MADISON (WKOW) -- The Big Ten has announced that Wisconsin junior
running back Montee Ball is the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year. Ball is
the second Badger running back to win the award in three years.
This year the award was renamed the Graham-George Award after Otto Graham and Eddie George.
Ball is the fourth UW player to be named Big Ten Offensive
Player of the Year since the award was instituted in 1982, and all four have
been running backs. The others include Brent Moss (1993), Ron Dayne (1999) and John Clay (2009).
Ball leads the country and has set a Big Ten and UW school
record with 34 touchdowns this season. That is second only to Barry Sanders' 39
TDs in 1988 in NCAA history. He is averaging a touchdown every 7.8 times he
touches the ball and has scored more TDs that 29 FBS teams. Excluding
Wisconsin, only four Big Ten teams scored more touchdowns than Ball did (24) in
conference play.
Ball leads the Big Ten and ranks second in the nation with
1,622 rushing yards, the sixth-best total in school history. His 157.8 yards on
the ground during Big Ten play were more than 30 yards better than Iowa's
Marcus Coker, who finished in second place. Ball also paces the conference in
all-purpose yards, averaging 155.8 yards per game.
Earlier this week, Ball was named the Ameche-Dayne Big Ten Running Back of the Year and
unanimous first-team All-Big Ten. He was also a four-time Big Ten
Offensive Player of the Week this year.
Among other accolades, Ball is a Doak Walker Award finalist,
given to the nation's top running back, and a leading candidate for the Heisman
Trophy.
