The Atlantic Coast Conference recently toyed with the idea of adding a ninth conference game. The ACC’s 12-team membership means that each team misses three other conference opponents. Because the Big Ten has one less team, there are only two absent teams on each schedule.

I will start by looking at the common arguments against conferences (and the Big Ten) adding a ninth conference game. They vary in degrees of legitimacy.

For starters, some opponents say that adding only one conference game makes an imperfect system only less imperfect. Unless you are going to solve the entire problem (play a round robin schedule) why mess around with it? If this argument has any merit, it is slight. If you can reduce the odds that two undefeated Big Ten teams miss each other by 50%, why would you not want to do that? Let’s be realistic, too. Even the most casual fan can identify the teams that are going to challenge for the league title every year. Schedule makers can skew the schedules two to three years in advance to make sure Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Illinois play each every season. It may seem like an unfair handicap for the top teams but it is also a boost to the lesser teams that receive a bonus, albeit slight, in missing one of those teams.

One common reason proffered by Big Ten school officials is that the budgets are so huge that they cannot afford one less home game per season. I find this argument to be disingenuous. For example, Ohio State plays seven home games this season, eight in 2009 and 2010, and seven again in 2011. As the format stands now, every time they play a big-name non-conference opponent on the road they only have seven home games. If OSU dropped one of the lightweight opponents each year and scheduled their major non-conference road games in years when they have five home Big Ten games, the athletic department would guarantee themselves a minimum of seven home games each season. (The opposite years would be feature four home conference games and three home non-conference games.) Essentially, that means they give up two quarters of home football per year compared with the current scheduling. Read More...

In a slight follow up to yesterday’s piece regarding non-revenue sports, I thought I would post the current standings of the Director’s Cup.
If you are new to the Director’s Cup standings (it used to be called the Sears Cup), according to the award’s site, it is an award honoring universities maintaining a broad-based athletic program, achieving success in many sports, both men’s and women’s. Points are awarded based on order of finish in various NCAA sponsored championships or in the case of Division I Football, media-based polls.

Ohio State’s best finish in the competition is 3rd for the 2002-03 school year, followed by a fourth place finish in 2003-04. Incidentally, Stanford has won the award for Division I athletics for 13 straight years, and winning 13 out of the 14 years, having finished second in 1993-94 – the inaugural year – to North Carolina.

Top play: Normally, the Ohio State highlights that make ESPN’s “Top Plays” include Beanie Wells tearing of a huge run or Laurinaitis rattling some bones. But it is May, so that makes those last two scenarios less likely.

Instead, Ohio State Men’s Lacrosse goalie Stefan Schroder made the highlight reel with his coast-to-coast goal (for some reason ESPN is not allowing us to embed the video).

The Buckeyes take on No. 1 seed Duke next week in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Men’s Tennis: Raise your hand if you knew the Ohio State Men’s Tennis team is ranked #2 in the country. Well, they are and they just advanced to the Sweet 16 of Tennis after dominating East Tennessee State. The Buckeyes play Illinois this Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Read More...

With gas, food and other commodities shooting through the roof, you most likely cannot afford to do anything more than sit on your couch and stare at your laptop (on low brightness, of course, to save power). Don’t fret, Buckeye Commentary is here to help and provide you with some headlines from around Buckeye Nation. You may know some of this stuff already, but a second reading never hurt anybody.

Stay classy Detroit: The Detroit Free Press could not resist taking one more shot at Coach Cooper. Look for Ken Gordon to pen this headline upon Lloyd’s HOF induction: “Perpetually old curmudgeon receives honor despite splitting a championship and not winning a meaningful game in his last five seasons.” Kenny, you can borrow that one when the time comes.

Helmet to helmet: Troy Smith continues to haunt Michigan and its former players. Bill Belichick let the Patriot, Shawn Crable, know that his on-field discipline was an issue.

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know: Ohio State and USC will kickoff at 5:00pm PT. Didn’t we know this 6 weeks ago.

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, pt. 2: We are not going to have a college football playoff anytime soon. Duh.

It feels like the first time: The site of Ohio State’s first football game was commemorated this weekend. This link has some pictures of the … um, field. How many tackles do you think that tree had in the game?

