Hayes vs. Hall: This Season's Unsung Heros

Each week, SN NCAA football writers Matt Hayes and Spencer Hall put aside their petty differences to come together via instant messenger ... and argue about their differences. This week’s topics: 2008's unsung heroes.

Spencer Hall: Name the second-leading tackler in the NCAA right now.

Matt Hayes: Hmm...Scott McKillop?

Spencer Hall: Very close. Frantz Joseph, FAU and Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Broward County division. And that is what I'd like to talk about today. The unsung heroes of this season thus far. I know you have a few, and so do I.

Matt Hayes:  I love the unsungs.

Spencer Hall: McKillop's a nice place to start.

Matt Hayes: He's bad man. Tackling machine. He's the perfect player for Pitt: a tough kid, works his ass off, wants to win, hates to lose. No better ambassador for the steel city.

Spencer Hall: Another question leading to my next guy: who's the overall leader in total offense?

Matt Hayes: Davis Johnson at Tulsa?

Spencer Hall: Case Keenum, Houston. Impressive numbers: 2287 yards, 68% completion, 21/5 TD/INT. Productive barely explains those digits.

Matt Hayes: Thats all Kevin Sumlin right there, my friend. A great, great teacher. You know, Keenum was in a battle to win that job. Blake Joseph -- no relation to Frantz -- also played last year. He played pretty well too.

Spencer Hall: He's one of my unsungs. As is Rylan Reed for Texas Tech, or as he's better known, "Uncle Ray-Ray." 6-7, 305, can bench 625 pounds and do the splits. He was diagnosed with cancer, broke his ankle last year, and is chugging along as a 26-year-old lineman in college football. I don't know if you saw the interview, but Stephen Hamby says they call another lineman there "Kool-Aid," because in a red jersey he looks like the Kool Aid guy busting through a wall.

Matt Hayes: See, when I think of Kool-Aid, I think of Clemson. As in, heart pumps Kool-Aid.

Spencer Hall: Poor miserable Clemson.

Matt Hayes: They have an unsung: the collective IPTAY, who will come up with $3.5 million to buy out Bowden in these trying economic times. You know else who is a terrific unsung? Todd Boeckman, because dude hasn't said one word about Pryor. Hasn't complained, hasn't popped off, when, by all rights, he could and destroy that team’s chemistry.

Spencer Hall: Another unsung: Shonn Greene, Iowa.

Matt Hayes: Love him. Dude runs like every carry is his last.

Spencer Hall: I like Javon Ringer for the Big Ten Back o' the Day, but Greene's close.

Matt Hayes: Both really, really good. Both first round guys, too. How about unsung coaching? Head coaches, coordinators...

Spencer Hall: Mike Gundy and his defensive staff against Missouri. They boxed them out beautifully.

Matt Hayes: Along those lines: Tim Beckman, defensive coordinator at Okie State. People said he was crazy to leave Ohio State, where he would have eventually been coordinator.

Spencer Hall: He followed the market and looked for T.Boone's money and a conference that sorely needs more defense.

Matt Hayes: That and he's tight with Gundy, but T. Boone's dough always helps. Same conference: Art Briles. They're not setting the world ablaze, but he can coach, and they're competitive.

Spencer Hall: Good call. Having pocket nuke Robert Griffin is nice, too, but he's done a great job thus far.

Matt Hayes: And another: Ron Zook.

Spencer Hall: ...

Matt Hayes: I don't know if you've heard of him. He took a Rose Bowl team and lost to Minnesota at home on homecoming.

Spencer Hall: And then had the backup QB allegedly deck a girl at a dance the same night.

Matt Hayes: And THEN, will go over to the sorority later in the week and challenge everyone to a fight. I mean, if history plays out.

Spencer Hall: And head-butt a coke machine.

Matt Hayes: And then drop down on the bench and do 225 26 times. Another unsung: Mike Riley. They’re going to win out and take a share of the Pac-10.

Spencer Hall: That's an unsung in advance. Bold.

Matt Hayes: Look at their schedule: only tough game is Cal -- at home.

Spencer Hall: The discovery of Jacquizz Rogers changed the complexion of their season completely. Oh, and one advance unsung, previously criticized coordinator: Dan Mullen. I'll gamble and say he'll get one.

Matt Hayes: If they continue to win, he will.

Spencer Hall: Perhaps. Mullen's adjustments for the LSU game were brilliant.

Matt Hayes: He also had an offensive line finally playing hard. Those holes were huge, as wide as DeKalb County.

Spencer Hall: The introduction of wide splits along the o-line really helped.

Matt Hayes: Definitely. Although, I think Okie State maybe showed everyone how to attack that. Again, unsung Beckman.

Spencer Hall: A massive job he's doing there. Okay, final unsungs. I have a finale. Unsung mascot: Smokey for enduring Tennessee's season thus far. He hasn’t been the one leaving nasty things on the field for once. Any final unsungs you want to tip your cap to?

Matt Hayes: Mark Jones. I turned on a game Saturday night after returning from the Red River Rivalry, and within two minutes heard him say auspicious. It was on a punt, I swear to God he said: “Well, that’s an auspicious roll.”

Spencer Hall: I want to salute Lou Holtz for being far too entertaining for ESPN.

Matt Hayes: Ever notice that Mark May does everything he can do to get the last word in?

Spencer Hall: Yes. And Holtz still owns him lock stock and barrel every time. Matt Hayes: On a weekly basis, friend. Weekly.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.