Our Honor Defend

If you want a little bang in your yin yang, then I would not recommend coming along.  I don’t even know what the hell that means.

On point, I’m going to be in Columbus, Ohio for the Penn State game.  Yes, I know the game is being played in Happy Valley, but that’s kind of the point.  I’m gonna be catching up with friends and watching the game with them, knowing that they would otherwise be at the game if it’s in the Horseshoe.  While I have money to trek up to Columbus for a few days, I don’t have enough to shake down a ticket.  That, and the timing is fortuitous.  LSU is going to be in Tuscaloosa, my current town, that same weekend.  I’ve learned from experience: wherever LSU fans are, be somewhere else.

The specifics are up in the air.  Is there an interest from anyone out there in making it a quasi-public type of thing?  That is: a get-together.  I always assume that no one reads this blog and I know for fact that, in person, I’m rather meek and unimpressive.  Whatever the case, if on that Friday (November 6th) you see a guy wandering around Ohio State’s campus nostalgic for day’s past and simpler times, that would be me.

So You’re Telling Me Then Terrelle Pryor Is A Heisman Candidate…

Buckeye fans are upset with Pryor’s overall performance this season.  It’s not as much that he isn’t putting up Nintendo numbers, but more that there’s real fears he’s regressed, not learning from his growing pains and so forth.  He had a very good performance against Minnesota, evidenced in how assertively he played and his aggregate numbers.  We hope to see him continue to get better, starting with New Mexico State this weekend, Penn State the next, Iowa and Michigan to conclude the regular season and against whoever we play in a bowl game.  The manner by which this has been phrased obviously leads to the conclusion that Heisman hopes for Pryor this season were premature, as was his Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award in the preseason.

Then I noticed a tweet, re-tweeted by friend of the program WSAS, on Pryor’s Heisman numbers vis-a-vis another quarterback. Guess who’s who:

• Rushing: 66.6 y/g; 6 TDs | Passing: 63.6% completion; 166 y/g; 8 TDs
• Rushing: 58.9 y/g; 5 TDs | Passing: 55.4% completion; 176 y/g; 12 TDs

The first set of stats belongs to Tim Tebow; the second to Terrelle Pryor.  The clearest distinction is in the passing game, but remember the nature of Florida’s offense this year.  They’re a ball-control offense that relies on short passes (screen-draw options especially) because they don’t have the speed demons they had last year to stretch the field vertically.  Both Tebow and Pryor have had their fair share of boners.  Pryor’s mistakes were huge differences in the losses to USC and Purdue.  Meanwhile, Tim Tebow was a one-man offense for Mississippi State on Saturday.  He accounted for 13 of their 19 total points that game.

I guess the good news for Terrelle is that he’s still a Heisman candidate.

Speaking of Which…

I feel for Adam Rittenberg as I think we might be kindred spirits.  We’re both Californians and adopted Midwesterners.  While I have an allegiance to a university; he lovingly covers the conference much maligned for my university’s pitfalls in big games.  It’s probably a burden for him; I at least know it’s difficult for me.

Getting on track, Rittenberg decided that it was high time the Great White Hope of college football got called out, noting the difference in behavior between Tebow and Pryor this season.

“[The Purdue loss and fallout] opened me up to the world and opened me up to myself and who I am as a person, and us as a team,” Pryor said. “Maybe that was the best thing that happened to us. Maybe we’ll learn from it.”

(I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that Pryor didn’t shy away from the media like Tim Tebow did after a poor performance Saturday in a win (!) over Mississippi State. Pryor has received much more criticism in a year and a half than Tebow has in three-and-a-half seasons, but Pryor never dodged reporters after a game, no matter how poorly he played.)

I enjoy Adam’s coverage of Big Ten football.  It’s why I’ll miss him greatly after he’s stoned to death for his heresy.

Award Winners for the Minnesota Game

Here.

Thaddeus Gibson, with a career-best three sacks, is the defensive player of the week. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who rushed for 104 yards and passed for 239, is the offensive player of the week. Etienne Sabino, with two key tackles, is the player of the week on the special units.

Jim Cordle was named as the Jim Parker lineman of the week. Doug Worthington received the Attack Force award on defense. The Jack Tatum big hit of the week has not been decided.

Players of the week on the scout teams: Ricky Crawford (offense); Nate Ebner (defense); K.C. Christian (special units).

Thaddeus Gibson also shares Big Ten defensive player of the week honors with Adrian Clayborn, that monster of a defensive end for Iowa.