The Greatest #16

To delve further into my last comment under "The Greatest By Number", Ivan Maisel in his piece Prime Numbers listed Peyton Manning as the greatest #16 of all time. Upon further review, when compared to the "Honorable Mentions" for #16 (UCLA QB Gary Beban; Kentucky QB George Blanda; Toledo QB Chuck Ealey; Iowa QB Chuck Long; Stanford QB Jim Plunkett; Louisville QB Johnny Unitas; Florida State QB Chris Weinke), Manning may be the least qualified of the bunch. For the sake of this blog, let's just compare him to the only other player of his era of the group, former ACC and Florida State standout Chris Weinke.

The Evidence
Heisman Trophies: Weinke 1 - Manning 0
National Titles: Weinke 1 - Manning 0
Overall record as starting QB: Weinke 32-3 (.910) - Manning 39-6 (.870)
Record vs. Florida: Weinke 2-0 - Manning 0-4
Career TDs: Weinke 79 (2.75 seasons) - Manning 89 (4 seasons)
Career INTs: Weinke 35 (2.75 seasons) - Manning 33 (4 seasons)
Career passing yards: Weinke 9,839 (2.75 seasons) - Manning 11,201 (4 seasons)
Intangibles: Weinke was 25 during his sophomore season and won the Heisman in '00 at 28 years of age; Manning was, shall we say, more age appropriate and finished his UT career at 21.......Weinke seriously injured his neck after a jarring hit vs. Virginia in Nov '98 and missed the remainder of that season.

The Verdict
The age factor can go both ways...Weinke had the advantage of advanced "maturity" when he took over as signal caller in Tallahassee in 1998, but also was saddled with a good deal of football rust (thanks to 6 years of minor league baseball) that Manning never had. I would argue that Weinke's comeback from a severe, career threatening neck injury in late '98 outweighs the age factor. Regardless, every major stat - except for career INTs - points in Weinke's favor, when factored by how many games each player started. Therefore, this blog finds that between Messrs. Manning and Weinke, the more deserving of the title of "Greatest College Football #16 of All-Time" is Chris Weinke.


Rip Van Weinke does it again

The Greatest By Number

Now this is a great dog-days-of-summer college football piece: Prime Numbers. ESPN's Ivan Maisel - one of the primo college football writers today - developed a great offseason debate topic. In short, he goes through each uniform number, 1-100 (yes, 100), and selects the best player to ever wear that number, along with a few honorable mentions. This being an ACC blog, I'll espouse on the ACC players named in Maisel's collection:

Winners
#2- Deion Sanders, CB/KR, Florida State
#17- Charlie Ward, QB, Florida State
#22- Doug Flutie, QB, Boston College
#28- Warrick Dunn, TB, Florida State
#36- Bennie Blades, S, Miami-FL
#43- Terry Kinard, DB, Clemson
#47- Michael Irvin, WR, Miami-FL
#56- Micheal Barrow, LB, Miami-FL
#58- Peter Boulware, DE, Florida State
#66- Banks McFadden, HB, Clemson
#66- William Perry, DT, Clemson
#67- Russell Maryland, DT, Miami-FL
#76- Warren Sapp, DT, Miami-FL
#78- Bruce Smith, DT, Virginia Tech
#94- Randy White, DT, Maryland
#96- Cortez Kennedy, DT, Miami-FL

Honorable Mentions
#3- Scott Bentley, K, Florida State
#3- Homer Jordan, QB, Clemson
#4- Steve Walsh, QB, Miami-FL
#5- Edgerrin James, TB, Miami-FL
#7- Michael Vick, QB, Virginia Tech
#9- Peter Warrick, WR/KR, Florida State
#11- Ken Dorsey, QB, Miami-FL
#13- Gino Torretta, QB, Miami-FL
#14- Vinny Testaverde, QB, Miami-FL
#16- Chris Weinke, QB, Florida State
#18- Roman Gabriel, QB, NC State
#20- Bernie Kosar, QB, Miami-FL
#22- Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, HB, North Carolina
#25- Fred Biletnikoff, WR, Florida State
#26- Sean Taylor, S, Miami-FL
#27- Terrell Buckley, CB, Florida State
#31- Dre Bly, CB, North Carolina
#38- Sebastian Janikowski, K, Florida State
#45- Jeff Davis, LB, Clemson
#49- Julius Peppers, DE, North Carolina
#50- Ron Simmons, NG, Florida State
#50- Jim Ritcher, OL, NC State
#52- Ray Lewis, LB, Miami-FL
#53- Clay Shiver, C, Florida State
#53- Corey Simon, DL, Florida State
#55- Marvin Jones, LB, Florida State
#59- Andy Bershak, E, North Carolina
#62- Jack Scarbath, QB, Maryland
#68- Mike McGee, G, Duke
#73- Jim Dombrowski, OT, Virginia
#76- Warren Sapp, DT, Miami-FL
#78- Bruce Smith, DT, Virginia Tech
#84- Carroll Dale, E, Virginia Tech
#85- Andre Wadsworth, DE, Florida State
#89- Ted Hendricks, DE, Miami-FL
#94- Randy White, DT, Maryland
#96- Cortez Kennedy, DT, Miami-FL
#98- Lawrence Taylor, LB, North Carolina

Thoughts
...15 of the 100 "winner" spots were taken up by players from ACC schools
...Miami-FL leads the league with 6 "winners" and 11 "honorable mentions"; Florida State is second with 4 "winners" and 11 "honorable mentions"
...Georgia Tech and Wake Forest are MIA on the survey, with no players mentioned
...Speaking of GT, how in the world was Joe Hamilton (#14) left off?
...Omission that nearly destroys the credibility of the whole survey: Derrick Brooks (#10), LB, Florida State (only a two-time All-American and defensive star of the '93 national champs)
...Inclusion that nearly destroys the credibility of the whole survey: Scott Bentley (#3), K, FSU (outside of the title winning kick against Nebraska in '93, was benched and/or ineffective much of his career in Tallahassee)
...Just because he was a jackass leading up to the '00 Sugar Bowl (and did next to nothing in that title game) doesn't mean Virginia Tech's Corey Moore (#99) wasn't dominating enough to be on the list
...Missing: Wolfpack stars Torry Holt (#81) and Philip Rivers(#17), should've been no-brainer honorable mentions
...Lawrence Taylor (#98) and Chris Weinke (#16) should have been runaway winners in their respective numbers