Buckeye Blogger NetworkHope you’re not too hungover from Homecoming… Not that there’d be anything wrong with that. This weeks’ TWTW is being composed with this concert in the background- say goodbye to your Pandora station for the next hour and 45 minutes.
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..
Also Urban's Fault
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, are those poor souls in Gainesville, which were gutted and pillaged by the Evil Urban Meyer on his way to the greener pastures in Columbus. A miracle, then, that they managed to host the number four team in the nation and managed to pull together a 14-6 win, in spite of the fact that LSU is one of the greatest teams of all time and forever (note, applies to SEC teams but especially ones from the SEC West). It seems as if the Mad Hatter finally had the injuries that have plagued his team catch up with them… although, like many people, I wasn’t sure that they were ranked properly with a number of “close” calls and a “quality” win over Washington bolstering their resume. Hear me correctly- I think Coach Muschamp is doing solid things at Florida, in spite of the fact that Urban burned down every building and shot all the coaching staff on his way out… I just am not all that impressed with a win over an LSU team that might have more issues than their SECW status would allow anyone to talk about. Ah well.
In Chicago, we were given the chance to witness a game that would have been really interesting in the late 80′s… although, this version had a bit of intrigue as well. A resurgent Notre Dame team chose to play in Soldier Field in front of it’s biggest alumni base and revisit the good times that were the “Catholics -vs- Criminals” matchups that created must see TV when I was in high school and college. Even though it was a neutral site game, you’ve got to know that Miami felt daunted playing a) this far north and b) in front of more fans than they’d seen all season (and that’s just on the Loop driving into the game). The 41-3 Irish win came in spite of the fact that Notre Dame’s quarterback began the game on the bench for a violation of “team rules”. Huh. Perhaps he was found to be responsible for the horrible helmet design that they chose to wear this week. Again, I think that Coach Golden is doing good things in Coral Gables, and haven’t yet figured out how Urban Meyer is at fault for his struggles. But I will persevere on the case… be assured the truth is out there.
Man-zier Salesman
In our biggest upset of the week, third ranked Florida State (anointed by this very author as a solid candidate to play for the pretend championship) fell to a North Carolina State team that’s struggled to get out of their own way for the most part of this season, and who lost to ‘Da U just last week. It took a late touchdown to achieve the glorious victory for the Wolfpack, but it certainly was exciting enough that this young person chose to disregard what his parents taught him and rejoice in the moment.
While Notre Dame’s “wardrobe malfunctions” were the highlight of the week, no conversation about crazy outfits is complete without mention of the latest in the “Duck You” line from the good folks in Eugene. This week, in the blowout win against Washington, we saw a return of their “John Deer” look- a throwback of sorts to their green and yellow heritage, with a twist. In addition to the mirrored ball helmet wings that we’ve seen before, they decided to add a yellow and chrome facemask to the the ensemble, giving them sort of a “Bane Of The Northwest” appearance. As always, the Ducks are rolling up huge chunks of yardage and points, but have yet to face a defense with the size and speed up front to disrupt their schemes… and, looking across the PAC12, I don’t see that kind of challenge coming anytime soon. Read More
Gotta have the right ammo
If you’re reading this, you’ve survived Bloody Tuesday… don’t you just hate corporate bonding retreats? Here’s some happy music to get you through the day.
Buckeye 411
The day started off great getting an opportunity to meet up with Roy Hall again and bringing Gary Russell with me. This time I made sure that we got a picture worth displaying as my Twitter AVI. Big thank you to Roy for humoring us and taking part in O-H-I-O. Gary, Rob, and I have taken opps to get some neat ones and this might be our favorite.
Robby - Roy Hall - myself and Gary Russell
Spent the bigger part of the morning watching videos and talking with some fans and ultimately getting chastised by tBBC’s own Eric for saying the videos were the best part of pregame. He said it was a fail because everyone knows that TBDBITL is the best part of pregame and I recovered nicely by pointing out the videos were the best part before the Alumni version of TBDBITL hit the field. I jokingly said 1,000 strong and it appeared I wasn’t far off.
