Sloopy, The Sky is Falling…
Or maybe not.

In an up and down season, things just keep getting stranger and stranger.

Brandon Saine: World’s Fastest Fullback. “Tressel said Tuesday that Saine is "evolving" into a fullback, and also will see some time at the slot position.” Yes, that’s right. The kid who set a state record in the 100m is now transitioning to fullback, a position that only Woody Hayes could love.

From a post I made at BuckeyePlanet:

Who says we don't have team speed? Jim Tressel doesn't want to give up the good old I-Formation, so now we have the fastest fullback in the nation! I see it as a way to possibly get Saine 'more looks' outside of the tailback position. He can always get sent out wide...or something.



I can't see it as a promotion (especially with the possibility of Beanie staying and the freshman coming in). I think Brandon needs to go pop in tape of last year's Youngstown State and Washington games and get some confidence back. He looked deadly. Owen Schmidt tore off big runs because he had a lot of space and hit holes, occassionally knock over a few guys. There just hasn't been any 'open space' to work for anybody on this team outside of Beanie sometimes (and Pryor, but less so).



But nothing is set in stone. A lot of guys move around (maybe not RB to FB) and Brandon is only a sophomore.

I think this is a positive development in respect to how Saine has performed so far in his sophomore slump. Many fans have been saying for a while that he is most dangerous with a ton of room to run, so a few more misdirections or plays from the slot can’t hurt.

RB to FB, WR to FCS?
From change of position to a possible change of teams, Ray Small has been suspended for the Saturday's Northwestern game and the next week at Illinois. Ken Small, Ray’s father, has stated that the dispute is personal and a transfer to a FCS (1-AA) team is likely.

Going from the “Next Ted Ginn” to the “Next Eugene Clifford” (yea, I went there) is not easy, but lack of production, on and off the field, has plagued Ray Small. Rumors missing class or team meetings coupled with a brief freshman season, a lackluster sophomore season, and whatever is going on this season will likely spell the end of this Buckeye receiver. Small was ranked as one of the top receivers coming out of high school, a few spots back of Percy Harvin.

Maybe Ray just needs a positive influence in his life, and you might want to sign his father up for that too. After admitting he wanted to have his son fake a injury to get a medical redshirt and transfer, he continues with a litany of items that are known to get you in the Tressel dog house:

"He had some parking tickets [driving a car with unregistered plates], he was late to class, he might have had a bad grade -- college stuff, things that go on in daily life for college kids," Ken Small said. "They take everything he does and doesn't do off the field and they take it apart…We see it as a family that they are intentionally blowing his whole career.”

Ouch. I don’t want to stick up for anyone in this case, but this whole situation made me think back to ESPN’s witch-hunt after the Maurice Clarett Saga. A young man by the name of Sammy Maldonado, a Cooper recruit, found himself (for whatever reasons) in Tressel’s doghouse. Back then ESPN went as far as to incriminatingly say “Within a year, Maldonado would be roadkill, unwanted by the team he played for and unable to play for anyone else”.

Throughout the story, ESPN mentions that even the family knew he was trouble, when they told John Cooper “you're getting a very good football player, but you're also getting a pain in the ass.” ESPN continued to throw blame (and caution) to the wind, as they state the school and character issues Maldonado experienced at Maryland, saying Coach Ralph Friedgen said “You're not good enough to play here; go to Umass.”

I’m not passing judgement on anyone, but we’ve learned this far into Tressel’s tenure that he and “pain in the ass” don’t mess.

It Was All a Trap-asso. You should probably thank me for calling out AJ Trapasso earlier this season. Not only was Trap not kicking the leather off of the football from Ohio State’s side of the field, he was also booming punts into the end zone on the opponent’s side. No doubt in my mind that Trapasso ran to his sideline laptop (Charlie Weis would like you to believe they don’t exist in the press boxes either) and logged on to BuckeyeCommentary.com. My overreaction in the comments section of a Open Blog caused him to do a little self searching, self reflecting, and come out the next play and kick ass.

Job well done, me. Trapasso, since the Troy game, has been stellar, averaging 46.6, 54.4, and 48.8 yards per punt. His average for the year is 44.9 yards per punt, or roughly 4 yards longer than his career average. Just for good measure, he knocked a 67 yarder in Camp Randall. Somebody must have got the “punt is the most important play in football” talk…

Texas is Florida, LSU, and USC? Everything is bigger in Texas, especially misconceived thoughts. You would almost think Texas applied for admission into the SEC with this statement from Scout’s Texas Longhorns website:

“OU is Ohio State up front; UT is Florida and LSU and USC and whoever else good is playing against the Buckeyes. Speed whips strength every time; the story about the tortoise and the hare is crap.”

So Texas is going to beat Oklahoma because Ohio State’s offensive line couldn’t handle Florida, LSU, and USC? Good argument. When they say “Ohio State has one of the best offensive lines in the country”, they actually meant to put a ‘should’ in there somewhere. Even stranger when you consider it was only 2 years ago that Ohio State soundly beat Texas in Austin. Overall lesson? Use something related to ‘Buckeyes’ and ‘sucking’ if you want to prove a point outside of the Big Ten.

