THE BIG TEN YEAR IN REVIEW

The regular Big Ten Season ended and while there are few Big Ten teams playing in mostly meaningless games. It's time to take a look back, give some well deserved awards  and evaluate each team according to their performance and pre season predictions;

1. GAME OF THE YEAR:  Ohio State over IA in overtime. Not only did this game determine the Rose Bowl participant, but came near the end of the season and was an exciting over time game. Adding to the drama of this game was that IA's starting QB, Stanzi was injured the week before and Freshmen Vandebergh played a great game. OSU did what it had to do to win, but Iowa played valliantly taking entertained fans and nail biting Hawkeye and Buckey die hards into overtime!

2.  COACH OF THE YEAR:  With out a doubt, Kirk Ferentz of Iowa. His team beat OOC opponents, IA ST. and AZ, then went 9-0 and amazingly did it with key injuries. Many of his victories were on the road against finer Big Ten opponents WI, MSU, and in a white out night game at Happy Valley against PSU.  Most impressively, losing his starting QB, went into Columbus and nearly beat a surging OSU squad with a terrific game plan and heroic effort starting a FR QB!  Year in and year out he gets the most out of his talent and the future looks bright. No wonder why NFL teams covet him as their next head coach.

3. PLAY OF THE YEAR: There are all sorts of entries for this;  A heart stopping 4th down end of the game TD pass by Iowa QB, Stanzi in East Lansing.  Iowa's 4th quarter Kick Off return to put them back into the title game in Columbus, Pryor's TD pass to Posey in Happy Valley to put OSU up by 10, etc..  However, one must simply look to the biggest Big Ten game of the year and the winner as that would be the play that matters the most. Many might say the OT winning FG, but it would be the key 3rd down sack by OSU's DL. That sack forced Vandebergh into the Hail Mary pass and just about sealed OSU's win with a 42 yard or less Field Goal when OSU got its first offensive possession in OT!

4. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  Would it come from the most outstanding D in the Big Ten, OSU's DLmen like Gibson or Heyward?  Would it come from PSU with some of their outstanding stats? Or what about MSU's playmaker Jackson?  Or IA's consistent LB Angerer?  How about The Badgers outstanding DLmen Schoffield?  The Defensive player of the year is Michigan's GRAHAM! He made huge plays all year in a rather weak defense that many offenses targeted.  Against OSU, he had four tackles for a loss and in this key rivalry game when OSU was 1st and goal at the two smashed Saine for a loss and ran down Pryor to make it 3rd and 11.  Watch for him to go first from the Big Ten in next year's NFL draft.

5. OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  It can't come from OSU as their offense struggled early in the Conference slate as there were no real outstanding players.  It wasn't IL's Juice Williams who is inconsistent and makes too may errors.  MI's Forcier has talent, but needs experience from avoiding mistakes.  PSU's Clark has real upside, but in games when it counted the most, he looked very mediocre, limited in yardage and throwing huge picks.  CLAY from WI is the offensive player of the year. His stats are right there, and he forced defenses to adjust their game plan and still had significant success.  Bet that all Big Ten opponents are hoping that he declares for the NFL draft as he is a load.

6. CONFERENCE UPSET OF THE YEAR:  A close second would be NW over IA.  Not only did NW knock out Stanzi, but shocked the Big Ten shutting down IA in the 2nd half in Iowa City. However, IA had been living dangerously the whole year and had plenty of wake up calls and the close game loss finally came. The Big Ten Upset of the year would be Purdue over OSU.  With their poor record and loss to Northern Illinois, many saw this as a cake walk for Ohio State.  Coaches, players and CFB analysts saw this as a game for The Buckeye's struggling offense to improve and get healthy.  Instead Pryor had numerous costly turnovers, Purdue built a huge 23-7 win and held off a stunned Ohio State team. The loss knocked them from national title contention and lead many to write them off for any chance of a 5th straight Big Ten title.  Purdue played a smart offensive game hitting short passes, knocked Pryor and The Buckeye's offensive line around and made key field goals to put more pressure on the struggling Ohio State offense and seal the celebration in West Lafayette!

6 TEAM GRADES:  Based on performance and pre season predictions.

A:  Iowa; key OOC wins, huge road wins at WI, PSU, MSU, as odd as it sounds struggled at home but most of the time came away with 'W's'.   Most impressively was The Hawkeye's ability to nearly beat OSU in Columbus for a coveted Rose Bowl trip with their starting QB out pushing OSU into overtime with a Freshman QB.  They get an A for scheduling decent OOC opponents, beating PSU/WI by 10 or more on the road and winning with key injuries, many believe that they may get a BCS bid, which they deserve.

