An Ohio State quarterback is the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row.
Following in the footsteps of Dwayne Haskins last season, Justin Fields was named both the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and the Big Ten Quarterback of the Year by the conference on Wednesday.
Justin Fields of @OhioStateFB named 2019 #B1GFootball Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year. pic.twitter.com/muMN3cZlh9
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) December 4, 2019
Like Haskins, Fields sweeps the awards in his first year as Ohio State's starting quarterback after putting together a spectacular regular season. So far this year, Fields has completed 189 of his 277 passing attempts (68.2 percent) for 2,654 yards and 37 touchdowns with just one interception while also running for 470 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Fields is the only quarterback in the Football Bowl Subdivision this year who has thrown at least 200 passes and one interception or less, while his 47 total touchdowns are tied with LSU's Joe Burrow for the second-most in the nation, behind only Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has 49. He needs just seven more touchdowns this season to match Haskins' Big Ten single-season record of 54 total touchdowns, set last year.
He's posted those numbers all the while leading Ohio State to wins in all 12 of its games and playing only four full quarters in two of those games, as most of the Buckeyes' victories have come in lopsided fashion.
Fields is also one of three finalists (with Burrow and Hurts) for the Davey O'Brien Award, which honors college football's best quarterback, and is one of three candidates from Ohio State, along with J.K. Dobbins and Chase Young, to potentially earn an invitation to next week's Heisman Trophy ceremony.
Young was named Tuesday as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, marking the first time since 2012 – when Braxton Miller was Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and John Simon was Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year – that one school has swept both awards.
Ohio State has now had the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in five of the last eight years, as Miller also won the award in 2013 and Ezekiel Elliott won the award in 2015. Ohio State's quarterback has been the Big Ten Quarterback of the Year in seven of the last eight years: Miller in 2012 and 2013, J.T. Barrett in 2014, 2015 and 2017, Haskins in 2018 and now, Fields in 2019.
