After more than 5,000 miles on the road, gallons of Diet Coke, a mountain of Junior Mints and M&M’s (love those new dark chocolate M’s), countless hot dogs and rides in slow press-box elevators, here are some of my bigs of the Big Ten regular season:
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Coach of the year
Ohio State’s Jim Tressel will get his share of votes, but mine goes to Bret Bielema, Wisconsin’s rookie coach. Tressel’s team was supposed to be No. 1. Bielema’s team wasn’t supposed to be 11-1.
Back of the year
Troy Smith of Ohio State proved to be more than a guy who ran out of the pocket. Smith’s unreal totals: 30 touchdown passes and five interceptions.
Lineman of the year
Jake Long of Michigan is a 6-foot-7-inch, 313-pound road grader at tackle. Running back Mike Hart isn’t the only reason the Wolverines led the conference in rushing.
Freshman of the year
P.J. Hill of Wisconsin led the Big Ten in rushing, scoring and touchdowns as a redshirt freshman.
Sophomore of the year
Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter led the conference in passing and total offense.
Juniors of the year
Running back Mike Hart of Michigan. The Wolverines wouldn’t be in the Big Two without him. He shares the award with Illinois linebacker J Leman, the leading tackler in the Big Ten.
Senior of the year
Linebacker Paul Posluszny of Penn State. The Nittany Lions’ all-time leading tackler bounced back from knee surgery.
Comeback of the year
Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner had two brain surgeries in less than a year and only missed two games.
(Lack of) Sportsmanship Award
Michigan State and Illinois were each fined $10,000 and coaches John L. Smith of MSU and Ron Zook of Illinois were reprimanded after the Illini’s flag-planting incident following Illinois’ 23-20 victory in East Lansing.
Special teamers of year
Indiana’s Tracy Porter led the conference with an 18.6-yard punt-return average that included an 86-yard touchdown and Indiana’s Marcus Thigpen averaged 30.1 yards on kickoff returns with a 100-yarder for a touchdown.
What-Not-To-Wear Award
In the good old days, only nerds wore dark socks with athletic gear. Who said that looks cool? Honorable mention: Ohio State’s new home jerseys without any gray on the sleeves.
Off-field play of year
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and wife Mary donated $400,000 to the University of Iowa Foundation to be used for research at Children’s Hospital of Iowa and education at Iowa’s College of Liberal Arts.
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Official of the year
Retiring Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan hung up his referee’s whistle after 25 years in the Big Ten. He will be missed.
Odd stat of the year
Indiana place-kicker Austin Starr missed four extra points (28 of 32) but just three field goals (12 of 15).
Teleconference award
Fired Michigan State coach John L. Smith was a quote machine. Ask a question and he gave you a really good answer. Too bad his players didn’t have the answer on the field.
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