Offensive Players of the Week
Jalin Marshall, OSU: A week after doing his able best to literally fumble away the game against Minnesota, Marshall rebounded when his team needed him. On a day when J.T. Barrett looked mortal against, somehow, Indiana, Marshall would not be denied and cashed in 4 TDs in various fashions to drag the Buckeyes out of the way of a Coleman Grill-powered upset for the ages (I know he's probably only got one collegiate game left but I love myself for coining that nickname and I'm going to make it stick).
Tevin Coleman: Speaking of. Gordon can't get this spot this week despite another 200-yard game because for him, that ain't particularly noteworthy, and Coleman actually had the better game against a stronger opponent with infinitely less support from his teammates. 27 carries, 228 yards and 3 scores on the ground, including 2 TD runs of longer than 50 yards. Coleman picked a truly, truly unfortunate place and season for a breakout, as Gordon's accomplishments and Indiana's horribaditude have directed all spotlights away from Bloomington. He'll probably break 2,000 yards rushing before halftime of the Bucket game, and win or lose, he's got brighter days ahead in the league.
Defensive Players of the Week
Will Likely, CB, Maryland: As much as Funchess was shutting himself down by making key drops, Likely was in his face all game with 2 PBUs off the top of my head, an INT off a tip that he was 6 yards from taking to the house, and making some tackles in run support.
-DJ Carver
Ed. Note: This brings Likely to 6 INTs on the season. He averages over 28 yards per INT runback, and on special teams he's getting nearly 12 yards per punt return and over 32 yards per kickoff return. Buttery fingers notwithstanding, dude is a playmaker.
Ibraheim Campbell, S, and Anthony Walker, LB, Northwestern: Yeah, Likely is good an all that, but Ibraheim Campbell had an INT and forced two fumbles while getting 8 tackles, and Anthony Walker had 9 tackles (2.5 for a loss), 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble in a must-win game on the road.
-C.E. Bell
Ed. Note: It's tempting to dismiss these numbers with the way Purdue's offense derailed on Saturday, but turnovers don't generally force themselves. Campbell and top defensive playmaker Chi Chi Ariguzo are both about to finish their eligibility; Fitz has to be pleased with Walker establishing himself as the defense's next playmaker.
General Player of the Week
Tony Lippett, WR/CB, MSU: Offensively, Tony had another day at the office against Rutgers' overmatched defense: 5 catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. Even though those numbers got him to 10 receiving TDs and over 1,000 yards on the year, whoop-dee-doo, right? What's so great about those figures?
Well, how about the fact that he also reprised his role as a starting cornerback from his redshirt freshman season 3 years ago? Lippett was actually a Freshman All-B1G selection at the position, but flipped to offense both to cover for the loss of B.J. Cunningham and Keshawn Martin, and to make room for some guy named Darqueze Dennard who turned out to be pretty decent. Still, @it's not like CB is a demanding position in this defense. Probably wasn't a big deal to flip back over to that side of the ball.@ Lippett vindicated that move with 2 PBUs and a very nice tackle in space.