Stonebreaker Award: Week 8

Florida State has already lost to an unranked opponent to start off Week 9, as the upsets continue. I usually try to get this in before the Thursday night game starts, but with playoff baseball, the start of the NBA season, and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," all taking place tonight, I'm bringing this to the masses before bed. Here are the top 25 as of last week, followed by my top 5 team linebacker rankings.


Top 25

1. Jeremy Beal, Oklahoma
2. Nick Fairley, Auburn
3. Wayne Daniels, TCU
4. Drake Nevis, LSU
5. Jamell Fleming, Oklahoma
6. Dejon Gomes, Nebraska
7. Brandon Bair, Oregon
8. Lavonte David, Nebraska
9. J.J. Watt, Wisconsin
10. Kelvin Sheppard, LSU
( Defensive Linemen take up the top 4 spots. I hope I get commission off of Nick Fairley's future 1st Round NFL contract for touting his play all season. Nevis and Sheppard will drop a little bit in having a bye this week. Ahmad Black drops out until, and if there is a Florida return to the polls).

11. Chimdi Chekwa, Ohio St.
12. Cliff Harris, Oregon
13. Robert Lester, Alabama
14. Sam Acho, Texas
15. Mark Barron, Alabama
16. Travis Lewis, Oklahoma
17. Anthony Leon, Arkansas
18. Eddie Jones, Texas
19. P.J. Smith, Nebraska
20. Alfonso Dennard, Nebraska
21. Jonathan Nelson, Oklahoma
22. Chaz Walker, Utah
23. Lamar Chapman, Utah
24. Olivier Vernon, Miami
25. Sean Spence, Miami

Top 5 LB Units:
1. LSU: The big name and the All-America candidate is Kelvin Sheppard, who has a whopping 73 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and 7.5 TFL's. But Junior Ryan Baker has 54 stops to go along with 4 sacks and 7.5 TFL's as well. LSU's offense is terrible, and their coach is probably even worse, but much like my beloved Chicago Bears, the Tigers get it done on defense, especially with their linebacking play.

2. Oklahoma: Travis Lewis is #16 in the rankings, and Tom Wort also has played well for the Sooners.

3. Ohio St: The Buckeyes D has probably been hurt by the fact that they've played in a lot of blowouts, so their 1st stringers haven't been out on the field quite as much as some of the other teams that have been in the top 25 throughout the year. Ross Homan and Brian Rolle have combined for 82 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 Int's for the Buckeyes.

4. Nebraska: Nebraska is mainly ranked this high because of Juco transfer Lavonte David and his 78 tackles, 5 TFL's and 5 breakups. Eric Hagg helps out with 2 picks and 3 breakups.

5. Wisconsin: The Badgers have moved up recently, with Blake Sorensen moving up on the tackling leaderboard with 49 stops on the season. Mike Taylor has 6 TFL's, while Culmer St. Jean has 46 tackles on the year.