SI Likes K-State and Other College Football Items

My gosh, here we are less than a week removed from the College Football Playoff Championship game and Sports Illustrated is picking its Top 25 teams for next season.

You know what, that’s just fine with Kansas State fans. The magazine picked the Cats No. 21, saying: “Don’t doubt the wizardry of Bill Snyder. The Wildcats return quarterback Jesse Ertz, running back Alex Barnes and four offensive linemen, plus 2016 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the year D.J. Reed, a cornerback who broke up 16 passes in his first season on campus.”

Oh, the Cats return a lot more than that, 16 of 22 starters, for example. They do lose standout linebacker Elijah Lee, who opted to leave early for the NFL draft.

SI tabbed four other Big 12 teams for the Top 25: Oklahoma No. 8, Oklahoma State 12, Texas 18 and West Virginia 20.

What the magazine said about each:

• Quarterback Baker Mayfield could lead the Sooners to three Big 12 titles in three seasons.
• The Mason Rudolph-to-James Washington connection will be used frequently in 2017, and the Cowboys should have a strong ground game with running back Justice Hill returning, too.
• First-year coach Tom Herman was gifted plenty of talent on both sides of the ball— most notably quarterback Shane Buechele and linebacker Malik Jefferson — though the Longhorns will miss running back D’Onta Foreman.
• With Florida quarterback transfer Will Grier running the offense, the Mountaineers should contend for the Big 12 championship after a 10-win campaign in 2016.

And then there’s this: Charlie Strong hooked up with South Florida after being canned as coach at Texas and SI picked the Bulls at No. 25. Bulls? After being with the Longhorns? Hmmm! Anyway, SI said Strong will have a terrific quarterback, Quinton Flowers, a dark-horse Heisman candidate, in pushing for national recognition.

The Top 25:

1. Alabama
2. USC
3. Penn State
4. Florida State
5. LSU
6. Clemson
7. Ohio State
8. Oklahoma
9. Washington
10. Michigan
11. Wisconsin
12. Oklahoma State
13. Louisville
14. Auburn
15. Georgia
16. Tennessee
17. Stanford
18. Texas
19. Florida
20. West Virginia
21. Kansas State
22. Oregon
23. Miami
24. UCLA
25. South Florida

While we’re on the subject of football, what did you think of the championship game?

It ran late but it sure was worth the effort.

Clemson, behind star quarterback Deshaun Watson, scored with one second to go in the game to beat Alabama 35-31 Monday night — or was it Tuesday morning — in Tampa.

Alabama, mashing Clemson with a thug defense early on, took a 14-0 lead. The Tide rolled, hammered, socked, battered and bruised Watson. He became the veritable punching bag. They blitzed him, they distracted him but they didn’t beat him. He wound up throwing for 402 yards against a defense heralded as one of the best ever.

The Tigers scored twice on what is euphemistically called a rub route.  Defensive coaches call it a pick. Whatever you label it, you’re talking about a play that is fast becoming as controversial as the block-charge referee’s decision in basketball. Or maybe the problems of determining pass interference. The disrupting officials’ replay can’t even determine the accuracy of some calls. And they won’t even review the pick for interpretation.

Watson called the touchdown play a pick. Coach Dabo Swinney called it a rub. According to officials, even if you call the play a pick it is not necessarily offensive pass interference, even though those terms are often used interchangeably.

Aye, here’s the rub. The outside receiver on the play runs a quick slant, and the outside cornerback initiates contact and grabs him. This forces the inside cornerback to take a circuitous route to cover the inside receiver, who initially fakes inside, only to quickly cut outside. He is wide open. The throw is perfect. Or it was for Clemson.

If the outside receiver had initiated contact, or had not made an attempt to run a route, offensive pass interference could have been called. Here is what NCAA coordinator of officials Roger Redding passed along to reporters after the game on the final TD: “What we saw was contact was either initiated by the defense or mutually initiated.”

Okay.

One second to go. What drama. Watson rolled right, watched the rub-pick unfold and hit Hunter Renfrow with a nice, nifty toss. The ecstasy of victory.

By the way, a couple of Clemson players surely must have lit up the social media crowd — Renfrow and linebacker Ben Boulware. Baby-faced Renfrow is going to play on Sundays. The guy has great hands, quickness and smarts. He caught 10 passes for 92 yards — clutch yards. Bearded Boulware was everywhere on defense; if he wasn’t tackling someone — he was credited with six for the game — he was in a Bama face or gleefully bumping a teammate.

So, would you draft Watson. He had 463 total yards against the vaunted Alabama team. Does that effort transfer to the NFL? He’s not the stereotypical pro quarterback. But who cares, right, if he can do the things he does on the football field.

Here’s one scout’s analysis of Watson: Before the 2015 season, the question came up whether Watson was the best quarterback prospect in college football. Cal’s Jared Goff got the nod from many, but then came the observation that Watson’s all-around tools were difficult to match. He has the strong arm to drive the ball into tight openings, though it’s his touch on two-level throws that impresses most. There’s still room to grow from a quarterbacking standpoint as he can learn to get through his reads better and his accuracy wanes at times. He’s the early favorite to be the first quarterback off the board. The Cleveland Browns have the first pick.

NFL action is still among us. But for the colleges, you gotta wait for spring practice, Oklahoma’s No. 2 sport.