Mostly this was brought on by the realization that Matt Ryan went to Boston College, and, well, Nick Foles is having a better year.
And, just a hunch, Ka'Deem Carey and Andre Williams will be playing in the league sometime in the near future.
So, how are those Cats and Eagles doing in the NFL?
Quarterbacks:
Arizona: Nick Foles (Philadelphia Eagles)
Boston College: Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons), Matt Hasselbeck (Indianapolis Colts)
Ok, this one's easy this year. Foles wins. 25 TDs and 2 INTs to Ryan's 22 TDs and 14 INTs.
Hasselbeck sits on the bench behind some dude named Andrew Luck (Pac-12 pride! WHAT!)
Tailbacks (Sort of):
Arizona: Spencer Larsen (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Boston College: None
For more Boston College info, head over to BC Interruption
Advantage Larsen! He has exactly zero carries, but does have a kickoff return for 17 yards! In his illustrious career, he's got 17 carries for 62 yards, and 14 receptions for 127 yards and a TD.
WR/TE:
Arizona: Rob Gronkowski (New England Patriots), Juron Criner (Oakland Raiders)
Boston College: Chris Pantale (New York Jets)
No brainer, another Wildcat victory. This Pantale guy has no stats ever.
Offensive Line:
Arizona: Eben Britton (Chicago Bears)
Boston College: Anthony Castonzo and Gosder Cherilus (Indianapolis Colts), Dan Koppen (Denver Broncos), Chris Snee (New York Giants), Jeremy Trueblood (Atlanta Falcons)
This is definitely advantage BC. There are some studs on this list.
Defensive Line:
Arizona: Earl Mitchell (Houston Texans)
Boston College: Mathias Kiwanuka (New York Giants), B.J. Raji (Green Bay Packers)
This one was not so obvious to me, so let's dive into some stats from this season.
Mitchell has picked up 45 tackles and 1.5 sacks for the horrible Texans.
Kiwanuka: Just 37 tackles, but 6 sacks, and 2 fumbles forced.
Raji: 15 tackles, 0 sacks.
I think Kiwanuka just edges out Earl Mitchell in this one. The fumbles forced, plus he has three pass deflections. So Boston College has been better in the trenches than Arizona as of late.
Linebackers:
Arizona: Lance Briggs (Chicago Bears), Brooks Reed (Houston Texans)
Boston College: Jo-Lonn Dunbar (St. Louis Rams), Rob Francois (Green Bay Packers), Mark Herzlich (New York Giants), Luke Kuechly (Carolina Panthers)
Hmmm.....
Briggs and Reed have a total of five sacks to go with their 116 tackles.
The BC guys have just two sacks (both by Kuechly), but the Panthers LB also has 146 tackles by himself and four interceptions.
Arizona's got more depth (two to one), but advantage Kuechly. Dude's a beast.
Secondary:
Arizona: Antoine Cason (Arizona Cardinals), Robert Golden (Pittsburgh Steelers), Trevin Wade (New Orleans Saints)
Boston College: Will Blackmon (Jacksonville Jaguars)
Cason all of the sudden got some playing time thanks to the injury to Honey Badger, and promptly picked two passes off in the Titans game, including a pick-six, and one in OT to give the Cards a W.
Trevin Wade has played one game for New Orleans, and is currently inactive. Golden has two fumbles forced.
Blackmon has one pick, two fumbles forced and a fumble recovered.
I think Cason somehow wins this one for Arizona based solely on one game. He does have two fumbles recovered this year though too.
Kickers:
Arizona: Nick Folk (New York Jets)
Boston College: Ryan Quigley (New York Jets)
Imagine the wagers going on in the special teams meeting room in the Meadowlands leading up to this game.
Folk: 31-of-33 on field goals this year, with a long of 54 yards.
Quigley: Averaging 45.8 yards per punt, with a long of 67 yards.
So this is not plainly obvious. Time to dive in deeper!
Folk is T-5 in FGM, T-3 in FG%. T-10 for longest FG
Quigley is T-15 in punt average, 11th in longest punt, and T-18 in net average.
Advantage Folk!
Summary:
So, in closing, here are the results:
Arizona | Boston College | |
X | QB | |
X | RB/FB | |
X | WR/TE | |
O-Line | X | |
D-Line | X | |
LB | X | |
X | DB | |
X | K/P |
In the battle of something that doesn't matter at all and is somewhat arbitrary, Arizona wins!
I hope it was as fun for you as it was for me