Good news, everyone!* The Big Ten announced its picks for the all-conference teams. Naturally, the offensive and defensive player of the year are both Terrelle Pryor. Okay, not true; he's not even honorable mention.
But there's plenty of actual good news. First, the devil media named Kirk Ferentz coach of the year, and here he is reminding them that they can go suck it and he hasn't forgiven them for the slights of the regular season.
Such language, Kirk!
As for the players, here's the link to the voting results. The media named Bryan Bulaga to the first team on offense, while the second team featured four of his friends from the line: Rafael Eubanks, Dace Richardson, Kyle Calloway, and Tony Moeaki.
On defense, the first team had a little more Iowa representation; Adrian Clayborn, Pat Angerer, and Tyler Sash all received their no-brainer merits. On the second team, Brett Greenwood and Amari Spievey. Iowa put eight players on the media's honorable mention team: Ryan Donahue, Broderick Binns, A.J. Edds, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Karl Klug, Daniel Murray, Adam Robinson, and Ricky Stanzi.
Not surprisingly, the coaches had a slightly higher opinion of the Hawkeyes; here's the link to their voting results. Bryan Bulaga was named their offensive lineman of the year(!!!), an award the media doesn't give out. Bulaga is joined on the first team by Moeaki and Richardson, both of which are worthy selections. Calloway and Eubanks didn't make the second team--not sure why on Calloway--but Derrell Johnson-Koulianos snuck in on a three-player tie for second-team WR.
On defense, the coaches agreed with the media in putting Sash, Clayborn, and Angerer on the first team roster. They also added Amari Spievey; as coaches, they're more likely to know that the reason Spievey didn't have a ton of picks wasn't that he's not good at football, but that there's just no hope in throwing at him; Spievey was a machine this season, and we're starting to lose hope that he's got more than one game left in an Iowa uniform. A.J. Edds is the lone Hawkeye on the defensive second team.
For honorable mention, it's as follows:Christian Ballard, Kyle Calloway, Ryan Donahue, Brent Greenwood, Karl Klug, and Adam Robinson.
Full All-BXI teams and a few thoughts are after the break.
MEDIA
POS. |
FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM |
QB | Daryll Clark, Penn State |
Mike Kafka, Northwestern |
RB | Evan Royster, Penn State | Brandon Saine, Ohio State |
RB | JOHN CLAY, Wisconsin | Ralph Bolden, Purdue |
WR | Tandon Doss, Indiana | Blair White, Michigan State |
WR | Keith Smith, Purdue | Zeke Markshausen, Northwestern |
C | Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State | Rafael Eubanks, Iowa |
G | Justin Boren, Ohio State | Jon Asamoah, Illinois |
G | John Moffitt, Wisconsin | Dace Richardson, Iowa |
T | Bryan Bulaga, Iowa | Kyle Calloway, Iowa |
T | Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin | Dennis Landolt, Penn State |
TE | Garrett Graham, Wisconsin | Tony Moeaki, Iowa |
PK | Brett Swenson, Michigan State | Stefan Demos, Northwestern |
POS. |
FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM |
DL | Adrian Clayborn, Iowa | Jammie Kirlew, Indiana |
DL | Brandon Graham, Michigan | Thaddeus Gibson, Ohio State |
DL | Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue | Cameron Heyward, Ohio State |
DL | O'Brien Schofield, Wisconsin | Jared Odrick, Penn State |
LB | Pat Angerer, Iowa |
Ross Homan, Ohio State |
LB | GREG JONES, Michigan State | Josh Hull, Penn State |
LB | Navorro Bowman, Penn State | Sean Lee, Penn State |
DB | Tyler Sash, Iowa |
Brent Greenwood, Iowa |
DB | Donovan Warren, Michigan | Amari Spievey, Iowa |
DB | Sherrick McManis, Northwestern | Brad Phillips, Northwestern |
DB |
Kurt Coleman, Ohio State |
David Pender, Purdue |
P | Zoltan Mesko, Michigan |
Jeremy Boone, Penn State |
COACHES
POS. |
FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM |
QB | Daryll Clark, Penn State | Mike Kafka, Northwestern |
RB | Evan Royster, Penn State | Brandon Saine, Ohio State |
RB | John Clay, Wisconsin | Ralph Bolden, Purdue |
WR | Eric Decker, Minnesota | Tandon Doss, Indiana* |
WR | Blair White, Michigan State | Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Iowa* Keith Smith, Purdue* |
C | Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State | Rafael Eubanks, Iowa* Joel Nitchman, Michigan State* |
G | Dace Richardson, Iowa | Jon Asamoah, Illinois |
G | John Moffitt, Wisconsin | Justin Boren, Ohio State |
T | Bryan Bulaga, Iowa | Rodger Saffold, Indiana |
T | Dennis Landolt, Penn State | Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin |
TE | Tony Moeaki, Iowa | Garrett Graham, Wisconsin |
