MAYBIN GETS ROBBED

The Nittany Lions had a record ten players selected to the All-Big Ten First Team by the conference coaches. Six offensive starters, including Derrick Williams and Daryll Clark, along with four starters on defense joined seven Penn State players who earned honorable mention to lead the conference, greatly outdistancing the school with the second-most selections, Iowa, who had four starters and four honorable mentions.

Additionally, Joe Paterno became just third coach in conferenc history to be named conference coach of the year three times (Bo Schembechler and Hayden Frye), and senior A.Q. Shipley took home the Offensive Lineman of the Year award.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that somehow Aaron Maybin didn't win defensive player of the year, that hardware went to James Laurinaitis. The worse news was that he wasn't even named defensive lineman of the year and the worst news was that Iowa's Mitch King was.

How did this happen? You don't even need statistics to tell you that Maybin was the most disruptive lineman in the conference if not the country, just watch one quarter of one game. Teams simply had to account for #59 before every snap, whether that was rolling to the other side of the field of leaving in a tight end, running back or both to help block him.

Not convinced yet? How about the fact that Maybin is tied for fourth in the nation and leads the Big Ten in sacks per game (1.00) while King ranks 19th (0.33) in the conference? How about the fact that King has fewer forced fumbles, fewer tackles for loss, fewer solo tackles and plays on a squad that ranks behind Penn State's in every major defensive category?

Anyway you cut it, Maybin should be wearing the crown of Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the year, not Mitch King.