Buckeye Blogger NetworkHopefully you’re either recovering from the long weekend or making plans for the next one… as an educational moment, though, be sure to know what you’re doing. As for me, I had a great weekend up above the treeline and enjoying some music that made me remember my college days… so, it’s also your soundtrack.
Memorial Day for the Buckeyes
Buckeye 411
As I studied the statistics from year #1 to year #2 at Meyer’s three previous colleges, I noticed that the rushing offense and scoring offense improved at all three programs. Outside of those statistics, it’s hard to recognize any trends.
Good news for OSU fans… bad news for the B1G.
How many (of the SEC’s top 6 programs) would Ohio St have beaten? Would they have won 3? I don’t know.
It’s always nice to know that someone is thinking of you, right? Anywho, as you can imagine, the response was pretty interesting: Spencer Hall brought his usual crack-analysis (why the UC photo at the top, though?), while other voices brought a bit more reason into the discussion. At any rate, with Coach Meyer talking openly about the Tide and Saban having his mind on the doin’s up in Columbus… this is going to be a hell of a season.
It’s not summer yet, no matter how many days of 90+ degree weather that we have in Los Angeles… but the summer blockbuster season is upon us. With that in mind, let’s revisit an SBP favorite for this week’s soundtrack.
Buckeye 411
It’s Disney? Rats…
The beauty of it is, kids are kids and people are people, and if they first and foremost feel that you care about them and that you really are there to serve them, it’s easy. I’ve had the chance to hone those skills for many, many, many years, and to me it’s second nature to want to see what I can do for someone.
This also sounds familiar,
That marketing and television and all of the funds that are involved in major college athletics have certainly taken a little bit of control, not just for the institution, but I think it’s affected the experience for the youngsters. It’s not necessarily what I believe in, and I worry a little bit that there’s so much time invested into that singular passion, that — are we giving them the experiences that they are going to need through the rest of their lives?
Akron students… I hope you know how fortunate you are.
Buckeye Hoops
While 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
Lucrative? Well…
After a weekend in the land of authentic pizza and corrupt government, there’s really only one choice for this week’s soundtrack, particularly with all of the news coming out of B1G headquarters.
Buckeye 411
Gonna’ be honest- not much in the way of news in Columbus these days, Thank Woody. Here’s some tidbits, though:
Using certain applications available on the iPads, members of the band would be able to read music, send out videos of rehearsals and also read field charts. Normally, only the band director is able to see the bigger picture in motion while the band members look at papers.
“Instead of one person getting to see the bigger picture, now everyone gets to see the actual animation,” Barta said.
King and Barta said they are not aware of any other university band using this type of technology, which they hope will also help them recruit future Buckeyes.
“We are similar to sports teams in terms of recruiting,” King said. “We are trying to get the best high school student musicians to come play our band.”
The funds that TBDBITL need to raise are around $120K… meanwhile, all of the student athletes have been provided iPads for a while now. This has been your weekly “athletes and students are not the same” reminder.
Lotta stuff rattling around the ol’ brainpan the last couple of days… sometimes it’s good to have a bit of distraction from the harshness of our realities. Here’s the song that’s been stuck in my subconscious…
Buckeye 411
Let's Get This Party Started
Here’s a look at the Top 25 Week Ahead and Week in Review.
1. Duke (12-0) Previous Rank: 1
Past Week: 12/29 Santa Clara, W 90-77
Upcoming: 1/2 @ Davidson & 1/5 Wake Forest
The Blue Devils pulled away from Santa Clara late and will open up ACC play this week against Wake Forest. Read More
The Heisman trophy has been awarded. The Buckeyes are gaining recruits. Buckeye basketball players are shooting hoops. It’s almost Christmas time. Let’s rumble!
