Eleven Warriors

Good. Now we can channel our hate.

And start scheming up ways to stop Masoli and that offense.

The opposing side of the 4-team Rose Bowl playoff bracket is in full effect this evening, as 8-3 #14 Oregon State travels to Eugene to take on 9-2 #7 Oregon in the 2009 edition of the "The Civil War" (which could be the most watched Civil War in the 206 year history of the state of Ohio). Winner gets a year of in-state bragging rights, and more importantly, books a trip to Pasadena to go toe-to-toe with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Oregon enters the Civil War, the first in the rivalries' 115 year history that sends its winner to the Rose Bowl, about to wear their 12th different uniform in as many games. Each of the jersey combinations are suggested by former college teammate of Tiger Woods (and perhaps most notable for his lawsuit against the PGA Tour) Casey Martin, whom serves both as the school's golf coach and unofficial 'Uniform Coordinator'.

If you're not as familiar with either of the two schools and want to know which side to cheer for, the Dispatch's Rob Oiler seems to have gathered that the consensus recommendation of the nation's media elite is the Ducks. It's worth nothing that everyone's favorite national columnist, Gregg Doyel, when asked about the matchup, was under the impression Dennis Erickson was still the Beavers' head coach. Ivan Maisel also seemed convinced that the absolute value of beating Oregon is less than that of not beating them. Or something.

Finally, in conjunction with our dear friends from the Hawkeye asylum at Black Heart Gold Pants and our Hokie brethren at College Game Balls and Gobbler Country, we're turning back the clocks to all those Thursdays you spent at Out-R-Inn and The Bier Stube, having a little fun, and live blogging the festivities. Feel free to come by, have a few, and root for either Ducks-Bucks or (OSU)^2.

Ugly sweater (ahem, not vest mind you) season is in full effect, and with it comes the last (tear) quasi-traditional week of sport's best regular season. While many of the games in particular we look at are as prefabricated and contrived as the material used to sew that only-wear-once conversation piece you'll be rocking as Egg Nog becomes seasonal, who the hell cares? Extra college football including 5 games involving multiple ranked teams playing each other? Please and thank you.

Two months back, reader Wil recommended we reawaken the tradition from Weekend Update's predecessor that was listing the games we featured's spreads as well as throwing up some random guestimates at how those puppies would actually play themselves out. Incomprehensibly to all, the results have been frighteningly not awful. Following last week's results, your honorary 11W gambling enabler is now 52-17-1 (~75%) for an abbreviated 2009 slate. After the first 8-0 week against the spread of the entire season, all that's left to wrap up this season is a perfectly symmetrical 0-8. Feast your eyes on championship weekend:

National Games

Thursday - #14 Oregon State at #7 Oregon (-10.5) - 9:00 p.m. (ESPN) The game imploring Buckeyes everywhere to call in sick Friday morning takes Oregon and Oregon State's traditional end of season "Civil War", and turns it into the opposite side of the Ohio State-Iowa Rose Bowl play-in bracket. In turning Oregon from laugh riot to laudable, Chip Kelly's turned the Ducks into quite the late season buzz team, leaving many tOSU faithful keeping their fingers crossed for a Ducks v. Bucks New Year's Day treat. The Beavers are no slouches in their own right, though certainly considerably more under the radar so to speak. Despite an impressive showing against the BCS' most consistent (and arguably best) conference this season, the Beavers are still virtual unknowns in many Buckeye fans' minds. The brothers Rodgers and venerable head coach Mike Riley lead a team into Eugene that despite being unranked, have finished each of the last 4 regular seasons in both Top 25s. While Oregon State will reward those bold enough to stake their children's college funds on their covering, expect the Ducks to emerge Rose Bowl parade bown, 34-29.

Friday - MAC Championship Game: Ohio vs. Central Michigan (-10.5) - 8:00 p.m. (ESPN2) Our loyal readership of OU students and alum can finally feel the love; Frank Solich's Bobcats' trip to Ford Field garners our modest viewing recommendation and gets them their first play on this site since the 2008 too close for comfort contest. Standing between them and, well, a return trip to the very same venue for the Motor City Bowl as MAC Champions are Butch jones' 10-2 Chips. LeFevour is no stranger to these parts, as the senior gun slinger's accrued 2788 yards, 25 TDs to just 5 picks and a 71% completion percentage to boot to go along with 650 yards and 14 more TDs on the ground in the closing sonnet of a brilliant MAC career. The future pro-bound Tebow of the state that shall not be named should find a worthy adversary in Ohio's big play defense. The 'Cats forced 35 turnovers this season and enter the MAC Championship Game with a +14 turnover ratio. Despite a tremendous season from CMU, the Bobcats find a way to bring a title back to Athens, taking the MAC 35-31.

