USC Football: Woods Makes Biletnikoff Watch List, Lee Gets Snubbed

Oct 29, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans receiver Robert Woods (2) is defended by Stanford Cardinal cornerback Barry Browning (31) on a 15-yard touchdown reception in the second overtime at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Stanford defeated USC 56-48 in three overtimes. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

The Biletnikoff Award Watch List came out Tuesday, and while Trojan receiver Robert Woods made the list, Marqise Lee’s name is most certainly not there.

Seriously. He’s not on there. We wish we could answer your “but why?” question, but we don’t know either.

Aside from Woods and not Lee, five other Pac-12 wide receivers made the watch list for the Biletnikoff trophy, which is annually given to the nation’s best wide receiver.

Robert Woods has had a crazy good two years while at SC: last season he caught 111 passes for 1292 yards and 15 touchdowns, with 176 catches, 2084 yards and 21 TDs on his career. He is one of Matt Barkley’s favorite targets, and it’s not hard to understand why. He’s fast and evasive, making the catch and then going for the extra yards. If his ankle holds up this season, he will likely be one of the front runners for this award. Woods was also a finalist for this award in the 2011 season.

But Lee, who had an even better rookie season in 2011 than Woods did in 2010, is suspiciously not on this list. As a true freshman he torched teams for 1143 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s even faster that Woods, and a player than Coach Kiffin said could easily be a “one and done” athlete if that rule existed in college football (fortunately for USC fans, it does not).

Yeah. He’s THAT good that his coach thinks he is NFL ready after one season. And he is not in contention to be considered the nation’s best receiver because…

We wish we knew.

Oh and for the record: there is a sophomore on the list, Boise State WR Matt Miller, who had 62 receptions for 679 yards and nine TDs. So 400 fewer receiving yards and two touchdowns less than Lee.

Oh, ok. Seems legit.

Clearly, Lee and all his efforts from last season have been snubbed.

In spite of this egregious snub, USC does have a Trojan on the list and Woods is very capable of becoming the first one to win the Biletnikoff trophy.

Last year, Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State won this award.