The 9-3, 7-1 Mountain West Champs SDSU Aztecs take on the 7-5 BYU Cougars in the eighth installment of the ever changing second bowl of San Diego. There have been at least five different agreements with conferences over the years and in 2008 the PAC10(12) couldn’t meet the required seven teams to send a team to the southern most city in California.

The Cougars of BYU have had an up and down season and just about gave the country what they wanted in upsetting Notre Lame. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who may have the coolest name for a head coach ever, has an issue at the QB position. His starter and heart of the team, Riley Nelson, has been injured and still isn’t sure he’ll be able to go on the 20th.

Playmakers:  On offense, Cody Hoffman has been the consistency that the Cougars … [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• Fun With Numbers- As a reminder, Coach Meyer is 14-1 lifetime after bye, and 32-2 with multiple weeks to prepare for a game.
• Injury Update- According to Monday’s press conference, Etienne Sabino is back and will be starting against Wisconsin this week.  Bri’onte Dunn has sprained his MCL and will miss this week, but won’t need surgery- he’s hopefully back for The Game. Armani Reeves is back from the IR, and Corey Linsley is a bit banged up, but will go on Saturday.
• Meyer’s Musings- In Tuesday’s B1G conference, Coach Meyer said that they haven’t really talked much about an AP championship with the team, choosing instead to try to “win as many games as we could for our seniors” He
… [Read More]

In case you haven’t noticed (and if you haven’t, please PLEASE let me know how you’re managing to pull that off), it’s election season. And you thought the BCS was complicated and overwrought… three more weeks, people. You can do it.

“But Mali- there’s never been politics on tBBC… what gives?”

That’s a fine point, but it’s the only way I could think of to lead into this week’s “marquee” matchup. Given how much they like football, I’m sure that there was some … [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

• Clothing, Part One- Never ones to miss the obvious, the Athletic Department has declared that this week’s game will be a “Scarlet Out”, similar to last year’s homecoming event.  Although it’s nice to do one of these “all color events” on nights where the opposing fanbase will unwillingly be assisting (looking at you, Indiana), I’ve got to wonder if this might take a bit of the “home field” advantage away and inadvertently help a team known as “Big Red”.
• “And So Forth”- I wonder if I can get WKYC on my cable provider, just so I can enjoy the wisdom and wit that
… [Read More]

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 … [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• Hangin’ With Urb- Hopefully you were one of the students who were able to get your tickets to the upcoming “meet and greet” with Ohio State’s new head coach. If so, I’m sure you’re in for a treat. Absolutely no disrespect to Coach Tressel, but the public speaking and offensive styles of these two men were pretty consistent: The Senator wanted to kill clock, lull you into complacency, and wait for you to make a mistake. Coach Meyer will see how many questions he can answer in a minute, and expects every one of them to score.
• Ah, Gee-  Ohio State’s president was in the news again, this time for
… [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• Injury update- Nathan Williams still out, Verlon Reed has torn his ACL and will be out for the season.  Yesterday, we were also informed that Melvin Fellows had been classified as a medical hardship, but there’s still no further information at this time. Philly Brown is day to day, and may see action against the Cornhuskers. Solomon Thomas will see some action- he’s returning from suspension and from surgery for the broken leg he suffered in the spring. Brewster said after practice that Philly and Michael Bennett both were active this afternoon.
• Fickell Speaks- On dealing with adversity and suspended players:

Probably we went ahead and went with our three points of wisdom from John Wooden that said: Don’t whine, don’t complain and don’t make excuses. And I think that’s

… [Read More]