Contest Today!
*Update: We have a winner!
On October 13, 2007…
Ben was honored with the retirement of his college jersey during a pre-game ceremony on the field at Yager Stadium at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
He became just the third RedHawks player to have his jersey number retired and the first in 34 years.
Ben led Miami to a Mid-American Conference championship and a No. 10 final ranking during his junior season. Twice that season he led Miami to wins over Bowling Green State University, including a 49-27 win in the MAC Championship.
Ben earned Third-Team All-America honors during his record-breaking junior season and became just the third Miami player to capture the Vern Smith Award as the Mid-American Conference Most Valuable Player.
Also joining Ben on the field for the ceremony were his parents, and the family of his beloved coach, Terry Hoeppner, who had passed away the previous June. During a half-time ceremony, the Hoeppner family was presented with a special plaque in honor of the coach’s memory, which now hangs in Yager Stadium.
To commemorate the fourth anniversary of the retirement of Ben’s Redhawks jersey, we are having a contest….
The 34th emailer with the correct answers will win an autographed 8×10 photo of Ben from his college days (photo at left) and a sealed DVD of the Redhawks Championship Season, “Rewriting the Book – A Tribute to a Storybook Season”!
The questions – just fill in the blanks:
1. Ben is just the third quarterback in MAC history to pass for _____ yards in __ seasons.
2. Ben broke the _____-yard plateau for his career, making him just the ___ player in NCAA history and just the fifth MAC quarterback to accomplish the feat.
3. In 2003, Ben passed for ______ yards and ___ touchdowns, an all new school single-season record.
4. In his college career, Ben passed for ____ total yards and ___ touchdown passes.
Send emails to: bigben7website@gmail.com
Hint: The answers can all be found on the website with just a click on a link or two, or three! Remember, there is more than one page on this site…but you […]
Ben is named AFC Offensive Player of the Week
This marks the seventh time that Ben has been honored as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com this morning:
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Tennessee Titans.
Roethlisberger threw five touchdown passes and tallied 228 passing yards in the Steelers 38-17 win, while playing with an injured foot.
“I just don’t want to let my guys down. I want to give them my best,” said Roethlisberger after the game of playing injured. “I’ll be there until they take me off in a cart, which has happened before. I want to give them everything that I’ve got and put this team and this offense in the best position that I can to win football games. It is what it is, as coach always says. Regardless of injury, there are lots of guys going through it, we just have to go out and do our best. “
Roethlisberger is the first Steelers player to win a player of the week honor this season.
You can read more from Ms. Varley here.
Also Today:
Ben spoke to the media after practice. A few highlights….
On his play last Sunday –
“I feel like I left some things out there. You always want to try to be better. You never want to be satisfied with where you’re at.”
On playing with the sprained foot –
“When it’s your feet it’s hard because you’re always on them, so it’s every single play. It’s not like it’s a left wrist or a left shoulder where you hurt it when you get hit.”
On the level of the pain –
“It was up there. But you find a way to manage it.”
On the approach of the offense against the Titans –
“They sat in a lot of zone coverages and left the underneath stuff open. I know all you guys think that you called it and it was ‘a breakthrough performance,’ because you guys wanted me to get the ball out of my hand faster. But, really, it was what they gave us, and we took advantage of it.”
*Thank you […]
Project Bundle Up
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com this evening:
Steelers players took the kids shopping at Macy’s at Ross Park Mall as a part of Project Bundle-Up, a Salvation Army program that provides winter outerwear for needy children in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“It’s so nice outside today and they are saying, ‘I don’t want a coat, it’s not cold,’” said Ben Roethlisberger, who was joined by his wife Ashley. “But it’s nice to know when the winter comes and the snow is here they will be warm. It’s an awesome thing. And it’s so much fun once you get them under control and realize what they need. We enjoyed picking out stuff and I hope they did.”
The kids were able to select a winter coat, as well as a hat, scarf and gloves, and in many cases players purchased extra items for them, from socks to sweatshirts, bringing plenty of joy to the youngsters.
You can read more from Ms. Varley about the event here.
You can see the photo gallery here.
Also:
Ben and his teammates “weighed in” on Troy’s new wax figure that was unveiled today at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in New York.
You can watch the video here.
Banks: Big Ben + Playing Injured = Sensational
SI.com‘s Don Banks, from his “Inside the NFL” column today:
I refuse to read, listen or entertain any more injury reports regarding Ben Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger and his sprained left foot carved up the Titans’ heretofore difficult defense with five touchdown passes on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
How can we ever know when Roethlisberger is really hurt if he continues to elevate his game when injured?
In Big Ben’s case, being listed as questionable is a guarantee of being sensational.
You can read more from Mr. Banks here.
Also Today:
Ben has been nominated for the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week!
He is one of three quarterback’s chosen after Sunday’s performance. He is up against the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers (396 yards and 2 scores) and the Chiefs’ Matt Cassel (257 yards and 4 touchdowns).
Ben “tossed five touchdowns and one interception, and tallied 228 yards through the air in the Steelers’ 38-17 win over the Tennessee Titans.”
Vote for Ben here!
Stat of the Day:
Ben’s 40-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace against the Titans was the 10th time the two have “hooked up for a touchdown of 40 yards or longer. And they’ve done it in only 32 games together.”
Only one other active tandem has more touchdowns of 40 yards or longer – Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts with 12. (Elias Sports Bureau via Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
And:
Two Shout-Outs today for two BIG Ben fans –
The first goes out to 26-year old Christopher Tolley (pictured) from West Virginia. Christopher is currently in a coma at the Cincinnati Clinic after initially suffering chest pains last Tuesday (October 4th) which lead doctors to discover a tear in his heart, requiring open-heart surgery.
As his friend Rob Klein said, “80% of ruptures have a mortality rate and 50% of people don’t even make it to the hospital… Somehow he survived 2 days, a flight to Cleveland, OH from Charleston, WV and a 6-hour surgery. A Miracle!”
Christopher still has a long recovery road ahead. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!
The second Shout Out goes to Augie Wilson, from Las Vegas, who is battling cancer and […]
Steelers 38, Titans 17
“I’m not the only guy playing with injuries, you know. I’m not going to complain about it. I’m going to go out and do my best. I think what’s more impressive and more important is how the guys that stepped up and filled in for people played. I don’t think I have enough time to name all the guys, there were so many. But I was just so proud of them.” — Ben, post-game.
Post-Game Reaction:
From USA Today:
Ben Roethlisberger’s sprained left foot is just fine thanks. And so, apparently, are the defending AFC champions.
The quarterback tied a team record by throwing for five touchdowns — including two to Hines Ward— and the Pittsburgh Steelers rolled past the Tennessee Titans 38-17 on Sunday.
Other than a slight limp when he ran, Roethlisberger appeared to have no issues with his sprained left foot, also hitting Mike Wallace, Heath Miller and David Johnson for scores as the Steelers (3-2) ended Tennessee’s three-game winning streak.
You can read more here.
“Well, Ben Roethlisberger has had an awfully good day…completing 72% of his passes today behind a good offensive line.” — CBS NFL game announcer Greg Gumbel.
From ESPN‘s Ohm Youngmisuk:
The early demise of the Steelers has been greatly exaggerated. After getting pushed around by Houston last week, Pittsburgh was the bully on the field against a Titans team that had convincing wins over two AFC North teams (Baltimore and Cleveland). It didn’t matter that four starters were sidelined (nose tackle Casey Hampton, linebacker James Harrison, defensive end Aaron Smith and left guard Chris Kemoeatu), their starring running back (Rashard Mendenhall) didn’t get on the field because of a hamstring injury and their starting quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger) played with a sprained foot.
Despite playing with specialized footwear for his sprained left foot, Roethlisberger had one of the best games of his career, throwing five touchdowns. It marked the fourth time in Roethlisberger’s career that he had at least four touchdown passes in a game. He only had three touchdown passes in the four games before the injury.
You can read more here.
“The running backs did a great job. I told Isaac [Redman] the numbers are probably not indicative of how he played. He did such a great job running the ball, picking up blitzes. […]
Big Ben, Big Heart
From Erik Barajas, news anchor at ABC-13 in Houston, Texas:
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office just got a big boost from an unlikely source.
A generous donation is helping out the Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit.
One guy that is not happy with Houston is Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger.
We sent him home on crutches after the Texans’ 17-10 victory. But, Big Ben as they call him, seems to have a big heart after making a big donation benefiting the HCSO.
Video of Mr. Barajas’ report and ride-along with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office here.
You can read more about the grant to the Sheriff’s Office below (September 30th news).
Also this weekend:
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Dan Gigler has an excellent tribute to Heinz Field on the stadium’s tenth anniversary.
Just one of the highlights from his blog of the 10 greatest Steelers games:
9. Dec. 20, 2009 — 37-36 win over Green Bay. In 77 previous seasons of football, the Steelers had never had a 500-yard passer until Ben Roethlisberger put up 503 in this outing against the Packers, probably the most thrilling regular season game ever played at Heinz Field. Roethlisberger’s record-setting pass was the game-winner, a breathtakingly perfect laser to a toe-tapping Mike Wallace in the left corner of the north endzone, eerily similar to Santonio Holmes’ Super Bowl-winning catch 10-months prior.
You can read the full tribute here.