PK | Brett Swenson, Michigan | Stefan Demos, Northwestern |
POS. |
FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM |
DL | Adrian Clayborn, Iowa | Jammie Kirlew, Indiana |
DL | Brandon Graham, Michigan | Thaddeus Gibson, Ohio State |
DL | Jared Odrick, Penn State |
Cameron Heyward, Ohio State |
DL | O'Brien Schofield, Wisconsin | Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue |
LB | Pat Angerer, Iowa Linebacker | A.J. Edds, Iowa |
LB | Greg Jones, Michigan State | Ross Homan, Ohio State |
LB | Navorro Bowman, Penn State | Sean Lee, Penn State |
DB | Tyler Sash, Iowa | Donovan Warren, Michigan* |
DB | Amari Spievey, Iowa |
Sherrick McManis, Northwestern* |
DB | Brad Phillips, Northwestern | Brandon King, Purdue* |
DB | Kurt Coleman, Ohio State | David Pender, Purdue* Jay Valai, Wisconsin* |
P | Zoltan Mesko, Michigan |
Jeremy Boone, Penn State |
Okay. While we're quite happy that Bulaga got such high accolades for the season, we can't be alone in thinking that he was hardly the best lineman in Iowa City, much less the Big Ten. He was either on the sidelines or out of sorts for the majority of the season, and we still haven't seen the elephant-tusk-covered road grader from last season on display. He totally would have deserved a preseason OL of the year, but his performance over 2009 didn't merit such superlatives.
This is hardly a new development from these postseason lists, however; generally, the lists are crafted off of the preseason lists, and anybody whose knee blew out with more than four games left was excised and replaced by someone else. After all, Bulaga was only a second-team All-BXI player last season, even though he was by far the best lineman on the team in 2008. Seth Olsen, meanwhile, had the good fortune to be a first-teamer to start the year, so he was on the first team after 2008, despite a relatively blah senior campaign; we'd have put him about fourth on the list of Iowa linemen for 2009, behind the two bookends at tackle and Rob Bruggeman at center.
Essentially, Bulaga won the award in 2009 for his play in 2008.
At the end of the day, this comes down to stats; there aren't any for linemen, despite the ill-fated attempt to get the "pancake" introduced about a decade ago (for this, we blame Orlando Pace). It's assumed that linemen are sure things, and that as long as they stay healthy, the narrative has stayed true. After all, without stats, most scribes have no time (or no idea) how to watch linemen individually.
Frankly, though it's a subjective stat, we'd love to see how linemen grade out per play (remember that Blake Larsen famously graded at 100% during his senior season at Atlantic; lord, had those knees survived...) Without having the means to undertake such an activity ourselves, we'd imagine that if you graded each Iowa offensive lineman, Kyle Calloway or Dace Richardson would probably be at the top.
If they're not, which is possible, then it would probably be the guy who didn't even get an honorable mention: Riley Reiff. He was stout in relief of Bulaga--hell, we're pretty sure O'Brien Schofield would not have batted Reiff around like a catnip mouse, unlike some Iowa linemen--and he basically forced his way into the starting lineup even before Big Dace went down. But since he wasn't even a projected starter, to say nothing of a preseason honoree, Reiff didn't have much of a chance for postseason mention. Shame, really; dude is legit, and he hasn't even filled out his frame yet.
As for the skill players, it's a little disappointing that Stanzi only made one honorable mention team. But we get how that can happen. Spievey only making second team in the media is flatly ridiculous. If he'd put together that same season in an Ohio State uniform, he'd be getting All-American talk.
Other than that, we don't have a ton of beef; Stanzi killed himself by leading the conference in interceptions when he went down to injury, and the rest of the offensive skill players were far too inconsistent or hurt to merit much consideration. Jeremiha Hunter not getting any honorable mention love is a little disconcerting, but the BXI was lo-ho-hoaded at linebacker this season; we're not quite sure whom we'd place him above. He'll get some love in 2010 if he stays healthy. Also--given the play of Jeff Tarpinian in relief--if Hunter stays healthy between now and next September, there's no position battle at weakside backer next season, right?
So, all in all, a fair list, even if the voting on offensive linemen is basically a year behind schedule. It's a year behind for everyone else, after all. Anybody else that you folks think got shafted? Did Marvin McNutt deserve a nod, or is he still a year away from recognition?
*/Farnsworth'd