Spoiler alert, the defense almost managed a clean sweep of the awards, which would be expected given the current state of the offense. Yes, we get one last chance to dwell on the Michigan game. However, there is some good news to start off today's post. Three Nittany Lions were just named to the ESPN Mid-Season All-Big Ten Team! And strangely enough, all three are the recipients of awards today. Seriously, this is just coincidence, I pick my award winners on Sunday and this list came out today. Anyway, Daesean Hamilton joins Michigan State's Tony Lippett at WR, Mike Hull takes one of the three LB spots, and of course, Anthony Zettel lines up next to Iowa's Carl Davis at DT. Congrats to all three players on this well-deserved honor! Now, let's roll out some awards!
This week's Beast Mode Award goes to the superhuman tackling machine Mike Hull who led the team in tackles yet again and had an epic sack. He's now second in the conference with 64 tackles on the year and as I said yesterday, is holding up the Linebacker U banner quite admirably.
I always have to really think on the Transformer Award since I still haven't set firm criteria for it. This week I decided to give it to Anthony Zettel for transforming into an MMA fighting, pass intercepting, All-Big Ten recognizing phenomenon! He may be undersized for a DT, but he's got the heart of a Lion and an unstoppable motor. Oh, and unlike Mike Hull, he's only a junior!
You know, I really wanted to give this award to Chris Godwin but he completely disappointed on Saturday. Instead, the Matrix Award goes to Daesean Hamilton for the second time this season. The redshirt freshman finally scored his first collegiate TD against Michigan. Yep you heard right, despite leading the Big Ten in total catches with 43, and being second in the Big Ten in yards per game (only trailing fellow Penn Stater Geno Lewis), Hamilton had not scored a single point this entire season until Saturday. If he can step his game up just a little more, he'll be moving up to the Beast Mode Award soon.
Next up, the In Disguise Award goes to the too oft forgotten Deion Barnes. The former Freshman of the Year Award winner finally got over his sophomore slump and is back to playing up to his potential, whether the "experts" want to acknowledge it or not. Unlike Zettel, he probably won't make any All-Big Ten teams, but against Michigan he was tied for second on the team with 7 tackles, including 1 for a loss and a sack. Not bad.
Finally, the Megatron Award goes to the Referees, particularly David Witvoet, who has been making an entire career out screwing Penn State over against the Wolverines. Here is a piece from 2002 about his history with the Penn State-Michigan series through the 90s. Witvoet's crew was also on hand in 2005 to put the infamous 2 seconds back on the clock that eventually gave Michigan the victory. And now we have the mystery offsides call of 2014. Seriously, how has this not been addressed by league officials yet? One time and you could claim it was an accident, but there's clearly a pattern developing here.
Well, thankfully Michigan week is over. The Nittany Lions now enter their second and final bye week of the season as they prepare for an 8pm primetime clash with the Ohio State Buckeyes in a Beaver Stadium Whiteout! Should be fun, and maybe the atmosphere will jump start this offense back to life. Remember that I'm now on the Book of Faces. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!
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