#5 Cincinnati at #13 Pittsburgh (-1.5) - 12:00 p.m. (ABC) Depending upon who you ask, this is either UC head man Brian Kelly's last, or far from last game as the head coca of the Bearcats. A rather distraction heavy week for Cincinnati lead them to Pittsburgh, where the 2-loss Fightin' Wandstaches wait eagerly. Much like the Thursday night Pac 10 contest, this one is a defacto conference championship and will determine the league's BCS representative. Vegas too clearly has inside information the most of us aren't privy to (or just really love them some well groomed mustaches) as Pitt inexplicably enters this one as one and a half point favorites. While this one has all the makings of the classic makings of an underwhelming Wandstet let down game, Bill Stull's had far too great of a season for the Panthers to let his season end with the kind of performance he put up in Morgantown last weekend. As per usual, Vegas is onto something: Pitt (you read that right) wins this bad boy 35-25.

SEC Championship Game: #1 Florida vs. #2 Alabama (+5) - 4:00 p.m. (CBS) It takes a real man of inspiration to be able to make fun of two teams in a single statement, but Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin did just that earlier in the week simply stating "Florida has better players, but Alabama has better coaches." Duly noted, sir. While an unwatchable 6-3 win by either team would arguably be the Pareto optimal outcome for this one, any result where by which the Tebow child is uninspired will be a win for selfish Buckeye fans everywhere hoping the keep Archie's stature as two time Heisman trophy hoister as an individual historic occurrence. I went the entirety of the season thinking this game was Alabama's to lose, though given the way the Gators looked the last 2 weekends, I'll be awfully hard pressed to concede they drop this one. That being said I'm going against all instinct and assuming the last 3 Gator opponents were conveniently their 3 worst defensively, and giving Bama this one, 16-10. Steve Addazio, eat your heart out.

ACC Championship Game: #10 Georgia Tech vs. #25 Clemson (EVEN) - 8:00 p.m. (ESPN) If the above doesn't clear up exactly what Coach Paul Johnson brings to the table, tune in for his awesome off with Clemson young gun Dabo Swinney. Georgia Tech won a zany come from behind affair earlier in the season, and before being completely out physicaled for the entirety of an evening by Georgia last weekend, were the hands down favorites in this one. After Clemson also did us no favors laying an egg to the Gamecocks (even after a C.J. Spiller opening kickoff return for a touchdown), we're looking at just the second pick 'em of the games we've profiled all season (and the second in as many weeks). In situations of uncertainty and relative parity, there's no other choice except to default to the oracle that is Phil Steele. His outcome : 1010110101010101011011000001010101010101. Or in our language: Clemson 31 - GT 24.

Big XII Championship Game: #3 Texas vs. #23 Nebraska (+13) - 8:00 p.m. (ABC) The most lopsided on paper prompts us to remind you of Big XII Championship Games past: unranked Texas shocked then #3 ranked 2-time defending champion Nebraska 37-27 in the inaugural Big XII Championship Game in 2003. 1998 saw 10th ranked Texas A&M keep upstart #2 Kansas State from their first ever title game berth, winning 36-33 in 2 OT in a truly all-time classic. 2001 brought more high drama as championship bound with a win #3 Texas couldn't overcome 4 Chris Simms turnovers losing to #9 Colorado 39-37, also in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And who can forget 2003's completely illogical 35-7 dismantling of season long #1 Oklahoma by #15 K-State. So factoring in all the dumb small sample size superstitions again we have no AP #3 ranked teams having ever won a Big 12 Championship Game, the Longhorns 0-1 in DFW Big XII title games, and the Horns just 1-3 in Big XII title games all-time. Easy Nebraska victory? If only Zac Lee and the Huskers weren't rolling into town with the 92nd ranked offense in the FBS. Colt McCoy's final in-state game as Texas' quarterback ends the way so many of his NCAA leading 44 wins do, with another Texas W. Horns take it 24-13.

