There’s a lot of mentions about both Aaron Murray and Todd Gurley during the off-season lull in reporting, but there was a time where Georgia had arguably one of the best QB/RB duos in the nation in Athens. The only reason I mention it here is because of this post on Twix yesterday:
I’m not going to pay much attention to the original poster’s argument, just putting it up for context. Okay, actually, one natty attained in the midst of cheating scandals and having to put your coach on probation because it was so perverse that even it rendered sanctions in this day and age? Over three seasons? That’s a Stretch Armstrong reach, at best…but I digress.
For reference here’s Gurley’s career stats:
And Corum’s:
Gurley played in 2/3 of the games with only 248 fewer scrimmage yards, had 155 fewer plays, yet had nine more receptions, a full two yards per reception more than Corum and nearly a full yard more per carry.
Now on to Murray:
And McCarthy:
Now by my same logic with Gurley and Corum, Murray had way more games, but if McCarthy had a first and a fourth season that matched his best season’s stats, he would have fallen short of Murray’s numbers by a full 1500 yards and 33 fewer touchdowns.
In my same scrolling of posts, I also came across this “who’s missing” thread yesterday of greatest college quarterbacks:
For additional context, here’s Manning’s numbers:
And Mayfield’s:
Neither won a National Championship, nor did Murray, either.
I guess the questions to ponder here are these:
a. What’s the best QB/RB duo for Georgia? Is it based on rings and wins or based on production?
b. Do you have to win a National Championship to cement your legacy as a “greatest”.
One last thought:
Two national championships and those stats don’t include what he did with his legs. Just imagine the numbers he would’ve had with four full seasons and no Covid in between. Maybe Stetson Bennett needs to be on the list.
I would put Johnny Football over Baker if titles don’t matter. That guy was a menace. Of all of the stat kings without rings, he’s the one that jumps out at me.
If titles do matter, take baker and manning down and put Matt and Stet up twice. As for the graphic, why go all the way back to Manning?? Its not like he was the king of all cfb qbs in the mid-late 1990’s. Its funny how pro careers impact perceptions. Helps Manning. Crushes Johnny.
Bama should be made to apologize forever for not taking care of their business vs. um. Epic failure. And now we all have to suffer them. Disgusting. I hope we get a chance to kirb stomp those guys again.
As far as qb/rb combo probably the one with most overlap where both are contributing equally and the career time lines up is Stafford/Moreno. Generally there is a mismatch in year of careers and production. Hearst and Zeier might seem like a choice but Eric played two years without him and Garrison’s best year was Eric’s worst.
Have seen the pictures of meeshigun with the national trophy in hand, the only way they get that trophy is with out UGA football being invited to the party, the fucking cfp committee knew this to be true, which kinda’ makes meeshigun a “pretenda”, no sense in revisiting that 34-11 ass whipping, nor UGA football seccg loss, Mickey (nor Agent Herbstreit) wouldn’t stand UGA football to lay in historical circles with another national title…Fuck ’em!!
Nope. I turned it off after one of my purest moments of schadenfreude thus far. I hate michigan far more but thankfully I don’t interact with any wolverines. Fuck a Nick Saban victory swan song. He should have done that after lucking out over us in Atlanta 6 years ago. I hope he regrets not doing that. Every damn day.
I was counting on UW. Now I’m just annoyed. I very briefly caught a wolverine fan bragging on finebaum sometime afterwards and became even more so. I don’t know what we’ll have this year, but I hope we’re positioned to set the order of things back upright.
Mich. got caught cheating twice in one year.
They did not deserve being in any playoff.
Fuck’em !
Mr. JP,
Maybe Stetson Bennett needs to be on the list.
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
I’ll take the combination of Murray and Gurley (with Marshall) in 2012 over any of them. That offense was lethal (South Carolina game was a total outlier). Blake Corum couldn’t hold Todd Gurley’s jockstrap. Michigan won this year in spite of JJ McCarthy who couldn’t hold SBIV’s jock.
On the question of championships, I think it should play in the conversation. It really is the only thing that holds Aaron Murray out.
Hadn’t thought about that guy in a bit. Marshall was such a disappointment. He was higher rated than Gurley coming out. I suspected that Gurley may end up the better player. What I didn’t expect was how soft Keith Marshall was. The first time he got hit in a game, he was done. He would’ve been hell in flag football.
At his best, Gurley was the closest thing to Jim Brown any of us under 70 will ever see. You just don’t see that combo of size, strength, agility, speed, plus he had hands and could return kicks. Just the perfect specimen at running back. The injuries and suspensions and lack of titles and shortened pro career will prevent him from getting the respect his talents deserve.
As far as Murray is considered, after watching his hs tape I figured he would set all of our passing records. I just wish he ran either a little hotter or little colder than he did in some of the bigger games.
I was living in NC at that time. I was at a party at a friend’s house. His brother in law is a high school coach up there. He said before the season Gurley would be the guy everyone would remember.
My recollection of the play when Marshall was hurt was questioning why Murray missed the guy wide open in the end-zone and threw to a guy that was well covered. The Tennessee pasture finished short-circuiting Marshall’s career.
The hit was unnecessary and dirty to go at the knees when the ball was already uncatchable.
Just a terrible twist of fate
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Regarding championships, what in the hell did Manning ever win?
He gets credit for having an outstanding pro career.
He did win an SEC title in 1997 and then they got the doors blown off by Nebraska.
41 career picks gives me significant heartburn!!!
He made some throws that were not great. He also made some throws like the AJ Green TD to tie the Cocktail Party in 2010 that were pretty incredible.
2 NC’s and Offensive MVP of all four CFP games he played says Stetson deserves to be on that list.
I enjoyed Michigan whipping Ohio St. the last 3 years. That’s an accomplishment. But Michigan doesn’t play an SEC schedule which puts a huge asterisk on its numbers. Yeah, Penn State can sometimes be tough, but Michigan doesn’t have to run a gauntlet of the Dawgs, Bama, LSU, etc., or anything close to that. So, yeah, I’d take the Murray/Gurley combo every day over anything coming out of Michigan.