Decker Only Gopher Named All-Big Ten

The Big Ten has announced its All-Conference and Player of the Year selections for 2009 (they don't seem to care that Wisconsin and Illinois still have games left to play. They want to play after the weekend before Thanksgiving, that's their business!!), and Gophers WR Eric Decker, who only appeared in eight games this season, was named to the first team. Decker was looking like an All-American at the midway point of the season, but an injury to the arch in his left foot ended his season in the first quarter of the Ohio State Debacle.

Still, his 50 catches for 758 yards and 5 TD catches (all of which led the conference before he got hurt) were enough to grab the attention and respect of the Big Ten coaches, who named him to their first team. While I feel Decker absolutely deserves this honor, I'm a little surprised I suppose, considering there were other guys who played the whole season who put some pretty good totals.

Other Gophers named first and second team were...ok, actually no one else from the squad made it for either the coaches or the media- even Adam Weber. I know, I know, if only all you Weber Apologists could have explained to the voters how good he really is and how much everything that happened and his awful numbers were not his fault. Not at all. He's such a good guy! He tries so hard! Oh the shame of it all.

The only other offensive player who had a shot of getting on was TE Nick Tow-Arnett, but thanks to our offenses' disappearing act in the last two games, his numbers dropped off, so he was left off. Tough to argue with the choices of Sconnie's Garrett Graham and Iowa's Tony Moeaki anyway.

However, I did think one our linebackers would make 2nd team. Lee Campbell led the Big Ten in solo tackles (65) and was third in solo (112), while Nate Triplett was in the top 10 in solo tackles (52), seventh in total (95), and also intercepted two passes, but both were left off. Iowa's LB AJ Edds made the coaches' 2nd team while Penn State's Josh Hull was selected for the last spot for the media. Edds did have four picks, but only 72 tackles on the season, while Hull led the JoePa's in tackles with 110 and also had 8.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 2 picks. This is what happens when you finish in the three in the conference and have a good defense- the voters reward you even if there's more deserving guys out there.

You also have to wonder how much the media AND coaches really pays attention to every team when Traye Simmons was named honorable-mention. Really? The same Simmons who was burned regularily and was yanked for a true freshman in the Michigan State game? He was an "honorable mention" as a starter by the end of the year (meaning he didn't start!!!), but that's about it.

I actually think the coaches make a pretty strong case about having their votes taken away entirely and to just have the media vote count. For one thing, I hate that the coaches' vote allows ties. Typical. Let's just have everyone tie for the award so no one's feelings are hurt, ok? It'll be like a youth soccer league where every kid gets a trophy to feel like a winner.

But the big reason the coaches should have their voting priviledges taken away entirely was because they failed to name Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones as the Defensive Player of the Year. After all, he only led the conference in tackles (141), tackles per game (11.8), was third in sacks (9), and was eighth in tackles for loss (13.5). Yet not only did that not name the obvious guy- he was one of only two unanimous selections from the media (Wisky RB John Clay was the other)- they went WAY off the board by somehow selecting Penn State defensive linemen Jared Odrick.

If you're thinking "who?" don't worry, you're not alone. Odrick's a nice player, as he was named 2nd team by the media, but he not only wasn't even the best defender on his own team, I'm not even sure he was Penn State's best defensive lineman!! He did lead the team in sacks with six (which was good for only eighth in the Big Ten), but was only fifth in tackles with 40 (his 15 solo ranked 11th), and was only fourth in TFL with 10. Fellow D-lineman Jack Crawford was every bit as good as Odrick as he had more tackles for loss 13.5 and just a half less sacks at 5.5.

He certainly wasn't the conference's best defensive lineman, as at least six other D-linemen had more sacks AND tackles for loss than Odrick, and most had more forced fumbles and fumble recoveries.

So Odrick definitely wasn't the conference's best defender, he definitely wasn't his team's best defender, he definitely wasn't even one of the conference's six best defensive linemen, and might not have even been his own team's best defensive linemen...but the coaches' picked him as their DOP. They must have used the same rationale the Nobel Peace Prize judges used when they picked Barack Obama for their award.

Here then are the selections from the coaches and media for Player of the Year. For full 1st and 2nd teams, click the link at the top of the post.

As selected by CONFERENCE COACHES

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: John Clay, Wisconsin
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR: Bryan Bulaga, Iowa
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jared Odrick, Penn State
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN OF THE YEAR: Jared Odrick, Penn State
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Chris Borland, Wisconsin

As selected by the MEDIA

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: John Clay, Wisconsin
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Greg Jones, Michigan State
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Chris Borland, Wisconsin
DAVE McCLAIN COACH OF THE YEAR: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa