Step One- Get Hot At The Right Time

Buckeye 411

• Injury Update: Lots of things to report today- Jordan Hall is recovering nicely from the sprained ankle he suffered against Wisconsin, and practiced with the team today. Boom Herron also has an ankle related injury from the Badger game, but has been playing through it and healing as well. At tackle, there was no word on JB Shugarts’ situation; he’s “unlikely” for Saturday, and today’s practice saw with Antonio Underwood at right tackle most of the time, with Mewhort and Marcus Hall filling in as well.
• Fickell Speaks: Actually, he doesn’t speak- specifically about the Penn State situation, he said that he hadn’t been following the specifics and had no comment.
• Boiler Up- Coach Fickell spoke about how Purdue has always been a tough matchup, and that this year should be no different. While they’ve dropped their last two, they’re also 4-1 at home. He talked about how he can name every single issue from the 2009 game, and how he hopes that the focus they’ve gotten recently carries over.
• Passing? Fancy. According to today’s press conference, the passing expectations that receivers are expected to learn at Ohio State is pretty complex, which might explain some of the challenges that this young group has had thus far. Interesting that they don’t simplify the system, it seems… although I’m sure they didn’t expect to have so many veterans on the sidelines either.
• Getting Defensive- Coach had several things to say about the defensive efforts of his team thus far, including the need for more turnovers if they are going to be successful. In regards to the concerns about some lack of focus late in recent games, Coach Fickell said,

We got to finish. We know defensively we talk about it. It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish. It’s about us first playing four quarters. I don’t know that you can pinpoint any one specific thing that we could say is anything different. To me it really comes down the thing against Wisconsin is being able to overcome giving up one of those things, giving up one of those big plays that you can just go to the next play and not still dwell upon those things of the past and move forward. I think that’s probably, from the start of the season to right now, where we’ve got to get a lot better defensively.

We’ve had those expectations. We don’t want anybody to ever score. All of a sudden something happens. It’s like there’s a letdown. We want to keep those same expectations, but we have to know the most important play is the next play, move on, correct those things within a game.

• And The Star- Not just due to the position he plays, but Tyler Moeller was a great part of this week’s press conference. When asked about the 2009 loss to Purdue, he replied that he didn’t remember much of it, pulling out the old “I had a brain injury” excuse. He talked about how the team needs to work harder at forcing turnovers, and that his early season struggles were due (in part) to his trying to press and make up for lost time (pulled a hamstring).

Penn State Update Presented without commentary.

• Front Page Editorial
• Victim’s Parents Speak
• More Victims Come Forward
• Sandusky Barred From Being Alone With Grandchildren
• Rumors- This Is Joe Paterno’s Last Home Game at PSU
• Board Of Trustees Meeting Tuesday and Wednesday
• Rumors- Thursday is D-Day
• Dr. Saturday- Not How It Should Have Been
• Matt Millen Shows Emotion
• The Definition of Narcissism
• On the lighter side- There was a rally/riot in State College last night, and Mark Ennis was killing it on Twitter (scroll back on his timeline)

This Week In Scandal

• Oregon Ducks behind the PSU controversy- They released information today regarding their NCAA process, but have only received a verbal notice of infractions. Not much interesting there, other than the redactions regarding the failure to report accurately regarding “refusal to furnish information relevant to an investigation when requested, and benefits from prospective agents.” Hmmmm…
• Troll Tide- In tonight’s 30 for 30 on the four letter network about the second best college rivalry, we get the following from Monsieur Cam Newton:

No Clue At All

This Week In Expansion

• This is fun- Here are the emails obtained from the media inquiry into Oklahoma President’s correspondence regarding conference expansion and OU connections. A favorite-

Any person who prefers to move OU to the Pac 16 instead of the SEC is either an idiot or a coward. You are completely incompetent and your complete lack of understanding on this matter is embarrassing. Nationally, one college football pundit after another is stunned at why you would make such a ridiculous decision.
In short, you suck at your job and you should be fired immediately. My support for the alma mater I have loved all my life is done because of your stupidity.

Elsewheres

• Dear God, make the uniform mess stop- I give you Notre Dame’s helmet:

Sparkle Like A Champion Today

• Woot! Playoffs!! OSU Women’s Soccer makes national tournament, plays Tennessee this weekend. Field Hockey faces ODU in the NCAA’s as well.

And Finally

Pouring out a 40… or a milkshake- RIP Heavy D.

Tags: JB Shugarts, Joe Paterno, Jordan Hall, Luke Fickell, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Uniforms
Categories: College Football, Conference Expansion, Humor, NCAA Investigations, Ohio State Football