Good tidings, 11W readership. It's the final Wednesday of 20111, and we have reached the midway point between recovering from family get-togethers and gearing up for an inevitably disappointing New Year's Eve.
Chances are, it's been a stressful week. Someone under the age of 7 probably whined about not receiving a present he/she wanted. Someone over the age of 70 probably said something kinda racist. Most likely, there were arguments about politics, what movie to watch, and whether attending church service was a familial obligation or not. Basically, everything in this drinking game happened. The holidays!
Sports can be a welcome respite from all of that. The NFL playoffs are nearing. The NBA has returned. NHL something or another. But, of more relevance to this site, the Big Ten bowl season and Big Ten conference hoops action both began yesterday.
And in spite of the dysfunction, you gotta love that. Just like family.
SHAPE IT UP. For the Ohio State men's basketball team, the first B1G meeting is tonight versus Northwestern, who play such a painful style of BB, that it can only mean a blowout win or a frustrating nail-biter. As the Buckeyes prepare for the shot clock-loving Wildcats, a challenge Aaron Craft calls "a big concentration game", Jared Sullinger is still trying to get back into game shape.
Though healthier than he has been for a couple weeks, Sully missed a lot of practice time. He also has yet to play close to 40 minutes since the injuries started, as will be required during a conference season that should be as physical as usual2. Matta told reporters, "I think it's more just him getting his wind, getting his lift, getting back into the flow of things."
While Northwestern, with the league's leading scorers in John Shurna and Drew Crawford, will be an interesting test in their own right, we'll have a better idea of Sully's status on Saturday, when the team travels to Bloomington. On the topic of Indiana, they open Big Ten play tonight in a Top 25 matchup against Michigan State in East Lansing.
BEST OF THE BEST. This week, many sports writers have predicted how the Big Ten race will unfold, with Ohio State a unanimous choice for finishing on top and a team in the Penn State/Nebraska/Iowa shame trifecta rounding out the bottom. As CBS's Gary Parrish argued, spots 2-7 are more muddled. His reasoning:
The Big Ten has 67 percent of its members (or eight teams) ranked in the top 60 at CollegeRPI.com and 75 percent of its members (or nine teams) ranked in the top 60 at KenPom.com. No other league has more than 58 percent of its members in the top 60 at CollegeRPI.com or 63 percent of its members in the the top 60 at KenPom.com. Those facts suggest the Big Ten is the nation's most competitive league from top to bottom.
Mike DeCourcy from the Sporting News designated Ohio State as the clear favorite, on the assumption that Sullinger stays healthy. He named potential challengers to the championship in Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois. ESPN's Myron Medcalf is on the same wavelength, with the addition of Purdue. Medcalf also looked at how the season has progressed so far, referring to Sullinger as the player of the year and his high school teammate, Michigan's Trey Burke, as the freshman of the year up to this point.
In case you missed it in Buckshots yesterday, Bob Baptist ranked all 12 teams, picking Ohio State and Wisconsin to tie for first place. The Grand Rapids Press' David Mayo went with Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State as 1-2-3.
At least buy him dinner first, B1G opponents
YOU'RE GOING TO JACKSON(VILLE), GO COMB YOUR HAIR. Both Ohio State and Florida made it to Jacksonville yesterday. Though the Buckeyes won't practice until today, the Gators already held their first one at Jacksonville University. Ohio State's will take place at the University of North Florida.
Florida practiced without wide receiver Deonte Thompson (illness) and running back Jeff Demps, who should return today after dealing with a personal matter. Linebacker Lerentee McCray is listed as doubtful for the Gator Bowl due to a shoulder injury.
One player who would take the field in a full body cast if he had to is badass extraordinaire Ryan Shazier. Luckily, according to Doug Lesmerises, all he should need is a brace for the left knee he's rehabbing. Finally, in the last game of the year, he'll start at weakside linebacker next to Andrew Sweat, who will be sliding over to play middle linebacker.
A native Floridian, Shazier is familiar with the players he'll be lining up against, especially since he first committed to the Gators when Urban Meyer was still their head coach. After he retired took a one-year sabbatical from coaching, Shazier headed north to eventually meet his fate to one day be coached by Meyer3.
One interesting note from the article is that Shazier and his father own up to reading fans' opinions on the Internet, which shouldn't come as a shocker to anyone who has read some of Vernon Shazier's entertaining (and reassuring) tweets. I imagine there was a whole lot of awesome at that family Christmas dinner.
HOT AND READY TO FUMBLE. Kicking off what will clearly be a perfect 10-0 record for the Big Ten this postseason, Purdue held off Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Bowl. Granted it took two onside kicks in the first half, seven WMU turnovers, and a Raheem Moster 99-yard kickoff return TD for the 37-32 Boilermaker win. Still, it was a surprisingly captivating contest.
If any moment perfectly summed up the game it was this one: on 4th and 10, Bronco QB Alex Carder was sacked and lost the football, which was recovered by DE Ryan Russell, who scooped it up and then in turn fumbled, which Chris Colombe fell on to give WMU control of the ball once again, more than 30 yards behind where they had been, albeit with a first down.
With two minutes remaining, Western Michigan regained possession for a chance to take the lead, but in a game with ten total fumbles, seven of which were lost, Russell stripped Carder and DT Bruce Gaston recovered it to effectively close the door on the evening.
RB Akeem Shavers earned MVP honors, rushing for a personal-best 148 yards. The most impressive performance, though, was turned in by Bronco WR Jordan White, who recorded 13 catches for an incredible 265 yards and one score. He now owns the single-season and the career receiving yards records in the MAC conference.
HEADLINES. Bruce Feldman took a look back at his best and worst predictions of 2011. While he admitted that he was mistaken to pick Nebraska to win the Big Ten when they only finished third in the Legends Division4, Feldman claimed his most accurate prognostication was declaring that Michigan would return to the top 255. Coming in at #10 on that list was his guess from a year ago that Urban would become Ohio State's next coach.
Dan Wetzel reflected on the biggest sports stories of the past year, with the Penn State scandal tragically dwarfing everything else. Yahoo! voters chose that as the top story, followed by the Cardinals winning the World Series and then Tim Tebow, like in general, I guess. Everything in this paragraph is evidence that 2011 was the worst.
Speaking of Penn State, their prolonged coaching search is now targeting the NFL. Apparently, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak, who is in his first year with the team, is the top pick. Tom Clements, QB coach for the Green Bay Packers, is also on their radar and unlike Munchak, has publicly expressed interest in the job. If someone is finally hired for the job, he (or she!) probably won't be announced until after the TicketCity Bowl.
Punch-happy Curtis Drake is one of four players who will miss the game, and Matt McGloin, who suffered a concussion from that punch, may not be available, either. In that case, Rob Bolden would start at QB. Look what you've done, Drake.
EAT, LINK AND BE MERRY. A top recruit is headed to Indiana LSU... LaMichael James better stick to the Tea Cup ride (H/T Elika)... The Belk Bowl was dumb... A dish best served cold... The Best TV Character Deaths of 2011 (spoiler alert, obviously)... The 25 Most Powerful Songs of the Past 25 Years... Bring on 2012.
- 1 Good riddance.
- 2 Code for "Sullinger will be constantly fondled by opponents".
- 3 Urban to Shazier: "I'm your density."
- 4 And were a Braxton Miller sprained ankle away from losing to Ohio State, like we will ever forget that.
- 5 And were a Braxton Miller overthrow away from losing to Ohio State, like we will ever forget that.
