Georgia’s Jarvis Jones didn’t win the Lombardi Award Wednesday night in Houston, finishing behind Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o for the honor going to the nation’s best lineman or linebacker.
Now the two linebackers will head to Orlando Thursday to see who wins the Bednarik Award for defensive player of the year.
Georgia's Jan. 1 game against Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl could be Jarvis Jones's final college game.
Te’o has more tackles (103) than Jones (77) this season and more interceptions (7) than Jones (1). But Jones has more tackles for losses (22.5 to 5.5), more sacks (12.5 to 1.5) and more forced fumbles (7 to 0). Both recovered two fumbles.
Jones, Te’o, Alabama offensive lineman Barrett Jones and South Carolina defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney were the four finalists for the Lombardi Award, and Jones, Te’o, and Clowney are the final three up for the Bednarik.
Te’o has already won the Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player and the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker.
He’s also one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, along with Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel and Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein. College football’s top honor will be bestowed Saturday.
Jarvis Jones was named SEC defensive player of the year and All-SEC first team by The Associated Press Monday.
112 comments Add your comment
Ron
December 6th, 2012
9:37 am
The Lombardi award “Goes annually to the college football lineman who, in addition to outstanding performance and ability, best exemplifies the discipline of Vince Lombardi.” So what does this mean? Forget your stats. If the winner is chosen based on the criteria set forth, that the award “honors collegiate lineman who display courage, character and team spirit on and off the gridiron”, it is the voters’ opinion of the character of the player that matters.
CC
December 6th, 2012
9:45 am
Complete BS!
Holy Guacamole
December 6th, 2012
9:48 am
Lonnie is right, Alabama chest thumpers. The way to defeat a pass rush is to run right at the pass rusher using a double team, which Bama did all night.
God, there are so many idiots on this blog who don’t know the first thing about football.
Holy Guacamole
December 6th, 2012
9:51 am
Buckeye – repeat after me:
“We are on probation and can’t go to a bowl game”
“We are on probation and can’t go to a bowl game”
Buckeye
December 6th, 2012
9:53 am
joey,
AP. Check it out Dude.
It was Tressel that cheated…then fired. No one on the 2012 team had anything to do with the scandal
12-0 baby
pikedawg
December 6th, 2012
9:53 am
Buckeye..12 and 0 and nobody cares LOL……
gator Jim Bob
December 6th, 2012
9:54 am
Is there ANYONE out there who knows ANYTHING about football. Not ONE, no not ONE of you yahoos have seen the ball since kickoff!!! the BEST team in the land is clearly the MIGHTY GATORS!!! They would beat either one of the teams who are playing for the title!!!
Buckeye
December 6th, 2012
9:55 am
pike
Enough AP voters cared to rank us above you dogs!
Buckeye
December 6th, 2012
9:57 am
pike and guac,
Is it the Liberty Bowl again this year?
Oh, The Capital One?
HA!
I remember last year
Go Sparty!
HA!
Holy Guacamole
December 6th, 2012
9:57 am
Buckeye – but you don’t play anybody.
Contractor
December 6th, 2012
10:00 am
As an Alabama fan is is upsetting to see Jarvis Jones falling in second place for all these awards behind Te’o. Yes, he had a great season, but he still wasn’t as disruptive as a force as Jarvis Jones has been all year. Teams had to gameplan around Jarvis Jones, and yet they still couldn’t stop him. Obviously his tackle total would have gone up had he not missed playing time, but hey, that’s football. Te’o plays in the middle of a defense, so therefor he has no choice but to rack up the tackles. I would find it hard to make a compelling case that T’eo is a better defensive player than Jones, and ESPN analyst have seconded that sentiment, and Jones is #1 on most big boards. Like what was said earlier, it’s going to be hard to beat a Notre Dame player with the media love fest for them, especially since they have been irrelevant for the past 20 years with no real results. Still, find me a game where Te’o just dominated and pretty much won a game for the Irish. I can say Jones did that against Missouri and Florida.
Holy Guacamole
December 6th, 2012
10:01 am
Buckeye – UGA was probably one play away from playing mighty ND for the national crown. Odds makers have listed both Bama (11 point favorites) and UGA (1 point favorite) over ND. So, make fun of bowl game selections.
And just where are you going? Oh, I forgot. Your season is over and you are going nowhere.
Contractor
December 6th, 2012
10:01 am
gator Jim Bob,
Too bad the “mighty Gators” couldn’t even beat the loser of the SEC Championship game. Excellent logic there.
Athens
December 6th, 2012
10:04 am
We can all imagine what a tool Buckeye must be……l
Griffin
December 6th, 2012
10:04 am
There is a reason why all the draft experts have Jones ahead of Te’o. Many have Jones the first pick over all. That really settles this argument. Thanks for participating.
Demetrio
December 6th, 2012
10:05 am
No need for any ND vs SEC trash talk. This will be settled on the field Jan 7.
