If say a QB throws for 4500 yards and 55 TDs, and his team is say, 11-2, FOR THAT YEAR, he can be considered the best player in college football, doesn't matter at all that he's useless without the system or that his ability doesn't translate to the NFL ever, he was the best in COLLEGE football for that ONE YEAR.
First, White had 40 touchdown passes, not 55; which was 12 off the national lead. He was 10th in completions and seventh in passing yardage.
Additionally, White was outside the top 10 in pass completion percentage and in yards per pass attempt (Roethlisberger and Rutherford were 7th and 8th respectively). He was seventh in adjusted yards per pass attempt and passing efficiency.
In fact, It may come as a surprise to you to learn that White was not the national leader in ANY major statistical category that year. If you’re just going to rely on statistics, which would be dumb, he wasn’t even the best player in that air raid system that year; BJ Symons was. Everyone in that system puts up gaudy numbers every year.
White had a very good year on a very good team with a very good tradition. However, everyone who watched him play could see that he was not a supremely talented athlete. He hobbled around and had a pretty weak arm. However, his team scored a lot of points and the rest of his team was very good too.
Conversely, Fitzgerald was a dominant physical specimen whom no one could handle. He set the record for receiving touchdowns in a season and also led the nation in receiving yards - two of the three major statistics for that position. Additionally, people could immediately identify that he was far and away the person carrying that entire football team. Without Larry Fitzgerald, Walt Harris would have been fired years earlier.
There is a reason why White went undrafted even though he played quarterback, while Fitzgerald was the number three overall pick. It was not because everyone thought White was a better player, college or otherwise.
White was the right guy on the right team in the right system. He was absolutely not the best player in college football that year. People can argue otherwise until they are blue in the face, but I’m going to trust my own eyes over this nonsensical argument.
Finally, everyone gets on Ron Cook for his ridiculous vote, as well they should. It’s one thing for someone in Oregon or Texas to miss on Fitzgerald – he played half a country away. However, Cook saw Fitzgerald play every week, or at least he should have, and to miss on his rare talent was completely inexcusable.
However, it is equally important to note that Larry Fitzgerald did not receive a single first place vote in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Do you know who did? Former Michigan State quarterback/junkie, and central Pennsylvania native, Jeff Smoker. Apparently, we are the only place without homers.