Border War: Earle Bruce is scheduled to regale hundreds at a fundraiser in Toledo today. His talk will focus on his first significant victory against Michigan … in recruiting. Ohio State coaches and players will be on hand to sign autographs.

Wind sprints: Apparently, Michigan will be less tired this season after chasing Beanie Wells all day. No word on if they plan to tackle him.

Addition by subtraction: Ohio State grabbed two junior college players after Kosta Koufos and Eric Wallace fled campus.

We’re still here: The Minneapolis Star Tribune covers the Big Ten, but basically ignores about the Gophers.

New starters: Rivals did a little post-spring breakdown of the Big Ten. According to them, Tyler Moeller is a pass rusher now and Jamario O’Neal has been a starter for a while. In other news, I can dunk with both hands.

Pattern developing: Anyone else noticing a theme here? Maybe Thad can find a free scholarship just to keep up with Tressel.

Buckeye Commentary is not one those sites always begging for money (you know who you are). Nevertheless, desperate times call for desperate measures.

If you were not already sure, EDSBS has the ability to spite your team … in horrific fashion. Worst of all, they are threatening to bring harm to our beloved Buckeyes. Thankfully, the crew over there is accepting bribes not to act counter to the ambitions of our gridiron heroes. We must act fast. Read More...

If you find your self in Vegas anytime soon (and I hope you), place some serious coin on Jim Tressel’s Hall of Fame chances. It is the closest you are going to find to a sure thing.

In case you missed it, the Hall of Fame officially welcomed former Ohio State coach John Cooper on Thursday. Cooper said he had known about his selection since Sunday, but had to maintain radio silence. This is a great honor for a great coach. Obviously, views of Cooper ran the gamut around Buckeye Nation, but Buckeye Commentary has always been a fan. It is fitting that Cooper was selected in the same year as Lou Holtz, too. After all, Holtz did lead Notre Dame in two straight whippings at the hands of Cooper and Ohio State (1995-1996). (I think the ’95 team just scored again.)

In the larger picture, this means the last three former Ohio State coaches are in the Hall of Fame. A distinction I am willing to bet no other school can match. Woody was inducted in 1983, Earle Bruce in 2002, and now Cooper.

To illustrate how certain Tressel’s induction is, compare these numbers:

Tressel may not catch Woody in Big Ten titles. He would have to stick around for another 15 or so seasons. But he is leading win percentage by a good bit and is leading the Buckeyes to a BCS bowl virtually every year.

Look for the college football gods to fast track Tressel’s canonization once he retires.

In other Hall of Fame news, Chris Spielman and Jim Otis were not selected for this year’s class. For a look at the criteria used, check out page 3. Better luck next year guys.

In other gambling related news, Buckeye Commentary has its money on Z Fortune to win and a trifecta of Monba, Gayego, Big Brown. Wish us luck.

Les Miles and LSU have decided they were too good for the rest of college football. Therefore, they are attempting to level the playing field by dismissing their starting quarterback, Ryan Perrilloux.

This will surely be billed by SEC apologists as another opportunity to showcase how much better they are than everyone else. Feel free to start the Andrew Hatch for Heisman campaign any day. We will all understand.

One positive for the Tigers, they will surely be moving up in the Fulmer Cup (follow this link – it is worth it). Perhaps, Les Miles wanted one more trophy.

After selecting an Ohio State player for the third time in four years, Jets coach Eric Mangini had this comment about Jim Tressel and the Ohio State program. (Mangini has been the coach since 2006.)

"I just have so much respect for his program, the way he runs his program, the different players I've met from his system. I think he does a great job."

Sounds like Tressel has a not so secret admirer. With that type of lowing praise and a draft record to back it up, perhaps the Buckeyes should move their Pro Day to East Rutherford.

Whatever the reason, a majority of Americans love sports. Whether it is football, basketball, or baseball, most people like sports so much the Sports section is the first one they reach for each morning. For some, it is the only one.

The result is a natural, symbiotic relationship: sports and journalism. Professional teams and athletes play for our enjoyment and sports journalists get to cover the comings and goings (for the most part). Sure, the readers pay for newspapers and magazines to read all the news and analysis by the media, but this coverage has a very nice benefit for the teams: diehard fans.

