Naming our ATVS SEC Offensive Speed Position Player of the Week was a very tough call this week. On the one hand, Greg McElroy had an outstanding day against Arkansas, throwing for 291 yards on 24 attempts with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, while maintaining positive rushing yards. On the other hand, A.J. Green single-handedly kept Georgia from getting beat by Arizona State with 8 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown. He had the majority of Georgia's 242 receiving yards and its own receiving touchdown.
It was a difficult decision, and I am mindful of the inherent bias against wide receivers and in favor of quarterbacks. After all, for every reception a receiver makes, a quarterback had to throw it to him, but a quarterback throws to lots of receivers, so will have a lot more completions and yards passing than any receiver will have receptions and yards receiing. But in the end I'm going with Greg McElroy, probably for two reasons:
- He did it in a conference game, and
- A. J. Green won last week.
Fair? Hardly. But this is the blogosphere. Fair hardly counts at all.
Let's give Greg McElroy credit though. Alabama thoroughly blasted Arkansas 35-7, but it's a little deceptive. If you take out Trent Richardson's 52 yard touchdown run, the production Alabama got from its tailbacks was modest. Other than that run, they got 79 yards on 38 carries with 1 touchdown. It's not like they were moving the ball at will no matter what they did. They really needed McElroy's production, because they weren't getting it from their running backs for the most part. Greg McElroy made that game a blowout by spreading the ball around to 9 different receivers, none of whom caught more than 3 passes.
Of course, Arkansas's secondary had something to do with that too. And that's why I almost went with Green, who was almost all of Georgia's passing production. Heck, he accounted for almost half of Georgia' total yardage.
Other players had really good weeks and need recognition. Brandon Lafell had a 100-yard game and 2 touchdown receptions in a conference game. Chris Todd had the best QB numbers of any quarterback, albeit against a cupcake. Tim Tebow was having a great game before he got injured. Vanderbilt running back Warren Norman had a great night, rushing for 119 yards on 11 attempts with a touchdown. Anthony Dixon of MSU had a 100 yard effort in a losing performance, which may have been a winning performance if he'd gotten the ball on either 3rd or 4th down at the end of the game. Anyway, here's your opportunity to name your SECOSPPOW.