PAC 12 Football
 

Although there's not much talk about it, I'm appalled at how the defenses of the PAC 12 have performed in this Bowl season. Washington, Oregon and Stanford have shown us the worst D in recent Bowl memory. Should this affect how we eveluate players like Andrew Luck? I think Andrew Luck looks NFL ready but the expectations of him are going to be tremendous. Anything short of Peyton Manning and he'll be a disappointment. He has an excellent O-line and running game. The receivers he throws to are largely wide, wide open RBs, slot receivers and TEs. In the NFL he'll have to throw to tightly covered receivers and narrow lanes of vision.

I will say that the offense he's running looks very much like the Indy Colts'. The Colts will likely shop this pick but in the end, I think they'll keep it and draft him. I still want to hear him declare for the draft though.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Why? He's a senior.

To your main point, there's been quite a lot of discussion that he may have gotten his uniform quite a bit dirtier had he been facing more stout defenses, but I think he's still a good enough and quick enough decision maker to avoid getting sacked much. But it will be interesting to see how he handles more pressure.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Luck isn't a senior. He could come back for another year, although there is almost no chance he actually does.

I see your point, but Luck is going to be awesome. I honestly think he would have been one of the best 5 QBs in the league this year. He certainly benefited from less than stellar defenses, but I also think that the many rule changes in football have made the offenses look better than they really are.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

We will see, Luck will be in the NFL soon enough. He's no Tebow, he actually has talent.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Luck put up those great numbers despite not having much talent at WR. Imagine if he had a Marqise Lee, Robert Woods, or Kendall Wright to throw to.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

This. Luck has not had anything close to even a good receiver to throw to yet.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Another reason why ESPN stinks:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...70/andrew-luck

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Mostly, people need to remember that Luck never became hyped because of universe-leading stats or off-the-charts measurables. NFL scouts started drooling over him last year because of how he played the game and how well it translated to The NFL Way.

As for the bowls -- yeah, Oregon and Stanford were getting lit up, but Wisconsin and Oklahoma State lit up everyone in their own leagues, too. It was definitely offense vs. offense in those games.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

ESPN is guilty of that all the time. During the Xavier-Gonzaga game the announcers kept referring to Mark Lyons as a senior when in fact he is a junior. They did the same thing during the XU/Vandy game and pretty much every other ESPN broadcast featuring Xavier this year. It can't be that hard to do research on a roster, can it?

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

I guess technically he is a senior, but he redshirted I believe.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Well ESPN knew last year that this was his Junior year:

This makes my point. The whole world is so convinced that he's coming out, they've forgotten that he's not a senior. This forum alone shows us that a Vanderbilt grad and ESPN don't even know that he has a year of eligibility left. He could leverage that with Indy if he doesn't want to sit after being drafted. No one's talking about this

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Technically he's a junior because he has one yr of eligibilty remaining

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

I think its Luck's intelligence (both football and IQ) that has the scouts drooling. He has the potential to hyper-manage the game the way Peyton Manning or Drew Brees do. He seems to have the arm to make all the throws and the mobility. Plus he has a 5 GHz processor brain that makes a decision thisfast. He made a remarkable dump-off throw last night where some OSU defender was into his midsection and Luck saw a receiver on the sidelines at the very last nanosecond and made a great throw. It only gained a few yards, but I went "wow".

But he still has to do it at the NFL level. In the NFL, receivers are hardly ever "open". There is a pre-designed 1-2 second window (about 2 ft. square) that opens up downfield and the QB has to have faith in his receivers that the guy will be there at that appointed time. When they use that on-field camera and a QB throws the ball, I think "how did he do that?". Plus he has to do it with LBs and DLs that are out to kill him and genius eye-in-the-sky coaches making it their mission to confuse and camoflauge everything the defense does.

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

Heck, there was even an article published on ESPN.com today saying he should come back next year. :doh:

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/...knows-good-him

FWIW, Stanford's official website lists him as a SR also.

http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-f..._andrew00.html

Re: PAC 12 Football
 

So much for the Stanford education...

That same page lists his 2010 season being his soph yr. :confused: