Buckeye 411

• Brick Wall Not Included- which is too bad, because you’re going to want to run through one once you’ve checked out the latest hype video from the Ohio State staff.  We’ll embed it once that option is available, but for now, take two minutes away from the TPS reports and watch it at the official site.
• And The Good News? Coach Meyer is planning on being here for quite some time.
• Still Making A Difference- Great article in Inside Higher Education about Jim Tressel’s new career, including something that this higher education professional can certainly relate to,

The beauty of it is, kids are

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Well, that happened.

While a lot of people were saying that Alabama was ripe for a loss against a Texas A&M team that’s been playing really well over the past few weeks, most of this felt like lip service. You know, the kind of things that ESPN makes one person say on the Gameday set in order to appear unbiased.

And then- “Johnny Football”.

There are a lot of reasons why Alabama lost- coming off of an emotional win on the road in Death Valley, LSU’s offense showed a lot of people the issues that the Tide have in their secondary, Saban’s fear of the high speed offense is based on his knowledge of his team’s weaknesses; but the fact of the matter is that the Aggies outplayed Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, in several key areas of the game.

The Crimson Tide defensive … [Read More]

As the temperatures drop, the games get more heated… and nowhere saw this more true than in the Midwest, where three games with title implications found themselves coming down to the final seconds.

You read that right. The midwest- “flyover country” and “battleground states”.  We’ll get to the events in Louisiana and Los Angeles in a bit, but there was a 25 minute period on Saturday that saw the eyes of college football fans tuned to the states of Indiana and Michigan.

First, the Battle in the B1G Legends Division saw either a “Sparty NO!!” moment or the referees stealing yet another game from Dantonio’s team, depending on your perspective and your proximity to LeVeon Bell. Nebraska managed a last second touchdown after two huge mental errors/penalties against the Spartans- first, Taylor Martinez was intercepted on the two yard … [Read More]

Ah, Texas… where dreams go to die.  Three of the most interesting storylines this week came Deep In The Heart Of, so let’s travel to Lubbock to get things started.  Really, there’s no other reason to head there.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an idiot. Well, when I get the chance… which was this weekend when the team I’d most like to see play Oregon in a bowl game ended up falling victim to the same Achillies Heel that Oregon has in the past- defensive line pressure. The Red Raiders’ ability to disrupt the Mountaineer passing game by owning their backfield was something that the rest of the … [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• Injury Update- According to coach Meyer, Jordan Hall is still not expected to be ready to participate this weekend, but was up and running on the treadmill earlier.  Also a probably scratch- Sophomore Michael Bennett, who re-injured his groin in pregame of Saturday’s contest: the depth chart lists he and Nathan Williams behind J.T. Moore at end, although the depth that OSU has in the defensive front makes this less than troubling.
• Dark Knights? In his comments thus far, Coach Meyer was candid about his respect for Central Florida, calling them a team with a B1G type defense. He commented that they’ll be looking to establish the run significantly more than Miami did (Duh), particularly with a mobile quarterback. Central Florida announced today that their starting
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Whew… I’ve got to admit, I should have been working out with Coach Mick during the offseason. Saturday found me trying to knock the rust off of my college football regimen, although I can definitely say that I was well hydrated.  I’m guessing that’s what happened during the livechat- I hadn’t prepared enough, and brought the jinxation.  You can breathe a sigh of relief, though- when I caught the replay on Sunday, my presence made no difference in the outcome…  Baby steps, right?

From the looks of things, a number of teams … [Read More]

The story of the day yesterday was the first episode of All Access, a behind the scenes look at the Buckeye program under the new regime.

The problem? It was on one of the ESPN channels… and you know how we feel about those fine individuals.

But… in a moment of weakness, I DVR’d it And watched it.

And loved ever second.

How can you hate quotes like “Abso-smurfly”, “Bozo the freakin’ clown”, “I’m glad you’re a Buckeye, bro…”, “I like coaching you…” and other admonitions to play “hungry” and “angry”.

And the precision of the offensive staff’s work, the pride that Coach Mariotti puts into his time with the team, and the focus and plan that Coach Meyer is instilling into the team… it’s a really good piece. If you missed it and don’t mind the spoilers, the gang at LGHL have a … [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• Hall no!! We hope it’s not true, but a number of reports on Tuesday speculated that Jordan Hall’s foot injury might keep him sidelined until much later than the 10 weeks that were initially reported. While some discussed the possibility of a red-shirt, others pointed to Hall’s own comments about his willingness to work beyond those limitations. As a fan, though, you’ve got to want what’s the best for him over the best for the program… It’s good to be loaded at Running Back.
• iPad Pushback- The OZone’s Brandon Castel has a pretty good summary of Ohio State’s new iPads For Athletes program, including discussion
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