Contractor
December 6th, 2012
10:07 am
Buckeye,
All of those responsible took the road of shame to the NFL instead of holding their end of the bargain and playing through their suspension. High caliber players y’all recruit up there in Columbus. And the best part of it all was seeing your sorry players carry Tressel on their shoulders and your weak fan base crying and yelling in praise for the guy that doomed your undefeated season and post season dreams. He was a cheater, and that’s definitely something to honor. Ohio State will do well under Urban Meyer, but y’all aren’t nearly as relevant as you, Kirk Herbstreit, or Jim Delaney want y’all to be. And this from the team whom had a player say he shouldn’t have to go to school, and that he wasn’t recruited to go to class, he was recruited to play ball. I like those high character types y’all are bringing in to pass the torch. Have fun in a mediocre conference that will undoubtedly get drilled this bowl season, much like every bowl season, and next year as well.
Demetrio
December 6th, 2012
10:08 am
And yes, Buckeye is a tool. As my Jewish grandfather once told me, “Ohio State is DEAD to me!” Gonna change their colors from Cherry red to Prison Garb Orange so they can pick up trash at halftime… part of their occupation training program.
bruce mac
December 6th, 2012
10:24 am
Another reason to hate Notre Dame. Roll MF Tide Roll. And GO DAWGS!
kerryb
December 6th, 2012
10:35 am
This is what happens when media outlets like ESPN have too much control over the narrative. They can decide to hype a player and affect all of these awards. Te’o does not have the ability to take over a game like Jarvis Jones. Who will be taken first in the NFL draft Jones or Te’o. Jones will be.
ga gator
December 6th, 2012
10:35 am
Butteye what is your record against the SEC? You won 1? No, remember that was taken away because of your slimy cheating coach who the clowns still honor. Wait until Urbie has another heart attack when your butts get waxed in his 1st bowl game next year.
ga gator
December 6th, 2012
10:37 am
Gator Jim Bob you are an embarassment.
te29wr
December 6th, 2012
10:38 am
To BUCKEYE and Bama fans
Next year you (bad eye fans) will get a chance to play some one out side of the little ten and the state of OHIO After you get your butt kicked by an SEC team Urbin Cryer wil quit on you like he did on the Gators Bama Fan GET SOME CLASS when you win as you have none when you get beat
GRAPHITE
December 6th, 2012
10:44 am
Mr. Teo…your true test is coming on the 7th…..Mr. Lacey will meet you at the line,that is if Mr.Barrett hasn’t knocked you on your butt !!…..RollOn..
Dawginlex
December 6th, 2012
10:49 am
I eat poo
not so fast
December 6th, 2012
10:52 am
The latest mock draft has MT taking as the number 2 overall pick and JJ around 10 maybe not as good as you think take the UGA glasses off
grip
December 6th, 2012
10:54 am
Jarvis was really hurt by missing 3 games as well, if he plays in those game, his tackling numbers are very close to Teo and JJ is an outside LB while Teo is a MLB, JJ is beyond impressive, let’s see how well he tackles bams’s running backs, that will interesting
funny
December 6th, 2012
11:18 am
Funny Stuff. Lets see who is willing to pay these guys the most for their services at the next level. Then you will have your ‘best’ award and it will not be influenced by someones ‘personal’ story.
OPEN MINDED
December 6th, 2012
11:33 am
Take away your Georgia Bulldogs and SEC mentality and you will clearly see that Manti is a better player. JJ is a great player but plays in a DEF that has him blitzing more – the reason for his stats
Rick James
December 6th, 2012
11:44 am
Everybody is on the Notre Dame bandwagon right now and there’s always the anti SEC undertone.Te’o will win the awards which are nothing but popularity contests,Jones will be drafted higher because the people who know consider him a better linebacker.
OPEN MINDED
December 6th, 2012
11:54 am
“people who know consider him a better linebacker” – which are? Mock drafts have Manti going ahead of JJ. For the record I think the SEC is the best conference in college football and I’m SEC fan
CFB Fan
December 6th, 2012
12:01 pm
The Heisman trophy has nothing to do with the NFL Draft. (Jason White, Eric Crouch, etc…) JJ is obviously a better NFL Prospect simply because the NFL values Pass Rushers more than Inside LBs.Just because JJ is going to get drafted higher doesn’t make him more worthy of these awards. Stats are also a little overrated in these situations. When has Ray Lewis ever led the league in Sacks? By that metric, Julius Peppers has had a better career than Ray Lewis. So I agree that JJ is probably the better player, but he did not have the better year.
stanh
December 6th, 2012
12:14 pm
clowney got ripped…he is a beast…..Alabama will destroy Notre dame….Notre Dame couldnt beat ala,uga,fla,south carolina,lsu and maybe miss state….and they are playing for a national championship?……what a joke…..Saban and Alabama with give the Irish a dose of what SEC football is…..RUN IT DOWN YOUR THROAT!
shankit
December 6th, 2012
12:14 pm
@Jacket Detective – “Why didn’t Notre Dame give an award for the ref who helped the most to keep them undefeated?”