Big Ten Games:

Fresno State at Illinois (EVEN) - 12:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network) The Big Ten's still playing games? I'm as shocked as you are, and it can't bode well for Zooksters to be facing A PICK 'EM game against 3rd place in the WAC Fresno State. Pat Hill's 7-4 Bulldogs roll into Champagne with Illinois desperately seeking to end the season 4-8. The Bulldogs did go into Madison and take Wisconsin to OT earlier in the year, plus played Cincinnati tough falling just 28-20 in the nasty 'Nati. In fact, it's difficult not to like the Bulldogs given their only other losses were to Boise State and WAC 2nd place Nevada. Despite every fiber in my being wanting the Big Ten to represent in this one, it's hard not to take the (gulp) better team. Fresno ends the Illini's season rocket launcher style: 34-13.

Wisconsin at Hawaii (+11.5) - 11:30 p.m. (ESPN2) The Badgers get a jump start on bowling, playing a 13th game (and all intents and purposes pre-bowl) against Greg McMacklin's Warriors. In a potentially must win to save his job game for McMacklin, the Rainbows' still potent offensive attack will have to jump out to an early advantage if they want to hang with the superior athleticism the Badgers bring to the table. With superstud sophomore running back John Clay already announcing he'll be back next season, the Badgers go into this one with few questions other than what will the final margin of victory be. Hawaii goes down (though no word whether or not Wisconsin does any kind of pre-game dance) as the Badgers crush all in sight, 45-21.

After 10 years of heartburn, the Big Ten finally broke through in the ACC/BigTen Challenge thanks largely to Jon Diebler's sniper skills as the Buckeyes defeated Florida State 77-64 tonight in the Schott giving the conference a 6-5 series win.

Diebler poured in 22 points thanks to a 6/12 night on triple tries with many of his bombs coming during key Buckeye runs. OSU jumped out to a 12-2 lead on the strength of two Diebler treys and closed the half on a 14-6 run sponsored by two more Diebler threes helping the Bucks to a 31-20 lead at the break. Finally, with OSU leading 40-30 with just under 13 minutes to play, Diebs pumped in his last triple of the night triggering a 14-2 run giving the Bucks a 54-32 cushion that essentially put the game on ice.

Of course, Diebler received plenty of help from the conference's best player as Evan Turner posted his sixth double-double in seven games going off for 25 points (10/17) and 13 boards with 6 dimes taboot. He did have his customary turnover issues (5) as he logged 40 minutes at the point due to Matta using an increasingly short bench (PJ Hill: 0 min) against stiffer competition.

The only reserves to see action played key roles, however, as Jeremie Simmons chipped in 14 points during the final 11 minutes and Kyle Madsen added four points and three boards while battling the Seminole front line. Playing to his strengths, Matta switched from man to zone with Madsen and Simmons on the floor and both defenses worked to perfection as the tired 'Noles struggled to make shots.

For the game, FSU shot 41% thanks to some late garbage buckets but OSU held the 'Noles to just 29% shooting while forcing 13 turnovers against only eight field goals in the decisive first half. Amazingly, the Buckeyes didn't give up a three until Luke Loucks hit a triple with 5:03 to play cutting the OSU lead to 63-47. Ohio State also forced the turnover prone 'Noles into 20 miscues on the night while committing just 12 themselves.

Foul trouble and a stingy D held FSU's Chris Singleton to eight points (3/10) though big man Solomon Alabi posted a 21/10 double double as Dallas Lauderdale and company struggled to box him out on the o-boards and limit his touches in the post. Lauderdale also suffered from foul trouble and managed just two points, two boards and a block in 24 minutes.

David Lighty didn't look to get it going offensively (5 pts, 1/4 FG) but did stuff the sheet with seven boards, four dimes and three steals, albeit with four turnovers.

The only major downer on this night was the WB's continued funk. Wil Buford jacked up 12 shots, hitting only one, to finish with five points and four boards. He took some bad shots but more than anything, he just doesn't appear to have any rhythm and it's gone to his head. Over the last five games, Buford is shooting 25% (14/55) with eight turnovers.

