BOL Round Table

From @ChrisBrewer4: what is aj mccarron gonna have to do before people take him seriously? Guys getting no love from the national media.

"I saw this question and immediately thought back to an exchange I had with someone via Twitter earlier this week after I tweeted about the trash-talking between McCarron and LSU's Tyrann Mathieu. I asked the question if this was the first time that two prominent college football players had ever gone at each other like that on Twitter? One Ole Miss fan took issue with me calling McCarron "prominent" and went on to say "Is McCarron really prominent? Mediocre at best ..."
I pointed out to him that not only was McCarron the QB of the defending national champs, which essentially makes him prominent to begin with, he was also the Offensive MVP of the BCS title game after he shredded the vaunted LSU defense.
As for the "love" from the national media, well, it's more "like" than "love" at this point. Is McCarron a true Heisman contender? He's probably in the third batch of candidates. He could end up in the discussion if he leads 'Bama to the SEC title, especially since the Tide have to overcome road trips to LSU and Arkansas. But if he's going to be talked about in the same sentences as Matt Barkley, Tyler Wilson, Geno Smith and Landry Jones and get to New York, McCarron is going to need to be more prolific since so many people feel like 'Bama wins with defense and a punishing running game. Greg McElroy was a really solid QB for 'Bama a few years back, but wasn't considered to be at the level of the elite quarterbacks in college football.
Here's a stat barometer to keep in mind: McCarron was No. 25 in the country in passing efficiency, which considering that he plays in the conference known for having the toughest defenses, is not bad, but he's going to need to move up some in that category before he's talked about with the best of the best. Other celebrated QBs play in more wide-open systems and will amass better stats. McCarron needs to catch people's eyes with his efficiency. Then again, he would probably be just fine with a second BCS title ring and leave the gaudy stat lines to the other guys."