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WAC is wack when picking first team

COPE WITH IT

By Darrell Copeland
The Collegian

The Western Athletic Conference came out with its first and second football teams recently, so it’s time for a little critique.

The coaches of the WAC conference voted on the teams, hitting the mark on some and doing their WAC counterpart coaches a favor on others.

One thing is for sure. New Mexico State head coach Hal Mumme didn’t do the Bulldogs any favors by voting for Fresno State players after the events of that game.

Just before halftime against the Aggies, Mumme called three consecutive timeouts to try and icekicker Clint Stitser, even though one, maybe two, would have been plenty. Mumme got a good kick out of it, while Pat Hill got a good laugh from everybody else while mocking Mumme by wearing a towel around his neck.

I guess you can say that event wrapped up any chance of Mumme voting for a Bulldog player.

But even without the Aggie coach, there are Fresno State players who were left off of either the first or second-team list, who should have been able to claim one of those spots.

The awards are given out almost exclusively based on season statistics, although some coaches take in performance in other circumstances, as well.

Here is my list of players who were robbed in one way or another:

•Tyler Clutts (Defensive End) - The bookend with WAC Defensive Player of the Year Garrett McIntyre recorded 52 tackles, fifth most on the team and seven sacks, tied for the team lead. Clutts also had 12 tackles for loss for 55 yards, the best on the team, to go with a blocked kick. The undersized but not underperforming defensive end was left completely off of either team for some unexplainable reason.

•Richard Marshall (Cornerback) – The WAC’s best corner was limited to second team recognition despite leading the team with 71 tackles and three interceptions. Marshall also tallied 11 pass break-ups and teamed up with fellow second-team member Marcus McCauley to shut down USC’s pro-like passing offense. The junior corner also plays the run as good as anyone in the country and doesn’t mind laying the hits. A definite miss here as Marshall is easily a first-teamer.

•Cole Popovich and Ryan Wendell (Offensive Line) – Both of these outstanding freshmen were left off of the All-WAC teams, despite blocking for both a dominant run and passing offense. Popovich is likely to be a freshman All-American this season and Wendell earned that honor last year. Two members of Hawaii’s line made second team All-WAC despite allowing 38 sacks in 578 pass attempts. Fresno State’s offensive line allowed 14 sacks in 386 pass attempts. Even if you double the Bulldogs’ pass attempts to 772, they would have only been on pace to allow 28 sacks, still 10 less than Hawaii.

•Joe Fernandez (Wide Receiver) – If Paul Williams deserves to be the top receiver on the first team (and he did), than Fernandez should have been an All-WAC performer as well. Even after missing two games, Fernandez led the team in catches (44), while tying for a team high in touchdown receptions with Williams (7). His 536 yards and key receptions in big games should have easily garnered him membership to the list.


	December 7, 2005 California State University, Fresno