COLUMBUS, Ohio – John Simon earned his second greatest honor of the season Tuesday. The first was having Urban Meyer, after a September win over Cal, say he might name his next son after him.

“If we have another child I want to name him, what is it, Urban John Simon Meyer or something like that,” Meyer said then. “That's how much I love that guy. I'm not ashamed to say I love him. Love that guy.”

Tuesday night, Simon, the conference sack leader with nine who was called the Buckeyes' heart and soul by Meyer more than once, was named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year in a vote by conference coaches and media, winning the Nagurski-Woodson Award. He became the ninth OSU winner since the defensive player of the year began in 1990, joining Steve Tovar (1992), Dan Wilkinson (1993), Shawn Springs (1996), Mike Doss (2002), Will Smith (2003), A.J. Hawk (2005) and James Laurinaitis (2007 and 2008).

Simon already had been named the league's defensive lineman of the year and a first-team All-Big Ten player by the coaches and media. After Ohio State suffered several snubs Monday when only three Buckeyes were named to the coaches' first team, while Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State each had five players, Ohio State won the two major player awards Tuesday. Quarterback Braxton Miller won the offensive award.

But the Buckeyes still didn't like all the voting. The Big Ten gives out two separate coaching awards, one given by the coaches and another by the media, and Penn State's Bill O'Brien won both of them ahead of Meyer.

That continued one of the most remarkable streaks in conference history. An Ohio State coach hasn't won a Big Ten coach of the year award since Earle Bruce in 1979. In that time, the Buckeyes have won or shared the conference title on the field 14 times, but neither John Cooper nor Jim Tressel nor Meyer this year won an award for it.

“How Coach Meyer doesn't get (coach of the year) is appalling,” senior tackle Reid Fragel wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday night, “What a joke. First Tress, now him. I guess winning too much is frowned upon.”

Both O'Brien and Meyer in their first seasons led surprising success after bouncing back from difficult circumstances. The Buckeyes at 12-0 had the better record and won at Penn State, but the Nittany Lions had a lot more to deal with before their 8-4 season. Both were worthy candidates.

But voting is an inexact science. In a preseason poll of 24 Big Ten writers, Wisconsin running back Montee Ball and Michigan State defensive lineman William Gholston were the projected players of the year. Simon got two votes, and Miller got one.