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Stanford Dominates Pac-12 All-Conference Team

I suppose it really shouldn't be much of a surprise. The team poised to win the conference championship and represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl also led the way when the postseason awards were announced on Monday afternoon.

As suspected, David Shaw was named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. After losing the best player in America, Shaw not only kept his team afloat, he led them to a Northern division championship, something Andrew Luck never accomplished. Should the Cardinal win the Pac-12 Championship game on Friday night and follow that up with a win in Pasadena on January 1st, Shaw would match Jim Harbaugh's school record 12 wins from 2010.

But Shaw would be the first to tell you that great players make great coaches, and he has a lot of great players this year. Two dozen of them were recognized as follows:

First Team
Tight End Zach Ertz, OL David Yankey, LB Trent Murphy, LB Chase Thomas, DB Ed Reynolds

Second Team
RB Stepfan Taylor, OL Kevin Danser, OL Sam Schwartzstein, DL Henry Anderson, DL Ben Gardner

Honorable Mention
DB Usua Amanam, DB Terrence Brown, DB Alex Carter, Special Teams Alex Debniak, OL Cameron Fleming, RB Ryan Hewitt, QB Kevin Hogan, Return Specialist Ty Montgomery, DB Jordan Richards, LB Shayne Skov, DL Terrence Stephens, Return Specialist Drew Terrell, TE Levine Toilolo, P Daniel Zchlinkski

 To put this in perspective, the Cardinal shared top billing with Oregon, who also placed five players on the first team. A separation begins when the second team is added, giving Stanford a total of ten honorees. With honorable mentions, the number jumps to 24. No other conference school is close to that. One other note -- Kevin Hogan, he of only three career starts, was one of only six quarterbacks honored. Pretty amazing.

Here's the full list.

 

Zach Ertz for 2012 Mackey Award

The football department has released a highlight video promoting Zach Ertz for the John Mackey Award, given annually to the best tight end in America. Ertz has been named a finalist, along with Washington's Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Notre Dame's Tyler Eifert. Those guys are good, but c'mon. This seems like a slam dunk to me.

 

Chase Thomas for 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy

Stanford linebacker Chase Thomas was recently named a semifinalist for the 2012 Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is given annually to the nation's Defensive Player of the Year who best exemplifies Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity. (Hence, the IMPACT acronynm.) Check out this highlight package produced by the athletic department in support of Thomas's campaign. This just in -- Thomas is good.

Does the Heisman Matter?

For weeks I had looked at the lull between the Notre Dame game and the Heisman Trophy ceremony in much the same way that David Shaw did -- that would be the time when I would use this space to hammer home my belief that Andrew Luck deserved to win the Heisman.

Sure, his numbers weren't as prolific as pass-happy quarterbacks Case Keenum and Matt Barkley, his overall game wasn't as electric as Robert Griffin III, and he didn't play in the SEC like Trent Richardson, but he was more than all of that. All season long it seemed clear that the voters would see that. They'd understand that Andrew Luck was the greatest football player in America, and the votes would fall to him in a landslide.

But then his statistics took a dip in the second half of the season, just as America was falling in love with RG3. Even so, Luck still led in all the relevant polls, and most experts predicted that he would wrap up the Heisman with a quality performance in a Stanford win over Oregon on November 12. Luck fumbled the ball once, threw two interceptions (though one was meaningless and not his fault), and the Cardinal lost by twenty-three points. The Heisman was lost.

Watching the Watchers, Part II

The last few major awards (Butkus, O'Brien, Camp) released their watch lists recently, so the list is complete: Cardinal players galore!

• Maxwell Award (Best Football Player): Andrew Luck, Stepfan Taylor
• Nagurski Trophy (Best Defensive Player): Delano Howell, Shayne Skov
• Bednarik Award (Top Defensive Player): D. Howell, S. Skov
• Mackey Award (Top Tight End): Coby Fleener
• Outland Trophy (Best Interior Lineman): Jonathan Martin, David DeCastro
• Thorpe Award (Best Defensive Back): D. Howell
• Lombardi Award (Top College Lineman): J. Martin, D. DeCastro, S. Skov
• Butkus Award (Top Linebacker): S. Skov
• Davey O'Brien Award (National Quarterback): A. Luck
• Walter Camp Award (Player of the Year): A. Luck

Watching the Watchers

Here's the surest sign that the college football season is just around the corner -- the major awards are issuing their "watch lists." Personally, I've never quite understood why we need watch lists, but since they're out there, we should probably talk about them. Besides, it's great to see so many Stanford players on all these lists.

• Maxwell Award (Best Football Player): Andrew Luck, Stepfan Taylor
• Nagurski Trophy (Best Defensive Player): Delano Howell, Shayne Skov
• Bednarik Award (Top Defensive Player): D. Howell, S. Skov
• Mackey Award (Top Tight End): Coby Fleener
• Outland Trophy (Best Interior Lineman): Jonathan Martin, David DeCastro
• Thorpe Award (Best Defensive Back): D. Howell
• Lombardi Award (Top College Lineman): J. Martin, D. DeCastro, S. Skov

These lists each name anywhere between 37 and a whopping 125 (the Lombardi) names, and those numbers will be whittled down over the course of the season until finalists are announced in the closing weeks before the awards are finally passed out around Heisman time in early December. (There is no watch list for the Heisman; you don't have to build buzz about that trophy.) 

I love that Shayne Skov is getting some national love -- no surprise after his Orange Bowl performance -- and it's also great to see Delano Howell's name in a few different places. Mainly, though, I see all this as just more evidence that Stanford football is here to stay on the national college football landscape.

Go Mighty Card.