The win moves Ohio State to 6-1 on the season and 3-5 lifetime in the ACC/Big10 Challenge. Next up: Eastern Michigan at high noon Saturday in the Schott.

Last year, the conferences were tied at three heading into the final day of games. Despite surprising wins out of Northwestern and Penn State, the ACC was able to take three of the last five games to finish 6-5 and capture their 10th straight challenge.

Tonight, we find ourselves knotted up again at three each with just five to play. The action starts with Illinois visiting Clemson and Minnesota playing at Miami at 7:15. Fifteen minutes later, Boston College takes the floor in Ann Arbor, leaving Duke in Madison and of course, the Seminoles in Columbus to cap the night off.

I don't know about you, but I see three wins in that lineup. And then we'll party.

#15 Ohio State 5-1, 0-0 Big Ten Roster | Schedule

December 2, 2009 9:30 PM ET - ESPN2 —— The Schott Columbus, OH

Florida State 6-1, 0-0 ACC Roster | Schedule

The Buckeyes look to improve their 2-5 all-time record in the B10/ACC Challenge with a tough match up against a hot Florida State team tonight.

Entering tonight's play, the B10 won the first 3 games, but dropped the final 3 last night, as the conference is looking for their first win in the decade long series.

The Seminoles come in fresh off their Old Spice Classic title, taking down Iona, Alabama and Marquette in consecutive nights down in Orlando over the Thanksgiving weekend, after losing to Florida 2 nights before the tourney started.

#	Name	PTS	REB	ASST	POS	#	Name	PTS	REB	ASST
21	Evan Turner	19.9	12.8	6.7	G	22	Derwin Kitchen	10.9	4.3	3.0
33	Jon Diebler	15.7	2.7	2.3	G	4	Deivides Dulkens	8.4	2.6	0.9
23	David Lighty	12.3	4.8	2.8	F	31	Chris Singleton	12.3	8.1	2.7
44	William Buford	11.3	3.2	2.3	F	42	Ryan Reid	6.9	5.3	1.3
52	Dallas Lauderdale	7.6	5.2	0.4	C	32	Solomon Alabi	9.9	6.1	0.0

Opponent

Florida State comes in shooting 46.8% from the floor and averaging 68 points a game on the year, although they haven't scored more than 60 in each of the last 4 games. They played 3 cupcakes to start the season and eclipsed the 80 point mark each time, hitting 59 percent of their shots in 2 of those games, but started to struggle shooting when the competition got better.

A couple of sore spots for FSU thus far is their A/TO ratio and free throw shooting. The 'Noles turn it over an average of 18 times a game, while assisting on just 13 FG's and hit just 62 percent of their charity attempts. They don't attempt too many from deep, taking about 16 bombs a game and making 6 of them.

The Seminoles go deep, with 9 players logging more than 15 minutes a game and no one playing more than 30. They'll be tall across the front, going 7'1", 6'9" and 6'8", which explains their 43 boards per contest and could lead to trouble for the Bucks.

Buckeye Breakdown:

The Bucks come in averaging almost 86 points a game, on 52.2 percent shooting. The shooting percentage is good for 8th in all the land, while the PPG ranks them 9th. Their 17.8 assists per game ranks them 15th nationally and their 9.0 threeballs made ranks them 13th.

The key for me tonight will be the play of Jon Diebler and William Buford. In the loss to UNC, the two combined to go 7/29, including 4/15 from downtown. There is no doubt the duo can get shots up whenever they want to, but they need to be smart shots tonight that happen within the flow of the offense and not forced up because they haven't taken a shot in a few minutes.

As for Evan Turner, he just needs to play under control as well tonight. Remember, he had another triple double against the Heels, 23 points, 11 boards and 10 TO's. He just needs to slow himself down tonight and trust in his teammates. BTW, Turner is 4th nationally with 12.8 boards and 6th with 6.7 assists a game and his 19.8 PPG is second, behind Talor Battle amongst conference players. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of ET's game thus far is his shooting, connecting at a blistering 62.5 percent from the field, second on the team to Dallas Lauderdale, who has made 15 of 16 shots this year and hasn't missed in 2 games.

