Buckeye Blogger NetworkJust a friendly warning that there are only four more days to borrow money from your pops so you can buy him a gift. If you’re looking for ideas, check our friends at The Buckeye Room… And now, the news.
Buckeye 411
For The Guy Who Has Everything
We Hardly New Ye- Well, it wasn’t news to us, as we’d heard for a while that Brian Bobek was looking to transfer, but earlier this week the University made it official. Potential landing spots could be the University of West By God Virginia, and a B1G program yet to be named. Brian’s got family across the conference, so we wish him luck in all of his games except one. A bit of a sad note, since he was supposed to be “next up” after Brewster graduated; however he was jumped on the depth chart in the spring, including being passed up by the latest in the Boren Legacy (just an incoming freshman). Again, godspeed!
Lots of excitement in your Wednesday updates…
Ah, balloons...
Buckeye Hoops 411
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Coming off of the loss to Michigan and Michigan State in hoops had a lot of Ohio State fans at a loss to understand what had happened to a team that was favored to win the conference and make a run at a title. Dave at TSB took a look at several possibilities, including-
Lack of an inside enforcer. I admit that I failed to truly appreciate Dallas Lauderdale. I called him “stone hands” and used to get frustrated at how often he had the ball slide between his big mitts. But he did two things this year’s team really misses: 1) He provided an inside force defensively who could block shots when players were beat off the ball. This year, when someone bursts by a Buckeye defender they usually have an open lane to the hoop. Big D played some ferocious D and that is greatly missed; 2) He occupied space in the lane on offense, allowing Sully more freedom to roam. Dallas not only set screens but forced the opponent’s big man to guard him or surrender uncontested dunks. That helped Sully more than we realized.
Ah, Illinois. Nothing like a little revenge in the form of a massive, home court blowout to make things all better. Take a look at Scott’s review of the game- it was just what the Scarlet and Gray doctor ordered;
The handwringing among Buckeye Nation regarding both Buford’s recent woes and the lack of playing time for the bench can stop, at least for a day. Despite the audible groans when Buford missed an open three and turned it over in first half, the senior was greeted with an overall warm reception and had one of his best shooting games of the year (7-9 from the field, 2-3 from three).
In other news, in honor of the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s trip to space, Sam Thompson put on an anti-gravity display with an early dunk and a couple of high-flying blocks.
Speaking of Buford, BHC’s newest author got us ready for his final game in the Schott with a look at his legacy at Ohio State;
But of all his basketball statistics, there is one intangible quality that supersedes all others. It is a quality that all of us share … something that binds all of us together and pulls us through tough times. It’s a love … it’s a passion … it’s beyond words … it’s Buckeye Pride! “[Buckeye Pride] comes from the people before us. We just try to keep that thing going. It’s not about us. It’s about the school. The school is bigger than us.” Now THAT is spoken like a true Buckeye! It is easy for us as fans to get caught up in the performance of one or two games, but on this weekend, let us honor a true Buckeye as he wears our school’s colors for the last time at home. He has earned the respect of all of Buckeye Nation.
Apparently kids want to play football for this guy. ( John T. Greilick/The Detroit News)
Sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due- Brady Hoke and his Michigan program did very well on the recruiting trail this past weekend.
The weekend was so good, in fact, that the rest of the Big Ten- and especially those of us in Buckeye Nation, need to sit up and take notice.
Not only did Michigan land eight verbal commitments in a matter of 48 hours, some of those commitments came from players on Ohio State’s radar- and a few even had offers from the Buckeyes! *gasp*
On top of the numbers is the quality- every last one of the eight verbals was a four-star prospect according to Rivals.
This type of success, particularly head-to-head with the Buckeyes, is a far cry from what we had all come to expect and enjoy during the Rodriguez era.
Is it time for the Big Ten to panic?
With Meyer’s close to the 2012 class and this opening for Hoke’s 2013 class- probably.
Is it time for Buckeye Nation to panic?
The answer to that is a resounding no, but this weekend sent a clear message.
It lived up to be something that all of us had no idea it could be. The Michigan Wolverines hadn’t made the game “competitive” in nearly 7 years. Yet many Buckeye fans didn’t give this chance the light of day to keep on track with a high scoring offense.
Despite making this the best game of football fans have seen all season, The Ohio State Buckeyes fell short for the first time in 8 years on Saturday in Ann Arbor. Though it wasn’t due to lack of effort.
On the first drive of the ballgame, The Buckeye offense flashed a more aggressive playbook then we’ve seen all year. After completing two first downs through the air, Miller found room on the intended quarterback draw for a gain of 17 yards. Then on 1st down from Ohio State 46, Miller kept threw to a wide open Philly Brown near the end zone for a 54 yard touchdown strike.
