You. Me. Fridays. Together again.
Pardon the dose of sentimental reminiscing that's about to go down, but it's nice to be your girl Friday again. It's hard to believe the changes that have happened in the sports world since the last time you woke up to me on a Friday morning.
First, and most importantly, Ohio State went from 6-7 to 12-0. USC went from a favorite for the national title to, well, a huge disappointment that resulted in the banning of Take Your Dad to Work Day on campus. Notre Dame managed to prove their delusions of grandeur would eventually pay off and got to stick it to Rick Reilly in the process. We got to see what Bobby Petrino looks like in a neck brace and insane road rash, and witness the return of John L. Smith to the spotlight... SMILE!
2012 HEISMAN CEREMONY. Speaking of the many changes that have occurred in 2012, this Saturday brings a Heisman ceremony that features just three finalists, a short list that includes a freshman and a purely defensive player, which would have been unheard of this time last year.
It will all be decided tomorrow night, as the show airs at 8pm ET on ESPN Saturday, but all signs post to Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M taking home the prestigious bronze stiffarm, which would make him the first freshman to do so. Currently, Bovada has the odds for Manziel at 1/15, Manti Te'o at 4/1, and Collin Klein at 25/1. Make of that what you will.
It would have been nice if five finalists were invited, and we would have gotten a chance to see Braxton Miller there... but, frankly, his season wasn't really Heisman worthy. That said, the glimpses of greatness he's shown should have Buckeye fans excited for what is to come in 2013.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE SILVER FOOTBALL. On the same note of Braxton Miller's greatness, Miller won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football last night, making him the 15th winner of the award in Ohio State's storied history. The Silver Football was a much more prominent award a few years ago — before the Big Ten made the decision to outsource its logo to an NYC based agency, came up with really fantastic division names, and started expanding to areas that make completely geographic sense — as this was also when the conference added individual awards with hyphenated names. Gotta love the Griese-Brees trophy!
The award is essentially a B1G MVP award, as voted on by the Big Ten coaches. Interesting, considering these same coaches didn't vote Braxton Miller on the Big Ten first-team offense. So, are you mad, bro?! Or not?!
The great news here for Buckeye fans isn't just the trophy itself, it's what it represents about the improvements that Braxton has made with time, and will likely only develop from here. Miller has always had a competitive drive in him, but the praise of his coaches, in terms of where they expect Braxton to be in the near future, has really been good news for Ohio State.
"He is not only an amazing athlete, we haven't had to do anything mechanically with his arm," said Coach Tom Herman. "The ball comes out so smooth and with a ton of velocity. With him being a true sophomore and winning this award, the sky is the limit."
MAN(TI) OF THE NIGHT. While the Heisman ceremony doesn't take place until tomorrow night, many college football players were declared award winners last night. No major surprises here, but some are definitely noteworthy.
Manti Te'o of Notre Dame has won six awards, including: the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Dick Butkus Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Bronco Nagurski Award, and the Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award. Try to say that five times fast.
In addition to the bevy of trophies that Manti will be hauling back to South Bend, Brian Kelly won the Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, and Tyler Eifert won the John Mackey Award for outstanding tight end. Not bad for a program that had to defend its relevance just in the last offseason.
Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to win the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award. Manziel beat out Kansas State QB Collin Klein and Braxton Miller for the award. He has a chance to become the first freshman to win the Heisman tomorrow night.
2013 looks goodA PLACE AT THE TABLE. Despite having put his playing days behind him years ago, apparently Mike Vrabel still gets pretty pumped for THE GAME... and even has a little Lattimer in him. Eleven Warriors' very own Derek tweeted, "Vrabel said he was so pumped up before Michigan game that his antics led to him splitting his head open."
As luck would have it, Mike's better half Jen saw the tweet and responded with photographic evidence, and an explanation.
Apparently Vrabel had gotten so pumped up, he headbutted a player... who was wearing a helmet. In case this wasn't already implied, Vrabel was obviously not wearing a helmet. Probably not the smartest move, but whatever ya gotta do to motivate, Mike!
WAIT, WHAT? I'll admit, I've always been a big believer that even if Ohio State had self-imposed a bowl ban for the 2011 season, it was highly likely that they still would've been required to sit out the postseason this year. It seemed the NCAA would have wanted to prove a point regardless.
What came across as odd, however, was Gordon Gee's comments on Wednesday that Ohio State would have faced a 2012 postseason ban anyway. "We were caught in the tsunami of all the things that were going on and we were the big fish on the line, and the NCAA was under great pressure to impose sanctions and my strong belief is … if we would have self imposed we still would've had a bowl ban," Gee told the Dispatch this week.
What's odd isn't so much that he believes that. I actually agree with him, but more because he went on to say, "The point is the fact is that the three major guys who were in charge at the NCAA worked for me. Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA, was my assistant for five years, he worked in Colorado with me. Ed Ray who was the head of the presidents' commission was with me for seven years at Ohio State and David Williams, who was the head of the infractions committee or the head of the appeals committee, worked for me for 15 years. So no one knows more about this than I do."
Hold on... if no one knows about this more than Gee, then why were Meyer and the rest of Buckeye Nation led to believe that a postseason ban wasn't coming? Seems Gee could've reached out to his former colleagues a bit sooner for some intel.
LINKS. LINKS. LINKS. Manti won the night, and stole the show... Auburn is excited to get this one back... Hey, Tennessee! This might help your search... SEE YA ON SPORTSCENTER, DEVIN... In case you missed this Jim Harbaugh gem... Time to celebrate!
