Silver Bullet Points Looks Ahead

No press conference this week, but we do have Tress’ thoughts from after The Game and so forth

Buckeye 411

• Award Winners- Congrats to the members of the Ohio State team who were honored with All Big Ten accolades by the conference’s coaches. The Buckeyes led the conference with ten winners, including first team Boom Herron, Mike Adams, Dane Sanzenbacher, Cam Heyward, Brian Rolle, Ross Homan, Chimdi Chekwa, and Jermale Hines. Second Team honors went to Justin Boren and Mike Brewster, with Honorable Mention given to Barclay, Pryor, Posey and Simon.
• Tress Talk- On Michigan

Michigan is among the elite programs and will be and their record will reflect that in the course of time but, you know, we all have our ups and downs in a period and so forth and it’s highly competitive. It’s going to become more competitive because we’re adding Nebraska. The world changed when we added Penn State. The world changes even more when we add Nebraska. The world changed when Dano (Dantonio) went over to Michigan State. There’s constantly changes, but Michigan will be back, we don’t have to worry about that.

• Game Award Winners – Terrelle Pryor was the Offensive Player of the Week, and former Wolverine Justin Boren earned Lineman of the Week honors. Jermale Hines won Defensive POTW, while Nathan Williams was the Attack Force POTW. Jordan Hall was singled out for his efforts on Special Teams, and Hines won the Tatum award for big hit (personally, I would have gone with Berry’s block on the KO return, but what do I know?)
• Not All Better, But A Start– Since Earle Bruce was fired, the Buckeyes are now 11-11-1 in The Game. You read that right, Tressel has now overcome the hole Coop dug for us. Here’s to seven more.
• Award Winners Continued- TP2 was only honorable mention, something that obviously did not meet his expectations.
• Tress Talk, The Sequel– Looking back at the season-

REPORTER: Jim, obviously you talk all the time about you want to get better over the course of a year. To be 11-1, where do you feel like this team is in achieving this goal and just how good of a team do you think you are at 11-1 at the end of the season?

COACH TRESSEL: Not good enough to be the outright Big Ten champions and automatic bid to the Rose Bowl and all those things that you shoot for, but we’re pretty fair, and I believe we’re a top ten football team and probably going to get to play a top ten football team and see if we’re allowed to stay in the top ten is what I would guess, but I think it goes beyond that.

Sometimes the ball bounces funny and you end up undefeated or you end up losing however many, and our guys just kept working and whatever came their way, they handled it and pressed on and handled adversity and handled success as it came. They need a little break and they need to take a deep breath and then they need to think about playing against one of the top teams in the nation wherever we play, whoever it is. We’ve had — really we’ve had 13 games in 2010. We played a pretty good Oregon team on the first day of the year, so it’s been a lot of fun.

• Bowling For… Signs point to a Sugar Bowl match up against either South Carolina (again!) or Arkansas (for the first time). We’ll keep you up to date on the details when things are announced on Saturday, but will offer this travel advice: When in N’awlins, 1) 11W speaks truth, 2) this guy does not.
• Let There Be Lights-Kicking and screaming, the Horseshoe is being dragged into the modern age.  Plus: Late night games equals more “socializing”. Minus: You know this has everything to do with television revenue…
• Tressel’s Komedy Klassic- Again, presented without commentary or context

But who cares what I think. See ya

TTUN

• Award Winners Continued, Continued- Interestingly enough, Denard Robinson was not a first or second team QB selection, but was given the nod as the Offensive Player of the Year for the Conference. So… best offensive player, but not a QB. Someone please send this note to Rodriguez.
• On This, We Can Agree- Yost over at MZone takes a look at the portion of their fanbase who seem convinced that any criticism of the current administration is a sign of “hater-ism”. Look, being a fan means being able to be critical of your favorite squadron in ways that are respectful of the hard work that the coaches and young adults are putting into it- It shouldn’t require blind loyalty. (This message brought to you by “Fans Who Survived John Cooper’s Administration)
• Also- The answer, obviously, ugly(er) uniforms.
• Smart, In This Economy- AD Dave “We’ve changed the cheese” Brandon has said numerous times that he’s not going to evaluate the coaching situation for the football squadron until the completion of the season (after the bowl! game!). While this may be perceived as a vote of confidence for Coach Rodriguez or as a moment of grace for him to put his best foot forward, it may actually be due more to fiscal wisdom on Brandon’s part. Fire RRod now, it costs 4 million. Wait until January, the cost drops to 2.5 million. I’m sure he’ll throw in some Cinna Stix, though…

Elsewheres

• Stay Classy- Following their loss to FSU, Gator players did a bit of redecorating in the visitor’s locker room. Wonder if we can get them to play at Iowa… Of course there are two perspectives to this story.
• Everyone’s A Critic- One of the reasons I never got to play DJ in college was my questionable taste in music (as, I’m sure, you’ve experienced). Sounds like the folks at Alabama have a similar experience, after firing the audio technician who played Steve Miller and Dusty Springfield prior to the Iron Bowl.  Actually, that’s pretty freaking funny stuff; although he should have remembered the solitary truth about music for SEC games.

• Take The Money and Run- TCU bolts for the Big lEast in all sports. It’s that Sade geography, where Chicago is on a coast… As our friend SBB said, “The Big lEast now has 30 basketball teams and 2.5 football teams.”
• Uh, Yeah… I’ve Got A Thing That Day– Interesting couple of days for Southern Idaho State fans. First, their kicker uncharacteristically cost them a shot at an undefeated season. Then, the other shoe dropped- their “Jeffersons Moment” was derailed as TCU bailed from the Mountain West. So, the Broncos’ hopes of credibility playing Utah, TCU, and BYU has all died to the PAC 12, Big East, and “being independent”. When folks would rather not be in a conference than play on the Smurf Turf, they’re really working hard to avoid the Boise Bullies.
• If You Ain’t Cheating, You Ain’t Trying– Even at Oregon, there were allegations of illegal benefits. No, I’m not referring to the weekly shipment from Uncle Phil’s Shoe Emporium…
• Longhorn Staff Meeting- From the Shaggy Bevo forums; envisioning Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s end of season “conversation” with offensive coordinator Greg Davis: