Buckeye Blogger NetworkWhile the details are still coming out, I can’t stop thinking about how amazing the situation in Cleveland was yesterday. We need more folks like Charles Ramsey who would be willing to get involved when it’s easier to just mind their own business. Only one soundtrack possibility today, then.
Silver Dollar Pancakes- Exquisite!
Buckeye 411
Win/Win Scenario?
Yup, it’s that week again- we find ourselves looking to the skies and hoping for an astronomical event to head toward… let’s see… this year the game is in South Bend, so that will do just fine. Just think, if Notre Dame’s previous coach was still on the sidelines, there just might be enough gravitational pull between the two head men to facilitate this.
Buckeye 411
Midweek madness in March… be sure to stick with us after the break to get insight into the personalities and ideologies of some of the new Ohio State coaching staff
Learning from the best
Buckeye 411
But the number that best explains his sophomore season is the dramatic decline in free throw attempts from his freshman year. He’s getting fouled about 20 percent less often this season than last, although he is most certainly being challenged by defenders in greater numbers and it would appear he is being contacted more. He is attempting and making roughly the same number of shots as last season, but he is getting fewer calls.
More contact, but fewer calls? That right there is all you need to know about the state of B1G officiating this season, just in case the conference player of the year possibly fouling out of a huge game and not being removed by the officials wasn’t enlightening enough.
Q: Who would star as you (in the movie adaptation of the book)?
A: We had that question asked at Ohio State. We had to do the profile thing during timeouts (at games), where they asked you who would play you in a movie. All my teammates said Denzel Washington. That wouldn’t work for me, though.
How about Zac Efron? We could turn it into a musical.
All I needed to read, though, was Greg Oden’s blurb for the cover-
“Mark Titus knows a lot of personal secrets of mine. If he revealed any of them in this book, I will kick him right in the testicles. I’m not joking.”
When you buy it, be sure to do so from Amazon- gives a little love to your favorite corner of the interwebs.
Ready... aim...
It’s finally here… the first SBP of the 2011 season. No more preseason talk, no more countdowns- it’s time to squeeze the trigger. Let’s do this.
Buckeye 411
Come Sunday morning, the first thing I do when I come in is I put on the special teams reel and I’m going to put on the fourth quarter. I want to see what your body language is like, your competitive nature is like. I don’t care if you’re a third team, a first team guy. If you’re on special teams, I want to see how you compete. I want to see your body language looks like in the fourth quarter whether you’re up 35 or down 35, whether it’s a tie ball game or not. Those are the things we want to see. Read More
Time to give 'em the ol' razzle dazzle!
Joe: Michigan State? Nope… USC? Nope… FSU? Nope… in articles he may lead us to believe he is looking around, but he is all Buckeye!
Jim: 100% Buckeye. He will announce on national letter of intent day on Fox Sports.
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We have more thoughts on the rest of the recruits after the jump.
This is why I shouldn’t go on vacation. Here’s the latest news, little of it good:
Ok, silver lining…. breathe… More scholarships will be available for an amazing 2011 class.
Hopefully, better news next time we do this.
Today we found out: The Buckeyes will be without the services of Duron Carter for the Rose Bowl. The status of Rob Rose is still to be determined. Update- Rose is cleared for the game.
So... about those classes...
For Rose, it would have meant that he had played his last game in the scarlet and gray. For Duron, it means he gets to have “that talk” with his dad.
You may be saying- “Wait, didn’t I know this earlier?” Well, sure, but now that we’ve moved up to the big leagues it’s important that we wait for confirmation before climbing up on any ledges.
Both players will be missed, and I’m sure that the opportunity to play in “the Grand-daddy” will be an immeasurable learning moment for each of the student athletes involved.
While it’s never good timing for these types of matters, having players suspended before a bowl game is unfortunate for the rest of the members of the team as well. Again, everything is an educational opportunity.
