Some Buckeye love in the Windy City
Right: Terrelle Pryor, shown here throwing a pass in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl vs. Texas, was named the Preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year by the media.
(AP Photo)
Earlier this morning, the Big Ten announced that Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and the Buckeyes were tabbed to win the conference, as voted by a panel of media members.
Penn State, which defeated Ohio State 13-6 last year in Columbus and had to share the Big Ten title with the Buckeyes after losing to Iowa and finished the league portion of the slate at 7-1, was picked second.
In 2008, Michigan State was blown out by both Ohio State and Penn State, and finished third in the Big Ten with a record of 6-2, 9-4 overall, and was tabbed by the media to finish this season like they did a year ago, third.
The Spartans return 15 starters from a year ago, including eight on defense, led by linebacker Greg Jones, who was named the Big Ten Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
While the Buckeyes are searching for their fifth-straight conference crown, the road to the Big Ten title has to go through Happy Valley. I did find it a tad surprising that the media picked the Buckeyes, even though OSU does have more returning starters back from a year ago, and on paper, they appear to have more talent.
Ohio State returns 12 starters from the 2008 team that went 10-3 overall, including Pryor, the Big Ten’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while Penn State welcomes back nine starters from last season’s squad.
I guess what I find more surprising is that Pryor was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. That honor usually goes to a more experience player, and thought it would either come down to Penn State’s Daryll Clark or Illinois’ Juice Williams, who are both seniors.
Sure, Pryor was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year and led the Big Ten with a pass efficiency rating of 151.3 in conference games, making him the first freshman to top the conference in the category since the stat was introduced in 1980, while winning eight of the nine conference games he started, but his total statistics were far less than the more experienced quarterbacks like Clark and Williams.
Needless to say, though, that I think by season’s end, Pryor is going to put up huge numbers in 2009. Or at least I hope so.