Defenses be damned, Beanie is going to get his yards. With his limited touches (and thanks to Pryor), he’s averaging 7.9 (!) yards per carry. Which is more demoralizing for an opposing defense: being knocked down by Beanie’s stiff arm or taking a ride for 7 yards and having to pay the bus fare?

It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend with Beanie at 75%, Boom out with a concussion, Saine still not up to game speed, and Mo Wells was just out a couple weeks ago with a back issue. Pryor should be able to account for 100 yards himself, but are the rumors of speedy freshman Lamaar Thomas seeing the backfield true? Trivia: Thomas and Pryor shared a backfield together at the US Army All American Game. Lamaar Thomas is also expected to help out in return duties. Tressel describes him being “very, very steady”, and hell, that’s as ringing of an endorsement as I’ve heard from him (for those not named Pryor).

National Championship talk is overrated. A BCS bowl game victory is not. Ohio State has not shown it is one of the best 2 teams in the nation. The Wisconsin win is a step in the right direction, but unless the team starts throwing down 50 on quality opponents and the defensive interior shows up, this is merely one of the 10 best teams in the nation. Would you rather have your national champion have a 35-3 loss at USC, a loss at Oregon State, or a loss to Ole Miss at home? Gosh, it’s like trying to decide who to vote for; everyone has their flaws. Right now, Ohio State is not scary. They do, however, have 6 more games to prove everyone wrong.

This just in: Minnesota and Ohio State are still who we thought they were.

Beanie Wells hurdling defenders and Terrelle Pryor knocking over grown men were the only 2 things that surprised me against Minnesota.

Well, add the final score to that. It felt like a 41-6 game and not 34-21 game. You have no one to thank for that besides Tim Brewster (a whiny, enthusiastic prick) who has guided the Gophers from good to awful to somewhere around bad. The good thing about Glenn Mason (and most other coaches) is that he knew when the bell went off, the round was over. The 2005 Ohio State – Minnesota shootout was a pleasure to watch, unlike Brewster’s display of “we’ve got them right where we want them, their third string is in”. If it helps them gain some confidence, so be it. But as Barack Obama would say: if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.

Now on to the weekend…

(+) Terrelle Pryor
Is it just me, or does everyone like watching Terrelle Pryor with the ball in his hands? Maybe he’s like a new toy that I haven’t had a chance to be disappointed with yet, but I expect something good to happen every time he releases the ball or runs with it. People keep saying he’s going to play like a freshman one day, but that’s not a given. Sure, he telegraphs a few throws, throws a changeup when he should have thrown the heat, and throws late some of the time. But he seems to have the ability to completely and utterly redeem himself with plays a freshman should not make.

(-) Ryan Pretorious
Mike Nugent and Josh Huston always had the fan’s respect and would rarely missed gimme field goals. Dude, you even beat out Aaron Pettrey for the job. Last year, you kept getting kicks blocked (you’re fault and the line’s fault). This year, you’ve missed easy (for a kicker) kicks against USC and now Minnesota. I don’t know if it’s a mental thing, but sometimes Ohio State and Jim Tressel need a kicker to win a game. Don’t worry, because Pettrey has been hit or miss on kickoffs. Read More...

I’m sure you can come up with a million jokes that deal with “Beavers” and “Trojans”, but none of you could have predicted that Oregon would beat USC in Corvalis, Oregon. Yes, I said ‘beat the Trojans’. USC did not lose to Oregon State; that would give USC too much credit. Oregon State came in and smacked USC around, plain and simple. They didn’t run over USC, they seemingly ran under USC. Oregon State ran straight at the Trojans and succeeded, thanks to an offensive line that should give this Ohio State line lessons in the off-season and a miniature RB in Jacquizz Rodgers who gained 186 at a consistent 5 yards a carry. As soon as a big bad Trojan had him in their grasp, he’d spin away for another 4 yards. The ease at which Rodgers gained yards was comical, scoring the proved-to-be-game-winning TD by literally running under the extended arm a USC safety. While it looked like men against boys, Oregon State showed who the real men were.

What wasn’t comical was, and still is, the outcome of the Ohio State-USC game. It doesn’t make you think about what could have been, but how much Ohio State needs to change. Watching a game like Oregon State-USC, you realize how some teams like to play football and have fun doing it. Has Ohio State coached the football right out of some of these players? Somewhere I read a statement that said “the real OSU beat USC”, and I’m not so sure I would argue. Ohio State can’t generate the fire that Oregon State played with even if you had the whole team on IV’s of speed before the game. You may not know this, but Oregon State doesn’t have Alex Boone, Terrelle Pryor, Brian Robiskie, Malcolm Jenkins, Marcus Freeman, or JL. An inspired game plan on both offense and defense, coupled with execution, proved to be the difference between that OSU and this OSU. No matter how many times Oregon State tried to go back to their QB to lose the game, pass play after run play succeeded and then the clock ran out. This was the same USC defense that held Ohio State to 3 points. We’ll just assume that up to this point, Ohio State rolls over in the face of adversity. From here on out, they have the chance to change their reputation. Read More...

