Matt Ryan Wins The Manning Award

While this may sound like a Sports Guy gambit, I assure you ... this award does in fact exist. Matt Leinart won it in 2004 by winning the Heisman and leading USC to its second straight championship. Vince Young won it in 2005 on the strength of possibly the most dominating single performance in college football history (the award takes bowls into account). Last year, JaMarcus Russell won it after leading LSU to a Sugar Bowl decimation of Notre Dame and eventually becoming the #1 pick in the draft. Matt Ryan, well- he won the Champs Sports Bowl. Scintillating!

Then again, considering that the Manning Award is meant to honor the accomplishments of all the Mannings, including Eli, maybe it's appropriate that the guy who ended the year a winner with lesser stats finished just ahead of the guy with the mindblowing stats and the crushing postseason loss. Ryan edged out Heisman winner Tim Tebow for the 4th iteration of the award, perhaps setting up the Manning as the new hotness in collegiate awards that discriminate against underclassmen. Quoth the elder,

"In an exceptional season for quarterbacks, Matt Ryan's performance rose above our most talented class of finalists ever to win this year's award," Archie Manning said. "His record-breaking season led Boston College to new heights and we are proud to announce him as this year's winner and look forward to honoring him in New Orleans later this year."

That's right, BC fans- you can win eleven games in a BCS conference and yet, a year in which you edge out the 8th-best team in the Big Ten a half-week before New Year's is still technically "record breaking." Ryan was later erroneously quoted as saying that he hopes to use the awards ceremony as a means of acquiring some sort of Big Easy voodoo charm that will allow him to endure his inevitable time with the Atlanta Falcons in a blissful, psychotropic haze.