Archives for December 2010

Will any Juniors leave early for the draft?

So earlier this week Jim Tressel announced that 5 Juniors had submitted paperwork to the NFL draft advisory board to get the evaluation on their draft chances. This isn’t really anything new as it is a time honored tradition at Ohio State and every other University in the country. What was shocking was that Tressel refused to announce who those 5 players were. Speculation ran rampant in some circles that Terrelle Pryor is one of those players (I hope he did) and that Tressel may be trying to shield TP from the obvious questions for the next 2 weeks leading up to the Sugar Bowl. Thanks to El Kaiser and his broad use of Twitter we were able to find out 3 of the 5 players and one who 100% didnt send in the paper work.

Here is a list of those we know who did and the one we know who didn’t.

DID– Mike Brewster, DeVier Posey, and Boom Herron.

DID NOT– Nate Williams (He said he didn,t care what they said because he is 100% coming back next year).

So that leaves 2 juniors who did submit the paperwork but haven’t stepped up to say it was them so lets speculate. I think it was probably TP and Mike Adams. Although I also think J B Shugarts might also be a culprit.

In the end dont fret too much every year they do this to gauge where they might get drafted and what they could get better at to improve their draft status. I don’t think any of these guys would leave early or are even close to being a top 3 rounds draft choice which is where Tressel advises all his juniors to leave if they reach that level of draft chances. I think Posey is the best chance to leave no matter what his draft report says. I think if TP did submit his paperwork it wont matter I believe him the dozen times I heard him say 110% done deal he will be back for his senior year.

So I ask you fellow Buckeye fans these questions……

1.) Who do you think are the other 2 players who submitted paperwork?

2.) Of all the juniors whom do you think may leave early and where will they get drafted?

Poll Dancing: 2010’s Last Dance

(This is a guest series by MotSaG reader Jason Nafziger. He’ll be taking a weekly look at the college football polls and pointing out the absurd, the laughable and the head scratchers. Please note that Jason is not talking about the BlogPoll. Or my ballot to the BlogPoll.)

Once again, the world of college football fails to implode, and the BCS pats itself on the back for arriving at an obvious conclusion: the only two undefeated AQ teams will play for the title. The feeling that the system “got it right” is not entirely unfounded, but it does require one very large assumption: that all AQ conferences are equal. And, of course, that’s just not true.

It’s not that Oregon and Auburn are undeserving; it’s that there are other teams who are also deserving. Can anyone honestly say that the Big Ten’s three co-champions (each with just a single loss, and two of them with a loss only to one of the others) did not accomplish as much as the champions of the Pac-10 (where only 3 other teams managed more than 6 wins) or the lop-sided SEC (Auburn essentially played in a 6-team conference)?

If schedule strength is the argument against allowing undefeated TCU to play for the title, why does it suddenly become irrelevant when comparing an undefeated team to a one-loss team? Of course, that leads to the unanswerable question of how to measure schedule strength (is the Miami team we played in week 2 the same one that lost to South Florida?) and we’re back to where we started, wondering why TCU isn’t allowed to prove themselves.

It will come as no surprise what I think the answer is. To anyone who thinks that I am a knee-jerk playoff proponent, let me assure you that I have considered this topic from all sides. I used to argue on the side of the BCS (albeit that was before they inexplicably dropped the Quality Wins calculation). But I have come to realize that any system that arbitrarily denies an undefeated team a chance to play for a title is inherently anti-competitive.

The ultimate question for me becomes this: If TCU (or Boise or whoever) truly does not deserve the national title, then there is no way they would win a 16-team playoff, so why not let them try? I can’t answer it.

The Poll Dancing Hypothetical and Totally Awesome Playoff (Final):

First off, let me say that since my playoff is based on the Death To The BCS format, Dan Wetzel’s final bracket deserves a plug here. There is a little difference, since he used the BCS rankings in the place of a theoretical selection committee, while I’ve been using the AP poll. The WAC ended in a three-way tie, and I (like Wetzel) awarded the auto bid to Nevada (it’s arguable, but Hawai’i got destroyed by Boise, and Nevada beat Boise head-to-head while losing close to Hawai’i). Boise still makes it in thanks to the AP poll though, so it’s all good.

(1) Auburn vs. (16) Florida International
(2) Oregon vs. (15) Miami (OH)
(3) TCU vs. (14) UCF
(4) Wisconsin vs. (13) Connecticut
(5) Stanford vs. (12) Nevada
(6) Ohio State vs. (11) Virginia Tech
(7) Michigan St. vs. (10) Boise St.
(8) Arkansas vs. (9) Oklahoma

Whether you prefer mine or Wetzel’s (or whatever an actual selection committee would produce), it’s hard to argue that this isn’t approximately one zillion times more interesting than what we’re getting in January. Even the potential (but hardly guaranteed) second-round rematch of conference-mates Auburn and Arkansas is exciting, considering how their first meeting went.