After a four and out the Buckeyes would get the ball back looking to score on back to back drives.3 downs later It was Michigan that was positioning themselves to score. On the second play of drive, Denard Robinson used his legs to even up the ballgame on an outside run to sidelines — easily walking in for the first points on the afternoon for Michigan. It looked like we were going to have a back and forth offensive performance in the first quarter.
That’s when it seemed penalties and boneheaded mistakes would set apart these two teams.
After an incomplete pass from the Buckeye 20 to a streaking Philly Brown, 2nd down saw a Zach Boren holding penalty push Ohio State back to the 10 yard line. That was followed by a patented Jack Mewhort offsides penalty. Then after a -2 yard rush from Braxton Miller, it was 3rd down and 27 from the 3 yard line. The freshman hoisted a pass deep from the opposing endzone, but while trying to keep the outside rush from getting to the blindside of Miller, Mike Adams was flagged for holding Ryan Van Bergen, who beat him at the line. Adams did everything he could to make up for the great jump from the Michigan lineman. Holding onto a defender and ripping him down before he can finish though is a penalty punishable by two points and a safety in the stat book.
It was that penalty that gave Michigan their first lead in this rivalry in four years.
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Today, the Buckeyes travel to Ann Arbor to participate in the first competitive version of The Game for the last several years.
We’ll be here chatting our way through it with all of our blog friends: The Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Fox Sports Ohio.
The Game kicks off at Noon, the LiveBlog will lead off at 11:30.
Go Bucks, Beat M*ch*g*n!
After stuffing our bellies full of delicious dead bird, it’s finally time to ignore the family again and focus on the things that truly matter.
It's just about time to get back to this.
A worthy offensive gameplan. If Bollman comes into this game with his standard Walrusball offense it will be a disservice to the rivalry. The point of The Game is to try to win, not trying to make the other team’s defense look better than they really are.
A Jake Stoneburner touchdown. He finally got one last week against Penn State after not catching one for about 8 straight games. Time to go back to him again. If you want to do it more than once, I won’t complain.
Weeping M*ch*g*n fans. This has been the bandage on the wound that was the Cooper years. Not seeing it won’t rip it off, but it will certainly slow the healing. Yes, M*ch*g*n fans, we still haven’t done enough to you to close that wound. Maybe another decade of soul crushing will be sufficient.
Beat M*ch*g*n. This is the single most important thing we do all year. Go get it Bucks!
For our last blogger chat of the season, we approached several writers for TTUN to see if they could manage to actually string a few one syllable words together… but unfortunately, most of them were in jail. Then we remembered that the great MZone had re-opened their shop, and were happily cranking out photoshop coping mechanisms. We emailed Yost about joining us, and once he’d sobered up he sent us what you see below. Be sure to follow their stuff on twitter, and also on an upcoming edition of “COPS”.
Do you ever feel dirty rooting for the Maize and Blue? Do you ever get one of those shudders like pure evil has settled into your soul?
Wonder What He's Been Eating?
Never dirty, just horribly dazed watching what passed for our beloved Wolverines the last three years. And if you’ve been following the Maize and Blue this season, as you know, the only evil emanating out of A2 is of the Pop Evil variety. While, as the world knows, the evil that spews forth from Columbus is more of a Mordor strain.
What’s your favorite memory of The Game? On the other end of the spectrum, what play or game gives you nightmares?
Near the top of the “good” list are ’95 and ’96 when Michigan wasn’t given a chance and Ohio State was undefeated and, I believe, #2 in the country both times. Of the two, I think I enjoyed ’96 a tad more just because it was in Columbus. That was the 13-9 Michigan win that swung U-M’s way when Shawn Springs slipped and fell allowing Tai Streets to score on a 69 yard slant. OSU had been up 9-0 at halftime and you could almost hear the dread as it settled over the stadium. My god, I’m getting weepy just thinking about it again. But I digress.
Actually, at the top of my fave list has to be ’97 when #1 Michigan faced off against #4 OSU with everything on the line. The Game initially looked to be a Wolverine rout with Charles Woodson returning a punt for a TD (you seen that replay once or twice, right?). But when OSU cut U-M’s 20-0 lead to 20-14, you could hear a car key jingle pin drop in The Big House. Thankfully, Michigan held on and then won the Rose Bowl to claim a National Championship.
It was the stakes of ’97 and what a victory meant that made it so meaningful and memorable. Conversely, that’s precisely why 2006 still gives me nightmares. For the first time in history, Michigan and Ohio State were #1 and #2 at the time of The Game. OSU had the big lead at halftime but Michigan fought back. With 6:49 left, Michigan had cut the lead to 35-31. OSU had the ball on the Michigan 38 yard line, 3rd and 15. Troy Smith rolled out and threw an incomplete pass. Michigan was gonna get the ball back with a chance to drive down for the winning score. But… Read More
