College Football 2011: The 10 Best Statistical Players This Season

Since the Heisman Trophy is being awarded tonight, it may be a good time to review the statistical monsters of the 2011 college football season. As we all know, the Heisman trophy isn't rewarded solely on statistical endeavors, but stats do play a major factor in determining the ultimate winner.

This is a list of the 10 best statistical monsters. This isn't to say they are the best (though, naturally, many are) or more deserving of awards than another player, it's just to say, they had the best stats.

If you were playing college fantasy football, these were the guys you wanted.

10. LaMichael James

In a lot of ways, James had a better statistical season this year than last year's campaign which earned him a Heisman invite.

James rushed for 1,646 yards and 17 touchdowns this season. He added 210 yards and one touchdown through the air. Most impressively, he did it only 11 games.

James was injured against Cal and missed the next two games with a dislocated elbow. The injury was gruesome, and simply returning a two short weeks later was a major accomplishment.

James lead the nation in rushing yards per game with 149.64. If he had played in those two games and reached his average, he would be sitting just under 2,000 yards rushing on the season (he likely would have reached it, as one of those missed games was against Colorado).

Even with the injury, James finished with just 90 yards and four touchdowns less than last season. He will have a chance to eclipse last season's rush total against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

9. Bobby Rainey

Rainey led the nation in yards from scrimmage per game this season. He was a workhorse, touching the ball 405 times...that's 45 times more than second place, Robbie Rouse.

Rainey would finish with an unheralded 1,695 rushing yards and 361 receiving yards. His 2,056 total yards were No. 1 in the nation, just ahead of Montee Ball (who played one more game).

In his final game as a collegiate player, Rainey would carry the ball 43 times for 227 yards and three touchdowns against Troy. He was an integral part of WKU's success this season and will be sorely missed next year.

8. Sammy Brown

Sammy Brown was in the opponents' backfield seemingly every play this season. The senior linebacker simply could not be stopped.

His 88 tackles are good, but not anything spectacular. His 12.5 sacks had him finish third in the nation in the category.

Where he stood out was with his tackles for a loss. He had 28 tackles for a loss. Second place in this category was Vinny Curry of Marshall, who had 'only' 21. Brown has 33 percent more TFL's than anyone in the country! It was most TFLs in a season since George Selvie of USF in 2007 (31.5...Brown could still pass him with a great game in the TicketCity Bowl).

He also had three pass break-ups and 16 QB hurries.

7. Jordan White

White's impressive stat line has gone largely unnoticed, perhaps due to this playing in the MAC. Such thoughts are ridiculous, however. This is a great wide receiver and he had a tremendous 2011.

White led the nation in receptions and yards with 127 catches for 1646 yards! That's 10.5 catches a game for 137 yards per game.

White was held below 100 yards just three times all year; one of those being a blow-out game against Nicholls State, and another in which he tallied 98 yards. His best game came against Toledo where he had 16 catches for 238 yards and three touchdowns.

With five catches in the Motor City Bowl, White will have the most receptions in a season since Freddie Barnes' ridiculous 155 effort with Bowling Green in 2009.

6. David Amerson

Amerson led the nation in interceptions this season by a wide margin. His 11 interceptions were four more than three other players who tied for second, and the most since Jim Leonhard's 11 in 2002. It is the second-most in a season this century.

Amerson added 54 tackles and five pass break-ups. He returned one of the interceptions for a touchdown, a game-clincher against Virginia.

Amerson is only a sophomore, so two more seasons at even half of this year's production can make him the all-time leader in interceptions (Leonhard and Wake Forest's Alphonso Smith lead with 21).

5. Whitney Mercilus

In one season, Mercilus went from relative obscurity to Hendrick's Award winner for best defensive end in the nation.

He leads the nation in sacks with 14.5, making him just 1.5 shy of the all-time Illinois record held by Simeon Rice.

