Lamar Jackson has had an amazing season. No one can argue
with his numbers: 3390 yards passing, 30 passing TDs, 1538 yards rushing, and
21 rushing TDs. Before earnestly diving into the numbers and thinking about who
really is the best player in college football, I thought that Jackson was the
man that would take home the top prize in college football this year. The
closer I looked though, I realized that another man was just a touch above. So,
without further delay, I would like to name Patrick Mahomes II, quarterback
from Texas Tech, as the 2016-2017 jasathletics College Football MVP.
As I just mentioned, I thought this was Jackson’s award this
year. Even after looking at Mahomes’ stats for the first time, which include
the insane number of 5052 passing yards as well as 41 passing TDs, I still thought
that Jackson had the more impressive season. But then I realized that I hadn’t
looked at Mahomes’ rushing stats; mainly because I thought that he was just a
passing quarterback, especially since he threw for so many yards. Upon looking,
I saw something unexpected. Mahomes had 285 yards on the ground, and more
importantly, he had personally escorted the football to the end zone 12 times. So,
not only does Mahomes have more total yards than Jackson, he also has more
total TDs this year. It is also noteworthy that Mahomes only threw one more
interception than Jackson while putting the ball in the air 209 more times than
him. Finally, Mahomes demonstrated to me that he could put up big numbers not
only against inferior competition but also against elite competition. For proof,
one needs to look no farther than his game against Oklahoma: 734 passing yards,
5 passing TDs, 1 Interception, 85 rushing yards, and 2 rushing TDs. With that
exclamation point, I would like to congratulate Patrick Mahomes II for a
spectacular season, and for earning the jasathletics College Football MVP
award.
