About the All-Big Ten Honors

You see this guy?



His name is Denard Robinson, as I'm sure you are all well aware of. He was one of the most dynamic, electric players in college football this year, becoming the first quarterback in NCAA history to run and throw for more than 1,500 yards in one season. He led the Big Ten with 136.9 rushing yards per game, good for 4th in the nation, shattered Antwaan Randle El's previous rushing record by a Big Ten quarterback of 1,270 by finishing with 1,643 yards. He was in the top 20 in the country with a pass efficiency rating of 152.9, completing 62 percent of his passes for 2,316 yard. And he scored 30 total touchdowns, running for 14 and passes for another 16. Rightfully, Denard Robinson was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.

That's not the news here. No, the news is that despite being by far the best offensive player in the conference and one of the most terrorizing quarterbacks in the nation, despite being named the Offensive Player of the Year, Denard Robinson was somehow not named the First or Second Team All-Conference QB. What? How is that even possible? How can you be the best offensive player in the conference, and play quarterback, but not be the best quarterback in the conference? It makes no sense. None at all. But take a look at the All-Conference First and Second Teams. Denard Robinson, the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, is nowhere to be found. Northwestern's Dan Persa was named the first team QB, with Wisconsin's Scott Tolzien as the second team signal caller.

Don't get me wrong, Persa had a great year for the Wildcats, and Tolzien helped lead the Badgers to a share of the Big Ten title, but there isn't a chance in hell anyone in the Big Ten would rather have either one of those guys as their quarterback over Denard Robinson. Denard should have been named first team QB, with Persa as second team. No question about it. It doesn't make a lick of sense that the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year only gets Honorable Mention on the All-Conference team, especially when he was far and away the most dangerous quarterback in the conference.





I really need someone to explain this to me. Then again, I could use an explanation on the Penn Staters that were named to the team.

For starters, I have a really, really hard time believing that Stefen Wisniewski was one of the two best guards in the Big Ten this season.



Two years ago, sure. He was awesome as a sophomore. He really was. Then last season he moved to center out of necessity and struggled early on, becoming adequate as the year progressed. This year, back at guard from the very beginning, he was as much a part of the problems Penn State had on its offensive line as anyone. He was missing blocks, slow on pulling, overall struggling like the rest of the line. Yes, he stabilized as the season wore on, and he's by no means a terrible player, but if Stefen Wisniewski was named Stefen Jones, there's no way in hell he'd be named First Team All-Big Ten. None. He's just not at that level. He had some truly horrid games this season, some really good ones, but lacked the consistency needed, in my opinion, to make first team. Honestly, I would have him at Honorable Mention at best. Because his last name invokes memories of his All-Pro uncle, he gets more praise than he deserves. Like I said, I don't think Wisniewski is a bad player, but I do think he's perhaps the most overrated Penn State offensive lineman of my lifetime.

As for the Penn Staters named to the second team, with all due respect to Evan Royster and Ollie Ogbu, I don't think either player deserved it. Royster had such a slow start to his season that it's hard for me to take him making the all-conference team seriously. I guess it's more of a lifetime achievement award, being so tremendous for four seasons and becoming the all-time leading rusher in Penn State history. I don't have a huge problem with Royster being named to the second team, because he did get stronger as the year wore on and showed he could still have a huge impact, but his whole year was fairly underwhelming.

As for Ogbu, I just don't think he consistently made enough of an impact to warrant selection, though that may not have been his fault. Ogbu was definitely Penn State's best defensive tackle, and he received very little help from his linemates all season. Devon Still had some good games, but didn't have a season to write home about. Jack Crawford was MIA. Ditto any other defensive end not named Pete Massaro. So Ogbu was left to do it by his lonesome much of the time, and was forced to play a lot of snaps. I like the guy and think he's a great player. I was just surprised he was named to the second team.

The funny thing to me is that while Wisniewski was named first team and Royster named second team, Penn State's best and most consistent offensive player all year didn't make the cut. That would be Derek Moye, who had an absolutely tremendous season as the Nittany Lions' leading receiver, finishing among the Big Ten leaders in receiving yards, yards per catch and touchdowns.