Smokescreens, People. Smokescreens.
Smoke screen: a release of smoke in order to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft or ships. Or in Ohio State’s case: Fool USC (and the rest of America) into thinking that the Buckeyes are completely inept on offense.

People, put down the pitch forks and torches! Take a trip over to si.com. Prove to yourself that Ohio State did, in fact, have the higher score after the game on Saturday. Now we can talk. Ohio State won. The Ohio game could have gone worse; the Bobcats could have won. Remember that just last season, a college football superpower lost to the last place team in its conference (USC, USC, USC).

Execution is the most, uh, intriguing aspect of the game against Ohio. Trolling the Internet, all I can see are people getting up in arms about the offensive play calling. I can assure you that OSU will not run the (all of the) same plays against USC. Even with the bland plays on the field, execution of said plays left fans and coaches with something to be desired. I doubt Jim Tressel and staff instructed the offensive line to get manhandled or to have the defensive line be so effective that Bo(o) Jackson only had to take off to convert long third downs. Read More...

The biggest question on Sept 13 won’t be who has the better linebackers or who has the better running backs. With only one game before the matchup, will the lack of USC game film help or hurt the Buckeyes?

We’ve heard the quotes before, “Well they didn’t do what they showed on film.” Sadly, that was the offensive lines’ excuse for Beanie Wells meager 2.9 ypc. Similarly, the Florida excuse was they weren’t doing what they showed on film. My guess, the LSU trick plays weren’t on film either, neither was the LSU DE who ended up being the MVP of the national championship. OSU had film on Iowa shutting down the Illinois option, but no film on Juice Williams throwing for 4 TDs in a single game.

What film giveth, film taketh away. While film was responsible for building Troy Smith, it seems as if it ultimately was his downfall. The line’s inability to handle the Florida pass rush, couple with the inability of the coaches to make game adjustments ultimately sealed the deal in 2006. Fans have questioned the abandonment of the rushing game in both national championship games. Antonio Pittman and Chris Wells averaged well over 6 ypc in each of the past 2 title games. The game plan must say, “run to set up the pass,” but what if the rush is working too well? There’s a little story about how Jim Tressel ran the same play for an entire drive while at Youngstown State. His athletic director called down and asked if he had any other plays besides that one. Tressel responded “I do, and when they stop this one, I’ll use them”. Read More...

Update: This post was accidentally deleted. That is why the comments section is screwed up. My apologies. Desktop publishing software will do that.

Take a look at all these games. What you should come away with is that this will be an 11-0 weekend for the Big Ten. No pesky conference powers (or middle of the pack teams) to deal with.

For added incentive this week, I propose a single elimination challenge. That’s right, any team that loses this weekend is automatically excommunicated from the Big Ten. It’s a win-win situation.

- The Big Ten will again have 10 teams (we were getting eerily close to being the Big 12).
- A conference title game can prove to ESPN that the winner is ‘legit’. Cough::Oklahoma::cough.
- It gives teams a reason to show up the games (as if bragging rights in Ohio weren’t enough).
- The loser is excommunicated with 1 second on the clock so the loss won’t count against the Big Ten.
- We secretly despise Northwestern for being smarter than we are.
- Survival of the fittest.

Ohio at Ohio State
Marshall at Wisconsin
Eastern Illinois at Illinois
Eastern Michigan at Michigan State
Miami (Ohio) at Michigan
Florida International at Iowa
Northern Colorado at Purdue
Oregon State at Penn State
Murray State at Indiana
Northwestern at Duke
Minnesota at Bowling Green

After the high profile losses in Week 1 by Illinois and Michigan State, they can rebound with each playing the Eastern team from each state (hint: that means they are not good at football). Northwestern hopes to avoid losing to Duke two years in a row. Minnesota tries to beat BGSU for two one years in a row. Iowa tries to handle that Florida (International) Speed and Michigan plays a team that got blown out by Vandy. Indiana plays a college named after a guy and Purdue opens with NC (Northern Colorado). And the showdown of Ohio vs. State? Unless Ohio switched from the MAC to the SEC, they don’t have a shot.

It would be a shame to remove Michigan since they have those cool helmets or Ohio State because they without them it would just be the Little 10. Minnesota has the most championships (from the 1930s) and Northwestern has proven it CAN lose to Duke. I could excuse Penn State, but they would be making a team look better than it did against Stanford.

So who’s most likely to fall victim to the Single Elimination Challenge? I’ll take the Golden Gophers.

And so it begins.

Gophers Kept Down by The Man - Minnesota freshman QB MarQueis Gray is currently off the Gophers’ squad after an eligibility issue. Turns out there are some questions surrounding his ‘increased’ test score on the ACT, and has a couple weeks to prove he was in fact responsible for said ‘increase’. The highly ranked QB recruit was expected to take over the #2 QB spot (which in turn led to Coach Tim Brewster’s son’s transfer).

This story is of note because he was on the Ohio State board for quite some time, most likely as a safety net in case Terrelle Pryor headed north. No word on Tim Brewster’s involvement in the situation, he will take all the help he can get, but I assume the phrases “We’ve got a new stadium coming” and “Test scores? We’ll worry about that later” were used. When reached for comment about the situation, Coach Brewster convinced me that Minnesota is the right place for me and that I could compete for playing time in the secondary. Read More...

