Mark Armstrong: The case for 'Quise

Jameis Winston is the reigning Heisman trophy winner, a national champion, almost certainly a first round draft pick and has near miraculously navigated FSU to another undefeated season (so far, anyway). Amazingly - he's all those things without being the ACC's top quarterback in 2014.

Marquise Williams spent the spring and fall fighting for his starting job, had to share reps through the first third or so of the season and since then has almost singlehandedly powered UNC into bowl eligibility, along the way becoming the top QB in the conference.

Ask me who'll become a better NFL quarterback or which one leads a better team and my answer changes, but the 2014 ACC Player of the Year is Marquise Williams.

Marquise said last week that he's a 'humble cat' so I'll do the talking for him. As in basketball, I choose to heavily weight conference only performance when determining conference postseason awards. In ACC games - Marquise leads the league in total offense by a slim margin over Winston and dominates the total TDs category (7 clear of Winston. They both lead the ACC with 14 TD passes). He's a nominally more efficient passer than Winston in league play and has tossed 6 fewer interceptions. 'Quise is the 8th leading rusher in ACC play - he's got more rushing TDs than freaking Duke Johnson. Clearly - that's a byproduct of an entirely different offense than Winston, but it's also a result of UNC having zero traditional run game for huge chunks of the year and Marquise having to do quite literally EVERYTHING by himself. Proof of that - the fact that Williams is one of only 2 Power 5 QBs in the country with 2500 yards passing, 700 rushing, 20 pass TDs and 10 rushing scores. The other? Dak Prescott of Mississippi State. You know - the guy that was the Heisman frontrunner until the Bulldogs got beat up by Bama. (that stat from ESPN's David Gale - link here: http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/77583/by-the-numbers-week-13-recap)

I'm actually one who puts some stock in team success as it relates to individual awards, but it ain't Winston for FSU this year. Not only did his well-earned suspension nearly cost the Noles a shot at the title if they'd lost to Clemson, but a good number of these death defying 2nd half comebacks are a direct result of his wildly fluctuating first half play. I'd listen to arguments for Rashad Greene, but his numbers just don't ultimately stack up. Likewise, Duke Johnson and James Conner are both brilliant players, but guys who just haven't had the seasons that Williams has enjoyed. The one guy who could make a competitive case in my mind - Louisville Safety Gerod Holliman and his 11 interceptions in ACC play. Second place is Jamal Golden of GT with.....4. A laughable disparity. Gerod will enjoy his DPOY trophy.

There's no disputing the fact that Carolina has been mediocre all season long. There was never going to be team greatness with that putrid defense. There has however been individual greatness in the form of Marquise Williams. (*Hakim Jones does not agree with this blog*)