The Case For Jason Babin In The SB Nation College Football Hall Of Fame

Well, I did all the campaigning I could. I pushed for Ben Roethlisberger and Travis Prentice. I lobbied for Bob Pruett and Brad Maynard. We did get Randy Moss in, but sadly we cannot take credit for that one (our friends in Morgantown nominated him). The fate is out of my hands and into yours, in the form of stuffing vote boxes.

The best of the rest are now being put into a fan vote. The four men mentioned above did not make the cut in this round; but one remains: Western Michigan defensive tackle Jason Babin.

Before I start making my argument, let me just — oops [NCAA record books spills out of briefcase, opens magically to defensive records] Wow, look at his name everywhere! Career leader in tackles for loss (75), record for most TFL in a season (32) and second only to Terrell Suggs in career sacks (38)? That's all pretty good. he must've been on some really good teams.

AU CONTRAIRE. He was but a wee freshman on that great 2000 team but once he began playing in a starting role, his sophomore through senior years, Babin's Broncos went 14-21 and never had even a .500 season. What does this say about his gaudy numbers? To me it speaks that he had very little help on the defensive line. When you played WMU, you were able to game around Babin. And yet he did all this madness. He twice won MAC Defensive Player of the Year. All the cool things in the WMU record books are his. He's good.

You could say the numbers were inflated because he played in the MAC. Well, possibly, although I don't see James Harrison's name often in the record books. The fact that he was taken as a first-round draft pick, and since has gone to multiple Pro Bowls in the NFL, simply validates those numbers.

So go here, and vote for him. He may not surpass guys like Haloti Ngata or David Pollack, but at worst let's make it close. At best make this the second MAC player to enter the inaugural SB Nation Hall of Fame.