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On day three of our Syracuse Orange Football Awards (SOFAs) extravaganza, we finally have some results to report. After voting closed late Tuesday night, we have our winner for the first category: Offensive MVP.
But first, let's take a look at how some of the votes were cast:
Dan Lyons went with the offensive line, having this to say:
I'll take Sean Hickey, Macky MacPherson, and the offensive line. Among all of the confusion surrounding what this offense would be and the lack of true gamechangers on offense, the line was sneakily one of the best units on the team. Hicky and Macky were the two standouts, but the whole group really held up well throughout the year, and with those two being the only ones who may leave, and some quality depth rising in Jason Emerich, Rob Knapp, and Rob Trudo, the offensive line should continue to be a strength. Before last season this unit had been an issue for years; it seems that Syracuse is really starting to become a leader here.
Commenter the Polish Punch also agreed, praising the group's stability in a rough year:
I had to go offensive line
The same 5 guys started every single game this entire season. That is remarkable because injuries happen and somehow they all stayed healthy enough. For the most part too they played pretty well, giving Hunt time to throw, and opening up running lanes for the backs. I definitely thought they were the most consistent piece on the offensive side of the ball this season, improving as it went on.
And Sean Keeley seemed to sum it up perfectly for why the offensive line deserved consideration:
Gonna say Offensive Line. Sure, Terrel Hunt eventually sorted himself out and Jerome Smith & Friends got it together but none of that happens if the OL doesn't hold up their end of the bargain.
But there were plenty more votes as well. Jared Smith wants to give a good deal of credit to Terrel Hunt, who ultimately won us the two most important games of the year:
Terrel Hunt -- Lets not kid oursevles here, after the first two weeks of the season SU's offense was awful and the top reason was because our starting quarterback was not playing well. Enter Mr. Terrel Hunt. He started out like a house of fire putting up QB numbers we haven't seen since the McNabb years, struggled a bit in the middle, but, made enough plays to keep help the Orange win a few ACC road games and then when it mattered most (the Boston College and Texas Bowl) was the main reason Syracuse won. If Hunt plays like a normal struggling first-year quarterback this team maybe wins 4 games. Instead, it gets to 6-6 and earns its third postseason victory in four seasons.
MrPlow99 was one of many on board with that logic, too:
I voted Hunt
And I did it because it’s an offensive MVP award, not best offensive player award (I would have given that to Smith). But given that we saw how the alternative to Hunt worked out in 2+ games, I’m voting for Hunt. The dropoff from Hunt to Allen outweighs the dropoff from Smith to Morris in my opinion.
***
It was a very tight race, in all honesty. Jerome Smith was the best individual player in this offense, but he was not always a game-changer (not his fault, necessarily. Blame play-calling). And while Terrel Hunt ended the year on a very high note, he spent much of the 2013 season mired in mediocrity and an inability to throw the football into the endzone. Terrel did receive the most reader votes by a small amount, but the tide turned against him when it came down to the staff vote. Four of our seven staffers went with the offensive line (and just two voted for Hunt), ultimately shifting the lead to the "big uglies" in the trenches.
So congrats, offensive line! Macky MacPherson, Rob Trudo, Sean Hickey, Ivan Foy and Nick Robinson, you've done us proud! Ivan, what do you have to say about this?
Stick around for the rest of this week and next to keep voting and to check out the SOFA results as they roll in!
(Special thanks for the reworked logo above goes out to Fortiter Publishing LLC)
