We’re one week away from National Letter Of Intent Day, and the excitement (and chaos) is building.  We’ll talk a bit this week about the idea of “verbals” and visits, but let’s dig through the news bucket a bit first, shall we? Oh, and Mark Titus’ favorite band brings us our musical inspiration for the morning. Happy Wednesday.

Buckeye 411

• Taking My Talents To… Tuesday night, we got another great shot of Buckeye alum Greg Oden, just as rumors were swirling about his work to rejoin an NBA franchise. In what might seem to be the most ironic choice of programs, speculation is that his return could either be with the Cavaliers or the Miami Heat… although, I’m sure he’ll be a lot more professional about how he makes that announcement. Either way, Ohio State fans will be excited to see him back in action, and we wish him nothing but the best.
• As The Recruiting World Turns- Ohio State picked up a great wide receiver on Tuesday, but the recruiting cycle is far from over. We’re hearing positive things from Trey Johnson’s coach, but haven’t heard anything specific from him.  Ezekiel Elliott seems to be back on board as well, but has stated that he’s not willing to do interviews until a week from today, and announced on Tuesday that he would make his announcement at 3:00 PM at his school. Could this mean that he wants time to see what else happens with the OSU recruiting process before making his decision? Again, those who know feel confident that he will still be in the scarlet and gray, but that’s what makes this whole time of year so interesting, isn’t it?
• RE: Cruiting, Part Deux- The two “big names” that are still out there are Vonn Bell and Dontre Wilson; the former seems to be torn between the hometown Vols, Alabama, and the relationships that he has made with Ohio State’s coaches and possible teammates.  Bell has a visit from Coach Withers on Thursday; he’ll then shut down his recruiting and make a decision some time this weekend.  Wilson, the current Oregon commitment, had a great visit in Columbus last week by all accounts, but it was announced today that he would be visiting his home school with a trip to Austin this weekend. Given that the Longhorns recruited the last two Heisman Trophy winners and tried to make them play defensive back, it’s hard to see an offensive threat like Wilson in Austin, particularly given that the offense Texas runs has little similarity to the Ducks or what Urban Meyer is building.

Commentary- Commitment Read More

Tags: Alabama, Dontre Wilson, Ezekiel Elliott, Greg Oden, Manti Te'o, Michigan, Oversigning, Penn State, SBP, Trey Johnson, Virginia, Vonn Bell, Western Michigan
Categories: College Football, Conference Expansion, Humor, Michigan Football, NCAA Investigations, Ohio State Football

This week’s soundtrack is colorful, but has a bit of a different taste to it: trust me, it makes total sense in the grand scheme of things.  Enjoy… language warning.

There’s no denying it… one group of conference-mates had an incredibly difficult Saturday.

Positioned for excellence, and featured in a number of nationally significant matchups, the on the field results just did not help dissuade the critics who argue that they have lost their prestige, and are rightfully scorned by college fans across the country. Once seen as powerful contenders for titles, it seems as if the results on Saturday have shown that the game may have passed them by.

Yup, it was a terrible day for the Big 12 expats.  Who did you think I was talking about?

Texas A&M, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska all dropped matches on Saturday, with two of these being significant “upsets” in terms of rankings and so forth.  The Aggies, after a week full of bravado regarding their new allegiance to the “we can spell three letter words” conference, saw the early lead against Florida disappear in the waning moments of the game, and couldn’t count on Kyle Field to help carry the day. You’ve got to wonder if the different understanding of the word “cheerleader” might have had something to do with it. Ah well, you know they’ll just say that they won later… it’s the SEC way.

Mustard? Really?

Missouri also opened SEC play by welcoming Georgia to play between the… uh… rocks in Columbia. The Bulldawgs emerged victorious, but you’re right in realizing that Mizzou is excited to be in a new home. There were too many Longhorns in the last one, and the B1G never returned their phone calls, so you can’t blame them for being OK with a loss in their prestigious opener.  So excited about the new opportunities were they, that they broke out their new school clothes… or someone else’s old school clothes from when they were in the Arena League. As goofy as they looked, though, they didn’t win our “awkward haberdashery of the week award”… more later.

Ah, CoLOLorado… See, here’s how it works.  You schedule a FCS opponent in the pre-season, you get them at home, you beat them and build up your alumni/student confidence in your program = profit.  But, the Buffs are constricted by no man’s social norms, and instead chose to allow the mighty Hornets of Sacramento State to kick a field goal with time expiring and upset the Buffs in Boulder.  I’m sure the fans will have to find some way to console their grief.

Which brings us to Nebraska. Read More

Tags: Appalachian State, Arkansas, Bret Bielema, Colorado, Denard Robinson, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, John L Smith, Lane Kiffin, Missouri, Nebraska, Nerdwestern, Notre Dame, PAC12, Penn State, Purdue, Rich Rodriguez, Southern Cal, Taylor Martinez, TBPU, Texas A&M, TWTW, UCLA, Virginia, Wisconsin
Categories: College Football, Humor

As we get closer and closer to kickoff, we’ll be looking across the nation at other (read “inferior”) conferences. This way, you’ll have just enough information to argue with that guy in accounting. Today we take a look at the Atlantic Coast Conference- nope, FSU and Clemson haven’t left yet.

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

It’s not that the ACC hasn’t been able to compete on a national stage over the years or the fact that they don’t get ranked teams. They haven’t been able to finish at the end of the season. The only BCS National Champion they’ve produced is Florida State in 2000 as they beat a then Big East Virginia Tech. As a conference, the ACC is 2-13 overall in BCS bowls they have participated in and 1-2 in the Title game. They double dipped in the BCS last year and everyone knows how both of those turned out.

Who’s the best team in the conference? Who will play for in the conference title game (if there is one)?

Clemson has the best talent in the conference with several players returning on the defense that didn’t show up for their bowl game against WVU last season-  They are a team on a mission and the offensive firepower to do it. The conference race will take care of itself more or less as FSU plays at VTU late in the season, Clemson will play at FSU, and VTU has to go to Death Valley. It could boil down to the home team winning out and there not being a clear-cut champion and either Clemson or FSU will play VTU in the ACC Championship game.

I am of the belief that Clemson will hold pat on the road at FSU and finish the season undefeated and take on the Hokies. This isn’t a surprise as Virginia Tech has played in five of the seven conference title games winning three of them and losing last years’ to Clemson.

Who are the worst teams in the conference? Read More

Tags: ACC, Boston College, Clemson, David Amerson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Million Dollar Baby, NC State, North Carolina, Randy Edsall, Sammy Watkins, UCONN and Rutgers move to ACC?, University of Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forrest
Categories: Analysis, College Football