Curious choices among OUA football all-stars; Guelph standout gets Lynched

Gut reaction to the OUA football all-star selections:

Guelph tailback Nick FitzGibbon not being a first-team selection over Laurier's Ryan Lynch shows that people in football have to play catch-up when it comes through determining what stats are important.

Lynch was a 1,000-yard rusher, true. It's a different picture when rushing and receiving stats are combined. Why wouldn't you consider both in evaluating a running back? Nothing FitzGibbon did catching the ball out of the backfield matters?

FitzGibbon averaged 7.3 yards per touch during the regular season (161 carries and catches for 1,170 yards).

Lynch averaged just 6.0 per touch (187 touches for 1,131 yards). He scored just 10 TDs, three less than FitzGibbon did on 26 fewer touches.

Then there's the halo effect of being surrounded by a good team. Laurier averaged 5.7 yards when Lynch rushed the ball, but 7.8 when someone else did. Guelph averaged 6.2 yards when FitzGibbon ran the ball, 5.9 when someone else did.

Remember, in the 10-team OUA, each team misses someone on the schedule every year. FitzGibbon didn't face the worst defence, Toronto. Lynch did. He had a stats-padding 133 yards on just 11 carries against the Varsity Blues. FitzGibbon had a four-TD game vs. the statistically top-ranked defence, Western. Lynch did not face the Mustangs.

The irony: If a true fullback was to be picked instead of a second tailback, it would be Laurier's Peter Quinney over Guelph's Graeme Reed and others.

  • Western having only two first-team picks (d-back Cory McNair and punter Derek Schiavone) seems low considering they are playing in the Yates Cup. Like Western needs any more ammunition in its underdog argument.

    The picks are made by the coaches, and Western's penalty and sack problems during the regular season certainly hurt them getting an all-star nods on the offensive line. The Mustangs had a 1,000-yard rusher in Randy McAuley, but none of their O-linemen even rated a second-team pick. (Even York, with the 27th-ranked running game in the country, had a second-team O-lineman in tackle David Gauer.)
  • Hat tip to York wideout Steve Hughes for being on the first team. It's well-earned.
  • Ottawa slotback David Crane (third-leading receiver in the OUA, seventh in the country) is only a second-teamer? Did anyone see the pro quality-diving catch he made in the Laurier game? Ottawa might still be playing if Crane had been good to go in the semi-final vs. Western.

    Crane likely should have been on the first team ahead of Queen's Rob Bagg, who padded his stats with a ridiculous 341-yard game against Toronto.
  • Western's Jesse Bellamy was the most productive receiver not selected and he didn't do any stat-padding. Most of his yards (352 of 575) came when the Mustangs were struggling during an 0-4 start and needed his catches. He and teammate Dave Clayton (487 yards) have been the two best receivers during the OUA playoffs.
  • The conference sacks and interceptions leaders, Waterloo DE Andrew Heeley and Guelph DB Sebastian Howard, were not selected. That might not be a bad thing. Stats don't always tell the whole story.
  • Seeing Queen's have 12 selections going out in the first round is reminiscent of the very long 1999 season when the Gaels had as many all-Canadians as wins (two). One of the coaches later cracked, "You'd think they'd give us an extra win for that."

The OUA's nominees for the major awards will be announced Thursday.

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3 comments:

  1. Your an idiot to say Crane should have been above Bagg, not only did Bagg play hurt, and only get to play in 6 games, he made plays whenever he touched the field. Great Crane made some plays and only played 7 games, thats one more than Bagg. Hands down Bagg is the best reciever in the league. Last I check every except one played Toronto, and Ottawa wasnt that team. Oh, and Stat padding would have meant Bagg played the whole game...he was pulled in the 3rd.

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  2. Your an idiot to say Crane should have been above Bagg, not only did Bagg play hurt, and only get to play in 6 games, he made plays whenever he touched the field. Great Crane made some plays and only played 7 games, thats one more than Bagg. Hands down Bagg is the best reciever in the league. Last I check every except one played Toronto, and Ottawa wasnt that team. Oh, and Stat padding would have meant Bagg played the whole game...he was pulled in the 3rd.

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  3. Check your tone. If you're going to call someone an idiot, nut up, leave a name, learn the difference between "your" and "you are." Learning how to spell receiver is a probably a good idea.

    Bagg played in seven games, not six. I am a Queen's fan, but the Gaels could have beat U of T with ease whether he had 341 yards or a buck forty-one. More than one Gaels fan I spoke to felt they threw to him a little more since it was his final regular-season game and they would like him to get all-Canadian consideration. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's up to the selectors to see through that.

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