Brown vs. Scoreboard of Education

Photo Attribution: Corie Brianne

By now you guys know that I’m a Justin Gilbert apologist extraordinaire. I’m a sucker for the evolution of freaky athletic DBs (or WRs) that double as heart-in-your-throat punt returners. They’re like 55% of the reason I watch college football I think.

So with all this Brodrick Brown love lately I decided to go to the stats to back up my Gilbert4Prez 2012 campai…wait…what is this[1. I threw out Brown’s freshman year on stat sheet so you’re looking at Brown’s Soph-Jr years and Gilbert’s Frosh-Soph years]…

[table id=12 /]

Oh, so you’re saying Brown is statistically superior in every imaginable category relevant to cornerbacks other than points scored[2. And we’ve established that this is simply because Justin Gilbert does Justin Gilbert things on kick returns]?

Well crap. The one thing I’m missing here is numbers on thrown at. For example, in 2010 Darrelle Revis was thrown at 55 times, Antonio Cromartie was thrown at 103 times (none of his kids were thrown at). Is Gilbert the Revis of this scenario? Are Brown’s numbers inflated because offensive coordinators crap their drawers every time they see this in the film room? Maybe, but I doubt it.

And we should find out for sure this year with both guys being highly touted as two of the best in the Big 12, there will be no cornerback favoritism by opposing teams this season.

Evidence of their collective greatness: the sophomore-junior duo led all other corner duos in the country in passes defended with 35, just edging out Carrington Byndom and Quandre Diggs of Texas[3. Do I mention here that OSU faced 100 more pass attempts and 300 more than the nation’s least passed against team, Alabama? Nahhh…].