Hei-sham
We're just as surprised as you are
On Saturday the Heisman trophy was awarded to Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Why did people outside the SEC region vote for Manziel? Yes, he accumulated 4600 total yards on the season. Sure, he won at Alabama. So, let me get this straight: The requirements to be the “most outstanding player in college football” is to have the most yards and beat an SEC “super power”? Being a leader no longer matters. Neither does keeping your nose clean off the field. Leading a team with the hardest schedule in college football to an undefeated season and spearheading a defense that allows ten (10!) touchdowns for an entire season doesn’t matter either apparently.
I should be ecstatic. Apparently having the name Notre Dame attached to yours no longer guarantees trophy’s the way it has in the past. We all remember when Troy Smith won the Heisman in 2006 and being worried that Brady Quinn might edge him out simply because of the name Notre Dame. After Saturday’s Heisman vote, that is clearly a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it’s been replaced by another stigma or fallacy, and that is simply being associated with the mighty SEC. Why do I say that? Let’s be honest: If Manziel plays for Texas A&M of the Big 12 and has his “Heisman moment” Thanksgiving night against the Texas Longhorns, I don’t care how many yards Manziel accumulated, Manti Te’o would be the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. But because Manziel plays in the SEC and beat Alabama, well, that’s Herculean and should obviously be rewarded.
If you don’t believe me, look at the voting. The southern region of the country ie SEC-land voted overwhelmingly for Manziel. Not really that surprising. The shocker was the amount of folks in the Midwest and East that voted for Manziel. Some surely voted for “Johnny Football” because they dislike the Irish, while others I can guarantee voted for him “because he did what he did in the SEC”. And that’s rubbish.
Manziel was not “the most outstanding player in college football” in 2012, stats be damned. The Heisman has always been an accumulation of stats, team achievement, off the field success, highlight moments and their personal story. With the exception of stats, Manti Te’o trumps “Johnny Football” in every category. But he didn’t win it. He lost to the stigma of the SEC.
How far is this going to go and when is it going to end?
Read More
Getting ready for the next phase of college fandom, that wonderful world filled with gifts of college hoops and bowl catastophies. As such, here’s the soundtrack for this week’s look back.
Robert Frost once said, “Nothing Gold can stay”; and so, another leaf turns and this college football season comes to a close. Before we jump into Championship Weekend, let me take a second to say “Thank You” to a great Ohio State blog and BBN member who hung up their keyboards this week- Dave and Drew, Godspeed on the next adventure.
It Gets Better
Well, the crapocalypse is surely upon us- we’ve now got the choice to pull for Notre Dame or for Alabama in the Mythical National Title game come January; although I’m still holding out hope that the Mayans were right.
Alabama punched their ticket to yet another dance via a dominant second half performance against a very game Georgia team. Throughout the first half and into the third quarter, it looked as if the Bulldogs had figured out a way to neutralize the Bama defense, a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown only extended the sense of dread that Alabama fans must have been feeling throughout the sold-out Georgia Dome.
And then Nick Saban remembered that he had a running game. From that moment on, the Crimson Tide’s offensive line and stable of running backs managed to decimate the Georgia defense, churning clock and yardage. After running all over the Black and Red, it only made sense that Alabama’s last score would come on a beautifully executed play action pass- everyone, including the cameramen and your humble correspondent bit on the fake, and McCarron’s ball was perfectly targeted for the score.
Again, kudos to the Georgia team; they refused to give up even under dire circumstances and dwindling clock. They managed to drive to the red zone in a short amount of time, but then made decisions that I’m still trying to figure out.
After passing for the first down on the Alabama 8 yard line, Georgia chose to run a play and not spike the ball for clock stoppage goodness- they had used their last time outs forcing the Tide to punt on the previous series. The process of setting the play up itself cost them a good 5 seconds or so, and then they chose to run the following attempt:
There’s a lot of things that went wrong here- the pass was tipped at the line, and the receiver should have intentionally dropped it (although that’s a hard thing to do, as it goes against years of practice). But the decision to not control the clock a bit better at the end send Nick Saban to Miami to defend his team’s national title, and ended up pushing Georgia to game against the B1G Championship Runner Up (more later). Read More