BCS only allows one trophy per year for this award, and unfortunately for Notre Dame, Alabama has
already awarded it.
Matt
December 6th, 2012
12:26 pm
Te’o has more tackles (103) than Jones (77) this season and more interceptions (7) than Jones (1). But Jones has more tackles for losses (22.5 to 5.5), more sacks (12.5 to 1.5) and more forced fumbles (7 to 0). Both recovered two fumbles
No, Notre Lame isn’t a media daring (note sarcasm).
Matt
December 6th, 2012
12:30 pm
CFB fan- tackles is a way overrated stat. Game changing stats such as sacks, tackles for loss, FF, fumble recoveries and ints are way more important.
It’s like W-L for a pitcher in baseball. ERA and K/BB is much more telling of what kind of season a pitcher is having.
USC Jimi
December 6th, 2012
12:35 pm
Notre Dame clearly won two games because of the Officials. Ther is even a third game that was questionable. Pitt and Stanford were both robbed by absurd and/or biased officials. Even the Notre Dame announcers couldn’t believe or defend the interference call against Pitt. A little better than average team at best. Not even top ten, much less number one???
OPEN MINDED
December 6th, 2012
12:37 pm
How many bowl eligible teams did Notre Dame, Georgia, and Alabama beat this year?
Holy Guacamole
December 6th, 2012
12:44 pm
Open Minded – I think that you can’t compare a outside rushing LB to an inside LB evenly. That would be like comparing JJ to Alex Ogletree, who arguably may be a better ILB than Manti.
CFB Fan
December 6th, 2012
12:46 pm
Matt- All I am saying about sacks and tackles for loss is that the position is different. Ray Lewis has never had more than 5 sacks in one season in his whole career. I am shocked that teo has no FF, since with that many tackles he should have at least one, but again JJ has more FF because of QB hits.
WhoCares?
December 6th, 2012
1:03 pm
I dunno. Only saw Te’o play twice on TV, and he looked very good, good instincts, pretty quick, good tackler. Jarvis Jones seemed to me to be more aggressive, faster, also good instincts and some tackling issues. Don’t know that I know enough to say which one is better. But I agree — Clowney is a freak. I hope that guy goes pro so Dawgs don’t have to face him again next year.
Matt
December 6th, 2012
1:45 pm
CFBfan- I understand what you are saying. I agree with what you are saying. WHat I’m saying is that the Heisman is based on numbers. Yes? JJ numbers are better. Teo is a solid LB no doubt but in my opinon is not a game changer. At least, he doesn’t have the stats to support him being a dominant game changer. JJ is a game changer and has the stats to back it up.
Nick Saban bent the pups over on the 50
December 6th, 2012
2:26 pm
Does it still sing you pup fans?
Thats gonna take a while to heal.
Gary
December 6th, 2012
2:42 pm
Hey Buckeye, why don’t you beat Georgia or and SEC team for that matter before typing. (You had to get permission from the NCAA to play 4 players who should have been suspended to beat Ark, will always have an * next to the W)
Gary
December 6th, 2012
2:44 pm
Pretty sure Saban doesn’t agree with you “on the 50″. You Saban and every bama fan were holding your breath with 7 seconds to play.
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 6th, 2012
4:36 pm
Left Coast Dawg
December 5th, 2012
11:07 pm
….but Jones will be drafted before T’eo, so who’s the better player?
===========================================
being Drafted soon or later doesn’t mean a player is better or not. A career will Prove who is better.
Irishmark
December 6th, 2012
4:56 pm
7576dawg…did you watch the Notre Dame vs Stanford game? Had that touchdown been (incorrectly) allowed, how do you give Stanford the win? Assuming they make the PAT, the game would have been tied and they would have played another overtime.
All your conspiracy theories about the Catholic influence sounds like something out of The Davinci Code.
Te’o is the leader of the top scoring defense in college football that allowed 10 Touchdowns in 12 games, 2 rushing…Georgia Defense got embarrassed by South Carolina and gave up 350 yards on the ground to Alabama.
Contractor
December 6th, 2012
4:57 pm
OPEN MINDED,
You’re right, he does blitz more, hence why his sack totals and tackle for losses are higher, which means he still seizes the opportunity to make a play. He trails by 30 sum odd tackles, missed a couple games, and blitzed himself out of a ton of plays being an outside linebacker. I think his stats are just as amazing as Te’o’s, and he is more of a game changer. Call him a system linebacker, but his stats absolutely obliterate Te’o’s for the chances he gets. So in conclusion, your post and opinion don’t add up to squat. Please respond with more legit logic, and I will then again put you in your place. I’m an Alabama fan, so no biased opinion, just going on the facts here.
Put in Timeout by Ken Sugiura,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned once by Bill King & Chip Towers but only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 6th, 2012
5:07 pm
Why did Jarvis Jones miss some games?
Bravos86
December 6th, 2012
5:18 pm
@timeout out two games with groin injury