If only these guys had access to Gregg Easterbrook’s current TMQ regarding this very matter. He writes-
Each year, roughly 2,500 Division I football players leave college because they have exhausted their athletic eligibility, or are leaving early, or have graduated. Each year, about 200 rookie players make NFL rosters. Thus, more than 90 percent of Division I football players never play a down in the NFL. Take into account that some of the NFL rookies are Division II, Division III or NAIA players, and it’s closer to 95 percent. Watch any top college football team — the players are fast, muscular, and obviously devote tremendous amounts of time and energy to football. Ninety-five percent of them won’t play in the NFL. If they don’t study and don’t go to class, they walk away from college football practically empty-handed.
And later…
Ohio State won the 2002 crown, and produced 11 players who were in the NFL for five years or more, 16 who played two to four years, and seven who played for one season. Again, this was the year’s best college football team, and almost two-thirds of its players never played an NFL down.
Easterbrook feels, as do I, that University experience is about learning. As such student athletes need to make the most of all the opportunities given them in the classroom, in the WHAC, and in the ‘Shoe. It’s pretty obvious that Coach Tressel feels strongly about this as well (which is nice to see, given what we’ve heard about some places).
But what’s important isn’t what I think or what Coach thinks- it’s what the two gentlemen wearing number 9 take away from this moment.
Let’s end as we started, with a quote from St. Woody-
“When I came here 11 years ago, I was determined that you don’t cheat the kid who plays football for you. You see those two buildings?” (St. John Arena and French Field House) “They cost $5.5 million to build. Where did the money come from? From these kids on the football team. They earned it. Football is a $2 million business at Ohio State — which means that the 22 boys on the starting team bring in almost $100,000 apiece in gate receipts each year. Think of that. And what do they get in return? Well, we’re not going to cheat and give them a slice of melon or anything else illegal, you can bet on that. What they get is $1,300 a year in room, board, tuition, and books — the opportunity to get an education. And I’m going to see that they get that education. We certainly owe them that.“
I skipped a position update last week because there was absolutely nothing to take away from the Purdue game in week 7, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
After the Minnesota game last week things are looking up, but I would like to see similar results in more adverse situations before I can say that I have a lot of confidence in the offense.
That being said, this week is basically a scrimmage before our trip to Happy Valley and a killer final three games of the season. So, it would be nice to see the offense pick a scheme and fine tune it. Even if the offense puts up big points this week, I am not sure how much you can take away from the performance due to the competition. At this point in the season, I am waiting for our dual with Penn State before I form any opinions.
So, rather than focus on a specific position this week, I will briefly go over where we stand at every position on offense. Hopefully the entire offense steps up and uses this week as an opportunity to find some kind of identity to finish the year on a high note.
Terrelle Pryor #2
102-184, 55.4%, 1408 yards, 12 TDs, 9 INTs
101 rushes, 471 yards, 4.7 average, 5 TDs
Terrelle Pryor has put up decent numbers this year, but he has been painfully inconsistent. Purdue was an unbelievably awful game for Pryor, Minnesota was probably one of the best games of his career. Will Pryor build on his Minnesota performance against New Mexico State? We can only hope. The real test comes in two weeks.
Would you want to tackle him? Neither did Minnesota.
There are four backs listed on the depth chart heading into the game this weekend, mostly due to a series of injuries and questions about whether or not players will be healthy enough to play. Still, these four backs should provide the Bucks with a nice rotation for the rest of the season, and hopefully everyone will be back to 100% sooner rather than later.
Boom Herron #1
GP 5, Att 66, Net 241, Avg 3.7, TDs 5
Many people were critical of Herron at the beginning of the year due to his subpar play. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had a chance to answer his critics since week 4 when he was injured against Illinois. It looks like Herron may play some snaps this week, but he will most likely be used sparingly to make sure he is 100% for Penn State.
Ideally he will at least get a few carries this week in order to shake the rust off, because getting your feet wet for the first time in five weeks on the road against Penn State probably isn’t the greatest way to make a comeback. Unless something drastic happens in the next few weeks, it looks like it will be a disappointing year for Herron to say the least.
