Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Official 2014 College Football Awards Winners: Marcus Mariota and Scooby Wright Take Over

By Caleb Calhoun

facebooktwitterreddit

The college football awards were officially announced on ESPN Thursday night. All that’s left now before the bowl season are the Army-Navy game and the Heisman Trophy, to be announced later. As expected, Marcus Mariota and Scooby Wright were the stars on each side of the ball, taking home multiple awards.

Here are the winners for each award, separated by position and category.

More from Alabama Crimson Tide

BEST PLAYER

Maxwell Award: Marcus Mariota, Quarterback, Oregon Ducks

Walter Camp Award: Marcus Mariota, Quarterback, Oregon Ducks

We simply need to describe this once. Marcus Mariota had ridiculous numbers with 38 touchdowns and another 14 rushing touchdowns to only 2 interceptions. And with Oregon in the College Football Playoff, there’s not much else to say.

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER

Bronko Nagurski Trophy: Scooby Wright III, Linebacker, Arizona Wildcats

Chuck Bednarik Award: Scooby Wright III, Linebacker, Arizona Wildcats

Like Marcus Mariota, Scooby Wright III is also a star on the other side of the ball, sweeping the major defensive awards. This is a guy who was completely unwanted out of high school, and he’s now the best playmaker and best defensive player in college football. Again, not much else to say here.

QUARTERBACK

Davey O’Brien Award: Marcus Mariota, Oregon Ducks

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award: Marcus Mariota, Oregon Ducks

That’s right, Mariota took home four awards this year BEFORE the Heisman Trophy, essentially grabbing every award a quarterback could possibly grab. They have all been well-deserved with his numbers, as he is by far the best ever to run that Oregon system. Now, it really gets to be put to the test.

RUNNING BACK

Doak Walker Award: Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin Badgers

This is probably the least surprising award of the night. Yes, even more than Marcus Mariota or Scooby Wright’s multiple awards. Melvin Gordon has put up gigantic numbers this year at running back and is more than 300 yards ahead of the No. 2 rusher. On top of that, he had no passing game all year with Joel Stave and Tanner McEvoy, so that makes his numbers that much more impressive. This was clear-cut.

WIDE RECEIVER

Fred Biletnikoff Award: Amari Cooper, Alabama Crimson Tide

This one is once again no surprise, as Amari Cooper beat out Colorado State wide receiver Rashard Higgins and West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White. Higgins may have had a case, but after Cooper surpassed him in passing yards in the SEC Championship game to lead the nation, there was nothing that would keep him from winning the award. He won the numbers game and was always leaping off the screen, coming up huge in big SEC games. Cooper earned the award for best wide receiver.

TIGHT END

John Mackey Award: Nick O’Leary, Florida State Seminoles

Nick O’Leary had one of the best stat lines in all of college football as a receiving tight end, but that’s not why he earned this award. When you add into the fact that he is a blocking tight end now, he’s even more impressive. But we’re not done. Many of O’Leary’s catches came in crucial moments, as he was one of many weapons who stepped up when Florida State was in trouble, catching many game-changing balls and touchdowns. He also blocked well for players like Davlin Cook and Karlos Williams to break games open when things got tough, so this award was hard-earned.

CENTER

Rimington Trophy: Reese Dismukes, Auburn Tigers

You could say this was a deserved award, but we had major reservations due to the fact that Reese Dismukes lost a game for Auburn due to multiple bad snaps to Texas A&M qualifies as choking in big moments to cost your team a championship. Still, Dismukes played well throughout the rest of the season, and the center is a crucial piece to Gus Malzahn’s offense. And he was very good the rest of the season.

INTERIOR LINEMAN

Outland Trophy: Brandon Scherff, LT, Iowa Hawkeyes

Brandon Scherff continued the Iowa Hawkeyes tradition of tough offensive linemen in winning the Outland Trophy. Scherff was a great lineman, and it’s not to say this wasn’t deserved, but Iowa was not one of the top teams in fewest sacks allowed. However, the offensive line is a team unit, and Scherff still did a good job on his end and paved the way for a pretty strong Iowa rushing attack, so credit to him for winning the award.

DEFENSIVE END

Ted Hendricks Award: Nate Orchard, Utah Utes

The Ted Hendricks award was hard-earned by Nate Orchard, who worked hard all year to lead the Utes to huge close victories in their turnaround season. Playing a completely different style than the rest of the Pac-12, Utah relies on its defensive line to make games more physical. Orchard didn’t disappoint, including coming up huge in big games, such as UCLA when he had 4 sacks and then Oregon State the next week as the Utes won in overtime and he recorder 2 sacks.

LINEMAN

Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award: Scooby Wright III, Arizona Wildcats

Here’s another non-surprising award won by Scooby Wright III. He played lineman and linebacker at times this year and made plays at both positions, and an unwanted tweener has now turned into a diverse utility player. Wright is a college football superstar who has proven the world wrong. He’s deserved every bit of recognition he got.

LINEBACKER

Dick Butkus Award: Eric Kendricks, UCLA Bruins

It appears that Scooby Wright couldn’t win for best lineman and best linebacker, although a case could have been made for him to win both. But if he can’t, Erick Kendricks isn’t a bad choice. With 3 interceptions, 1 returned for a touchdown, to go along with 135 tackles, 8.5 tackles for a loss, and 2 sacks, Kendricks was all over the field in coverage, stopping the run, and picking up sacks. The UCLA linebacker is a good choice to take home the Butkus Award if Wright can’t take it.

DEFENSIVE BACK

Jim Thorpe Award: Gerod Holliman, Louisville Cardinals

In another one that was no surprise to anybody, Gerod Holliman took home the Jim Thorpe Award after a record-tying 14 interceptions this year, including a three-interception game to make the difference against Boston College and a game-sealing interception against in-state rival Kentucky. Holliman’s greatness in numbers also shows by his diversity, as he has picked up multiple tackles for a loss as well. No other player deserved to come close to winning this award.

PUNTER

Ray Guy Award: Tom Hackett, Utah Utes

This was another obvious pick. Tom Hackett had to punt 77 times this year and averaged right at 47 yards per punt. Hackett’s numbers were incredible, and he was crucial in many of Utah’s wins as the Utes were a team relying on physical play and defense to win lots of close games. Part of that came down to field position, and Utah always won the field position battle thanks to Hackett. That can’t be ignored.

KICKER

Lou Groza Award: Brad Craddock, Maryland Terrapins

Brad Craddock won his well-deserved Lou Groza award for the nations best kicker on Thursday night. His only miss all season was beyond 50, and he was perfect on everything under 50. By the way, he nailed quite a few 50-yarders as well and showed his clutch gene in games like Penn State, where he kicked the game-winning field goal. Roberto Aguayo had a decent case because he was used more and in more close games, but he missed a field goal shorter than 50 yards. Craddock didn’t. End of story.

ASSISTANT COACH

Frank Broyles Award: Tom Herman, Offensive Coordinator, Ohio State Buckeyes

This is an obvious one. Ohio State was supposed to be done when Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending injury. Then true freshman J.T. Barrett stepped in at quarterback and managed to look like a Heisman candidate all year himself. All the while, Ohio State’s defense was insanely suspect, yet he got the Buckeyes to 11-1, which included scoring a huge win against Michigan State. But when Barrett went down against Michigan, Herman had to call on a third-string quarterback. Cardale Jones stepped in, and all that happened was a blowout over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championships. Three quarterbacks, no defense, but still a spot in the College Football Playoff. Herman is the reason for that.

HEAD COACH

Home Depot Coach of the Year Award: Gary Patterson, TCU Horned Frogs

The turnaround of the TCU Horned Frogs is why Gary Patterson won coach of the year. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s such a nice guy. Anyway, Patterson showed that TCU can compete in the Big 12 finally after a couple of rough years when they first entered the conference. TCU may have been left out of the College Football Playoff, but to even be in contention at 11-1 after a losing record last season can’t be ignored, and that is why Patterson was this year’s top coach. It was something he certainly earned.

MISCELLANEOUS

Contributions to College Football Award: Grant Teaff, Head Coach at McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor

In a very inspirational night, a man who never won a national championship and never moved beyond Baylor as a head coach managed to take home the Contributions to College Football Award, and it was well-deserved. Not only did Teaff do a remarkable job winning at a program that was impossible to win at back in the 1970s and 1980s, capturing two Southwest Conference titles, but he has made a huge impact in college football since he has retired and taken the position of executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. Teaff has mentored students, players, and now future mentors, and he has been crucial in not just helping coaches but improving the status of minority head coaches in college football. That makes this award truly well-deserved.

Disney Spirit Award: Oklahoma Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard and Head Coach Bob Stoops

This truly was one of the best stories of the year. The Oklahoma Sooners themselves may have been a major disappointment to fall to 8-4 this season given expectations, but this still is an emotional victory. Shepard’s father, Derrick, died as an assistant on Bob Stoops’s staff when Sterling was six years olf. But Stoops mentored him throughout his as a father-figure, and now he is a coach. Shepard racked up 957 yards this season and 5 touchdowns despite missing three games and most of the final game against Oklahoma State due to injury. Shepard’s future could be bright as a football star, and it looks like Stoops is a huge reason for that.

Play of the Year: Nebraska Wide Receiver Jordan Westerkamp Catch

This was in the opener for Nebraska as they beat Florida A&M. Jordan Westerkamp made a behind the back catch that honestly could have been intercepted. If you look at it, it was really an ugly play that had an incredibly exciting result, but here it is.

And that was the final award. What did you agree with? What did you disagree with? Leave your comments below as we get set for the Heisman as the final trophy.

More from Saturday Blitz

Home/Alabama Crimson Tide