I don't see why the Buckeyes don't pull this win off tonight. FSU is a hot team, but Ohio State has more scorers and will use a tempo that should wear the bigs of FSU down. Plus the Buckeyes can play lock down defense and should be able to contain FSU's Singleton. Prediction: OSU 76, FSU 65

Etc

• OSU leads the all-time series 3-0, with the last win coming in 1968.
• Thad is 76-2 vs. unranked opponents in Columbus.

The Houndie is an award formerly known as the Buckeye NFLer of the Week. After 2 years of existence, we searched for a catchier name, so with the help of a well placed typo and the ensuing 11W comments, the current title was created.

Hopefully for most of you, your fantasy playoffs are right around the corner, but if you're like me, they're not and the Buckeye alum are the only thing that keep you watching the NFL.

AJ Hawk got things rolling on Thanksgiving by leading the Packers in tackles with 10, in their 34-12 win over the Lions. Ryan Pickett chipped in with a couple assist, as the Packers have now won 3 straight, creeping back into the NFC playoff race at 7-4.

In the Turkey Day afternoon game, Jay Richardson recorded 3 tackles in Oakland's 24-7 loss to the Cowboys, while his college teammate Kenny Peterson had 1 solo stop and 3 assists in Denver's big 26-6 win over the Giants.

On Sunday, the Panthers took a tough 17-6 loss to the Jets, essentially squashing any potential playoff aspirations. Na'il Diggs registered 4 total tackles and Chris Gamble got his second pick on the year, while adding just a tackle. Gamble now has 39 tackles on the year, which is way off his career high 93 last season.

In Atlanta, Michael Jenkins may want Chris Redman to stick around, as he set season highs with 7 catches for 80 yards in the Falcon's come from behind 20-17 victory over Tampa Bay. Santonio Holmes caught a 33-yard TD in the second quarter, en route to a 6 catch, 74 yard performance in the Steeler's 20-17 OT loss to the Ravens. Holmes now has at least 6 catches in each of the last 4 games and 59 on the year, but his TD on Sunday was his first since week 1.

The 2 receivers down in Miami didn't fare as well, combining for 5 catches for 54 yards. You can't fault them too much though, they do have Chad Henne throwing to them these days. Hartline did reach the end zone for the second time this season, giving the Dolphins a 7-0 lead in the second quarter.

The other offensive rookie, Beanie Wells saw his recent production slip a bit, toting the rock 8 times for 20 yards and catching a pass for another 21 yards. The Cardinals rushed the ball only 20 times in their last second 20-17 loss to the Titans.

Little Animal continued his excellent season, posting another team high 9 tackles, while also recording his first professional sack. JL has moved up to 12th in the NFL with 85 total tackles and if you just take his 75 solo stops, it ranks him 4th in the entire league. He has an outside chance for Rookie of the year, but Brian Cushing (99 Tackles) and Jairus Byrd (8 picks) might have a slight edge.

In the Monday night game, Malcolm Jenkins and Will Smith played major roles in the Saints moving to 11-0, with their 38-17 win over New England. Jenkins lead the Saints with a career high 8 tackles, taking advantage of a banged up secondary and giving him 15 of his 25 tackles in the last 2 games. Will Smith continued his All Pro season with another 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles. Summertime now finds himself 3rd in the league with 10 sacks on the season, just .5 sacks shy of his career high, set back in 2006.

Obviously there were some worthy candidates this week, but one player has returned from injury recently and helped his desperate team win a much needed game. Donte Whitner returned last week after missing 5 of the last 6 games, but put up a modest 2 tackles, this week however, he recorded a team high 10 total tackles, including 7 solo stops and also snagged his first INT since week 2 in Buffalo's 31-14 win over Miami. Whitner's pick came late in the 4th, with the Bills clinging to a 24-14 lead. He returned it 28 yards to the Dolphins 26 yard line and Fred Jackson took it in 3 plays later to seal the victory.

Now that the regular season is over and OSU fans everywhere are anxiously awaiting bowl season, it might be a good time to look back with 20/20 hindsight at some preseason predictions. Back in June, we participated in the annual Big Ten Blogger Preseason Awards, and we posted our ballot for all to see. For 11W, it was a democratic process, as the ballot reflected a composite of the individual picks of all of the writers (6 at that time). This is a good opportunity to evaluate how we did as a whole with these predictions, and also see if we did well as individuals whenever there was significant disagreement.

