Calder Silcox | An unorthodox Player of the Year pick

Call me a homer, but a Quaker should have been named Ivy League Player of the Year on Monday.

Was sophomore Billy Ragone snubbed? Maybe. But really, senior center and co-captain Joe D’Orazio should have hoisted the Asa S. Bushnell Cup in New York yesterday, not Harvard’s Gino Gordon and Dartmouth’s Nick Schwieger.

It must be extremely difficult for a League so steeped in tradition to think outside the box, but such thinking would have been necessary to properly award this year’s most valuable player.

At center, D’Orazio has been the rock of Penn’s offense for the past three years. As a senior captain, he led the team through a grueling season and off-the-field difficulties — the loss of classmate Owen Thomas and team leader, coach Dan “Lake” Staffieri.

Those intangibles are understandably difficult for voters to take into account.

But still, when you’re dealing with a most valuable player — and especially when considering an offensive lineman — the flashy statistics of touchdowns thrown or yards per carry, not to mention championships, are only half the picture.

The voting coaches seem to grasp D’Orazio’s value — he was named first team all-Ivy two years in a row. But the choice of Ragone, along with two tailbacks and a wide receiver as finalists, perpetuates the long-standing and banal tradition of giving these types of honors to players in skill positions.

In fact, the selection of Ragone was an indirect endorsement for D’Orazio.

The senior directed a dominant offensive line that opened holes for everybody who stepped in the backfield. The big boys’ play up front was the reason the transition from the injured Lyle Marsh and Keiffer Garton to the inexperienced Ragone and Brandon Colavita went so smoothly.

Even Schwieger thanked his offensive linemen in his acceptance speech yesterday for helping make his award-winning season possible.

With the few statistics measurable for a center, D’Orazio’s impact is clear. Penn quarterbacks were sacked only six times this year, the fewest in the League. Penn’s rushing offense was also the best in the Ivies, with 5.1 yards per carry, 28 touchdowns and 242 yards per game ­­— almost 50 more than Gordon’s Crimson.

The truth of the matter remains, though — D’Orazio’s name was never called over the echoing Franklin Field loudspeaker. He didn’t make electrifying plays, but he and his offensive linemates produced a League title.

The Quakers’ main play-maker, Ragone, likely lost out in the voting because he was an underclassman, and the coaches felt compelled to honor players closer to graduation.

But had the senior D’Orazio been considered a finalist, maybe a Penn player would have rightfully added the Bushnell Cup to his Ivy League ring.

CALDER SILCOX is a junior science, technology and society major from Washington, D.C., and is Senior Sports Editor-elect of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is silcox@theDP.com.

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