There’s no way the Fred Biletnikoff Award selection committee denied Freddie Barnes as one of the three finalists for this season’s award, is there?

The panel voted yesterday to dwindle the 10 semifinalists (listed below) down to three, with the finalists being announced Thursday.

The Barn Burner is first among semifinalists in receptions (117), receiving yards (1,285) and touchdowns (12). The only thing he trails in is strength of schedule, and – fair or not – that may be enough to keep him from being a finalist.

Notre Dame’s Golden Tate and Texas’ Jordan Shipley are shoo-ins, and as I see it, Barnes and Kansas’ Dezmon Briscoe will fight for the third finalist spot.

But if panelists were to use strength of schedule against Barnes, they would have to do the same for Briscoe, considering the Jayhawks have struggled to a 1-5 record in the weak Big 12 North Division.

And Briscoe isn’t even Kansas’ No. 1 target – Kerry Meier has caught 83 balls for 885 yards and six touchdowns – so how could the panel choose him over Barnes, clearly the No. 1 target in his offense?

Barnes’ strong games against teams like Troy, Marshall, Missouri and Central Michigan (combined record of 26-14) should also help his case. In those four games, Barnes has almost half his receptions (56) and 556 yards.

Oh, and Barnes has been pretty clutch this season as well, catching memorable, late-game touchdowns against Kent State and Buffalo to help BG to 36-35 and 30-29 victories, respectively.

I understand that Barnes probably wouldn’t be posting as big of numbers if he was playing against Big 12 or SEC competition week in, week out, but with as big of numbers as he has produced, I sincerely hope the Biletnikoff committee found a way to include a big time talent from a mid-major conference among its finalists.’