The constant media attention and promotion allows sports/organizations to constantly remain at the front of the public’s collective mind. As a result, everybody wins. The attention creates an ardent devotion to the teams and sports, which allows the teams to sell millions of dollars worth of tickets, merchandise, and television rights. That money pays the players’ salaries and makes owners very wealthy.

What is not to love? The answer: this blog and thousands like it. Last week, the New York Times detailed the struggle that is brewing between (mostly professional) teams and alternative media, a.k.a. blogs. (Yeah, I know I am a little late to this party.

Would Buckeye Commentary like to be credentialed for Ohio State sporting events? Absolutely. Getting credentialed would be a major coup.  The O-Zone and Bucknuts are both credentialed (I think) and I would guess that they worked very hard to get there. I have heard plenty of stories about Ohio State’s opinion of the electronic media.   So, I can imagine they think even worse of blogs such as Buckeye Commentary.   Read More...

As faithful readers know, from time to time we have a guest columnist stop by and contribute some quality content.  This is a win-win.  I do not have to contribute to my carpal tunnel and you do not have to read another hackneyed piece.  

Today, Jason stopped by and gave us a piece about the BCS's latest non-move.  Jason has a deep reservoir of football knowledge, so for once you may learn something.  He is a graduate of Kansas University, lives in Kansas City, and is a season ticket holder for the Chiefs.  As you can tell, he is having  a good sports year (aside from the Chiefs).  Enjoy.  

The BCS and the conference commissioners have officially rejected a proposal to expand the current BCS format to include an “and one” championship game. The proposal was to have provided the top 4 teams be seeded in a mini-playoff format. The winners would meet in the championship game. I have long been perplexed at college football’s unwillingness to shift to a true post-season playoff format. All of the common reasons given lack even an indicia of factual support or logic. Today the BCS and commissioners stated reasons to reject the “and one” format was allegedly because of the concern it would make football a two-semester sport and would lessen the importance of a regular season that now has a do-or-die feel to it from week to week. Both arguments are ridiculous.

It is hard for me to believe anyone associated with college football could with a straight face state a concern about college football becoming a two-semester sport without breaking down in laughter. Last I checked football became a two-semester sport about the time John Wayne was shooting indians in Westerns and Bear Bryant was at Texas A&M. College football player’s seasons officially end when bowl season is over. But the unofficial season begins almost immediately with offseason conditioning, player-run seven on seven practices, lifting, rehabbing from injuries, and other training. Spring practice begins only a couple of months after the first of the year. Summer time is more of the same. In fact, football is year round in virtually every high school in America, let alone BCS conference universities. It’s even more absurd in the face of the continuing expansion of regular season and conference championship games. Not more than a decade ago teams played 11 regular season games plus one bowl game. Now 12 regular season games are the norm, potentially another in a conference championship plus the bowl game. Not long ago BYU played 14 or 15 games in a single season. I would also like to point out the obvious fact the BCS “and one” format would extend the season by a single game for only two teams. Read More...

Despite my best efforts, Buckeye Commentary does not write itself. So on occasion I look to news sources for inspiration. This weekend’s draft was a good starting point. The New York Times William Rhoden had an interesting piece on the role reversal for highly sought after players in the NFL Draft. Vernon Gholston figures prominently in Rhoden’s piece about how many of the draft’s top players are in a new and uncomfortable position because they are not in control of their destiny. Unlike three or four years earlier, players are waiting to see which team they will play for instead of making the choice for themselves. Maurice Clarett even makes an appearance.

The Times also ran a story on the future of the BCS and likelihood (or lack thereof) of a playoff in college football. As with all BCS v. Playoff debates, the Big Ten looms large in this discussion because of its exclusive deal with the Pac 10 and the Rose Bowl. Ohio State President Gordon Gee reiterated his familiar stance regarding a playoff; although this time, he left out the phrase “cold dead hands.”

Speaking of the Pac 10, College Football News had a very early (and brief) look at the Ohio State v. USC game this fall. A reader asked for a breakdown of the advantages each team would have in this season’s epic showdown. Interestingly, the majority of the advantages broke in the Buckeyes favor yet Pete Fiutak still has a hard time picking against the Trojans.

