has a strong campaign platform, is impressing voters and is getting results even before he takes office. It’s just too bad that he’ll have to wait until 2024 to officially run for president.
Wait a minute – instead of waiting to run for president, why doesn’t he just campaign for the Heisman Trophy this year?
Lorenzo D. • Nov 9, 2009 at 10:53 am
Ronald Reagan in ’88? AND you’re a writer for the Collegian? The more things change the more they stay the same. The Collegian is still staffed by horrible writers and, apparently, horrible editors.
Lorenzo D. • Nov 9, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Ronald Reagan in ’88? AND you’re a writer for the Collegian? The more things change the more they stay the same. The Collegian is still staffed by horrible writers and, apparently, horrible editors.
Randy Mossersan • Oct 20, 2009 at 6:53 am
Waste of time reading this article. Sure Mathews is single handedly making Pat Hill look good when he sucks as a gameday coach. With Mathews it is pretty simple. Give him 25+ carries a game and look like a genius. When Mathews ends up getting hurt like he does every year, what happens then?
The bottom line is for Mathews to have a legit shot at the Heisman, Fresno State would have had to have gone undefeated and made a BCS bowl. That is out the window. No chance in hell he even gets invited to the ceremony. If the Bulldogs didn’t implode in three winnable games this year, he would have a legit shot. Not now. Waste of time even discussing it.
Randy Mossersan • Oct 19, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Waste of time reading this article. Sure Mathews is single handedly making Pat Hill look good when he sucks as a gameday coach. With Mathews it is pretty simple. Give him 25+ carries a game and look like a genius. When Mathews ends up getting hurt like he does every year, what happens then?
The bottom line is for Mathews to have a legit shot at the Heisman, Fresno State would have had to have gone undefeated and made a BCS bowl. That is out the window. No chance in hell he even gets invited to the ceremony. If the Bulldogs didn’t implode in three winnable games this year, he would have a legit shot. Not now. Waste of time even discussing it.
Well Informed College Football Fan • Oct 19, 2009 at 7:07 pm
ok GoDogs17 did you read my previous comment? apparently not. i agree that Ryan Mathews is a good player and he did have a good game against Boise but are you serious Boise hasn’t played a top 10 team this year. they barely escaped a close game with UC Davis, the same team that Fresno state killed in their first game. They beat Oregon but that was because Oregon played like crap not because Boise is good. They also narrowly escaped Tulsa with a win in a game way too close to be considered a top 5 team. they are in the top 10-15 teams in the country. in my opinion they haven’t proven anything. so Mathews ran for 230 yards and 3 TDs against Boise. ok thats a good game but all that came after the game had been decided. a Heisman trophy winner would have performed when the game still mattered and led his team to victory. that is what makes a truly great player. someone who can translate great performances into W’s. until his performance has an effect on the outcome of the game then it doesn’t matter if he runs for 400 yards and 6 TDs in a game if it didn’t amount to a Win then he wont get the consideration.
Well Informed College Football • Oct 20, 2009 at 2:07 am
ok GoDogs17 did you read my previous comment? apparently not. i agree that Ryan Mathews is a good player and he did have a good game against Boise but are you serious Boise hasn’t played a top 10 team this year. they barely escaped a close game with UC Davis, the same team that Fresno state killed in their first game. They beat Oregon but that was because Oregon played like crap not because Boise is good. They also narrowly escaped Tulsa with a win in a game way too close to be considered a top 5 team. they are in the top 10-15 teams in the country. in my opinion they haven’t proven anything. so Mathews ran for 230 yards and 3 TDs against Boise. ok thats a good game but all that came after the game had been decided. a Heisman trophy winner would have performed when the game still mattered and led his team to victory. that is what makes a truly great player. someone who can translate great performances into W’s. until his performance has an effect on the outcome of the game then it doesn’t matter if he runs for 400 yards and 6 TDs in a game if it didn’t amount to a Win then he wont get the consideration.
GoDogs17 • Oct 19, 2009 at 6:43 pm
first of all, how about a campaign to for ryan to win the heisman? start a legit campaign for him and lets get him somewhere. second, yes we play in a crap conference, but ryan ran for over 230 yards and 3 tds on the number 4 team in the BCS. that is legit. u cant deny how he ripped the boise defense a new one last month.
to “he hate me” if your going to name drop someone make sure u know their real name. its Case Keenam from Houston, but houston fell off the trail so hes off the list.