It now appears the knee injury is behind him and we know Mark Sanchez will start the season as the Trojans quarterback. So, what else do we know? Poe is here to answer that for you.

WHAT POE KNOWS
The Pedigree: The heir apparent and now heir to throne on which John David Booty, Matt Leinart, and Carson Palmer sat. It seems that as soon as you step on the field as the USC quarterback, people start mentioning the Heisman Trophy like Pete Carroll hands it out every year. OK, we’re sorry, that’s ESPN, same thing. We’ve witnessed what good quarterbacks can do with athletes surrounding them. ESPN the Magazine just did an article on Sanchez being a QB of Mexican descent, well, because the QB at USC is of Mexican descent. What about the Samoan linebackers, Rey Rey? I’m pretty sure Northwestern’s QB is of Asian descent, but no story CJ?

Read More...

USC and Microsoft

Man, you guys ruled. USC was a destructive force at the beginning of the decade, followed by strange inter-conference loses. While Pete Carroll may be the anti-Bill Gates, they both know what works and they know how to do it. Microsoft is universally known and almost equally despised, much like the Men of Troy. Bill Gates is (was) the richest man in the world, and if 5 star athletes were dollars, USC would be too.
Stock: Sell. Dropping as fast as USC players. Read More...

The Big 12
1. Can Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford be as good as he was last year or take a Colt McCoy-like sophomore slump?
2. Can Texas’ Colt McCoy throw less interceptions than touchdowns and get out of his sophomore slump?
3. Can Missouri handle the pressure of starting out in the Top 10?
4. Will Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, or North Texas win more games?
5. Is the Big 12 actually as good as it seems?
6. Is Texas Tech really just Hawaii but with Michael Crabtree?
7. Is Jeremy Maclin really that good?
8. Offense that good or defenses that bad? 9 Big 12 teams ranked 52nd or worse in total defense.

The Big East
9. Will Pat White be able to throw downfield more than 11 times per game and will he have to?
10. Noel Devine is a highlight reel, but is he an every down back?
11. Is USF the second best football team in Florida?
12. Can the Louisville Cardinals defense be as bad as last year when they got in a shootout with Middle Tennessee State?
13. The conference can win on any given day, but can it win consistently?
14. Can Rutgers become part of the Big Ten, if only to get exposure on the East Coast?

The Pac-10
15. If a team wins its conference 7 years and a row and the rest of the conference does nothing, is that considered a good conference? Is it called the Pac-10?
16. Can a Pac-10 team not named USC end up inside the Top 10?
17. Which two conference foes will beat USC but in the end it won’t really matter?
18. What’s going on at UCLA and will they have a quarterback?
19. Who is going to be more overrated, Oregon or Cal? Read More...

Luckily, the off-season is over and we can now talk about football players in jerseys rather than Tim Tebow’s humanitarian work, Georgia’s support of the local police force, and why Notre Dame will take a huge leap forward.

It’s also the time of year when Time Warner comes to terms on a deal with the Big Ten Network so people in Ohio can watch Ohio State games (in HD would be even better). It’s the least they can do for its customers to make up for the nothingness that is their HD programming, the 100 digital channels that are the same as the channels below them, and their intermittent cable internet service (what does 2 solid dots and 1 flashing mean?). But that’s a story for another day.

What we have had is 5 whole days of fall practice. If that’s not enough material, I don’t know what is.

Bad News: Incoming freshman Shaq Rowell will not be enrolling until the Winter Quarter, which means he’s not part of the football team yet. You know, since Fall Quarter is normally when they play football. Most likely a result of Shaq spending too much time in the gym, dropping from an estimated 350 to a more D1 like 300lbs. Some players have been held out due to football injuries (good news is none are serious). Terrelle Pryor has never played against competition anywhere close to what he will face in camp.

Strange News: Not so strange: suspensions of Washington and O’Neal. Due to the lack of players in the secondary who have actually played in games, Tyler Moeller has been stepping in for some practice reps with the starting linebackers in place of Homan. Even more out of the blue, linebacker Jermale Hines could see a role in the nickel defensive on Chimdi Chekwa’s side. I’d expect Brian Rolle to step in there somewhere too. I believe this is our “seek and destroy” package, featuring the fastest linebackers we’ve got.

Good News: Mike Adams could be back before the season starts, Beanie may catch the ball in addition to running it, and while Brandon Saine and Boom Herron might be your kick returners. Lamaar Thomas looks fast. Robe Rose has two shoulders that function as shoulders. Kurt Coleman still wants to violently remove the ball from those who try to catch it. Grant Schwartz joins the Brians, Small, and Dane Sanzenbacher in the 5 wide sets (I’d still like to see Brandon Saine in the 5 wide). Curtis Terry is a FB, Ross Homan is a linebacker. Terrelle Pryor is tall, big, and fast (and seems like a really nice guy. He must know how to get on Tressel’s good side).

Around College Football:
Michigan – Fans think the team looks in great shape and looks more pumped than they ever were under Lloyd Carr. I mean, that means nothing when they actually have to play football, but hey, you can give them that. Sam McGuffie looks big and like the real Slim Shady, and will be waiting to hurdle Malcolm Jenkins, who will rudely put an end to that. Read More...

Ohio State’s Media Day is the only day when all players are available for questions. So what does the media do? They ask the same boring questions every year. This year was no different. I know what you are saying, “Poe, what should they be asking?” Well, it just so happens that I have some ideas.

To Terrelle Pryor: How does it feel to be the greatest Ohio State quarterback…EVER?
To Todd Boeckman: Terrelle, how does it feel to be the greatest QB ever?
To Joe Bauserman: Man that spring game seems like forever ago! Oh, no question.
To Antonio Henton: [Bird's chirping...]
To Brian Robiskie: If you could have one catch back, what would it be? Particularly on Jan 8, 2008?
To Brian Hartline: Remember, in 2006, when you laid the hammer down on Marcus Thigpen?
To Lamaar Thomas: If speed kills, what does a 240-pound linebacker do?
To Devon Torrence: Have you learned the CB spot yet and did you know you will be on the two deep for the first 2 games of the season? Read More...

Like the rest of us, Poe has noticed all the hype surrounding USC and its upcoming games with Ohio State. Here is a clip from Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times doing more of the same.

Let me preface by saying that I know this year’s Trojans are going to reload despite their players drafted in the first and second rounds. They need new offensive and defensive lines. Gone is Fred Davis, John David Booty, and Chauncey Washington. Somehow, someway, USC is still scary. Message boards (Scout and Bucknuts) ring with disenfranchised Ohio State fans thinking their team should be beaten soundly by USC. Reasons to be scared:

Big Game Record
Scary: You may not know this, but USC doesn’t lose big games. The only man to overcome USC was Vince Young (notice I didn’t say Texas, and it might not have been if Reggie Bush didn’t pitch a sure 50-yard run away). Rose Bowls? No sweat, ask Michigan and Illinois. Out of conference? Arkansas, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, and Auburn want their dignity back. Oklahoma was crushed by USC. Pete Carroll isn’t afraid to take chances and keep pushing (up the score).

Reason for Optimism: This is a new team that has to play its biggest game of the year after playing 1 lowly team (Virginia) compared to OSU’s 2 lowly games (YSU, Ohio). That means Ohio State gets to play in the weeks up to a big game. USC has been beatable; witness Oregon State, UCLA, Stanford, and Oregon (the Ducks had Dennis Dixon at the time). In fact, that 13-9 loss to UCLA could have been the biggest game yet and they managed three field goals in the final game of the season, against UCLA. It was UCLA, yet no one ever said, “Pete Carroll got out coached by Karl Dorrell.” Thou shalt not.

Speed & Athleticism
Scary: This isn’t straight line 40-yard or 100m running. USC didn’t get to where it’s at without getting some athletes. Hell, their fullback (Stanley Havili) was highly rated running back. There are a lot of big, fast guys. Their receivers, tight ends, and running backs know how to get the ball and know what to do with it. Look at McKnight’s dropped-lateral-for-60-yard-gain the Rose Bowl; he saw the field and ran. Yards after catch is a given. I’m not sure an Ohio State player saw open space last year besides Beanie Wells.

Reason for Optimism: The games USC lost haven’t been 42-39 shootouts. Last year, USC lost to Oregon 28-21 and lost to Stanford 24-21. Sanchez didn’t look unbeatable even with last year’s players, but then again Chris Leak, Juice Williams, and Matt Flynn only had to show up and they threw for 4 touchdowns. So far, Ohio State has yet to give up a big play in 2 years. Hopefully DC Jim Heacock and his henchmen will find a happy medium.

Read More...

It’s that time of year again when footballs start flying, plays get ran, and players get out of the tough summer drills and into the tough Fall drills. Well August 4th was the day camp started, but everyone gets a peak at the players the day before as they check into their hotel.

Precursor: Rumor has it that Strength and Conditioning Coach Lichter tried to out-Barwis Barwis, Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez’s right hand man. In other words, players got their asses kicked. They are in better shape than you or I could ever be.

Highlights:

• One guy stands off the screen more than anyone, and that guy is Rob Rose. Rose, the former 5-star recruit, looked a little heavy and was injured for most of last year. This year’s Rob Rose looks all of 295lbs, but all muscle this time around. Not quite Vernon Gholston freakish, but massive. Hopefully his new bulked up, tattooed up look will translate just as well to the field.

• Obviously Kurt Coleman reads message boards and is upset that everyone thinks we don’t have a hard-hitting safety. That is the only explanation for Coleman coming in as the mini-Rob Rose and has to be at or above 200lbs. Hopefully the added mass can jar some helmets or balls. He worked with Mike Doss and Will Allen all summer, that’s a good sign! Read More...

He’s lying, obviously. I find it hard to believe that Carroll has “never been so pumped” about a season (but not this pumped). Every morning Pete Carroll wakes up, it is the most pumped he has ever been. Meanwhile, Jim Tressel is as pumped as he has ever been, issuing the statement: “How difficult is the challenge? Tremendously difficult. They bring a lot at you.”

