pf9 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 (edited) OK, I know I am late on this. But after the turn of the decade, I've been dealing with a lot in life. I had to move from the place I called home to another apartment in the same county early last month, only for my father, who I was taking care off, to pass away only a few weeks into living my new digs. So at the turn of this month, I moved to a different county to live with my mom and her boyfriend. I spent much of this month catching up on TV shows that I watch. But now that things are slowing down in real life for me, I can finally present you last season's Mid-Major Awards, honoring the best performances from the following conferences and independent programs: American C-USA MAC MWC Sun Belt Army BYU Liberty (now a full FBS member) New Mexico State (who I forgot to list last year) UMass UConn will join the ranks of the mid-major indies next year. It's amazing how far they have fallen from the ranks of the BCS AQ (now Power 5) schools. It all started after Randy Edsall bolted after the Fiesta Bowl 9 years ago. But I have a feeling they will become respectable again. Randy Moss Award (for best offensive player) Omar Bayless, WR, Arkansas State He was the receiving yards leader among G5 players Joe Steffy Award (for best defensive player) Treshaun Hayward, LB, Western Michigan He was top 5 overall in tackles, and #1 among G5 players Jason Elam Award (for best special teams player) Isaiah Rodgers, KR, UMass He led the nation in kick-return yards, which may be a result of teams scoring a lot on the Minutemen this year Ben Roethlisberger Award (Player of the Year) Cole McDonald, QB, Hawaii He had more passing yards than any G5 player LaVell Edwards Award (Coach of the Year) Ken Niumatalolo, Navy In 2018, Navy had 10 losses. They made a huge improvement in 2019, going to 11-2 including a win in the Liberty Bowl. Ault-DeBerry Award (Mid-Major National Championship) Memphis Tigers, 12-2 After Memphis and Boise State lost their bowl games (Memphis was in the Cotton Bowl), it seemed Appalachian State, ranked below both teams in the polls and winner of the New Orleans Bowl, would leapfrog them in the final polls and, as the best Sun Belt football team ever, give their conference their first "mid-major national championship". App State has quickly risen to the ranks of the "mid-major powers". But ultimately, the voters held enough confidence in Memphis that they retained their spot as the highest-ranked non-Power team in the polls. This became the American's 4th "mid-major title" of the CFP era. Arguably, you could say the American was a better conference than the ACC as the American ended up with 5 10-win teams, while the ACC technically had one, though I say they had two (Notre Dame in addition to Clemson). I'm always going to be bitter over how OSU lost to a team with a cupcake schedule, while who I feel was the second-best ACC team was kept out of the Orange Bowl because they technically did not play in the ACC for football. And also, the ACC got 2 teams in the NY6 whereas the American only got one, because the ACC is still P5 while the American is G5. But I digress. Four of the American's 10-win teams are teams I have linked to power conference expansion: Cincinnati to the ACC (because Louisville is also in the ACC) and Memphis, SMU and UCF to the Big 12. The American, if they lose these schools among others, will sorely miss them as their Power 6 dream is crushed. But it would be for the best, because then these teams can compete for legit playoff spots. Edited February 21, 2020 by pf9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT14 Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Great thread. I was really looking to the CotY options - Calhoun, Drinkwitz, Norvell, etc. Some good options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naptownskinsfan Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 On 2/22/2020 at 9:11 AM, MikeT14 said: Great thread. I was really looking to the CotY options - Calhoun, Drinkwitz, Norvell, etc. Some good options I love Coach Ken. Such an accessible person in the community and he really cares about his guys. But there are a lot of worthy coaches for that spot so it's a tough decision. Nothing beats the kind of season Navy had this year after 2018, though. What a difference one year makes......as well as one Malcolm Perry buying into playing QB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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