If any Penn Stater deserved to be named to the All-Big Ten team, it was Moye. It's a shame the voters didn't feel the same way. Second team seems much more appropriate for Moye than Honorable Mention. Though I will admit, it would be tough to remove the four receivers selected: Tandon Doss of Indiana, Dane Sanzenbacher of Ohio State, and Marvn McNutt and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos of Iowa.

Also, Quinn Barham and Chris Colasanti don't deserve to be anywhere near honorable mention. D'Anton Lynn, who also was named, certainly belongs there.

As for the other big winners, Mark Dantonio was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, and you will hear no arguments from me there. No one expected Michigan State to contend with Ohio State and Wisconsin, yet here they are as co-Big Ten Champs with those two schools.

Ryan Kerrigan of Purdue was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year because he was the Big Ten's best defensive player, much like Jared Odrick was last season. And Wisconsin had the Offensive Lineman of the Year in Gabe Carimi, who is the biggest beast on that beastly Wisconsin o-line, and the Freshman of the Year in running back James White, who was tremendous spelling John Clay. Can't argue with any of those either.

Interestingly, Terrelle Pryor, the man Ohio State fans keep touting as a Heisman candidate before every season despite never really putting up Heisman numbers, was also left off of the first and second teams, joining list of honorable mentions.

A Bolden Statement

Robert Bolden didn't just make history on Saturday. No, he did much, much more than that. Yes, it was against Youngstown State, and yes, it was just one game, but Robert Bolden looked a whole lot more like a fifth-year senior than an 18-year-old true freshman in his collegiate debut.



The numbers are impressive enough: 20-29 (69 percent completion percentage) for 239 yards and two touchdowns, along with a pick, in Penn State's 44-14 victory. But the way he amassed those numbers was even more impressive for a player who three months ago was still in high school. He went through his progressions. He threw the ball before his receivers made their breaks. He was accurate, smart, decisive. From the opening snap until his final play, Robert Bolden looked like he was in complete command of the offense, of the game.

A lot of that can be attributed to the offensive line doing a tremendous job protecting him. Bolden had all day to throw the ball, wasn't sacked a single time and rarely even felt any pressure. But, it's not as if Bolden had the luxury of a dominant run game to soften up the defense. Because as good as the offensive line was in pass blocking on Saturday, they were equally as bad run blocking … against an undersized and presumably overmatched Youngstown State. That does not bode well for next week against Alabama, even without Marcell Dareus. Evan Royster managed just 40 yards on 11 carries. Stephfon Green just 32 yards on six carries. Though Silas Redd displayed his incredible talent on his three carries, gaining 20 yards on an electrifying array of jukes and speed.



Beyond that, and some impressive late runs by Kevin Newsome, the game was largely in the hands of Bolden on the offensive end. And he didn't disappoint. Even his interception wasn't his fault, at least not completely. He did stare down his receiver, Derek Moye, but he was throwing a timing pattern to a spot when Moye fell down. Hard to put all the blame on the QB when the receiver falls down.

With the offense relying almost exclusively on the passing game, it wasn't Moye or Graham Zug or Chaz Powell or Justin Brown that Bolden entrusted his throws to. No, the true freshman spent most of the day relying on the fifth-year senior captain Brett Brackett, a player who was all but invisible last season. So what does he do to start of 2010? How about career highs in catches, yards and touchdowns, as in 8 catches for 98 yards and two scores? Not a bad way to validate your captaincy.



It became pretty evident early on that Bolden felt most comfortable looking to the senior. Brackett did nothing to hurt that trust, and we may have ourselves a surprising combination coming to fruition this season. So many teams have to game-plan for Moye and Zug and the young talent behind them that Brackett may often get lost in the shuffle. Add to that the fact he lined up in a spot largely reserved for the tight end traditionally, and Brackett could create some match-up problems. Again, it was just one game, and a game against Youngstown State at that, but it was pretty cool to see the rapport between Bolden and Brackett.

Not that it was all roses for Penn State. They actually came out flat and fell behind 7-3 to Youngstown State thanks to one 80-yard play.



Some people say it was Chris Colasanti's fault. In real time, I thought it was Nate Stupar "not fighting through his pick (on a well-executed block)," and upon further review still agree with my original assessment. It was Stupar getting sucked in and picked off, and then even worse, Derrick Thomas failing to keep contain on the outside, leaving nothing but open grass for Dominique Barnes. And it wasn't really until Chaz Powell's 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half that Penn State put the game away.

Still, it was the type of game you would expect out of the defense. Besides that one busted play, the Lions were fantastic. Chris Colasanti was hitting just about everything that moved, notching a ton of tackles and several excellent hits. Ollie Ogbu was the one true disruptive force on the defensive line, showing he's determined to try and fill some of the void left by Jared Odrick's departure. The linebackers came in waves, and they all played well. Colasanti, as I said, was very good. Stupar was flying to the ball, registering a sack. And Mike Mauti and Gerald Hodges each looked pretty good, specifically with Hodges making some big hits. Not to mention Bani Gbadyu looking more disciplined on the field. And the secondary was outstanding.

Youngstown completely stayed away from D'Anton Lynn. Stephon Morris continued to prove that his diminutive size doesn't hinder his tackling at all, often punishing receivers and flying up to make plays. And the safeties did a good job playing centerfield. The only real letdown for me defensively was the pass rush … specifically Jack Crawford. Crawford was pretty mucn M.I.A. in the game, so unnoticeable that I don't even remember the (awful) Big Ten Network announcers even mentioning his name. Though they did manage to mention several names that didn't even exist, which was fun.

The biggest surprise of all for me however was the newfound confidence of kicker Collin Wagner. Last year, Wagner was just 15-22 on field goal attempts, making just one kick over 40 yards the entire season, going an awful 1-5 on kicks from 40 yards or more. Hell, he missed two of his five field goal attempts between 30 and 40 yards last season. Which is to say, he sucked. Badly. And the team, and myself, had absolutely no confidence whatsoever that he could make a field goal over 40 yards. That's not good. At all.



Well clearly Collin Wagner decided his 2009 was nowhere near good enough and went to work this offseason. Because not only was Wagner 3-for-3 on field goals Saturday, but all three were over 40 yards. On his first attempt, he nailed a 44-yarder. Then, he stunned Penn State fans everywhere by not only making a 49-yard field goal, but making it with ease. And he finished his three-point performance with another long one, this time from 48 yards. It was incredibly impressive.

Wagner wasn't just clearing the crossbar on those attempts either. On all three, he had plenty of leg, and plenty of accuracy. Every one of those kicks would have been good from another 5-8 yards back, including the 49-yarder. To say I was impressed, and incredibly surprised, by his performance would be the understatement of all understatements. It's always nice to see a player work his tail off to improve and come back as a new man, and if Saturday's game is any indication, Collin Wagner is a brand new kicker. And a good one at that.

That fits right in with the quarterback position. Because the brand new quarterback sure looked good on Saturday. We'll really see what he's made of this weekend, facing a see of crimson in Tuscaloosa under the bright lights of prime time. No doubt, Robert Bolden will be looking to make another statement come Saturday. No matter the outcome, he already has.

So Bad It's Tiring

For those of you looking for some Phillies commentary, this won't be it. I spent my Friday night traveling out west to State College with silver fox and then getting entirely too drunk, followed by the Penn State-Temple game Saturday and football all day yesterday. All I saw was the rain-delayed game from yesterday, and I really have nothing to add to that outing. This weekend was all football all the time.

We'll start with Saturday, which was easily the worst 31-6 victory in the history of 31-6 victories. No question. I should have known the day was not going to go well. For starters, we had stayed out entirely too late on Friday night, meeting up with first my roommate and then my sister and some of her friends. Then, when we returned to my cousin's apartment, NHL Network was replaying the Flyers-Maple Leafs 2004 playoff series, so of course, in our drunken state, we had to watch, sleeping be damned.



By the time we got to sleep, it was past 4 a.m. …  and Saturday's game started at noon. God I hate noon games. Up before 8 a.m., we were running on no sleep but surprisingly feeling good. Must be something about that central PA air. We met up with some family who traveled out to the game for a mild tailgate before heading in for the kickoff about 20 minutes prior to game time.

For a short while, I thought perhaps we'd be awarded the pleasure of being without brokeback. Ten minutes before game time, still no sight of them. Five minutes, their seats two rows in front of us still empty. I was beginning to get excited. But of course I couldn't be that lucky. Literally a minute before kickoff, the ambiguously gay duo showed up.



