cincinnati.
com ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2019 ❚ 5C
College football
OSU’s Day is Big Ten Coach of the Year
Bill Rabinowitz
The Columbus Dispatch
After leading the Buckeyes to a 12-0
regular season and the Big Ten cham-
pionship game, Ryan Day is the first
Ohio State University football coach
so honored since Earle Bruce in 1979.
John Cooper didn’t win it. Nor did
Jim Tressel. Not even Urban Meyer.
Not since 1979 had an Ohio State
coach won Big Ten’s coach of the year
honors. Earle Bruce won it in his first
season as OSU coach after succeeding
Woody Hayes and taking the Buck-
eyes to an undefeated regular season.
That head-scratching streak ended
Tuesday when Ryan Day was named
the conference’s top coach in the
media voting. Like Bruce, Day re-
placed a legendary coach in Meyer.
Like Bruce, Day led the Buckeyes to an
undefeated regular season.
The Buckeyes play Wisconsin
(10-2) on Saturday in the Big Ten
championship game.
Buckeyes coaches have been
slighted because coach-of-the-year
honors often go to the coach whose
team has unexpected success. At
Ohio State, success is expected.
Even this year, Day didn’t sweep
the award. Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck got
the honor in voting by the league’s
coaches.
Unlike Bruce, the 40-year-old Day
Ridder
Continued from Page 1C
the air in a game since mid-October,
but Bryant’s three second-half turn-
overs – two interceptions and a fum-
ble – limited scoring opportunities as
the Tigers pulled away.
Fickell said his overall impression
of Bryant’s performance was positive.
But if Ridder returns, there’s no plan
for both to play on Saturday.
“Yeah, if a guy twists an ankle you
always have an opportunity to see the
other guy,” Fickell said. “I think those
are the things – it’s not back and forth,
it’s not an open competition by any
means.
“That’s not the plan, to kind of
switch in and out. That’s a unique po-
sition and you’ve got to believe. If Des
is out there, he is our guy and we don’t
want anybody looking over shoul-
ders.”
Perhaps Ridder’s absence in the
loss last week and the uncertainty
about who starts for Cincinnati on
Saturday, two situations that aren’t
ideal, could create an advantage for
the Bearcats. Memphis and Cincin-
nati will have spent two straight
weeks preparing for each other, so
any wrinkle or change could be used
Ryan Day is the first Ohio State University football coach to be named Big
Ten Coach of the Year since Earle Bruce in 1979. His Buckeyes play Wisconsin
(10-2) on Saturday in the Big Ten championship game. JAY LAPRETE/AP
had never been a head coach before
taking the Ohio State job, except for
the three-game stint at the start of
last season when he served as acting
coach during Meyer’s suspension.
BIG TEN DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF
THE YEAR: Ohio State defensive end
Chase Young has been selected as the
Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
No. 2 Ohio State boasts the coun-
try’s No. 1 defense, with Young leading
for benefit.
“They’ve seen a lot of film of Des-
mond Ridder,” Fickell said. “They
know what he can do, so maybe they
don’t know because they didn’t get to
see it firsthand, how fast is he or how
strong is he or whatever.”
Memphis’ coach Mike Norvell said
his staff and players, of course, are
prepared to make changes.
“I think you have to approach each
week as a separate identity,” Norvell
said. “We learned some things last
week, probably just getting a better
sense of matchups. Obviously, they
had a plan of attack as we did and
there’s going to be some adjustments
made.”
Norvell said he wasn’t happy with
his defense’s play last week on third
down. Bryant completed six passes
that went for a first down or touch-
down on third-down plays.
“We’ll have to be able to adapt and
adjust to some of the new things that
we see,” Norvell.
That could be Ridder. After record-
ing 1,836 passing yards, 432 rushing
yards and 18 total touchdowns this
season, Ridder said he made the most
of the Bearcats’ first trip to Memphis.
That could pay off this weekend.
“You get a different view than what
the starting quarterback is seeing,”
Ridder said. “It really helps with the
the way. The junior has a school-rec-
ord 16½ sacks – the most by a Big Ten
player in 21 years – and 30½ in three
seasons. Young was also named De-
fensive Lineman of the Year.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day was
chosen Coach of the Year by media,
while Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck was
picked by the Big Ten’s coaches in vot-
ing announced Tuesday by the con-
ference.
Penn State’s Micah Parsons (line-
After recording 1,836 passing yards,
432 rushing yards and 18 total
touchdowns this season, redshirt
sophomore quarterback Desmond
Ridder said he made the most of
the Bearcats’ first trip to Memphis.
That could pay off this weekend.
ALBERT CESARE/THE ENQUIRER
backer) and Minnesota’s Antoine
Winfield Jr. (defensive back) were
among the other winners.
ALL-MAC: Nine different Miami
University RedHawks earned All-
MAC honors, while Brett Gabbert was
named Mid-American Conference
Freshman of the Year, the league of-
fice announced on Wednesday after-
noon.
Tommy Doyle, Doug Costin and
Kyle Kramer all earned first-team ac-
colades. They were joined by Kame-
ron Butler (second team) Maurice
Thomas (second team – kick return-
er), Sam Sloman (second team), Dan-
ny Godlevske (third team), Myles Reid
(third team) and Emmanuel Rugamba
(third team).
Gabbert is just the third RedHawk
to earn Freshman of the Year honors,
joining Ben Roethlisberger (2001) and
Deland McCullough (1992). The St.
Louis native completed 139 of 258
passes for 1,967 yards and 10 touch-
downs, while leading Miami to its first
MAC Championship appearance
since 2010.
Miami returns to action on Satur-
day when it plays Central Michigan
for the MAC Championship at Ford
Field in Detroit. Kickoff is slated for
noon and will be carried live on
ESPN2.
The Associated Press contributed.
leadership standpoint of really grow-
ing off the field and working to help
everybody as best as I could.”
ALL-AAC HONORS: Cincinnati
had 10 players named to All-AAC con-
ference teams, voted on by the
league’s 12 head coaches and an-
nounced on Wednesday.
Bearcats first-team selections: of-
fensive lineman Morgan James, tight
end Josiah Deguara, defensive line-
man Elijah Ponder, linebackers Bryan
Wright and Perry Young, cornerback
Ahmad Gardner and safety Darrick
Forrest.
The seven first-team selections is a
UC school record.
Second-team: running back Mi-
chael Warren II.
Honorable mention: kicker Sam
Crosa and safety Ja’Von Hicks.
Navy quarterback Malcolm Perry
was named AAC Offensive Player of
the Year; Temple defensive end Quin-
cy Roche was named as AAC Defen-
sive Player of the Year; Houston punt-
er Dane Roy and Memphis returner
Antonio Gibson were chosen as AAC
Special Teams Players of the Year;
Memphis running back Kenneth
Gainwell was named AAC Rookie
of the Year; Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo
was selected as AAC Coach of the
Year.