WINTER SPORTS 2012 Notre Dame Linebacker...

BY BRIAN HAMILTON© 2012 Chicago Tribune

When he officially moved onestep and one city closer to mak-ing history, Manti Te’o was wear-ing a tuxedo in Charlotte, N.C.,preoccupied with signing auto-graphs at a function for theNagurski Award.

He didn’t know his cross-country-and-back, award-weekitinerary included a stop for theHeisman Trophy ceremony untilsocial media broke the newsMonday. It’s a stiff-arm trophy,but Notre Dame’s senior line-backer perceived it as an em-brace of something bigger.

“I hope I win for my school —that’s my main thing,” Te’o said.“It’s real cool to hear it. Every-body is texting me right now. I’mreally excited to hear it.”

On Saturday, Te’o can becomethe first pure defender to win theaward, with Texas A&M quarter-back Johnny Manziel and KansasState quarterback Collin Kleinjoining him as finalists. Whatchances does each player have?Here’s a look:

Johnny Manziel, QB,Texas A&M

The numbers: 3,419 passing

yards, 1,181 rushing yards, 43total TDs, 7.88 yards per play.

Why he’ll win: Johnny Foot-ball is a phenomenon, with noshortage of highlight-reel playsshowcasing absurd athleticismand creativity that are catnip forHeisman voters. His 4,600 yardsof total offense set an SECrecord, and he led a stunningroad upset of Alabama for theCrimson Tide’s lone loss. And theAggies called off the media black-out on Manziel just in time for aflood of stories, features andradio appearances in the stretchrun.

Why he won’t: The differencebetween a true freshman and aredshirt freshman such asManziel is substantial, but he stillwould be classified as the firstfirst-year player to take home thetrophy. Voters might have beenwary of that, as well as a three-in-terception day against LSU in oneof the Aggies’ high-profile losses.Manziel’s numbers in a loss toFlorida (173 passing yards, 60rushing yards, one TD) weren’tspectacular, but it was his col-lege debut Sept. 8.

Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame

The numbers: 103 tackles, 5.5

TFL, 7 INTs, 11 pass breakups.Why he’ll win: Because he

plays for Notre Dame, which is12-0 and the No. 1 team in the na-tion and, most importantly, isNotre Dame. Te’o has benefitedfrom the attention afforded theprogram’s high-profile return toprominence, leading the No. 1scoring defense while battlingthrough the deaths of his grand-mother and girlfriend early in theyear. If the voters weighed thecharacter part of the award, asthe Irish’s unquestioned inspira-tion, Te’o got a boost.

Why he won’t: He plays de-fense, and that’s it. No pure de-fender has won the award. AndTe’o might not even be the bestdefensive player in the country,let alone the most outstandingplayer overall, depending on howone views Georgia’s Jarvis Jonesand South Carolina’s JadeveonClowney. While Te’o posted bignumbers early on, he didn’trecord a double-digit tackle gamein November, even as the Irishpressed on to a BCS title gamebid.

Collin Klein, QB,Kansas State

The numbers: 2,490 passingyards, 890 rushing yards, 37 totalTDs, 7.25 yards per play.

Why he’ll win: In an offenseless specifically geared towardrunning extraordinary numbersof plays — and therefore amass-ing extraordinary amounts ofyardage — Klein’s numbersweren’t much off the pace ofManziel’s. And his team wasmore successful when very littlewas expected of it, winning theBig 12 title and earning a BCSspot against Oregon in the FiestaBowl. Like Te’o, the devout Kleingot a boost if voters examinedhis character and comportment.

Why he won’t: His numbers,while eye-catching, aren’t themost prolific in the country.(Klein is No. 30 in total offense.)And a three-interception night inKansas State’s Nov. 17 meltdownat Baylor appeared to sidetrackKlein’s momentum completely.He was the longtime front-runner,but his candidacy seemed to takea shot when the Wildcats’ na-tional title hopes fell apart. Itmay be that, without a catchynickname or tradition behindhim, Klein somewhat unfairlyslipped out of voters’ minds.

son a few more relatives if theTrojans lost again.

Georgia Tech, meanwhile, wasblown out at home by MiddleTennessee, lost its final regular-season game by 32 points andwound up with a losing recordafter getting into the AtlanticCoast Conference championshipgame by default, the next team inline after Miami decided to spendanother postseason in self-im-posed lockdown.

Even after losing the ACCgame, the Yellow Jackets still gotthe call that extended their bowlstreak to 16 years in a row.

Talk about an achievementworthy of an asterisk.

But, this isn’t about one par-ticular school. There’s plenty ofaverageness to go around.

A dozen teams received bowlbids with records of 6-6, which isoften the sort of mark that gets acoach fired, not earns his team atrip at the holidays. (Or, in thecase of Purdue, was bowl-worthyAND got the coach fired).

In fact, there are two gamesmatching a pair of 6-6 teams —Rice vs Air Force in the ArmedServices Bowl at Fort Worth(sorry, our men and women inuniform) and Pittsburgh vs. OleMiss in the BBVA Compass Bowlat Birmingham.

When those kind of teams gettogether, they’re hoping youthrow out the record book.

Instead, you should changethe channel.

Yet, none of the 35 bowlscould find a spot for LouisianaTech, the highest-scoring team inthe country, a squad that wonnine times and barely lost toJohnny Manziel and Texas A&Min one of the most entertaininggames of the season.

The Bulldogs apparentlyweren’t too thrilled about theidea of going to the nearby Inde-pendence Bowl to dance with an-other team from their own state(Louisiana-Monroe). Theythought they had might get a call

from someone more handsome.The Independence was all, like,why you disrespectin’ us, girl-friend? So they called up Ohio(University, not State), whichsaid “yes.”

“Under no circumstances did Iever think there was any possibil-ity at all that we would not playin a bowl game,” Louisiana Techcoach Sonny Dykes said. “It is ashame that our nationally recog-nized team and its 31 seniorshave to end the season this way.”

No, the real shame is that col-lege football ends its season thisway.

We’re promised a playoff in2014, but we should see throughthat four-team ruse. It’s a way tosilence everyone who wants a le-

gitimate playoff (16 teams, mini-mum) and keep alive the bowlsystem, nothing more than a non-profit scam lining the pockets ofits operators with exorbitantsalaries for the taxing job of put-ting on one game a year.

Maybe if the fans stop watch-ing, there will be a true playoff.

Maybe if the fans stop buyingtickets, all these meaninglessgames will wither up and die.

There’s no better time to startthan now.

Happy Bowl Season!Now, go do something else.

Paul Newberry is a nationalwriter for The Associated Press.Write to him at pnewberry@ap.oror www.twitter.com

Sellers has moved the ball aroundso far in the preseason.

“Scott is a good point guard,”Payer said. “He knows how todish the ball.”

Thorson is also hopeful thatjunior Chris Richardson (4.08PPG, 1.50 RPG in 2011-2012) andPayer will make an immediate im-pact early in the season.

“Chris really came on at theend of last year and Tyler haslooked really good this fall,” Thor-son said.

The Lancers are 4-5 overall, 1-3in the GPAC through the first ninegames. The highlight of the firstpart of the season was MMC’s 56-54 victory over then No. 6 North-western at home on Nov. 28.

The Lancers travel to Denverto play a pair of games overChristmas break and wrap uptheir regular season hosting Con-cordia on February 16.

Mount Marty was picked lastof the 11 GPAC teams in the con-ference preseason poll as votedon by the league’s coaches.Dordt, last year’s regular seasonchampion, was picked first whilepost-season champion North-western was selected runner-up.

Despite the obvious lack of re-spect from the rest of the league,the Lancers open their seasonwith hope for a solid year.

“ I think we can definitely be acontender in the GPAC, there isno doubt in my mind,” Payer said.“We can make a run out there; thesky’s the limit.”

You can follow Chris Riley onTwitter at twitter.com/ChrisCRiley

PAGE 20 PRESS & DAKOTAN ■ PLAIN TALK ■ WINTER SPORTS 2012

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Boys’ BasketballDate..............Opponent/Event ....................................Location12/7 ..............Freeman..................................................Freeman12/10 ............Scotland ......................................................Hurley12/14 ............Irene-Wakonda .......................................Wakonda12/20 ............Tripp-Delmont/Armour .................................Viborg12/27 ............Buseman Classic ..................................Centerville12/29 ............Parkston Classic......................................Parkston1/10 ..............Gayville-Volin ............................................Gayville1/12 ..............Schooler Classic ..................................Sioux Falls1/18 ..............Baltic............................................................Hurley1/19 ..............Hanson Classic ..................Mitchell (Corn Palace)1/22 ..............Alcester-Hudson .......................................Alcester1/24 ..............Centerville ...................................................Viborg1/29 ..............Canistota .....................................................Viborg2/1 ................Freeman Academy ......................................Hurley2/5 ................Avon ............................................................Viborg2/8 ................Parker..........................................................Parker2/9 ................DWU Classic ......................Mitchell (Corn Palace)2/12 ..............Menno .........................................................Hurley2/14 ..............Marion .........................................................Viborg2/15 ..............Flandreau Indian....................................Flandreau2/25-26, 3/1 ..District 8B Tournament ....................Viborg-Hurley3/5 ................Region 4B Final ..............................................TBA3/14-16 .........State Tournament...................................Aberdeen

Girls’ BasketballDate..............Opponent/Event ....................................Location12/4 ..............Scotland...................................................Scotland12/8 ..............Canistota ................................................Canistota12/11.............Bridgewater-Emery......................................Emery12/14 ............Irene-Wakonda .......................................Wakonda12/18 ............Corsica/Stickney........................................Corsica12/20 ............Tripp-Delmont/Armour .................................Viborg12/28 ............Parkston Classic......................................Parkston1/5 ................Elk Point-Jefferson ......................................Hurley1/7 ................Alcester-Hudson .......................................Alcester1/10 ..............Gayville-Volin ............................................Gayville1/14 ..............Freeman..................................................Freeman1/18 ..............Baltic............................................................Hurley1/24 ..............Centerville ...................................................Viborg1/26 ..............TVC Classic ..............................................Alcester2/1 ................Freeman Academy ......................................Hurley2/5 ................Avon ............................................................Viborg2/8 ................Parker..........................................................Parker2/12 ..............Menno .........................................................Hurley2/14 ..............Marion .........................................................Viborg2/15 ..............Flandreau Indian....................................Flandreau2/18-19, 22 ...District 8B Tournament..............................Gayville2/28 ..............Region 4B Final ...............................................Tea3/7-9 .............State Tournament.........................................Huron

Viborg-Hurley

LancersFrom Page 19

BowlsFrom Page 19

Notre Dame Linebacker, Quarterbacks Manziel, Klein Have Pros, Cons As Heisman Finalists

DAVID T. FOSTER III/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/MCTNotre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o poses with the Bronko Nagurski Award on Monday in Charlotte, N.C.

SHANE KEYSER/KANSAS CITY STAR/MCTKansas State quarterback Collin Klein (7) looks to throw in the first quar-ter against Texas on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhat-tan, Kan.