Slow down coach. I know fall practice is right around the corner and you are going to be like a kid in a candy store with all the new recruits (namely Terrelle Pryor). All the seven on seven summer workouts are great for the players, but the real work comes August 4th with the start of actual practice.

USA Today released their Top 25 with Georgia at #1, USC at #2, and Ohio State at #3. I love the spot for Ohio State. While its hard to start at 13 and win your way to second, 3rd is prime real estate especially since a team Ohio State plays is in directly front of them. Therefore, it is up to Georgia. Hold down the #1 spot and let the others fight for #2. We do know Georgia has a tough schedule and deserves to be in the title game if they go undefeated (possibly with one loss), but does USA Today really need to throw 6-6 South Carolina in as one of those pitfalls? Read More...

Looks like Poe was inspired inspired by our Gameday Rules but he did not feel like the fans would be safe enough. So, he took it upon himself to provide a survivalist guide for Buckeye Nation.

I’m not talking about the contrived, ESPN-produced show featuring an ex-Buckeye, an actor, a complainer, and a talking head (I’ll let you assign the roles). Rather, here’s a timeline of things you need to prepare yourselves for during everybody’s favorite time, Saturdays in the Fall. Well, Saturdays unless you are a MAC or Big East fan. But you get the point:

12:00AM – Technically Saturday starts at Midnight. Chances are your “plan to be in bed early so you can wake up early” turned into “okay, I’ll go out for a little bit” and you’re out till 2. That’s fine, because then you can appreciate the atmosphere on or around campus before a game. Out-of-towners are in, opponents are in, and no one has lost the game yet. Make sure you get that late night Biff’s or J Squared.

2:30AM – This is your strict bedtime or could be a Gameday decision on whether or not you are getting up. This is the night you want to be in your own bed. This is to save you embarrassment. The walk of shame isn’t bad when everyone is sleeping on Friday or Sunday morning, but there will already be people up and on their porches by the time you walk home. It is a long way from the freshman dorms to home.

8:00AM – Wake up, and not by your alarm clock. Your house, your neighbor’s house, or the house down the street will be starting to pregame. This is moved up an hour and a half for the Michigan game and moved back an hour an a half for a 3:30 start. For 8:00PM starts, use best discretion. This usually means 10AM wake up, while doing normal game day routine through 2 day games and hopefully surviving the entire night (key word is hopefully). See Texas 2005.

8:30AM – Day starts out with a hot coffee or a cold beer or both. You then realize what beer and toothpaste tastes like. It’s not lunchtime yet and cereal doesn’t go with beer (hopefully the 2:15AM binge helps). Games such as cornhole, horseshoes, and beer pong may commence along with loud music and something along the lines of “drive, drive on down the field”. Your supply of alcohol needs to be rationed to ensure that it lasts up till or through the game. Kegs cannot be had on game day.

10:00AM – Remember that contrived ESPN Gameday I was telling you about. Well, you put it on the TV in hope they show highlights of your team or say something night and you rejoice. When they talk bad about your team, you boo and curse. Time between now and game time can be used to walk around or to another house or tailgate party. I would expect gratuitous “OH” “IO” and I recommend you love it.

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I was starting to question Jim Tressel. I was curious as to how he planned on getting 27-28 recruits in this upcoming class. I looked at the team, I looked at the recruits, I looked at the numbers, and it didn’t add up. Then came Antonio Henton’s departure, which truth be told, it wasn’t a gigantic surprise with the incoming Terrelle Pryor and surprisingly good Joe Bauserman. Add in an early departure and/or an early departure for the NFL Draft and finally the numbers start to seem a little more plausible.

Then comes word out of Cincinnati that backup safety Eugene Clifford had be charged with 2 counts of assault after punching two employees of a bar in the face while they were trying to break up a fight. One thing we know about Jim Tressel is: bar plus fight plus two charges does not equal more playing time. In fact, Buckeye Commentary would not be surprised if the last time Eugene Clifford put on his Buckeye uniform was in fact his final time. We’re all about second chances and maybe thirds, but we’re definitely not about fourth chances. Read More...

I wanted to start off by thanking Massey for bringing me aboard the immensely popular, ridiculously entertaining Buckeye Commentary. At first I had fears that my style of writing (the style where there is no style) would ruin or degrade the product that Keith created and that Massey is building on. I had no idea where to start when he asked me to contribute my first post to BC, since everything previously was just random odds and ends off the top of my head.

Then I thought to myself that it would be a perfect article if I were to pick up where the last 2 seasons left off and dedicate my first post to the National Championship Games against Florida and LSU. It would be perfect: Such a hot topic would draw the ire of some readers and inspire others. I wanted to complain, compare and analyze. Read More...