500 plus of TBDBITL and Alumni
There isn’t a whole lot more that I can say about the days events that hasn’t been said by the “experts” but here I go. Each of the first four teams that we have played spent an obvious large amount of time preparing for the Buckeyes. At one point and time I tweeted a pic of the strange defense the Blazers were running.
It appears they were running a wide spread three man front and at times the ends were standing up . They pretty much brought the house each time to try and get the Buckeyes into throwing the ball more. As fate would have it the Buckeyes needed a great drive to go up by two scores and win the game.
Funky three man front D by the Blazers
Not that my opinion is of any great value, but it appears to me that Coach Meyer has kept his offense and defense very vanilla in an attempt to challenge his team even more before the B1G starts. In three straight games now we have seen the team just flip a switch (Braxton) and move right down the field and score. Today they made the one series look very effortless and undefendable.
I for one and pleased with the results thus far and am excited for the start of the conference slate. For a couple weeks I don’t have to worry about getting to bed late from officiating on Friday and getting up at 5 a.m. to get to Columbus. The Buckeyes are on the road against Sparty next week in a 3:30 affair and the following week the Cornhuskers come to town in a nighttime match-up.
Have a great week! Go Bucks!
The life of an Ohio Stadium Usher can be interesting to say the least, especially for someone like me who lives two hours away. Due to being a high school football official and working all over the state, I can get home pretty late on Fridays, only to get up at 5:30am to head to the Shoe. This wasn’t the case this past weekend as I had a very close to home game at my alma mater and was in bed and asleep by 11:30!
I had my reservations about the game but not the day as me, my daughter Kristiana and those with me were going to try to get to the Driven tent on Lane Avenue and meet the man that provides me with daily inspiration. Roy Hall is doing some amazing things with the foundation that he has built with former Buckeye walk-on then starter Antonio Smith. Please click the link to their foundation on our homepage and see what you can do to help.
One of my favorite moments as a Buckeye fan
Roy and former Buckeye Maurice Clarett have forged a friendship that is paying huge dividends for the foundation and for their lives. Maurice was in town shooting the ESPN special 30 in 30 and has been hanging out at the tent and signing autographs with Roy. I could not pass up the chance to meet them both on Saturday and it turned into one of my favorite moments in meeting former Buckeyes. Both were gracious in meeting me and it’s clear that their faith is what carries them now. It was a great time for me meeting them face to face and I am sure to never forget it. There are some great things on the horizon that I am involved in helping Driven and I hope you’ll join me!
Spent a good portion of Saturday’s pregame hanging out with my middle child Kristiana, giver her a follow plz. She is a huge Ohio State fan and is currently working her bottom off to get to Columbus and go to school. She and I have always had a great sports relationship as she has always been very athletic. She plays basketball and runs track in club sports at her current school of WVU-Parkersburg and need to stay active as I believe it’s what has kept her healthy over the years. If you don’t know me well then you don’t know that she has Cystic Fibrosis and has been amazingly well. God has taken wonderful care of her. That and my son’s conviction has contributed to my faith greatly over the years. Read More
Growing up a Buckeye fan was one of the few things my dad and I had in common. We watched every game on TV or listen to it on the radio. Whether it was on TV or radio, we did whatever it took to make sure we caught the game. Unfortunately, I never got to experience and game at THE Shoe with my dad before he passed away. After all those years of watching and listening to the games and dreaming of how great THE Shoe must be, I never thought I would be able to get to see it in person.
My first game at THE Shoe was versus Penn State in the infamous game where the Buckeyes won and the only touchdown was Ted Ginn’s punt return. Then five years ago, after being on a waiting list for 6 years, I was chosen to be an usher. I went from not knowing if I would ever see a game live to being able to see EVERY game and I still don’t think it has sunk in yet. Today I would like to step in for WVaBuckeye and give you my view from section 15 on the D Deck.