Brandon Saine #3
GP 8, Att 81, Net 426, Avg 5.3, TDs 0
Many people were pushing for Saine to be the starter even before Herron went down with his injury. Saine broke 100 yards in his first start against Indiana in week 5 but hasn’t come close to breaking 100 since. Still, Saine is averaging a respectable 5.3 yards per carry and his recent lack of production can be partially explained by a lack of opportunities. Saine only had 14 rush attempts against Wisconsin and 7 in the debacle at West Lafayette. Last week Saine carried the ball 11 times for 45 yards before being sidelined with a concussion.
I looks like Saine will be available to play this weekend, but like Herron, his reps may be limited to make sure he is 100% for Penn State.
Jordan Hall #29
GP 4, Att 35, Net 141, Avg 4.0, TDs 1
Hall had 38 yards on 10 carries and his first TD of the year filling in for the injured Saine last week against Minnesota. That stat line has been about average for him when he gets into the game, and if the offense gets rolling against New Mexico State he will probably get a chance to carry the ball some more, but Hall may see some carries taken away by the emergence of Jermil Martin.
Jermil Martin #41
GP 2, Att 8, Net 73, Avg 9.1, TDs 1
Martin was definitely the breakout player of the week against Minnesota. His 75 yards and a TD on only 7 carries was probably the most impressive piece of running Buckeyes fans have seen this year. Despite his impressive running, I am not ready to call Martin the next big thing just yet. Keep in mind that he was carrying the ball against a Minnesota defense that was halfway on the bus by the time Martin got his first carry. So, I would take his performance with a grain of salt.
Still, it was nice to see a back running with authority and breaking tackles like we haven’t seen since… well, Beanie last year. But anyways, I expect Martin to get more carries, and hopefully he can provide a power back look to hammer away at defenses up the middle and keep them honest on the edge.
DeVier Posey #8
So good at catching the ball that he can carry it like this without fumbling apparently.
GP 8, Catches 38, Yards 516, Avg 13.6, TDs 6
Posey had by far his best game of the year last week, hauling in 8 passes for 161 yards and 2 TDs. Like Jermil Martin, however, you have to consider the competition before you get too excited. On the other hand, it definitely looked like Posey into developing into Pryor’s go-to guy, and that can’t hurt. Like everyone on offense, I will wait a few weeks before a make up my mind, but Posey definitely looks to be a solid #1 receiver in the making.
Dane Sanzenbacher #12
GP 8, Catches 19, Yards 388, Avg 20.4, TDs 4
Dane started off the year strong, but has been quiet for the past few weeks. You can’t exactly blame Dane considering the entire offense has been pretty quiet lately. If the offense is able to consistently move the ball, it is a pretty sure bet that Sanzenbacher will be involved.
Ray Small #82
GP 7, Catches 11, Yards 147, Avg 13.4, TDs 0
There’s not much to say about Ray Small, the talent is there, but the production has not been. Small did carry the ball 4 times against Minnesota, so the staff is trying to get him the ball. Unfortunately for Small, he is running out of time in his Buckeye career to be an impact player.
Duron Carter #9
GP 8, Catches 9, Yards 82, Avg 9.1, TDs 1
Duron has all of the tools, but like everyone else on the offense, his numbers have been seriously cut into by the extremely inconsistent play of the entire offense. He is going to be good.
It looks like another year where all of the preseason talk about getting the TEs getting involved in the passing game doesn’t actually materialize. Jake Ballard and Jake Stoneburner have combined for 10 catches and 118 yards on the year despite both playing in all 8 games up to this point. It once again is a case of poor production from the entire offense rather than poor play from the TEs in my opinion. If the offense gets rolling I imagine that the TEs will see a few more balls coming their way.
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So there you have it. Inconsistency has hurt everyone on the offense in terms of production so far this year. It would be nice if we could fix that in the last couple games. I will believe it when I see it.
