Ed. Oh my – we’ve waited for this day since Sap’s been doing decals. We said we’d do this until the helmet stickers returned. Well, they are back but that doesn’t mean Sap can’t continue with his weekly champions – you need it, I need it and here they are:
- OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – I loved how hard De’Veon Smith ran today. Yes his 23 carries for 126 yards and 3 TD’s were personal bests (along with his 2-point conversion catch), but I was all over his intensity. He reminded me of a few other tough runners. Brandon Minor is the obvious choice because of his number, similar size and stature, but two other punishing backs came to mind: Frank Gore and Billy Taylor. Those guys, much like Smith, preferred to run you over versus running out of bounds. Dig it!!
- DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – Chris Wormley was all over the field on Saturday. Six tackles, with three of them being TFL, were huge, but his timely sack near the OSU goalline signified a shift in the game, in my opinion. Getting pressure from the DL was key in shutting down the Beavers and #43 was a big factor in that.
SPECIAL TEAMS – Delano Hill had a tremendous game on Special Teams today. While I couldn’t award a helmet sticker to the Oregon State long snapper, Hill’s tackle on that rocket-launching snap was the turning point in the game. Not only did it flip field position 95 yards, it was a morale crusher for the Beavers. Hill had a couple of other special teams tackles on Saturday, but that one in the 2nd quarter took the starch out of the crew from Corvallis. - COACHES – Gotta give it up to ALL the coaches on Saturday. After that first scoring drive by OSU, Durkin’s Defense limited the Beavers to just 59 yards for the rest of the game. Drevno’s O-Line mashed out 225 yards on the ground. That was beautiful to watch, especially icing the game with a 73-yard drive predominantly on the ground – NICE! Baxter’s Special Teams were special indeed. They got a hand on one punt and almost blocked 2 or 3 others. And Head Coach Jim Harbaugh? Thanks for bringing back the helmet stickers! Seeing them today on the Michigan helmets brought a tear to this old reporter’s eyes. AWESOME!
And here’s Sap updated season helmet for the stickers distributed thus far (refreshed with the 2015 helmet decal design):
