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 always, I like to give credit to a very good team we faced in Central Florida.  We knew going in they would try to run downhill on us.

I think this is the second week in a row we held a team under 100 yards rushing.  However, pass defense, we have a long way to go.  Getting pressure on the quarterback.

Offensively, we’re down to our third tailback, and it looked like it.  We have to get better.  The guys carrying the ball are talented, just terrible mistakes.  Penalties and turnovers are not ‑‑ in the first game, very minimal penalties and zero turnovers.

And then this week was not good.  So just gotta fix it.  We’re going to have to really ID who is going

… [Read More]

1. How does George O’Leary like to attack his opponents offensively? Is he primarily a ground guy, air guy, or is he more flexible depending on the defense?

UCF coach George O’Leary definitely prefers to use a tough rushing attack to establish pass plays. He believes in ball-control offense, which tends to set up his defense for success when his offense performs well.

2. We’ve seen UCF oscillate between good seasons and mediocre/bad ones on about a three year cycle since O’Leary arrived. Do you see that continuing … [Read More]

Passing, passing, more passing. I asked for 350 yards, and came up 106 yards short. I’ll ask for 300 this time and hope that’s easier for the Buckeyes to match. If Braxton gets his footwork under control, it might be possible.

A sack fest. We’ve been told that OSU might have the best defensive line in the country. I’d like to see some backfield punishment of the UCF quarterback to prove it. Remember, Urban Meyer believes that a quarterback should pay for trying to pass. I want to see that philosophy in action.

A 100 Yard Game from Carlos Hyde. I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Lets get him his first century of the season.

Ultra-short laser pulses. Wait, what? That’s right, a physicist at UCF just set the world record for the shortest laser pulse at 67 attoseconds. For the uninitiated, an attosecond is merely a millionth … [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
… [Read More]

Ohio State may not be eligible for postseason play in 2012, but that has no impact on the anticipation for Buckeye fans.

Urban Meyer is one month away from his debut as Ohio State’s head coach, and that is the main reason OSU fans are excited.

The Buckeyes begin the 2012 season with four non-conference home games—only one of which is against a team from a BCS conference.

While OSU may not have a big-name program on its non-conference schedule like years past, playing four games under coach Meyer before the Big Ten schedule will be extremely important for the team to get comfortable in a new system under a new coaching staff.

Here at The Buckeye Battlecry, we will have in-depth previews of each OSU opponent during the week of the game. This, however, is the … [Read More]

It’s good to be back… right before the team goes camping as well.  And here… we… go…

Buckeye 411

• Somebody’s watching- The pre-season lists keep
… [Read More]