B+: Ohio State: While many might wonder why not an A, simply because OSU had a shot to make it an undefeated season and lost two games they should have easily won.  The most talented team in the Big Ten struggled offensively earlier in the season watching their top recruit Sophomore QB Pryor struggle and viewed as America's most over rated player. However, OSU did rebound, winning their last five, beating and stunned PSU at home and rushing for over 200+ yards in their final 5 games. Their D was outstanding the whole year, and Pryor improved greatly mostly with his decisions

B:  Northwestern:  NW turned the year around hanging around with PSU until the Lions pulled away in the fourth quarter.  They then stunned IA THERE and went on to beat in state rival IL, and beat a decent WI team in a thriller.  NW plays exciting spread offensive ball and deserves a better bowl.

C:  Penn State: That might seem low, but this is an under achieving team that lost to the only two decent opponents its played and both games were at home. Iowa and Ohio State soundly beat Penn State by 10 pts. or more.  Penn State appears to have decent stats on both sides of the ball, but honestly, which team couldn't do the same with a cup cake schedule of the likes of IL, Eastern IL, Temple, Akron, Syracuse, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota and the like.  Yes, they did have an impressive win at MSU, but this is the same .500 MSU team that lost to MAC Central Michigan and the struggling ND. 

C-: Wisconsin: This might seem odd considering that WI was banging on the door for a 10 win season and talking about a BCS Bowl birth.  The reality is that Beliema has NOT won a significant game since arriving at the helm in Madison. WI lost to OSU 31-13, IA by 10 at home then got beat by NW.  Their OOC schedule is a diet of light weights.  Wisconsin needs to begin beating some decent Big Ten teams and scheduling competent OOC opponents, and no Fresno State is not one of them.

C-:  Michigan State: Many believed that this was the year that Sparty could challenge for The Big Ten Crown.  Their schedule dodged OSU, instead MSU stumbled out of the gate losing to Central Michigan and Notre Dame.  MSU got somewhat on track beating a struggling MI team. MSU lost on the road to Minnesota and struggled to hang around the .500 mark. The recent pasting by PSU at home shows how much further this team has to go to sniff the top of the Big Ten.

C-:  Purdue:  Purdue beat Indiana convingly and at times played extremely well.  Just ask Ohio State and possible PAC 10 champ Oregon how good Purdue can be when they play to their potential.  However, losses to Northern Illinois, not being able to beat Michigan State, and their losing record shows that they still have a way to go, but are on the right road.

D+  Indiana: Yes, they finished at the bottom of the Big Ten, but ask any conference school about their game verses the Hoosiers.  This team had large leads in Happy Valley, Iowa City, Ann Arbor, hung around with Wisconsin and played exciting ball all to watch large leads slip away and gum get thrown out by Lynch.  A controversial call in Ann Arbor helped seal a close loss to The Wolverines.

D:  Minnesota:  Yes, they have a few wins, beat Syracuse in a close game and beat the same MSU team that nearly knocked off Iowa. However, this team got pounded by the elites;  OSU, PSU, shut out by IA, and needed defensive key plays to get by...The Jack Rabbits of South Dakota State.  Yes, they broke in a beautiful key stadium, hung around with CA, but need to begin winning games.

F:  Illinois:  Their only win during the first two months came from D I AA class Illinois State. This was to be an exciting, explosive offense lead by "Juice" Williams, instead one got inconsitent play and a rash of losses.  Yes, they did respond with late season wins over Michigan and Minn. but this was truly the under achieving team of the year. The surprising OOC blow out by a down Missouri in their opening game revealed much of The Illini's misery and there was rumor that Zook would get canned.

F:  Michigan: Coming off a promising 4-0 start with an exciting victory over Notre Dame, Michigan's only win during the last two months came over Deleware State. Game after Game MI was out classed and beat by all but one Big Ten team.  The Wolverines even got blown out by the lowly Illini.  A valliant closing game against their rivals Ohio State came up short meaning MI's first back to back losing seasons in nearly 45 years. Once again The Wolverines are sitting at home and their once strong defense is only a shadow of the past. Many CFB fans are wondering if MI will be searching for a new head coach as Rodriguez's seat is HOT!   

It was an exciting year for The Big Ten, lets see how they fare during the upcoming Bowl Season!