Keegan: AP team snubs Talib

By Tom Keegan     Dec 13, 2006

In one sense, this past season’s Kansas University football team was a microcosm of the program’s history. Overall, it was the definition of mediocre in that it finished 6-6. Yet, there were two superstars.

For its history, KU’s football program has been mediocre, yet consider the gigantic backfield names alone: Gale Sayers, John Hadl, John Riggins.

The difference is the nation isn’t very familiar with the names of senior running back Jon Cornish and sophomore cornerback Aqib Talib because they were left off the first, second and third All-America teams announced Tuesday by the Associated Press.

Were they done an injustice by the voters?

First, examine the case of Cornish, who led the Big 12 with a school-record 1,457 rushing yards, good for ninth in the nation.

Put the statistics of Cornish up against the six running backs chosen, and he would rank seventh, or last, in rushing touchdowns with eight, fifth with 5.83 yards per carry and sixth with 121.42 yards per game. The statistical verdict: close, but not quite for the brainy back from Westminster, British Columbia.

Talib, suspended for the first two games of the season, both victories against less talented opponents, made so much noise in the final 10 games of the season that no cornerback in the nation had better statistics than he did.

The NCAA keeps a statistic known as passes defended, which it defines as passes broken up added to interceptions. Talib, with 22 passes broken up and six interceptions, led the nation with 28 passes defended. No other player had more than 21. Talib, not highly touted coming out of Richardson, Texas, ranked fifth in the nation in interceptions.

Michigan’s Leon Hall, a projected top-10 pick in the next NFL Draft, and California’s Daymeion Hughes, who had eight picks, were the first-team selections. No problem there.

Ryan Smith’s Florida Gators will play for the national title. He had 15 passes defended in 13 games, which, statistically at least, makes him a questionable second-team selection. Aaron Ross of Texas is projected as a first-round selection and had a strong season and joins Smith on the second team.

San Jose State’s Dwight Lowery had nine interceptions, but broke up only six passes. Brandon Flowers of Virginia Tech, a sophomore who was second to Talib with 21 passes defended, joins Lowery on the third team.

It didn’t help that Talib played for a .500 team that would have finished with a far better record had it had even an average pass defense. KU finished last in the Big 12, by a wide margin, in that category. That wasn’t even close to being Talib’s fault. The outside linebackers were deficient in dropping back into pass coverage and in applying pressure to the quarterback. The defensive ends didn’t harass the passer much, and a combination of injuries, inexperience, and, in the case of Jerome Kemp, lack of speed, combined to make the safeties a problem area all season.

Besides, if Talib must pay the price for a weak pass defense, then what’s the explanation for Texas, which ranked 10th in the Big 12 in defending the pass, having a pair of defensive backs (Ross, safety Michael Griffin) selected to the second team?

Talib deserved second-team All-America honors. For a change, he was burned.

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