The Irish Roundup

Let me just say that this, from SB Tribune writer (and AP All-America voter) Eric Hansen via Irish Band of Brothers, is a bunch of crap:

I think Trevor [Laws] had an amazing year and his numbers were better than most defensive tackles. But in ND’s system, they labeled him as an end. And in that light, his numbers didn’t compare. We could not just simply vote for defensive linemen. We had to vote for two tackles and two ends on the first and second teams. (We did not vote for the third team or honorable mention — those selections came from the points system associated with the voting).

In the first place, while it’s TECHNICALLY true that the 2007 ND depth chart lists Laws’s position as “LDE,” everyone knows that his responsibilities in the 3-4 were largely those of a defensive tackle. Secondly, even if we consider Laws to have been a defensive end, why should the fact that he didn’t have a lot of sacks and tackles for a loss - which is basically what Hansen’s point boils down to (especially since Laws’s numbers were better than pretty much all of the other DE honorees in every other category) - make a difference? From what I understand about the the 3-4 defense, the strong-side defensive end is assigned run-stopping duties, and the outside linebackers handle more of the blitzes. Laws did a SPECTACULAR job in doing what he was asked to do: why didn’t he get credit for that?

Basically, what Hansen is telling us is that the current system makes it all but impossible for a defensive end in a 3-4 system to be considered for All-America honors. Would the same go for a quarterback whose passing yardage wasn’t even in the top 20 nationally but who ran for over 800 yards and 20 scores? Apparently not. Sorry Eric, but you’re going to have to do better than that.

[UPDATE: One more thing. Via Hey Jenny Slater, check out this individualized breakdown of where the Heisman votes went. What we see, of course, is lots of local sportswriters putting their hometown guys down on their ballots to get them some national recognition. I suppose I don't think this is the greatest thing in the world, but it's pretty much harmless and at the end of the day it's a nice way to get some attention paid to kids who are flying under the radar of the national hype machine. Was it really out of the question for guys like Hansen and Jeff Carroll to do the same for Laws, whether in their AA votes or even their Heisman ballots, after the season he had this year?]