The Breakdown (full Top 25): 24% SEC, 20% Big 12, 12% WAC, 12% Big Ten, 8% Mt. West, 8% Pac-10, 8% ACC, 4% C-USA, 4% Big East

I broke down the mid-majors by conference this time to make a point. The WAC is tied for third with the Big Ten for ranked teams. Combined, three mid-major conferences have more ranked teams than the combined Pac-10, ACC, and Big East. Yet, the undefeated Pac-10 champ is playing for the title while the undefeated Mt. West champ is not. The WAC did not even get a BCS bowl bid.

2010 Blogpoll Ballot, Week #15 (Draft)

For some reason, the Blogpoll site hates me and every Sunday when I log in to enter my weekly Blogpoll ballot, it’s a crap shoot whether I’m goint to be able to access my ballot or not. Hence my late ballots posts each week.

Not much change here, I’ve shuffled a couple teams to reflect their championship game outcomes and I replaced West Virginia with UConn as the Big East entry and Northern Illinois with Miami (OH) after the Redskins victory over the Huskies. I didn’t hear any problems from last week, so I’m guessing these cosmetic changes won’t get anyone’s dander up.

If it does, feel free to express the danderage in the comments.

Buckeyes Headed to the Sugar Bowl

Our Ohio State Buckeyes will be heading down south to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in the 2011 Sugar Bowl. (Or is it the 2010 Sugar Bowl? That always confuses me)

This will be the first time the Buckeyes face the Razorbacks. Story lines abound in this one. We’ll have more as the game approaches, but content will slow somewhat as we come out of football season. It’s time to get in some Red Dead Redemption.

My three second preview of this game: I like the Buckeye’s chances.

Week #14 – Open Thread

It’s weird and exciting to think that this time next year we’ll be gearing up for the Big Ten Championship Game. It sure would be nice to have a chance at redemption this year but we’ll get over it.

While we’re watching this week’s offering, I figured it was time for another poll. It looks pretty solid that Ohio State will be going to the Sugar Bowl, playing either Arkansas or South Carolina. Who would you rather see in the Bowl Game? Arkansas and former Wolverine Ryan Mallett? Or a chance at redemption against South Carolina and getting revenge for those Outback Bowls?

[poll id=”7″]

I believe I can fly

Some great pictures over at From the Sidelines from the Michigan Game, including DeVier Posey doing his best impersonation of The Man of Steel:

And let’s be honest. We can never have too many pictures of the Buckeyes bulldozing the Wolverines.

Poll Dancing: Week Thirteen

(This is a guest series by MotSaG reader Jason Nafziger. He’ll be taking a weekly look at the college football polls and pointing out the absurd, the laughable and the head scratchers. Please note that Jason is not talking about the BlogPoll. Or my ballot to the BlogPoll.)

Well, the BCS lucked out again with Auburn’s rally from a 24-point deficit to win the Iron Bowl by a single point. Now the Tigers will try to beat South Carolina again for the SEC title and, of course, a coveted spot in the BCS championship game. Last time, the Gamecocks held a 6-point lead going into the fourth quarter, where they proceeding to turn the ball over on all four of their drives. South Carolina is on a three-game winning streak that includes road wins over rivals Florida and Clemson.

Oregon got off to a slow start in their Black Friday game as well, trailing Arizona by 5 going into halftime before exploding for five touchdowns in the second half. Next is rival Oregon State, and a loss to the 5-6 Beavers would be a shocker. This one is going to be ugly.

And then Boise State gave the BCS the final gift of the weekend, dropping an overtime heartbreaker to Nevada and eliminating virtually all ill will unless at least one of the top two teams loses (and TCU gets passed over, which would probably happen.) That sound you hear is the evil chortle of a corrupt system getting away with it again.

The Poll Dancing Hypothetical and Totally Awesome Playoff (v. 1.4):

(1) Oregon vs. (16) Florida International
(2) Auburn vs. (15) UCF
(3) TCU vs. (14) Connecticut
(4) Wisconsin vs. (13) Northern Illinois
(5) Stanford vs. (12) Virginia Tech
(6) Ohio State vs. (11) LSU
(7) Michigan St. vs. (10) Oklahoma
(8) Arkansas vs. (9) Boise St.

Lots of movement in our much more intriguing playoff scenario in light of the Boise, LSU, and Alabama losses. The Big Ten moves three teams into the top half, UConn gets in on the party, and FIU is looking at one of the longest road trips imaginable (while NIU has one of the shortest). And, honestly, who doesn’t want to watch that Arky-Boise game?

The Breakdown (full Top 25): 24% SEC, 20% Big 12, 20% mid-major, 12% Big Ten, 12% Pac-10, 8% ACC, 4% Big East

Thanks to Nevada’s win over Boise and Northern Illinois sneaking in at #25 (plus Iowa’s inexplicable loss to Minnesota), these numbers change for what seems like the first time in a month. The Big East finally returns with West Virginia, who is essentially a placeholder for whoever the eventual conference champion is.