One on One with ESPN's Bruce Feldman
Buckeye Commentary: How do you view this 2006 defense with only 2 starters returning? Does the defense do just enough to complement the offense or does it become another monster quicker than people think?
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: I think, as you illustrated so well a few weeks back, there is actually more experience than just “two starters back.” The big issue I think will be consistency. Young guys make plays, but they are also prone to big mistakes. It is going to happen where guys blow assignments, overreact or get caught way out of position. I remember talking to Mark Snyder a few years ago about Mall Wilhelm. He said Wilhelm's senior year he missed like seven or eight tackles. The previous year it was like six times that total. I’d use the example of last season’s USC team, which had a few very talented proven players (most notably Darnell Bing) and a bunch of rising stars (DE Lawrence Jackson, OLB Keith Rivers) to go with a handful of highly touted freshmen. At times, they were very good. Other times, not good at all. And keep in mind they were coached by a great defensive mind.
I think it’d be unrealistic to expect OSU to surrender less than say 18 ppg in 2006. Last season they allowed just 73 rushing yards per game. Even if you were to double that, it’d still be better than most of the Big Ten.
Buckeye Commentary: You recently came out with your top offensive difference makers. You had Troy Smith listed a #1, but I found it a little curious you left off Ted Ginn, Jr. What is it that Ginn is missing in his repertoire that would make him an even bigger difference maker?
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: Consistency. No doubt he is very explosive, but those other guys have the ball in their hands a lot more. Ginn only scored six TDs last season. Many teams have these dazzling weapons, but you sometimes see teams struggle to get these guys enough touches. I do expect Ginn to have a much bigger impact this fall though.
Buckeye
Commentary: Many Buckeye fans are
calling this a "2 Game Season": at Texas and at
Iowa. The idea is if Ohio State is victorious,
onward to the National Title. First, do you
agree and secondly, how do you think this year's
OSU/Texas game will play out?
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: I think
winning at Texas would obviously help, but it’s
a very long road. By saying it’s only a
two-game season, you’re writing off Michigan
and Penn State a team OSU lost to last season. Now, I
don’t doubt that OSU would be favored in both
of those games, but they are hardly locks.
As for the UT game, I like OSU. I think this time the
Buckeyes have the big edge at QB in terms of
leadership and experience. To me the game within a
game will boil down to how well the new OSU D can
deal with speedy Jamaal Charles. I think
they’ll win a high-scoring game.
Buckeye Commentary:
Your colleague Ivan Maisel has OSU #1 as do
several other writers. Have you formulated your
Top 25 yet? If so, how does your Top 10 shake
out? What factors or methodology do you use to
compile your list?
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: At first
glance last January, I had OSU as my No. 1, but
I’m not 100% on what my preseason top 10. At
least not till late July.
I usually try and evaluate the players back, the
leadership on the team, what kind of momentum the
program has and how well the schedule shapes up.
Having said, I am a big believer in West Virginia,
but not ready to anoint the Mountaineers #1 just yet.
Buckeye Commentary: Travel back
to 2003, many fans of Ohio State felt like ESPN sided
with Maurice Clarett and his, what turned out to be,
largely baseless claims. Was there any
direction from ESPN management to focus on Ohio State
and/or to "pick a side" so to speak?
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: Back then
every major media outlet would’ve loved to have
heard from Maurice Clarett at that juncture. He was
newsworthy. Remember he was a pivotal guy in the
national championship run and also had been going off
in the week leading up to the game.
One point I do think is worth mentioning is that ESPN
Magazine did two features on Clarett, one done by
Gene Wojciechowski, and the other by Tom Friend. They
each have about 20 years in the business, are very
accomplished writers and are really well respected
within the industry. Their reputations were
established long before Clarett ever suited up for
OSU.
As for the larger point, I know the OSU fans
won’t probably buy this but ESPN doesn’t
go out of its way to “pick” on any school
as if it is coming down from some directive from high
above. I cover college football for ESPN and have
never once been told “hammer College X”
or “lay off so-and-so.” There isn’t
that kind of planning that goes into it. Thing is,
every fan base – Miami, Notre Dame, FSU,
Tennessee – all believe the media, especially
ESPN goes out of its way to play up their bad news.
People get fired up about when they feel they (or the
team they love) have been slighted. I understand
that. I guess it’s human nature.
Now what I do believe happens is when you have an
accumulation of bad things (guys getting arrested,
DUIs, etc.) it increases the spotlight for whenever
the next incident happens. I recall the AP ran a
story about the number of OSU football players who
over a three-year span had been arrested and it was
like 14 or 15 guys. To me that’s more a case of
players letting the program down rather than the
media’s fault. (Last year it was Tennessee that
really had that bad run of guys making the police
blotter. At one point it was FSU with the bad run.
Before that it was Colorado.) Unfortunately that is
news in the college football world.
Buckeye Commentary: The coverage
of college football has changed so much in the last
10 years. ESPN GameDay is now tradition, online
sites like Rivals and Scout are ever
popular. What further changes do you
envision and how do you view other electronic outlets
such as Sports Blogs?
Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com:
You’re right, the impact of cable TV and the
web has been enormous. I think blogs get more
different view points, many of them very
well-informed out to the mainstream. Or at least
within the mainstream. Your graph idea is a perfect
example of this, and I’ve seen a bunch of other
creative, smart ways to examine various facets of
college football. I think it has made the college
football world smaller in a sense that now you have
rivalries between the SEC and Pac-10 and OSU and
Notre Dame. At least in terms of the fan bases.
The one thing I do worry about is with the ability of
people to work photoshop as well as things like
camera phones, I think it’s ripping away at
people’s privacy and leaves people very
vulnerable. Plus, it’s getting harder and
harder to distinguish something that may indeed be a
hoax. Rumors become facts after they’ve been
forwarded 10 times around.
Many thanks to Bruce for sharing his time and thoughts. He is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.
