Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has been named one of sixteen semifinalist for the Maxwell Club Coach of the Year Award. Wisconsin's Gary Andersen and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio have also been named semifinalists for the award last won by Penn State's Bill O'Brien.

A tiny bit surprising given the buzz surrounding him, his cousin, and the University of Cincinnati, but P.J. Fleck's getting a playoff conference caliber threat in Johnson, the former Buckeye pledge. Best of luck to him in Kalamazoo.

Per intrepid reader @BuckeyeJammer, you might just want to get on down to College Traditions on Lane ASAP. Could make a great gift for the Ohio State die hard in your life with the holidays just around the corner, too.

Et tu, Brady Hoke? The Wolverines have been, let's say, (highlighter basketball uniforms aside) somewhat conservative in the past, so it'll be interesting to see what they look like. For what it's worth, we'll take Nike over Adidas in this department any day.

As God intended, Ohio State-Michigan will be a noon game Saturday, November 30th. It'll air nationally on ABC, and those with Time Warner Columbus should be able to watch it on channel 1006.

For the second time in as many games, Ryan Shazier is the LOTT Impact Player of the Week. Though the Ohio State team as a whole was uneven against Illinois, Shazier was his usual brilliant self finishing with 16 tackles (3.5 for a loss); he also forced a fumble on the afternoon.

Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier has been named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week after he recorded a career-high 16 tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss against Illinois. This is Shazier's second player of the week honor this season.

Ohio State running back Carlos Hyde has been named the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Week after he rushed for a career-high 246 yards and four touchdowns against Illinois. This is Hyde's third Offensive Player of the Week honor of his career and second this season. Hyde earns third Offensive POW honor of his career & second this season.

Mike Vrabel the obvious suspect? All (quasi-)kidding aside, it sounds like the pep talk didn't exactly do what it intended to – at least not over the full 60 minutes of the game. Perhaps yet another hot start for the Buckeyes though could be chalked up to the adrenaline from seeing someone go all Super Mario on the locker room roof.

Folks outside the Columbus area might find Saturday's Ohio State-Indiana game on ESPN2 in their local markets.