The Big Ten Network held its annual awards show last night, and Penn State fared just as well in that competition as they did in the athletic contests held over the past year.  That is to say, they cleaned up.

The winner for best finish of the season went to Penn State’s thrilling buzzer-beater to beat Illinois, as Talor Battle went the distance of the court to cap off a double-digit comeback in the final minutes of the game.  Forget how awesome it was?

And thank god that one won, too, because if not for Battle’s heroics, Iowa’s crushing last-second field goal might well have been the selection.

In the “Coach of the Year” category, Penn State swept, winning both men’s and women’s honors, for Joe Paterno and Russ Rose.  Rose’s win was an absolute slam dunk: his women’s volleyball team went undefeated in winning their second consecutive NCAA Championship.  Paterno took a team that was ranked 5th in the Big Ten and guided them to a Big Ten championship, reaching the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1995.  To be honest, I would’ve expected Michigan State’s Tom Izzo to win the award, seeing as his Spartans reached the NCAA Championship game.  If it’s any consolation, his team did win Big Ten team of the year.  Frankly, Ed DeChellis might have been an even more deserving Penn State nominee, but it’s just another honor for Paterno.

Jamelle Cornley was the Lions’ final awardee, taking the title that seemed to be created just for him: Most Courageous Performance.  Playing through various injuries over his time at Penn State, Cornley took his grit and passion one step further this season, playing through the NIT with a bandaged shoulder.  If anything, it made him even more hungry, more determined to guide his team to a title.  He was everything you could have asked for in a player, and it’s great to see people recognize that.  All the best, Jamelle.

Among the categories in which a Penn State nominee failed to win were Game of the Year (despite an overwhelming 6 nominations, including football wins against Ohio State, and basketball victories against Michigan State and Iowa) in which Northwestern’s upset of Michigan State took top honors, Breakout Performance, where a very deserving Shonn Greene beat out Daryll Clark, among others, and Derrick Williams historic 3 touchdown game against Illinois, which saw him become the first Lion in the Paterno era to rush, receive, and return a touchdown.  Juice Williams, instead, took the award for most dominating performance in his carving of the Michigan Wolverines.

In overall athlete of the year, the Penn State nominee fell just short: women’s volleyball player Nicole Fawcett lost to Maria Hernandez, of Purdue’s golf team, and Casey Sandy, a men’s gymnast, couldn’t beat Northwestern wrestler Jake Herbert.  Still, a very rewarding night for Penn State, all things considered.