Why is this news?: J.T. Barrett a Heisman contender, Ohio State 20 in basketball ranking

Sports Illustrated has J.T. Barrett fifth in its latest Heisman watch http://t.co/eOW1wGUH18

— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) November 17, 2014

With Marcus Mariota lighting up the scoreboard on the No. 2 team in the nation and Melvin Gordon demolishing the NCAA record book, there’s a good chance that J.T. Barrett won’t win the Heisman Trophy, or even the Big Ten Player of the Year Award for that matter. He will most definitely be in the conversation, though.

Barrett has put up video game numbers passing for 2,356 yards at a 64% clip with 29 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. Throw in the rushing stats and it gets even more incredible: 771 yards and 9 touchdowns on 136 attempts (that’s 5.7 YPC for those of you keeping score at home).

As it turns out, it’s not just those of us in Columbus who have taken notice. Sports Illustrated has Barrett ranked fifth in its latest Heisman poll. The gap between one and five is probably too wide to overcome, but if Barrett keeps it up, he’ll likely find himself in New York City at the end of the season.

This Week's AP Poll Still Features Five Big Ten Teams http://t.co/tvvFiwIigk

— BT Powerhouse (@BTpowerhouse) November 17, 2014

The first regular season Associated Press basketball poll is out and five big ten teams including the Ohio State Buckeyes made the cut. The Buckeyes are standing solid at 20 after recording a decisive 92-55 win over the UMass Lowell River Hawks. Joining the Buckeyes in the top 25 are Wisconsin (3), Michigan State (19), Nebraska (21), and Michigan (25). Kentucky is still in the top spot by a wide margin, receiving 49 of a possible 64 first-place votes.

The Buckeyes will face a stiff early season test tomorrow evening as the Marquette Golden Eagles head to Columbus for a rematch of last season’s 52-35 Buckeye victory. Here’s to hoping the 2014 version is a little easier on the eyes.

OSU women’s basketball player Ameryst Alston was named the Big Ten player of the week after averaging 33 points over OSU’s first 2 games.

— Lantern Sports (@LanternSports) November 17, 2014

The Ohio State Women’s Basketball team is 1-1 after dropping an 87-82 decision to Virginia, and defeating St. Francis 113-97. The star of the first week of the season was Ameryst Alston, a junior guard from Canton McKinley. Alston scored 39 against St. Francis and 27 against Virginia. The 33-point average was enough to earn her Big Ten player of the week honors.

Michigan DE Frank Clark dismissed from team http://t.co/aXlLDDMna6 via @freep

— Mark Snyder (@Mark__Snyder) November 17, 2014

Michigan Defensive End Frank Clark has been dismissed from the team after being charged with domestic violence. I’m not going to go into detail on what happened, you can find that in the article linked above. Instead I want to take this opportunity to reiterate that whether it’s sexual assault or domestic violence, it’s on us as a society to put a stop to it.

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