Great. And that was just the beginning. No matter what any Penn State apologist might tell you, the No. 5 Nittany Lions played like complete dog shit on Saturday. And it started with the playcalling. For the first time all season, Penn State was having tremendous success running the football. The young offensive line was blowing the Owls off the ball on run plays, and Evan Royster was being his usual self, setting up his blockers and getting big chunks of yards.

Conversely, Penn State was struggling mightily in pass protection. Each time Daryll Clark dropped back to throw, he was getting decked. Temple clearly has some good athletes on the defense and some speed on that side of the ball, but size-wise the Owls couldn't compare. Thus, Penn State was dominating on the ground, averaging over 5 yards a clip, led by Evan Royster, who rushed for 134 yards on 19 carries along with a touchdown and who was head and shoulders the best player on the field Saturday.



Despite that, Penn State kept calling passing plays early and often in the first half, and Clark kept getting plastered by the Temple defense. I honestly didn't think Clark was going to make it out alive. Eventually, when the game was well in hand, Penn State started running more, but the excessive pass plays early on against an inferior opponent did nothing but put unnecessary hits on Clark.

And the passing game just wasn't clicking. With the offensive line struggling in pass protection, Clark was horrible throwing the football. He struggled to hit receivers all game long, routinely underthrowing his long ball and overthrowing open receivers on the short passes. All in all, it was a bad day for the senior quarterback and the passing attack. In fact, the only receiver who did anything was Andrew Quarless, who showed why he keeps getting chances despite his issues on and off the field. Hopefully Quarless can keep it up and make good on all his potential this season.

Defensively, the Lions looked good again against a terrible offensive team. The defensive line has the potential to be one of the best in the country. Jared Odrick is a bona fide All-American candidate and the best player on that defense. Ollie Ogbu had a tremendous game, and Jack Crawford simply looks like a stud. Then there are the linebackers, who have been excellent all season … and that's without Navorro Bowman. Sean Lee is absolutely 100 percent back. He looks bigger and faster than ever, and he's making his mark once again. And as much as I hate Josh Hull, and I absolutely do, the guy has now had back-to-back good games. It pains me to write that.

While the defense dominated and the offense did enough to get a big win, it was a sloppy game. Penn State allowed Temple to recover a pop-up onside kick, and they let the Owls stay in the game entirely too long. There weren't a ton of highlights, but you can check out the few that occurred here:



After the game, silver fox and I headed to Hooters for the sights and sounds. We watched Washington somehow upset USC — the same Washington that won 0 games last season. That was pretty sweet. Then we debated staying in State College and going out or heading back home to get some sleep. Considering we both almost fell asleep numerous times throughout the later games, we opted to head back to Philadelphia to enjoy the NFL in our homes on Sunday.

As far as the Eagles game is concerned, well, it was not their best performance. Once again, the Birds let their opponents come out and march down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive. Last week, it was a 70-yard drive by the Panthers. Yesterday, it was Drew Brees leading the Saints 74 yards on 8 plays to go up 7-0. Not good.

However, my mood quickly reversed when Kevin Kolb, in his first start in the NFL, hooked up with DeSean Jackson on a 71-yard strike. Mid-play, my doorbell rang with my pizza, as I was yelling, "FUCK YEAH, DESEAN! FUCK YEAH!" Once the play was over, I answered the door, and the delivery guy, wearing a throwback Randall Cunningham jersey, asked me what happened. He was pissed that it happened as soon as he got out of the car, but thankful for my telling him what had just occurred.



Sadly, the game would not continue on in a positive manner. Brees, who has become a great quarterback over the past few seasons, shredded the Eagles defense for 311 yards and three touchdowns. With the exception of Akeem Jordan's athletic interception, Brees was flawless, connecting on 73.5 percent of his passes. But for a while, the Eagles were right in this thing.

For as awful as Kevin Kolb was last season in his relief appearance against Baltimore, the Texan looked poised and polished in the first half yesterday. Right after Brees led the Saints on that opening touchdown drive, he hit DeSean to tie the game. Then, after Eagles surrendered a field goal, he answered again with a 15-play, 68 yards drive that stalled at the three. Kolb did almost throw an interception on the final play of that drive, and a touchdown would have been nice, but he got the team in position to tie it with a field goal, which David Akers did.

