Urban’s attitude

A lot has been said about the Big Ten being weak and the Buckeye schedule being light. I can’t argue much about either of those points. When writing last week’s entry, the thought crossed my mind that this (past) week against Illinois could be the week when it all comes together and the “Urbanization” of the Buckeyes begins to take shape.

For me, the real transformation to this program completely becoming Urban Meyer’s will be when we no longer see games like Purdue or California. … [Read More]

As the temperatures drop, the games get more heated… and nowhere saw this more true than in the Midwest, where three games with title implications found themselves coming down to the final seconds.

You read that right. The midwest- “flyover country” and “battleground states”.  We’ll get to the events in Louisiana and Los Angeles in a bit, but there was a 25 minute period on Saturday that saw the eyes of college football fans tuned to the states of Indiana and Michigan.

First, the Battle in the B1G Legends Division saw either a “Sparty NO!!” moment or the referees stealing yet another game from Dantonio’s team, depending on your perspective and your proximity to LeVeon Bell. Nebraska managed a last second touchdown after two huge mental errors/penalties against the Spartans- first, Taylor Martinez was intercepted on the two yard … [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]

This has been identified as the first “Shakedown Saturday” of the season, and we knew early on that this would be a heck of a week for college football. While #1 Alabama sat idle, the rest of the top 10 was involved in contests amongst themselves… where commentators chose to ignore the fact that this was destined to happen when you put all the teams in one conference in the top ten because they’re in that conference.  But I digress..

Let’s start with the state of Florida, which went 1-2 on the weekend, and saw two “they’re back!!!” programs fall by the wayside.  The exception to this, of course, … [Read More]

Let’s start out west this week, which gives me a chance to do two of my favorite things in the world.  The first is to enjoy this moment: Oh, Rich Rod face, how I’ve missed your sublime poignancy. The second is to post a great FanShot, sent to us from pretty choice seats in Eugene… lots of people making their “O” face in that game, for sure. As a reminder, if you go to a game this year, send us a photo and we’ll run it on Monday mornings.

So, let’s talk about the Ducks.  The wife and I watched the game… at least until Arizona threw … [Read More]

How does the conference fall in the national rankings? How likely are they to have a team in the title game?

I’ve come to learn in sports, there are no “sure things.” Recently, though, an SEC team playing for (and winning) the National Championship in college football is about as close to a sure thing as there is. Last year, we even saw something nobody ever thought we would—two teams from the same conference playing for it all.

I was one that supported the rematch between LSU and Alabama. They were the two best teams in college football last year, no question. And, with … [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• All Sully, All The Time- Jared Sullinger was today named as a finalist for the John Wooden award, the only one of the fifteen finalists to have also been on that list for the 2010-11 season. He was also named an All American by the Sporting News… which is nice.
• However-  In the Sporting News piece, we read this:

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

… [Read More]

Bowl championship Series

• LSU gets voted #2. After 5 first downs. Oklahoma State and Stanford fans give a collective sigh of exasperation… Hey look! Jordan Jefferson!
• On LSU’s behalf, they did beat three BCS game winners- Oregon, WVa, and Alabama.
• Trent Richardson’s Best Friend, Tom Al-Betar made a sideline appearance last
… [Read More]