GoDogs17 • Oct 20, 2009 at 1:43 am
first of all, how about a campaign to for ryan to win the heisman? start a legit campaign for him and lets get him somewhere. second, yes we play in a crap conference, but ryan ran for over 230 yards and 3 tds on the number 4 team in the BCS. that is legit. u cant deny how he ripped the boise defense a new one last month.
to “he hate me” if your going to name drop someone make sure u know their real name. its Case Keenam from Houston, but houston fell off the trail so hes off the list.
Well Informed College Football Fan • Oct 19, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Ok i get your point but the Heisman trophy is not about numbers its about the BEST college football player. while Ryan Mathews is a great running back he is no where near a Heisman worthy player nor will he get the respect that a true candidate would get. you need to look past the numbers and you will see they can be misleading. a true Heisman candidate is a player that will go out and win games for you. Mathews has not had enough of an impact on the outcome of the game. that’s why a guy on a team with a good record usually gets the Heisman. Tim Tebow for example is not only one of the greatest college football players of all time statistically, he goes out and wins games and HE can single handedly win a game for his team. he has the potential of taking over a game. as good as Mathews is he has not won any big games for his team and to be considered a candidate you need to win games for your team. a running back like Mark Ingram of Alabama has showed that capability and that’s why he is in the Heisman picture. it has nothing to do with your position and the only reason that your conference matters is because it is a known FACT that Fresno State plays in a league with less overall talent. that’s why Ingram is getting more attention with less rushing yards and a lower rush average. Ingram is playing better teams and controlling the game with his play while Mathews is playing cupcakes like UCD and SJSU, with a lot more easy games to come in conference play, and not winning the big games like the close Wisconsin and Cincinnati games. if he would have won those games for his team he would be getting more attention but the simple truth is he is NOT the best player in the land so he wont win the Heisman. p.s. i do listen and enjoy listening to the podcast. good work.
Well Informed College Football • Oct 20, 2009 at 12:37 am
Ok i get your point but the Heisman trophy is not about numbers its about the BEST college football player. while Ryan Mathews is a great running back he is no where near a Heisman worthy player nor will he get the respect that a true candidate would get. you need to look past the numbers and you will see they can be misleading. a true Heisman candidate is a player that will go out and win games for you. Mathews has not had enough of an impact on the outcome of the game. that’s why a guy on a team with a good record usually gets the Heisman. Tim Tebow for example is not only one of the greatest college football players of all time statistically, he goes out and wins games and HE can single handedly win a game for his team. he has the potential of taking over a game. as good as Mathews is he has not won any big games for his team and to be considered a candidate you need to win games for your team. a running back like Mark Ingram of Alabama has showed that capability and that’s why he is in the Heisman picture. it has nothing to do with your position and the only reason that your conference matters is because it is a known FACT that Fresno State plays in a league with less overall talent. that’s why Ingram is getting more attention with less rushing yards and a lower rush average. Ingram is playing better teams and controlling the game with his play while Mathews is playing cupcakes like UCD and SJSU, with a lot more easy games to come in conference play, and not winning the big games like the close Wisconsin and Cincinnati games. if he would have won those games for his team he would be getting more attention but the simple truth is he is NOT the best player in the land so he wont win the Heisman. p.s. i do listen and enjoy listening to the podcast. good work.
Dirtbag Dog • Oct 19, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Such a creative article!! You convinced me… when do I vote?
Dirtbag Dog • Oct 19, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Such a creative article!! You convinced me… when do I vote?
He Hate Me • Oct 19, 2009 at 12:17 am
He’ll be unlikely to even gain a fifth place spot at the Heisman ceremony based upon the racist predisposition to voting quarterbacks above all others held by many journalists. The powers that be should understand that four of the top five college football players can’t possibly all play at the quarterback position and none on the defensive side of the football.
Houston’s QB Keller will get a spot over Mathews—– as unfortunate as that seems.
He Hate Me • Oct 19, 2009 at 7:17 am
He’ll be unlikely to even gain a fifth place spot at the Heisman ceremony based upon the racist predisposition to voting quarterbacks above all others held by many journalists. The powers that be should understand that four of the top five college football players can’t possibly all play at the quarterback position and none on the defensive side of the football.
Houston’s QB Keller will get a spot over Mathews—– as unfortunate as that seems.