TBDBITL
Being the band geek that I am, of course I have to start with The Best Damn Band in the Land. The Ohio State Marching Band is almost as famous as the football team itself, and every week they come down that ramp in the North stands to a standing ovation to 105,000 of its dearest fans. And every week the Silver Bullets charge on the field through the band’s tunnel, but this year is a little different as they spell out “OHIO” in a very classy diamond formation and then the team charges through that. Read More
Lurking, Waiting to be stepped on
Midweek review of all things Buckeye and from across college sports, including thoughts on the newest in controversial rule changes.
Buckeye 411
We’re excited to welcome Janelle to tBBC family- she’ll serve as our ‘on campus’ correspondent, and starts her official tenure off with some pre-season news.
For those of you who don’t know, I recently transferred to OSU and have been taking advantage of all the free events there are here for students- including last night’s Buckeye Kickoff, a student-only event put together by the Department of Athletics and Block “O” our official student section. It was great to be back in the ‘Shoe again, and now, I really need Saturday to get here so we can see some football.
The event began with a tailgate outside the ‘Shoe by Buckeye Grove. Each of Block “O”‘s affiliates (i.e. The NutHouse, The Knucklebucks, etc.) had a table at the event, and a few thousand students gathered to see just how they can get involved in the organization and the sports it supports (or maybe it was the free food that drew them in…put an event together for college students, say you’ll have free food, and you are sure to get a crowd).
Corn?
*Side note* The free food last night was interesting to say the least. It was the debut of the “Ohio” dog (pictured), which had onions, BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, shredded cheddar, bacon, and corn on it. Honestly, when I eat a hot dog, I don’t want all sorts of crazy toppings on it, but that’s just me. I would have much rather preferred the free Cane’s chicken that was at last year’s event…and I’m actually quite annoyed it wasn’t an option (Cane’s is one of my favorites).
After the tailgate, we proceeded to go into the ‘Shoe to take our seats. The program began with a few games involving students on the field, and then, Coach Fickell and our five football captains took a few minutes to speak to us. Each captain told us what his favorite new tradition is this year and while I don’t remember all five, the following two stuck out to me. John Simon told us that his favorite tradition is the Champions’ Dinner, where after so much time, the players who have gone to every workout and achieved every goal they set for themselves get to go and have a dinner with steak, lobster, and all sorts of wonderful food while the others have to go eat hot dogs and hamburgers. Etienne Sabino got up to tell us about the concept and new tradition of “JUICE.” Now, for those of you who will be in the ‘Shoe this season for games, whenever the players make a hand motion like they’re turning the volume dial up on a stereo, get loud….in other words….”TURN UP!” Read More
After yesterday’s slate of games, the soundtrack for this episode should be pretty obvious. Onward!
Ain’t chaos beautiful? While the end result may be less than desirable, you’ve got to be amazed at the ways that each week is different, each week has the possibility for the unexpected and amazing. And this week was proof positive that the football gods have both a sense of humor AND a mischievous side.
Wait... what?
We start on Friday, with a shout out and hat tip to our BFF’s from Ames who saw their mighty Cyclones upset the #2 ranked Cowboys of T. Boone Pickens U. It was a perfect “storm” of sorts- ISU’s freshman quarterback played the game of his life, while Gundy’s squad seemed incapable of being able to hang onto the ball and put points on the board. Somehow, a team that managed to shut out Texas Tech at home couldn’t cover a basic wheel route; a Cyclone TD and a senior citizen moment from Weeden ended any hopes that Oklahoma State had at playing for the national championship… at least, so it would seem (more later).
Congrats to Coach Paul Rhodes and his staff for getting his team prepared to square off against the ‘Pokes, and for having Iowa State bowl eligible once again.
So- we had early warnings that something was astir in this week’s slate of games, but “The Oracle” was able to solidify our beliefs that it was going to be an unforgettable experience. I’ll just link to Lee Corso’s commentary, since it’s not all that family friendly; let’s remember a) he had a stroke a while back and b) he spoke the truest college preview that’s ever been spoken. Read More