Finally, the Big Ten Network informed me this afternoon that they will be airing a NFL Draft Recap Show tomorrow night at 9:00pm. To the press release:

“The Big Ten Network will present Big Ten Tonight: 2008 NFL Draft Recap.  The show will be hosted by Dave Revsine, Big Ten Network football analyst Chris Martin and the editor and publisher of Pro Football Weekly, Hub Arkush.
 
The roundtable style show will preview the professional futures of Big Ten draftees. In all, 28 Big Ten players were selected over the weekend.  Which Big Ten player will have the biggest impact in 2008?  Which Big Ten player will likely receive immediate playing time this fall?  Which Big Ten player will have the longest NFL career?”

For those of you receiving The Big Ten Network, enjoy the show (and lack of coach Gerry DiNardo).

Ohio State officially won the Justin Boren Sweepstakes yesterday. The Buckeyes were running unopposed from the moment Boren made his fateful comments about the new Michigan regime and the speculation turned to reality.

Judging from readers' comments about Boren's potential transfer, Buckeye Nation is conflicted on Boren’s arrival. Jim Tressel, on the other hand, is very sure of his feelings. The head coach said Boren “is a fine young man and an excellent football player. We are happy that he has decided to continue his career at Ohio State and ultimately earn his degree in his hometown.” In case you are wondering, Boren was undeclared at Michigan. Read More...

First Beanie Wells, now the Dispatch. As some of you may recall, last weekend we mentioned what appeared to be a new feature – the electronic edition. During that discussion, Buckeye Commentary (a dedicated Dispatch reader, incidentally) called for a more uniform look to the paper.

Well folks, ask and you shall receive. Today the Dispatch unveiled its new look. It is nice to see the paper taking some reader advice to heart.

Sarcasm aside, Buckeye Commentary is well aware that the redesign was in the works for a while, but as they say – timing is everything and our comment was timed perfectly. Why not take some small amount of credit?

The redesign is not radically different with the ad placement and color palette largely the same. They did create staggered levels of navigation, which looks much better. Sadly, the search function remains the worst on any major website in the country. Seriously, try it.

Continuing the media news, ESPN had a piece on the Buckeyes’ spring and the new approach taken by Tressel and Co. The Worldwide Leader gets in the obligatory shots about the past two title games but also talks up several Buckeyes, including Lawrence Wilson.

If you just cannot get enough of the gang from Bristol, you can read this lengthy chat with several of their college footballs reporters and columnists (subscriber). I will not ruin the ending for you, but my favorite (Ohio State related) part was Heather Dinich expressing her exasperation at the amount of questions regarding the Iowa Hawkeyes. What does she expect? It is Iowa in April.

Nice touch, Heather.

Congress has decided to take a break from war, poverty, education, and global warming, to tackle a problem we can all wrap our minds around: the BCS. It may not be the simplest formula in the world, but we all understand the results: two teams from major conferences play for the mythical national title while at least one other team cries about not being included. It does not happen every year (see 2002, 2005), but it is more rule than exception.

Three Congressman from Hawaii, Idaho, and Georgia have asked the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to take a lot at the situation. I wonder if Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican, would approve of his eponymous statute being used in this fashion. But, I digress.

As the article points out, each man represents a portion of a state that believes it was recently snubbed from the BCS title game. No surprise there. Read More...

Ohio's greatest hometown newspaper, as the giant sign reads atop their headquarters, has a new wrinkle. Today, the Dispatch unveiled its electronic edition. I know what you are thinking, “Wasn’t it already electronic in the form of a website?” The answer apparently is…kind of.

Almost exactly one year ago, we mentioned the addition of blogs to the newspaper. The blogs, at least the ones I read, add value to the paper’s content. I struggle to see how this new feature will do the same. Were online readers clamoring for this?

The electronic edition looks exactly like the regular newspaper only shinier, and without the ink dirtying your fingers and clothes. Just like the old-school print edition, you can turn the pages, view entire pages at once, and even check out the sketchy ads for assorted massage parlors around town. You can click on an article and a new window pops up. Basically, you can see box scores and graphics in a slightly different format. Nothing Earth shattering. Read More...

April Fool's. (Not that it fooled many of you.)

Hopefully, the desired effect was achieved - a brief, hesitating moment followed by soothing relief - without angering too many (sorry NJC, best of luck in the future). The joke was a play on Buckeye Nation's fawning over Pryor and not any reflection on his character or taste in food. Hope you enjoyed it.