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
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• I’ve Solved Your Problem- You know how the NFL is worried about lawsuits concussions and keeps monkeying with the kickoffs? Well, what if we just got rid of the kickoff and did the Hoot And Holler between five position players on each of the two team; most “victories” gets possession at the 25 to start the game/overtime. It used to be that the NBA did a jump ball after each basket; now there’s just the one at the beginning of the game- this would be like that. Sure, it’s a little XFL, but who’s to say we can’t all learn from each other? You’re welcome.
• Whereforeart Thou Woody?  Saint Hayes of the Clouds Of Dust would have certainly been less than excited to watch yesterday’s action, as the teams focused primarily on the passing game. Given the desire to protect the
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Thank you to all the writers who are participating in this, and a HUGE thank you to Grant from Buckeye House Call for creating our graphics!

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The easy comment on the offensive line, be it at Ohio State or nationwide, is that the season will hinge on their performance.

Again, that’s the standard answer, but I have to believe that this year it bodes more true than ever in Columbus.  There are playmakers elsewhere on Offense, and the Defense (while thin in places) has the potential to be terrifying for opposing offensive coordinators.

But the Buckeye Offensive Line is a mystery at this point; which … [Read More]

• Saturday was a chance for the media to meet with the linebackers, and you can find some great footage from Sabino and Shazier after the jump. Coach Meyer has been pretty vocal about Grant needing to fulfill a major role in the defense moving forward, and with Klein dinged up, it’s definitely been his time to shine. Today, in pads, it sounds as if the lights are coming on- some big hits, involved all over the field, and even a pick at one point. For Ohio State to use it’s speed on the outside (Shazier/Sabino), they’ve got to have a runstopper at Mike; Grant looks to be ready to fill that
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Usually we reserve soundtracks for TWTW, but someone emailed me a song today that I thought I’d share. They described it as “a warning to South Beach re: Mr. John Simon“… enjoy.

Buckeye News

• Injury Updates- At the presser today, Coach Fickell mentioned that one of the reasons Braxton didn’t play on Saturday was that his prep was impacted somewhat by being dinged up last week. Today, though, several Buckeyes reported that Brax seemed healthy and ready to go.  They also reported that Nathan Williams practiced healthy, so it would be difficult to imagine him missing out on Saturday.  Jamaal Berry is back on the kick off return team,
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Last week I covered the awesomeness that is the Silver Bullet defense (line, linebackers, and secondary). I strongly believe that the defense alone is good enough to win nine games this season- regardless of what happens on the other side of the ball.

Nine wins is good at a lot of schools, but for Buckeye fans that is a borderline bad year.

To have a great season, and more importantly for Coach Fickell to secure a long term contract, the Scarlet Assassin offense will need to step up to win above and beyond nine games.

In this regard, “Scarlet Assassins” is an appropriate nickname for several reasons; most importantly because they will move against their opponents slowly and meticulously before delivering the fatal blow.

An eight minute fourth quarter drive capped off by Zach Boren leading Carlos Hyde into the end zone for the game … [Read More]

[Note: I apologize for not getting to the defensive backs in my “way too early looks”.]

This offseason has been a tumultuous one to say the least. The tattoo revelations leading up to the Sugar Bowl and the resulting suspensions guaranteed a shadow over the off season. The additional news concerning Jim Tressel didn’t exactly make that shadow go away.

Fortunately, time heals all wounds, and cracking pads on the field helps to speed up that process- at least for me. After some time off from writing following the Tressel news conference (which is part of the reason why I didn’t get to the DBs), my enthusiasm for football is back in full swing.

So what follows … [Read More]

As the saying goes, games are won in the trenches. Cliche or not, a dominating offensive line can take a team to the next level. See: Wisconsin.

With three senior returning starters to anchor the line, Ohio State has the makings of domination in 2011.

Unfortunately, we haven’t reached the point in these ‘way too early’ previews where I don’t have to mention suspensions. Mike Adams, the returning starter at LT, will be serving a suspension to begin the year.

Scratch one of the senior anchors… at least for a few games.

The suspensions go a bit deeper than that for the offensive line… indirectly. With a new QB, inexperienced receivers, and a deep and talented backfield, the trenches will become even more important than usual for the Buckeyes.

Whether it is protecting an inexperienced QB for an extra second or opening holes for dynamic young runners, … [Read More]