14.5 sacks is impressive, but not as impressive as Mercilus' propensity to force turnovers. He's forced nine fumbles on the season, one shy of the all-time NCAA record.

His 19.5 tackles for loss rank fifth nationally. He has already been named a first team all-American and won the Hendrick's Award. He is a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik award, given annually to the defensive player of the year.

The award will be announced December 12. Mercilus was already a winner this season.

4. Luke Kuechly

One year after recording 183 tackles in 13 games, Kuechly recorded 191 tackles in 12 games. 191!

To put that into perspective, those are the top two single seasons in tackles in ACC history. Kuechly has them both. They are the most this century.

12 of the tackles were for a loss. He added three pass break-ups and three interceptions on the year, his interception against Miami in his final game going for a touchdown.

It was the cherry on top to a great year. For all his efforts, Kuechly was rewarded with the Lombardi Award for best lineman/linebacker in the nation.

His 532 career tackles are second all-time behind Northwestern's Tim McGarigle (545). If he were to come back, Kuechly would obliterate the record. All indications are that Kuechly will be going into the NFL draft where he will be a mid-first round pick.

Like Mercilus, Kuechly is a finalist for the Nagurski award.

3, Case Keenum

Keenum won't win the Heisman trophy and his team won't play in a BCS bowl. For the longest time, many thought both were a possibility. While the Cougars fell just short of their goals, this season was far from a failure for Keenum.

Keenum threw for 5,099 yards, 45 touchdowns and five interceptions! A 45-5 TD-INT ratio. He completed 71.1 percent of his passes and led the nation in yards per game with 392.2. His touchdowns and yardage also led the way.

Along the way, Keenum became the all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. He is now the most prolific passer in the history of college football.

He will get a chance to pad his records against Penn State in the TicketCity bowl.

2. Montee Ball

Ball quietly went about his business this season. He was so quiet that for the first half of the season, he wasn't even the favorite for the Heisman on his own team. Russell Wilson started out as the Badgers Heisman-hopeful, but it will be Ball that finds himself in New York.

It was beyond deserved too. Ball rushed for 1,759 yards, most in the nation. He had an amazing 32 touchdowns, most by far (Collin Klein was second with 26). He added 255 yards and six touchdowns through the air.

His 38 touchdowns is one less than Barry Sanders' incredible 1988 season. Those statistics for Sanders were only through 11 games, but just to be mentioned in the same breath as the hall-of-famer is an accomplishment.

Fellow-Badger Ron Dayne walked away with the Heisman Trophy in 1999. Dayne rushed for more yards (1,834) but only had 19 touchdowns. In addition, he had just one catch for nine yards on the season. He also had 28 more carries.

Ball is averaging a touchdown every 7.76 touches. Not even Sanders could touch that, as he scored only once every 9.81 touches.

Absolutely incredible.

1. Robert Griffin III

RGIII's statistical dominance has him as the favorite to take home the Heisman trophy tonight. Even if he doesn't walk away with the statue, he can take solace in the fact that he had the best season, statistically, of any player in 2011.

Griffin's stat line: 72.4 percent, 3,998 yards, 36 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 10.8 yards per attempt, 644 rushing yards, nine rushing touchdowns.

That is an absolutely incredible stat line. Griffin went through the first four games of the season, Griffin had 18 touchdown and 20 incompletions! There are players who have a worse TD-INT ratio than Griffin had of TD-Incompletion. He finished with a 36-102 TD-incompletion rate.

Most impressive to consider is that Griffin wasn't healthy the entire season. He left the Texas Tech game early which led everyone to jump of the RGIII for Heisman bandwagon. Had Griffin played in that game, his numbers would have been even more impressive (among other things, Texas Tech has one of the worst pass defenses).

In Sam Bradford's 2008 Heisman campaign the sophomore passed for 4700 yards and 50 touchdowns, but he also threw over 100 more passes. Griffin's yards per attempt is better than Bradford's (not to mention Griffin has 644 more rushing yards than Bradford had).