Coach of the Year: Mark Dantonio

This was a close vote: Alex, Jason, and Luke went with the Spartans' head man while Chris chose JoePa and Corey and I both went with The Vest. None of us chose the eventual winner, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz. On an individual level, I have to admit that I was swayed by the Dantonio factor into being a little more optimistic about the Spartans this season then they probably deserved. I picked them to finish 3rd in the conference and I remember arguing passionately with one commenter that they deserved to be a top-25 team. As it turned out, MSU finished 6th in the Big Ten with a 4-4 record and finished 6-6 overall, and that's without having Ohio State on their schedule. I still love coach D, but I have to admit that this season did not reflect well on him. Here's hoping that it was an anomaly. Grade: D.

Best Heisman Candidate: Terrelle Pryor

This one might seem like a clear case of homerism, but the truth is that the pick made a lot of sense at the time. Northwestern blog site Lake The Posts not only picked Pryor, but they also made a strong argument that the only real choice was between Pryor and Penn State's Evan Royster. All of the 11W writers chose Pryor for this award, although Chris added the "or Royster" qualifier. While it is true that Pryor never came close to being a legitimate Heisman candidate, neither did anyone else from the Big Ten and so the most you can say about this one is that it's a wash. Grade: C.

Sleeper Team to Crack the Upper Tier: Minnesota

For this one, we defined "Upper Tier" to mean the top 4, and so only Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, and Northwestern/Wisconsin qualified this season. Out of those teams, the only one that could have been considered a "sleeper" was Northwestern. This was another close vote among 11W writers. Alex, Jason, and Luke chose Minnesota, Chris and Corey took Michigan State, and I chose Northwestern. I didn't really think Michigan State qualified as a "sleeper" team since most of us picked them to do well this season. But Minnesota certainly was. They had started out well in 2008 before fading late in the season. The thought was that the new stadium might be worth a game or two. As it turned out, the Gophers mostly disappointed after a decent start. They seemed to be in good shape after a victory over Purdue put them at 4-2. But lousy weather and an injury to star receiver Eric Decker hurt them in a 20-0 road loss to Penn State, and the wheels seemed to come off after that. Minnesota limped to a 3-5 finish in the Big Ten and 6-6 overall. Grade: D minus.

Most Likely to John L Smith (Lose It): Tim Brewster

For this award, the votes were fairly well scattered. Chris and Jason went with Brewster, Luke and I chose Ron Zook, Alex took Brett Bielema and Corey went with Rich Rodriguez. While none of the B10 coaches went into meltdown mode this season, we did get to see RichRod break down into tears. Zook might not have had a Smith-style sideline tirade, but he should have. His team finished 3-8 this season and in general has severely under-performed in the 2 years since that Rose Bowl beat-down at the hands of USC. A bit of histrionic rage might have inspired the Illini to play up to their potential a little more this season. Maybe. Grade: B minus.

Shonn Greene Award (Player to Come from Nowhere): John Clay

There were debates internally as to whether a highly-regarded recruit like Clay (or Devier Posey) could be said to have come "from nowhere", but the interpretation we settled on was that the guy couldn't have been a regular starter the previous season. Corey and Chris went with Posey on their ballots, while Jason and I both chose Clay. Alex was torn between OSU's Brandon Saine and Minnesota's DeLeon Eskridge, while Luke was torn between Clay and Indiana's Ben Chappell. So as a group we went with Clay by the slimmest of margins, and it paid off as he was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year by both the media and the coaches. Posey and Saine both had excellent seasons, with the latter garnering 2nd team All-Big 10 status. Chappell completed over 62% of his passes for over 2900 yards, but also threw 15 INT's. Grade: A.

Must See Game of the Year: Ohio State @ Penn State

This was a unanimous selection and you can make an argument that it truly was the game of the year in the Big Ten, at least from a Buckeye perspective. But I would argue that the de facto Big Ten Championship game between Ohio State and Iowa was the true "must-see" thriller of this season. Not only was it for all the conference marbles, but it was a dramatic game that went into overtime. Add to that the gritty performance by Iowa's back-up QB and the game-winning FG by OSU's back-up kicker and you have all the elements that make up a classic. Grade: B.

