Louisville (10-2, 5-2 Big East) vs. Florida (11-1, 7-1 SEC)
January 2nd, 2013 8:30 PM ET ESPN

History: The Sugar Bowl, one of the original four BCS bowl games, has been played annually since January 1st, 1935. It is tied with the Orange and Sun bowls as the second oldest bowl game, behind the Rose Bowl. The game is currently played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans where it has lived since 1975. Originally, the game was played in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans which closed the same month the Superdome opened. Tulane Stadium was famous for having hosted three of the first nine Superbowls (1970, 1972, 1975).

The Sugar Bowl has always been the major post-season destination of the SEC, and only once did the bowl play two teams that didn’t include the SEC from 1950-1995. That tradition continues today, and the Sugar Bowl has established themselves … [Read More]

UCF (9-4, 7-1 CUSA) vs Ball State (9-3, 6-2 MAC)
December 21st, 2012 7:30 PM ET ESPN

The History: Well, this may be the last football game ever played, so you’d better enjoy it while it lasts. This is one of those crazy, new, young-whipper-snapper bowl games that formed in 2008, originally as the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl. Beef O’Brady’s took over sponsorship the very next season, bringing us to the bowl game we know today. It’s traditionally played between the Big East and Conference USA, but this year the MAC got the nod over the Big East. This is Central Florida’s second visit to St. Petersburg, having lost to Rutgers in 2009 (45-24), giving them the most Beef O’Brady Bowl appearances in history.

Central Florida Scouting … [Read More]

As with each round, we’ve got to give a huge “Thank You!” to our BBN Bracket Challenge sponsors- the semis and finals are brought to you by The Buckeye Room. They’re having a sweet deal right now where you can get 20% off your gear by using “MADNESS2012” as the checkout code- even for the cool Nike shirt you see on the right there.

While you’re waiting for the game to start, go check out our partners in the BBN! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and Men of the Scarlet and Gray. Fox Sports Ohio also joins us as usual.

All of these blogs deserve a lot of thanks for making these chats … [Read More]

As with each round, we’ve got to give a huge “Thank You!” to our BBN Bracket Challenge sponsors- the semis and finals are brought to you by The Buckeye Room.  They’re having a sweet deal right now where you can get 20% off your gear by using “MADNESS2012” as the checkout code- even for the cool Nike shirt you see on the right there.

If you find time during the games, you should check out our friends in the Buckeye Bloggers Network! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and … [Read More]

You may recall another Buckeye Basketball Breakdown I wrote about a month ago. In it, I looked at the various traits of College Basketball champions and looked at OSU’s stats to see how the Buckeyes measured up.  The answer was mostly satisfactory, but not completely.  Also, considering we hadn’t finished the regular season, the data was incomplete.

I want to go back and reanalyze the Buckeyes now that we’re two (very difficult) games away from the Championship.  Have the Buckeyes improved statistically, or met any other conditions we couldn’t check yet, to make them look more like … [Read More]

Like many of their earlier games this season, the Buckeyes started out slow on the offensive side of the ball. Part of that was due to the mediocre opening play from Deshaun Thomas, a suprise considering his recent success as a starter averaging 20 points per game … [Read More]