So the biggest question starting off…is a Preseason Poll how you think the teams will finish or is it who is the most talented? No one knows, honestly. Is it which team will cruise on their schedule or which team would cruise on any schedule? I’d say there’s no rhyme or reason to the poll, or anyone’s poll for that matter. It should make enough sense that I don’t look like an idiot and cause enough controversy to warrant 100 message board posts. That being said:

#1) The Ohio State Buckeyes: C’mon, this is an Ohio State blog. Was I going to take off my scarlet colored glasses? On shear numbers and experience, this team would be Top 5 on any list. If it would have won any bowl game (be it the Capital One, the Alamo Bowl, or the Rose Bowl), the team would be Top 3. First round NFL draft picks at a boatload of positions including RB, WR, O Line, LB, and CB. While not as talent laden as the 2001 and 2002 Hurricanes (who could be?), the Buckeyes are poised to unload about a quarter of an entire round in the next draft. The Buckeyes hauled in one of the top recruiting classes in the nation and the support of the #1 player in the nation, Terrelle Pryor. The Big Ten has barely put up a fight outside of Illinois and Wisconsin. The biggest issue is the QB who was the leader in pass efficiency for the Big Ten. Oh, and they don’t know who their fullback is. It’s hard to reload when you lose only 2-3 starters. Lawrence Wilson was projected last year as the best defensive end on the team, only to break his leg in the first game and his counterpart then goes 6th to Jets in the draft. Yikes.
Biggest issue at #1: Well they can’t beat a SEC team and the defense looks lost in critical situations. A road trip to USC really could ruin the season, since USC has only lost once to an OOC opponent at home in the last 6 years. Ohio State also gets to take the trip up to Madison, which should be scary for any Ohio State fan. Somehow, the Badgers are the only (regular season) team to have a winning record against Jim Tressel, but that was mainly Barry Alvarez. My advice would be to file a restraining order against Alvarez, since he was present in the 2001 win over Ohio State, the 2003 win, the 2004 win, and was a commentator during the Disaster in the Desert. BAN HIM. Also, Todd Boeckman was Todd Boeckman in the spring game, tossing 2 ugly picks.

#2) Georgia: The Dawgs are back and made a strong case for the SEC last year. But when you have 21-point losses to Tennessee and don’t even play LSU, it puts a damper on things. Richt has assembled a ton of talent ranging from Matt Stafford to Knowshon Moreno to the defense that hated on Colt Brennan and Hawaii (we know Ohio State probably would have set back in the deep zone and allowed Brennan to pass 60 times, you go win those awards, Heacock). By the number of returning players and success in the second half of the season, Georgia makes sense to have at the top of the SEC and the country. They beat Florida handily last year, and that’s why they are up on them this year too.
Biggest issue at #2: Is there more talent than production? Florida couldn’t stop Moreno last year, but they couldn’t stop Mike Hart either. Stafford is the NFL QB of the future, yet he has never completed close to 60% of his passes and has roughly a 1.13:1 TD:INT ratio. Kyle Boller, Jr. anyone? "Playing as well as anyone at the end of the season" doesn’t count close wins over Vandy and other SEC bottom feeders.

#3) USC: The #3 spot also known as the recruiting crown spot. USC basically has nothing that resembles the team from last season, but they should, supposedly, have the talent to reload. Ohio State and USC reload on offense and defense. Out goes 5-star John David Booty, in comes 5-star Mark Sanchez. They have more 5-star recruits on their team than even Notre Dame (insert ND joke here). It’s basically the same team with different names. Big name drop back passer, quick RB that could be a WR, a bruising RB, a tall WR, and a shorter fast WR. Then again, it’s hard to argue with success.
Biggest issue at #3: Aside from the public love for USC, they beat no one of consequence the entire season (besides Illinois and maybe Arizona State) and were arguably better on both sides of the ball than this year. They lost to Oregon and Stanford in low scoring duels (<28 points). Read More...

Poe loves rumors. Good rumors, at least. There’s a little one running around pertaining to Ohio State. I’d say it’s pretty darn good.

You may or may not know that Joe Daniels, Ohio State’s QB coach for the past seven years, has been struggling with his health as of late and recently had a cancerous kidney removed (doing ok. He had a big say in the development of Troy Smith, was a main recruiter of Terrelle Pryor, and was a guy named Dan Marino’s position coach at Pitt.

However, because of his health, rumor has it that he may need some help around the office. You know, someone with an offensive mind. Someone that means something to Ohio State football. One name that often comes up in this discussion, naturally, is Walt Harris. If you do a quick Google of Walt, you will find he was Ohio State’s quarterbacks coach from 1995-1996 and was offered Cooper’s offensive coordinator’s position before taking the head job at Pitt. His name was also thrown around in, oh I don’t know, 2001 when OSU went looking for a new head coach. (FYI, we hired Jim Tressel instead). Read More...

In a normal year, even the most die-hard recruiting followers wouldn’t know who would make up next years’ recruiting class until that next year. Normally, you’d get a chance to see the previous years’ recruits make an impact on the field. Not this year as the 2008 recruits haven’t even been through fall practice and the 2009 class is almost full.

Right about now, I’m sure the recruiting services and Ohio State blogs are feeling like they are in the OSU Strength and Conditioning program. A flurry of 6 verbal commitments in 5 days is responsible for writers feeling like they’ve been doing two-a-days. There’s only so much you can say about a kid you’ve barely seen play football, but if I was a betting man, I’d bet Tressel and company did their homework.

