Monday, September 15, 2008

Chris Low Hearts D.J. Moore

ESPN.com writer and--brace yourself--University of Vomit Orange graduate Chris Low, who has provided some of the best national coverage of Vanderbilt football and basketball over the past few years, has D.J. Moore on his SEC "hot or not" list this week.

Thus spake Low:

"If Moore were playing for Notre Dame or Southern California, he'd be a Heisman Trophy candidate. He's one of the best multi-purpose players in the country and accounted for 206 all-purpose yards against Rice, which included kickoff returns, punt returns, a 37-yard run and 31-yard interception return."

8 comments:

Douglas James said...

Does anyone know if the administration is doing any publicity for DJ? I mean defensive players don't normally get the Heisman but just to get some votes would be great for the school and DJ himself. I hope they take this opportunity to get some great publicity

Anonymous said...

all purpose yards is the worst stat invention of all time.

Anonymous said...

...except when you have a player like DJ Moore, who is a threat to score whenever the touches the ball.

Boyer in the District said...

I'm with anonymous on this one...all purpose yards is sort of like "wind chill factor" or "heat index." The former is hype for football statistic dorks just like the latter is hype for meteorologists.

Anonymous said...

i don't understand how it's hype. that stats of one player's all purpose yards show how he can impact a game and in fact impacts it more because not only does he participate on special teams with large return yards, but he also runs and catches passes on offense, plays stellar defense, intercepts balls and runs these back as well. i'm curious to see if DJ gets a direct snap at ole miss or auburn. i think coach may use one of nutt's favorites against him.

Boyer in the District said...

the only stat that should ever matter in the history of any sport is the one titled "Scoreboard."

Stanimal said...

Boyer that statement is unbelievably idiotic and completely neglects truth. No statistic matters if it doesn't put wins on the scoreboard, but no great GM can evaluate talent without having some sort of statistical analysis. Read Moneyball and open your eyes.

As for All-Purpose Yards being overrated, the last I checked it wasn't really held to some high standard in the first place. The stat is what it is, a barometer for measuring the influence a player has within the game. However, it should not be construed in the same way that rushing yards is construed because that stat indicates the impact a running back or quarterback has in moving the football towards the goal line within a drive. By combining drives you get a small sample as to how effective the back is during the game. All-purpose yards doesn't have that same purpose because its meant to be evaluated in the context of the whole game. In other words, it's supposed to show not just how a player effects the game within an offensive drive, but how he effects the game from both sides of the ball and on special teams. The chances are that if a player has a lot of all-purpose yards, he's having a tremendous effect in the game on a variety of levels (setting up field position, making plays that change momentum, etc.)

Stanimal said...

Pardon me for how crappy that post was worded I wrote it in five minutes.