I think it should be a representation of who the best we in college football is. And this isn't NCAA by ea sports...there is more to it than simply taking the guy with the best stats.
Now that being said I didn't watch as many nd games as bg so I really cannot say Tate deserved the award either. I think what Freddie did on a mediocre team as the only offensive threat was worthy of honor. He was making catches, yards, and tds when every opponent knew we were targeting our only playmaker on nearly every play. To me that is worthy of honor.
Unfortunately, the only way a player at he Mac level has a shot at the award is if be also has an NFL skillset, which Freddie never did (Lewis might, need to watch more). No, nfl ability should have no bearing on the award, but the simple truth is if a guy is on a mediocre team and isn't garnering nfl draft interest the people that vote on these things are probably not going to see much of the player from the mac. There's just no way around that when trying to choose awards from 120 teams.
Much like I do think it is possible Freddie was slighted...I didn't watch enough ND to say for sure...although my recollection is Tate was their only legit threat as well. I know I liked him in the draft that year.
Bottom line is its hard to pick these awards and most years there are several guys that could get it without much of an argument from me. To win it from the Mac you need pib on top of production. Moss had that as a top tier nfl prospect and playing on a great team. Freddie had none as a nothing prospect and a mediocre team. Hopefully this team will be great for a couple years and Lewis will look like an NFL prospect. If he is he will have every shot at the award.
Honestly I don't even care about the award that much. I want some legit nfl guys from bg. I much prefer nfl football and it pains me to see guys from ut, niu, and ksu all over the league while we have only a small handful.