Compared to last year’s class, this class is built not on big names but rather solid players. There are no Terrelle Pryors or Mike Brewsters or Etienne Sabinos (they are already on the team, in fact), even though Scout has Dorian Bell as the #5 player in the nation. The class is heavy on…everything. Secondary sticks out, but no one knows who will get a shot on offense. Any school would love to have a recruiting class as well rounded and as solid a base as this class, except maybe USC but they don’t have to leave the state of California to win recruiting rankings. Ohio State, on the other hand, adds in a mix of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida kids. Read More...

Antonio Henton has finally proven that he is the ultimate Buckeye. The media may portray Henton as leaving because he felt he wasn’t going to get playing time. The bloggers may say the same. Some will blame Terrelle Pryor, some will blame Joe Bauserman. Poe McKnoe has learned the real reason Henton is leaving for Georgia Southern. After being committed to the Buckeyes for more than 2 season, Henton experienced what it felt like to lose 2 national championship games to 2 SEC teams. He knows how he felt and he knows how the team felt. He made a promise that warm January night in the Bayou to never let it happen again. He vowed to do whatever it took to make sure the Buckeyes would not lose to another SEC team in the national championship game. He thought and thought and then finally made a decision on how to stay true to his word. If he couldn’t do it on the field for the Buckeyes, he would do it on the field for someone else. Henton left Ohio State for the only place that made sense…Georgia Southern. Henton left Ohio State for one reason and one reason only…to take out SEC favorite Georgia Bulldogs the first game of the year. Thus preventing the Bulldogs from an appearance and possible confrontation with the Buckeyes in the title game. We salute you, Mr. Henton, for being an ultimate Buckeye.

And the legend of Antonio Henton was born (just imagine if it actually happens)…

I don’t believe in luck, karma, or jinxes. Good thing, because with that said, the departure of Antonio Henton leaves Ohio State with 3 QBs on their depth chart. But let’s break it down further: 1 Greyshirt/Redshirt Senior, 1 Twenty-something walk-on RS freshman, and an incoming freshman who has been on campus for less than 1 week. One thing that the Henton departure requires is more trust in Todd Boeckman, the mandatory kind and not the earned kind. But what happens if Todd becomes suddenly and very unexpectedly ‘unavailable’? No, I’m not talking about suddenly being discovered and moving to Hollywood or being busted by the Feds for running a meth trafficking ring out of his house.

Gone are the 2 backups from last year’s team, Robbie Schoenhoft and Antonio Henton. They took with them whatever knowledge they had after a combined 5 years in Jim Tressel’s system. Antonio’s transfer comes as more of a (kinda sorta) shock than Schoenhoft’s, however. Robbie showed off his NFL caliber arm during last year’s spring game and probably had the most upside of any QB on the roster. Robbie’s problems were more mental than physical, as he never completed more than 40% of his passes in high school and did nothing but make the gophers under Ohio Stadium pay dearly for what they had done with his bounce passes 15 yards down field. Rob knew what was coming, got moved to TE, and transferred to Delaware. Henton, on the other hand, looked like a gamer and showed good presence in his actual game time. But then Terrelle Pryor signed with Ohio State and Joe Bauserman showed why Tressel talked so highly of him in the 2008 Spring Game.

Let’s put it another way; nobody thought Lawrence Wilson was going to be ‘unavailable’ last season. Depending how you look at it, you’re either running for the hills or wildly content. Let’s take a look at the backups. In terms of experience and running the offense, we start off with… Read More...

Terrelle Pryor has officially arrived on Ohio State’s campus. Unfortunately, it also seems as if Antonio Henton is off campus for good.

Pryor, and incoming freshmen Lamaar Thomas, Willie Mobley, Devier Posey, Travis Howard, Keith Wells, Ohrian Johnson, got the red carpet treatment at OSU, or what the Biomechanics Lab considers red carpet. It also gave Ken Gordon, a bunch of wide eyed college girls, and a bunch of creepy old men wishing they were wide eyed college girls a chance to see the players in Daisy Dukes.

Various reports say that it also looks like Antonio Henton, the dual threat Troy Smith-esque sophomore to be QB from Georgia, got a peek and did not like what he saw.

Unconfirmed accounts (Eleven Warriors and Scout) say that Henton has informed his Buckeye teammates that he will be headed back down to Georgia Southern (FCS/D1-AA) and will not be a member of the 2008 Buckeyes. Rumor has it Rich Rodriguez placed a call to Henton, not about playing time, but asking him why he didn’t let Pryor know he was leaving first, and THEN tell his teammates.

I feel like I’m sort of writing an obituary, and in a way I am.

Henton, once known as Georgia’s Player of Year, came to Ohio State with visions of Troy Smith dancing through his head after proclaiming his Heisman aspirations as a RS Freshman. I can’t assume it’s easy being compared to a Heisman Trophy winning QB as Antonio was. You know when people say “He even moves like Troy”, you have a problem because that means they want you to be Troy. Henton even had off the field issues too, with picking up a lady of the street who was actually a lady of the law (*he was later acquitted). The difference? Troy Smith had already won games at Ohio State. Read More...