“Absolutely no reason”
Break this down for me. No reason? Like at all? I mean, the coaches didn’t see fit to put any of them in the top 9 in the league, that seems like a reason.
The case against Edwards would I guess be that he’s more of a coverage LB? Tackle numbers are pretty decent. TFL and sacks are low, but Bentley and McCollum are in that boat.
The Purdue case really comes down to the fact Purdue’s Run defense was great at stopping the run on a down-to-down basis and OK at preventing big runs. The Boilers can’t claim a top defense in the big ten, or maybe in the top half of the conference. The sacks make Bailey the best award candidate, but it’s a pitch that’s beyond numbers. And I’m that case you need the defense to be very good, but Purdue’s is only very good in terms of one aspect (plus improvement I guess)
So, your whole argument is predicated on the overall team defense, and not individual performance? That would make sense if this list were only OSU / PSU / WI / MI players, but the fact that Iowa and NW (which had relatively the same overall defensive ability) had representatives, but Purdue did not, kinda kills that.
If this list were about team defensive performance, Wisconsin wins. No doubt in my mind.
But we are talking specifically about the linebackers. The linebackers job is to defend to run, fill the gaps in the defensive line, throw occasional blitzes, and defend the pass in short yardage situations. The fact that Purdue DB's and Safeties were crap and was the difference between Purdue being middle of the Big Ten defense and a top 3 defense, should not be considered as a reason that one LB is better than another.
Let's look at Edwards and Bentley. You claim Edwards was more of a coverage LB....
Passes Broken Up:
Edwards - 7
Bentley - 3 (and Edwards played two more games)
That's not exactly glowing evidence that Edwards was spending significantly more time as a coverage option. Maybe if you can find a "passes defended" statistic we can look a little more deeply into that one, but.....
Yes, he did have 4 interceptions, compared to Bentley's 1, but I can also throw in Bentley's two fumbles forced compared to Edwards 0 (and 2 less games) and that one's pretty much a wash.
All tackling statistical categories, Bentley wins.
Solo tackles
Assisted tackles
Tackles for Loss
Sacks - Edwards 2, Bentley 1
(all with two less games)
Bailey was fairly comparable too if you want me to break down the numbers. McCollum not so much, but he had injury issues and only played ten games, so you can't really argue about his stats (likely would have stolen stats from the others)
So, yeah. Outside of including McCollum over Edwards, I'll stand by my statement.
