Toledo (9-3, 6-2 MAC) vs. Utah State (10-2, 6-0 WAC)

December 15, 2012 4:00 PM ET ESPN

The History: Hey! It’s the third sponsor in four years! That’s a tradition that must be preserved… It’s probably a message that the “Gifts” include a black winter coat and pair of gloves- reminds me of my favorite edition of this thing- It ain’t south Florida, fellas- pray for global warming.

Toledo Scouting Report- The Rockets opened their season with an overtime loss to one of this morning’s competitors, the Arizona Wildcats, but didn’t see another loss until they fell to Ball State in week 10, which includes an upset of the University of Chick-Fil-A. Terrance Owens has thrown for over 2600 yards, and both Benard … [Read More]

Whew… I’ve got to admit, I should have been working out with Coach Mick during the offseason. Saturday found me trying to knock the rust off of my college football regimen, although I can definitely say that I was well hydrated.  I’m guessing that’s what happened during the livechat- I hadn’t prepared enough, and brought the jinxation.  You can breathe a sigh of relief, though- when I caught the replay on Sunday, my presence made no difference in the outcome…  Baby steps, right?

From the looks of things, a number of teams … [Read More]

Buckeye 411

• We Talkin’ About Practice- Today’s event was open to the press, and was a bit less spirited than last week’s affair. Afterward, Coach Meyer said that this was pretty typical, given how hard the team had been working. Highlights included John Simon being John Simon, Jordan Hall making plays in space, Sabino doing a great job bringing pressure, and some standout opportunities from some of the younger Bucks, including a couple of great plays from new DL Chris Carter and Connor Crowell. We also are hearing solid things about Michael Bennett… Bennett, Hankins, Simon are going to be in a lot of offensive coordinators’ nightmares, methinks.
• Injury Update-  Lots of dings and nicks today: Shazier and C. Jones were out
… [Read More]

The Basics: Wednesday, December 28th, 2011, 4:30 PM EST on ESPN, from Washington D.C. Toledo (8-4, 7-1 MAC) and Air Force (7-5, 3-4 MWC).

History: This is the second year that Northrop Grumman, a big military contractor, has sponsored this game. Not surprisingly we’ve already covered the history of this game in detail.

Toledo: The Rockets are a strong running team this year, ranking 14th in rushing behind Adonis Thomas’ 963 yards. They’re also a scoring machine, picking up 11 touchdowns from each of their top rushers, and 15 from each of their quarterbacks. This could have been an even better year for the Rockets if their defense had been a little more stiff.

Air Force: While Toledo is a strong running team, Air Force … [Read More]

The big game of the week, according to the folks at the four letter network, was Saturday Night’s matchup between LSU and West By God Virginia. When the smoke had cleared (not from burning couches, ironically), all we knew was how good the Tigers are, particularly on defense.  That’s not a commentary on their O- it’s great to see Princeton HS star Spencer Ware excel- but the fact of the matter is that the LSU defense is the best in college football.  In today’s poll has Les Miles’ team at the top, and given their victories over ranked teams (Oregon, Mississippi State, WVa), I can’t say that I disagree.  You want to … [Read More]

Following a win over Akron that left many giddy with anticipation for the rest of the season, Saturday’s 27-22 victory over Toledo brought expectations crashing back down to earth for Buckeye fans.

Are the Buckeyes the juggernauts we saw in week one? Are they the lackluster group we saw in week two?

How terrible is Akron? How good is Toledo?

The good news is that over the course of a season, a young team like the Buckeyes can improve from one week to the next.

This team may need to improve more than we would like this week, but they are certainly capable of it.

Is the team better than what they showed? Were they looking ahead? Were they overconfident?

And, of course, the question on everyone’s mind, why didn’t Braxton Miller play?

Unfortunately, these questions are impossible to answer after only two games.

It will take the rest of … [Read More]

Malibuckeye

- More of the same. I certainly don’t think we can qualify the entire game as “more of the same” as Akron.  That first drive was a thing of beauty, but the rest of the game was a fight the whole way.

- New wrinkles. Nothing particularly new here, nope.

- Ebner Touchdown. Would it be too much to ask?  For this game, apparently so.

- No False Starts. Shugarts took care of this one, and not in the good way.

Joe L.

- Continued QB play like the we saw this past Saturday.  Miller never … [Read More]

All this and more on this week’s Postgame Show!

Don’t forget: you can subscribe to The Buckeye Battle Cry Radio Hour on iTunes!

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