So from reading this post I can asses that according to you, college stats or performances don't transfer to the NFL unless the competition was at a higher level such as the SEC, just to use your example, am I right with this assessment?. The problem with that train of thought is that I'm pretty sure that our first round pick played close to or even lower level competition then Hardy, yet I haven't seen you bring that up. I haven't read every post in this thread word for word though so maybe I missed it.
James Hardy last year played against 4 teams that finished in the top 25 and he scored a TD in 3 of those games. Now I know you're going to bring up those teams weaker pass defenses but see those stats are skewed as well. Hell, Army had the 16th best pass defense last year and they won only 3 games.
I usually don't buy into stats that much but 36 TD's in 30 games can't be ignored at a Div 1 school.
As far as playing not so well against the higher competition lets have a look see at what he did before this last year, We've already established him having a TD in 3 of the 4 games involving a ranked team.
Last year he scored 4 TD's against Mich St., 3 against Iowa. In 2005 as a Freshman he scored 2 TD's against Wisc., Illinois and Mich st. Now while those teams may not be the cream of the crop in the NCAA they are some of the BEST teams he faced in those years. That's right, the only games he didn't score a TD in his Fresh and Soph. years were 1 game against Ohio st. as a Freshman and one as a Soph. against Mich. where he left the game early due to injury.
The kid has performed at maybe not the highest level of college competition but it's not like he is playing Kent every week.
Also as a side note the level of competition he has faced is equal to if not more then the talent he has around him. He had an okay counterpart at WR in Indiana but Andrew Means ain't the one drawing a double team. The rushing attack they had last year was less then admirable with Marcus Thigpen gaining a whopping 568 yards. Kellen Lewis ran the ball almost half as many times as he threw it and when he did throw it more then a third of his 3043 yards went to Hardy.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is this:
Every team Hardy and Indiana played knew he was the offense and they doubled and sometimes triple teamed him. Yet he was dominate, 36 td's in 30 games dominate. While I know this doesn't always translate to the NFL it is a sign of what he can do.