Buckeye Blogger Network
Lucrative? Well…
After a weekend in the land of authentic pizza and corrupt government, there’s really only one choice for this week’s soundtrack, particularly with all of the news coming out of B1G headquarters.
Buckeye 411
Gonna’ be honest- not much in the way of news in Columbus these days, Thank Woody. Here’s some tidbits, though:
Using certain applications available on the iPads, members of the band would be able to read music, send out videos of rehearsals and also read field charts. Normally, only the band director is able to see the bigger picture in motion while the band members look at papers.
“Instead of one person getting to see the bigger picture, now everyone gets to see the actual animation,” Barta said.
King and Barta said they are not aware of any other university band using this type of technology, which they hope will also help them recruit future Buckeyes.
“We are similar to sports teams in terms of recruiting,” King said. “We are trying to get the best high school student musicians to come play our band.”
The funds that TBDBITL need to raise are around $120K… meanwhile, all of the student athletes have been provided iPads for a while now. This has been your weekly “athletes and students are not the same” reminder.
It’s championship week here at tBBC, and we’ll have all your B1G Tournament coverage coming up until the Buckeyes cut down the nets. So, it only makes sense, then, to have our soundtrack for today be the latest from OSU alum and friend of the site Mekka Don, who’s scored an exclusive deal to provide music for their coverage. From the press release:
The intersection of music and sports is prominently on display during high profile sporting events. Almost every sports arena has a DJ; players submit playlists to be played during warmups; and networks license music to help create excitement for their broadcasting. Mekka Don, an independent hip-hop artist and former NCAA athlete (Ohio State football), has inked a multi-song licensing deal with the Big Ten Network to provide music for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament games and coverage. The Big Ten Tournament begins on March 14th on the Big Ten Network.
And here, in an exclusive for tBBC readers, is the the title track for tournament time:
You can support Mekka Don and download this at his site on iTunes… just in time for March’s Madness.
Buckeye 411
Heacock is going WHERE?
Welcome Back? Rumors have been swirling all week that former Buckeye Defensive Coordinator Jim Heacock would be returning to the WHAC in a “quality control” capacity; huge tip, it seems, to Nevadabuck from the Scout site for dropping the knowledge first. The position would be similar to what a number of schools (most specifically Alabama) are doing in expanding their staff, and you’ve got to think that it will not only strengthen the Silver Bullets but also maintain the relationships that Heacock had with area high school coaches. In addition, it provides a fallback of sorts should the defensive staff lose a member to another opportunity.
Let's Get This Party Started
Here’s a look at the Top 25 Week Ahead and Week in Review.
1. Duke (12-0) Previous Rank: 1
Past Week: 12/29 Santa Clara, W 90-77
Upcoming: 1/2 @ Davidson & 1/5 Wake Forest
The Blue Devils pulled away from Santa Clara late and will open up ACC play this week against Wake Forest. Read More
Getting ready for the next phase of college fandom, that wonderful world filled with gifts of college hoops and bowl catastophies. As such, here’s the soundtrack for this week’s look back.
Robert Frost once said, “Nothing Gold can stay”; and so, another leaf turns and this college football season comes to a close. Before we jump into Championship Weekend, let me take a second to say “Thank You” to a great Ohio State blog and BBN member who hung up their keyboards this week- Dave and Drew, Godspeed on the next adventure.
It Gets Better
Well, the crapocalypse is surely upon us- we’ve now got the choice to pull for Notre Dame or for Alabama in the Mythical National Title game come January; although I’m still holding out hope that the Mayans were right.
Alabama punched their ticket to yet another dance via a dominant second half performance against a very game Georgia team. Throughout the first half and into the third quarter, it looked as if the Bulldogs had figured out a way to neutralize the Bama defense, a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown only extended the sense of dread that Alabama fans must have been feeling throughout the sold-out Georgia Dome.
And then Nick Saban remembered that he had a running game. From that moment on, the Crimson Tide’s offensive line and stable of running backs managed to decimate the Georgia defense, churning clock and yardage. After running all over the Black and Red, it only made sense that Alabama’s last score would come on a beautifully executed play action pass- everyone, including the cameramen and your humble correspondent bit on the fake, and McCarron’s ball was perfectly targeted for the score.
Again, kudos to the Georgia team; they refused to give up even under dire circumstances and dwindling clock. They managed to drive to the red zone in a short amount of time, but then made decisions that I’m still trying to figure out.
After passing for the first down on the Alabama 8 yard line, Georgia chose to run a play and not spike the ball for clock stoppage goodness- they had used their last time outs forcing the Tide to punt on the previous series. The process of setting the play up itself cost them a good 5 seconds or so, and then they chose to run the following attempt:
There’s a lot of things that went wrong here- the pass was tipped at the line, and the receiver should have intentionally dropped it (although that’s a hard thing to do, as it goes against years of practice). But the decision to not control the clock a bit better at the end send Nick Saban to Miami to defend his team’s national title, and ended up pushing Georgia to game against the B1G Championship Runner Up (more later). Read More
Major Award
Not gonna lie… got a pretty mellow vibe for this week’s updates.
Buckeye 411
Gotta have the right ammo
If you’re reading this, you’ve survived Bloody Tuesday… don’t you just hate corporate bonding retreats? Here’s some happy music to get you through the day.
Buckeye 411
Monday’s melange of morning mayhem looks back at an amazing weekend of college football… Just promise to wait until the end of the article to rush the field, OK? Given the news on Campus from Sunday Night, here’s your soundtrack for our special time together.
Classy, Even When Vanquished
It was a great weekend to be an Angry Bird, particularly if you were a Cardinal. Let’s start in Palo Alto.
In what’s become an annual tradition, a highly ranked Southern Cal team derped a game that many expected them to win. While it seemed to have always been the Beavers of Oregon State under the previous administration, the past four years have found a Cardinal thorn in the Trojans’ armor… as unbelievable as it is, September Heisman candidate Matt Barkley has never beaten Stanford in his career. The nice thing, though, is that Chad Henne and Mike Hart have a great support group that will welcome him with open arms.
Saturday we saw the real “teeth” of the NCAA’s sanctions for all things Reggie Bush-esque: While the Bowl Ban was significant in terms of financial benefits and being able to compete for make believe championships and other post-season swag, the real kick of what the folks in Indianapolis handed to Southern Cal as a parting gift is the inability to field a full squad of 85 for the coming several seasons- which creates issues at depth when the offensive line gets banged up (as it did in Palo Alto). Granted, Barkley still is incredibly talented and has amazing weapons- however, without the time to find them it’s essentially a moot point. And once he’s gone, well… we may just get to see how good of a coach the man is, as a number of folks could be successful with the talent depth that they experienced over the past decade. Read More
As we get closer and closer to kickoff, we’ll be looking across the nation at other (read “inferior”) conferences. This way, you’ll have just enough information to argue with that guy in accounting. Today we take a look at the Atlantic Coast Conference- nope, FSU and Clemson haven’t left yet.
Where does the conference fall in the national rankings. How likely are they to have a team in the Title game?
It’s not that the ACC hasn’t been able to compete on a national stage over the years or the fact that they don’t get ranked teams. They haven’t been able to finish at the end of the season. The only BCS National Champion they’ve produced is Florida State in 2000 as they beat a then Big East Virginia Tech. As a conference, the ACC is 2-13 overall in BCS bowls they have participated in and 1-2 in the Title game. They double dipped in the BCS last year and everyone knows how both of those turned out.
Who’s the best team in the conference? Who will play for in the conference title game (if there is one)?
Clemson has the best talent in the conference with several players returning on the defense that didn’t show up for their bowl game against WVU last season- They are a team on a mission and the offensive firepower to do it. The conference race will take care of itself more or less as FSU plays at VTU late in the season, Clemson will play at FSU, and VTU has to go to Death Valley. It could boil down to the home team winning out and there not being a clear-cut champion and either Clemson or FSU will play VTU in the ACC Championship game.
I am of the belief that Clemson will hold pat on the road at FSU and finish the season undefeated and take on the Hokies. This isn’t a surprise as Virginia Tech has played in five of the seven conference title games winning three of them and losing last years’ to Clemson.
Who are the worst teams in the conference? Read More