Upset Special: Penn State @ Michigan

This one was a toss-up in the voting, with Luke and Corey going with MSU over PSU. Jason and I went with Michigan over Penn State and Alex went with Michigan over MSU (Chris did not choose an upset). It seems like not many of us had faith in the Nittany Lions, even though we all picked them to finish in the top 2 in the conference. Of course, none of those upsets actually happened, and the upset of the year has to be Purdue over OSU. Apparently, we were all swayed by coach Tressel's record against non-ranked teams. Grade: F.

The Big Finish

Here was our composite prediction for the final Big Ten standings:

1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Illinois
5. Iowa
6. Michigan
7. Northwestern
8. Wisconsin
9. Minnesota
10. Purdue
11. Indiana

On the one hand, we picked the top and the bottom pretty well, but after that it gets a little murky. We picked Iowa for 5th and they finished 2nd. We picked Illinois to finish 4th and they ended up at 9th. We obviously underrated Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Purdue. And most surprisingly, we gave Michigan much more credit than they deserved. Well, that's one mistake we will have to rectify next season. Grade: C. Overall grade: C. Anyone else feel the need to come clean? The confessional booth is open.

Evan Turner is your Big Ten Player of the Week for the third consecutive week, this time sharing the award with Northwestern's John Shurna:

Evan Turner collects his third-consecutive weekly honor after etching his name in Ohio State lore while leading the No. 18 Ohio State men’s basketball team to a pair of wins last week. On Tuesday, the junior guard recorded Ohio State's third all-time triple double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to propel the Scarlet and Gray past Lipscomb, 84-64. The Chicago native now owns two triple-doubles on the year, making him one of just 34 NCAA student-athletes all-time to record multiple triple-doubles in a single season.

With the effort against the Bisons, he also becomes the first Buckeye to open the season with five-consecutive double-double performances since Clark Kellogg accomplished the feat in 1980. Turner continued his scoring prowess in Saturday's contest against St. Francis, adding 16 in OSU's 110-47 rout over the Red Flash, becoming the 44th Buckeye in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. On the week, Turner averaged nine rebounds, eight assists and 16 points on 71.4 percent shooting.

I would say this is getting old. But it's not.

I've felt it since mid-season, but didn't want to mention it because I was afraid of jinxing Archie. Luke touched on it last week and now that we're staring down the final meaningful week of pre-bowl football, I'm comfortable saying Griffin's distinction of being the only two-time winner of the Heisman trophy looks to be safe.

Consider the circumstances heading into this season when, for the first time in history, two former winners were taking the field with a chance to bag a second. But injuries stole Bradford's season from him and pushed him to the NFL, while Tebow has stumbled a bit in Addazio's offense with numbers well below his output of the previous two seasons.

Gerhart, McCoy and, depending on how he shows Saturday, Ingram, appear to be your frontrunners right now. Ingram has had a solid year and Gerhart is the feel-good story of the moment, but my money is on McCoy, fresh off his 304/175 performance against the Aggies and a date with Nebraska to come. If you're counting, he'll be the 9th quarterback to win the award this decade.

Knock on wood.

The BCS and All That is Wrong With Humanity

The BCS has been a flurry of PR-musterin' activity lately. On the 17th, they promoted Bill Hancock to a newly created Executive Director position (irony alert: Hancock ran the NCAA men's basketball tournament for 13 years). Two days later, the BCS launched a Twitter account that was promptly slapped around the tubes and then topped it all by hiring the PR firm run by former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer. Regardless of party, a press secretary knows a thing or two about deflecting heat.

Wonder if all of this activity could have something to do with the six teams sporting unblemished records on the eve of December. The last time something like this happened was 1973 -- when Miami (OH), Notre Dame and Penn State all finished with perfect records and the Buckeyes, Wolverines and Sooners each carried a tie.

This is the BCSocalypse.

Florida and Alabama will meet Saturday, but the odds are more than good that the four other teams will close out their seasons with wins, leaving five teams for two slots. Typically, it's only one team getting screwed. This year, we have the potential for three times as many angry congressmen and three more disillusioned fanbases.

At what point do you stop telling unbeaten teams they can't play for the championship?

And, Finally

Had a chance to take another look at the AP photos from The Game over the long weekend and I just had to figure out a way to give this one a little bit of love. That's some fine work, Tony Ding!