However, the game turned on a boneheaded play. With the game tied 10-10, the Saints faced a 3rd-and-24 at their own 16. It looked as though the Eagles were primed to get good field position with a chance to take the lead before the first 30 minutes came to a close. Then they gave up a 22-yard play on third down, moving the ball out, meaning the field position wouldn't be quite as good as expected. The defense still did the job and forced New Orleans to punt with 1:43 left in the half. And that's when things went wrong. For some unknown reason, DeSean Jackson decided to field said punt inside the 5-yard line. Every retard this side of Pittsburgh knows you rarely should ever even field a punt inside the 10, let alone the 5. The rule as far as fielding punts inside the 5 is pretty simple: NEVER FUCKING DO IT. EVER. FUCK. Why is DeSean Jackson so insanely stupid?



But no, DeSean decided to put his stupid hat on yet again and field it. Yes, he had a nice return, but there was not one but two block in the back penalties, resulting in the Eagles starting with the ball on their own 3 with 1:40 left. Speaking of penalties, what the hell is going on with the special teams? On almost every return or kick, it seemed like the Eagles were being flagged for something or other. That's not a good trend, and it definitely hurt them yesterday, not the least of which included those blocks in the back on that final Saints punt in the first half.

After two runs, the Saints used their final two timeouts, leaving a 3rd-and-5 at their own 8 with 1:33 left. Instead of running the ball and bringing the clock way, way down, the Eagles threw an incomplete pass to stop the clock, then punted. I wasn't happy with calling a pass, but to be fair, the play was there. All Kolb had to do was hit his receiver and the Eagles would have had a first down. Then they could have decided whether or not to go into half tied 10-10 or try to score to take the lead. Instead, Kolb threw way behind, failing to convert.

The Saints got the ball at their 46 and two plays later were in the end zone. 17-10 New Orleans. Instead of having a chance to go up 17-10 or 13-10 to close out the half, the Eagles let the Saints take the lead. Kolb did do a nice job getting the Eagles into field goal range before the half was over, cutting it to 17-13, but that's where the game changed forever. The Saints had all the momentum and never looked back. They scored 17 points in the third quarter and 14 more in the 4th, blowing out the Eagles.

Sean McDermott couldn't figure out any way to get pressure on Drew Brees, and the birthmarked one picked apart the Eagles with ease. There were Saints running free routinely, and Brees never felt hurried or rushed.

Offensively, the Eagles broke out the wildcat left and right in the first half, which seemed to work well, but when push came to shove, the offense couldn't keep pace with the Saints. Make no mistake, it was the defense that lost this game, but the second-half turnovers didn't help. Kolb was up and down, looking very good in the first half and not so much in the second. But then again, when you're one-dimensional due to a large deficit, you're much easier to defend.

My overall feeling of the game is that Kolb certainly didn't lose the game for Philadelphia and instilled a lot more confidence as the backup than he did prior to yesterday. However, for any moron who thinks the Eagles are better off without Donovan McNabb, yesterday made it abundantly clear that McNabb is a far superior quarterback than Kevin Kolb will ever be. Yes, the 391 yards and two touchdowns look nice, but Kolb threw three picks to a Saints defense that isn't very good. Hell, the Lions scored more points against New Orleans in week 1 than the Eagles did yesterday.

Really, it's hard to find any true positives in a 48-22 loss. Brent Celek had a nice game, but his damage was done while trailing. The defense looked awful, getting no pressure and leaving players wide open. Asante Samuel routinely got burned by Devery Henderson, and for some reason the Eagles insisted on playing Joselio Hanson on Marques Colston. That did not turn out well. Oh, and the Eagles linebackers stink. A lot. They can't cover or even tackle all that well, and Jeremy Shockey had himself a good game because, as I just said, the linebackers can't cover. It was just one game against an elite offense with a terrifyingly good quarterback, so maybe you shouldn't read too much into the defense's performance, but it is clear that Sean McDermott has his work cut out for him. Let's hope he's up for the task.

And please, Donny, get well soon. I need some sleep.