Aug. 15, 2010
[ONE // on the road again...]
The Big Ten Network is on the road once again this year, visiting every conference campus to preview the upcoming football season. This past week, Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith and the rest of the BTN crew were on hand for practices and in-depth previews at Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State. Click here for a complete look at the Big Ten Network coverage, including recaps, videos on YouTube, Facebook posts and Twitter feeds.
[TWO // watch this]
This past week several Big Ten football players were named to the watch lists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, Maxwell Award, Biletnikoff Award, Bednarik Award, Hendricks Award, and Ray Guy Award. Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn, Michigan State LB Greg Jones, Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor, Penn State RB Evan Royster and Wisconsin RB John Clay were tabbed to the Walter Camp list, while Pryor, Royster and Clay joined Badger QB Scott Tolzien and Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi on the Maxwell Award list. Clayborn and Jones joined Iowa S Tyler Sash, Ohio State DE Cameron Heyward and LB Ross Homan, Penn State DE Jack Crawford, Purdue DE Ryan Kerrigan and Wisconsin LB Chris Borland and DE J.J. Watt on the Bednarik Award list. Iowa's Clayborn and Broderick Binn, Ohio State's Heyward, Penn State's Crawford and Purdue's Kerrigan were also named to the Ted Hendricks Award, given annually to the nation's top defensive end. Indiana's Tandon Doss, Iowa's Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Michigan's Roy Roundtree, Ohio State's DeVier Posey, Penn State's Derek Moye, Purdue's Keith Smith and Wisconsin's Nick Toon were named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list, honoring the nation's top wide receiver. Finally, Iowa's Ryan Donahue was one of seven student-athletes named to the preseason watch list for the 2010 Ray Guy Award, which honors the nation's top punter.
[THREE // the challenge on the calendar]
Game times and networks for the 12th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge have been determined, ESPN announced on Monday. The Challenge features top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner's Cup on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU on Nov. 29, 30 and Dec. 1. The Big Ten won last year's Challenge, 6-5, with victories from Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.
[FOUR // penn state named preseason volleyball favorite]
Seven-time defending conference champion and winner of the last three NCAA titles, Penn State was voted as the conference favorite for the 2010 season as voted on by the Big Ten coaches, the conference office announced on Thursday. It is the sixth straight season the Nittany Lions have topped the coaches' preseason conference poll. Penn State also boasted three players -- Blair Brown, Alyssa D'Errico, and Arielle Wilson -- on the Preseason All-Big Ten team, with Brown and Wilson selected unanimously. To view the complete all-conference squad and full team rankings, click here for the official release.
[FIVE // four men's, two women's soccer teams ranked]
Four Big Ten men's soccer teams have earned a top-25 ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Preseason Rankings, while two conference squads were tabbed as top 25 teams in the NSCAA Women's Soccer Preseason Rankings. On the men's side, No. 9 Northwestern leads the conference contingent, followed by No. 18 Ohio State, No. 20 Indiana and No. 24 Michigan State. As for the women, defending Big Ten Champion Penn State opens the season with a No. 13 ranking, followed by No. 20 Wisconsin.
[SIX // here's to the hermann]
A total of seven Big Ten soccer standouts - two men and five women - have been named to the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy Watch List for the 2010 season. Michigan State goalkeeper Avery Steinlage and Northwestern forward Matt Eliason, both first-team All-Big Ten honorees in 2009, are among 39 men's soccer players on the list. Michigan State's Laura Heyboer, Minnesota's Jennie Clark, Ohio State's Cassie Dickerson and Penn State's Christine Nairn and Danielle Toney are all among the field of 45 players on the women's list.
[SEVEN // osu's rohanna goes low in u.s. am]
Many eyes were on the PGA Championship this week, but one Buckeye was busy going low at the 2010 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. In fact, Ohio State's Rachel Rohanna went so low on Tuesday, she fired a 7-under-par 65 to set the lowest 18-hole stroke-play round in the championship's 110-year history. Rohanna went on to finish the day with a second-round 73, which tied her with two other golfers at 6-under 138 to share medalist honors at the par-72, 6,559-yard Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club. It was the first time since 1996 that three players shared medalist honors at the U.S. Women's Amateur.
[EIGHT // david dives to tens again]
Congratulations to Purdue diver David Boudia on shattering his own American record on the 10-meter platform on Saturday at the 2010 AT&T National Diving Championships in College Station, Texas. Boudia was awarded 19 total perfect 10s, with at least one on each of his six dives, from the judges, en route to his record-winning score of 605.40. Boudia also teamed with Duke sophomore and 2010 NCAA platform champion Nick McCrory to score 450.00 points and win the synchronized platform crown.
[NINE // gymnastics gold]
Two Big Ten seniors captured gold this past weekend at the USA Gymnastics Visa Championships, as Illinois' Daniel Ribeiro won the pommel horse and Ohio State senior Brandon Wynn took home the rings title. After earning the 2010 Big Ten and NCAA crowns on rings, Wynn won the national championship with a two-day total of 32.25, becoming the first Buckeye to take the rings title since two-time Olympian Raj Bhavsar won the event at the 2004 championships. Ribeiro secured a first-place finish on day one of competition with a score of 15.500, which tallied with Friday night's score of 14.800 gave him a two-day combined score of 30.300. The total was more than enough to top Michigan's Chris Cameron for the gold medal. Ribeiro's gold marks the fifth time in the last six years that Illinois has had a national event champion, as former UI great Spring won titles in 2005 (high bar), 2007 (high bar) and 2008 (parallel bars), while 2010 graduate Luke Stannard won on pommel horse at last year's Visa Championships.
[TEN // the newest hawkeye and gopher]
A warm welcome goes out to two new Big Ten softball coaches this week as Iowa hired Texas assistant Marla Looper and Minnesota tabbed Oregon assistant Jessica Allister as it's new leader. Looper replaces Gayle Blevins, who retired June 17 after a 23-year career at Iowa, while Allister was selected to lead the Golden Gophers in a new direction. In 11 years with Texas, Looper helped lead the Longhorns to three College World Series appearances (2003, 2005 and 2006) and nine NCAA Tournament berths. She also helped guide Texas to back-to-back Big 12 regular season and tournament championships in 2002 and 2003 along with regular season championships in 2006 and 2010. Allister helped lead three different programs (Oregon, Stanford, Georgia) to Super Regional appearances in the past four years with five trips in a six-year stretch.
[ELEVEN // joe pa-residential medal of freedom?]
Finally this week, it's more love for Joe Pa! In the midst of preparing for the upcoming season, our favorite Nittany Lion football coach learned this week he has been nominated for the highest civilian award in the United States. Could Joe Paterno be the next Presidential Medal of Freedom award winner? If U.S. Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA, 5th) and 17 of his peers have their way, Paterno will be granted the honor by President Barack Obama for the Nittany Lion leader's efforts in serving his team, school and community.
