Stafford Got Robbed

I know some will disagree, but I think Matt Stafford got robbed yesterday when Tim Tebow was named quarterback of The Sporting News SEC All-Freshman team. Yeah, I know it's a homer opinion, but hear me out.

Let's look at the stats:
Rushing:
Tebow - 71 attempts for 399 yards, 7 TDs
Stafford - 40 attempts for 188 yards, 3 TDs

Passing:
Tebow - 21-32 for 357 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT
Stafford - 126-235 for 1,620 yards, 6 TDs, 12 INTs

Receiving:
Tebow - 0 receptions
Stafford - 1 reception for -6 yards

It's often said that stats are for losers, so let's take these numbers in context. Stafford was pressed into duty to start early in the season, forcing him to take control of an offense he wasn't quite ready to lead. The result was INTs, a point I will conceed to Tebow. He was throwing to receivers that dropped the ball a lot in the middle of the year. Defenses knew Stafford would play the whole game, while UF's opponents were geared toward Chris Leak. UGA's offensive line played like they wanted to be prosecuted for accessory to battery several games this year. After the UK game, Stafford looked like Taurean Charles dropped a keg on his head. But, let's look at Tebow. He saw essentially spot duty in UF's games for short yardage situations. His passing yards came mostly against Western Carolina, a Division 1-AA team. Most of his runs were power runs where he was a fullback and were meant to catch a defense surprised. He had a brilliant game against LSU, a team that looked like it didn't practice for that game. Every other game, he was a good change of pace running back, but not much else.

I imagine that UF would still have gotten to Atlanta without Tebow, although that may be a bit of a stretch. I can't imagine UGA beating Auburn or Georgia Tech without Stafford.

I'll take Stafford.