Archives for January 2012

Coach Meyer takes another former PSU recruit

Coach Meyer knew he had needs the day he stepped foot on campus. He could see right away that the Buckeyes were sadly lacking in enough OLmen and LBers. He has put the focus of his recruiting on landing as many OL and LBs as he can for this years class and along the way he hasn’t cared one bit about whose feelings he may hurt in trying to flip recruits. He has taken recruits from Notre Dame and Michigan St. and seems to have a real affinity to the kids at Penn St. Today he managed to do both in taking a recruit who use to be a verbal commit to Penn St.

Marc Givler of Rivals has announced thatJoey O’Connor a 6’4″ 295 lbs Offensive Lineman from Windsor, Colorado has committed to Ohio State. O’Connor is a versatile recruit that can and prob will play every position on the OL from tackle to guard to center. If his hands are good enought he may line up as a tackle eligible receiver too lol. O’Connor is an ESPN 150 recruit and a 4 star rated as the best recruit in Colorado and the 15th best OT in this years recruiting class. His strength and speed are a plus and he is a beast at run blocking with a true nasty streak. He will do fine in pass blocking but does need to improve his hand placement to avoid too many holds. He will be a beast at Ohio State and will add to the hatred that PSU fans have for Urban Meyer and OSU right now.

Three OSU FB players released from the school

As much good news as we have had lately and with the Buckeye mens team doing so well today it was bound to be saddened sooner or later. Jeremy Cash a sophomore to be at OSU who played on special teams this past season has asked for and been given his release. Dominick Clarke arrested this past week for OVI after having been arrested a few months back was also released due to his criminal charges and lack of judgment. Derjuan Gambrell a RS Freshman was charged with assaulting his girlfriend and holding against her will. All 3 players careers at OSU are over and that is a sad thing but Coach Meyer seems to be running a zero tolerance policy right now and is trying to rid the team of troubled players.

On a side note it also appears OSU has lost CB coach Taver Johnson to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Johnson was expected to remain on Urbans staff but Paul Haynes was recently named the Arky DC and has used his connections to lure away Taver.

Urban lands Taylor Decker

Today may be a huge day for OSU hoops and OSU lady hoops and OSU Mens Hockey but Urban Meyer has been stealing their thunder all day. He was a guest on the CBS broadcast booth for part of the Bball game and then at halftime was introduced to the crowd and then he introduced his family and coaching staff. All this on the heels of hosting a huge recruiting weekend.

Well it seems the first recruit to drop for Meyer from this weekends visits is former Notre Dame recruit Taylor Decker. The 6’8″ 310 pound OT from Vandalia, Ohio is listed as a 4 star by both Scouts and Rivals. Scouts has him as the 14th best OT in the country and notes the positives in him as Aggressiveness and Tenacity as well as Flexibility and Size. He will need to work on his strength and power but that will be east to do under OSUs new S&C coaches and the weight room. Decker will fill a need for OSU since they are dearly lacking in true OTs.

Indiana Live In Game Chat

This means WAR!

Final updated coaching staff hires

Since being hired nearly a month ago I believe no less then the amount of people in India and China combined have been rumored to be joining the staff of Urban Meyer. From the stupidly insane Kirk Herbstreit to the awesomely delightful Chris Spielman. In the mean time about half the asst. coaches around the country turned rumors of interest by Meyer into huge pay raises and contract extensions at their current jobs. We here at Motsag hate the guessing game or rumor mongering so we will only update the coaches once OSU makes them official. So here is the list so far of coaches who are 100% hired and on the staff.

Tom Herman – Offensive Coordinator and QB coach. Herman is a young coach who has studied and used the spread offense to improve the offenses at Rice and Iowa St. He is a member of MENSA and seems to fit the role of a guy who has tons of energy and will recruit hard in Texas and the Great Plains.

Everett Withers – Co-Defensive Coordinator and Asst. head Coach. Withers is a defensive guru with experince coaching DBs in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans and did coach former Buckeye Donnie Nickey. He he is young and will recruit hard the Mid-Atlantic area like Washington DC and Virginia and Maryland and New Jersey.

Luke Fickell – Defensive Coordinator and Asst. Head Coach (as best as we can tell). Everyone knows who Fickell is and what he brings to the staff. Meyer said Fickell will call all defensive plays in the games. He will likely be our Lead Recruiter too and is well known as one of the best recruiters in the country.

Stan Drayton – Running Back Coach. Drayton was hired last year from Florida where he worked under Coach Meyer. He was hired here as the WR coach but was traditionally the RB coach before coming here. He moved back to his traditional job starting in January. Drayton will recruit the Florida and Georgia and South East like a mad man with tons of ties and relationships down there from his time at Florida.

Mike Vrabel – Linebackers Coach. The guy is Ohio State. After playing 14 years in the NFL he came home to his alma mater Ohio State to help his BFF Fickell and was retained by Coach Meyer today. He will recruit the North East and Ohio and will use the strategy look at my handful of Super Bowl Rings.

Taver Johnson – Cornerbacks Coach. Taver is also being retained from the Tressel era. He has been at OSU for 4 years and has ties to the Cincinnati area for recruiting.

**UPDATE** Zach Smith – Wide Receivers Coach. Zach Smith was the WR coach at Temple and Marshall and 5 years under Coach Meyer. he is the Grandson of Former OSU HC Earle Bruce. He will handle recruiting in PA and WV and MD as well as help in Florida.

UPDATE UPDATE Tim Hinton – Tight Ends and Full Backs as well as Recruiting Coordinator. Hinton has ties to Ohio and Ohio State. He is from Ohio and coached for years at the HS level before going to UC as an Asst. Coach he also was a Grad Asst at OSU the same time as Urban Meyer. He will play a huge part in getting the TEs and FBs involved in the passing game. As recruiting Coordinator he will be the go to guy for all areas of the country.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE Ed Warinner – Offensive Line and Co-Offensive Coordinator. Warinner is a career OL coach with success at every stop along the way. He will no doubt be a large improvement over the previous OL coach. As CO-OC he will be in charge of the running game. He has ties to Ohio and will handle the Cincinnati area for recruiting.

Mickey Marotti – Strength and Conditioning. Mickey is considered one of the best S&C coaches in the country and a master motivator. He is also one of Coach Meyers most trusted friends.

Brian Voltolini – Director of Football Operations. Voltolini will be responsible for the operation of the football program’s budget, scholarships, team travel, housing, camps and clinics. Pantoni will supervise all aspects of the program’s administrative duties for recruiting, including on-campus official and unofficial visits, budgeting, travel and database management. Basically the do it all and get no recognition guy.

Mark Pantoni – Director of Player Personnel. Pantoni will be in charge of everything recruiting related. He is a recruiting guru and will implement some awesome exciting events to lure kids to campus and sell the program. He will be the contact guy for anyone wanting to visit OSU and could be the most important hire so far for Meyer.

Ohio State is limited to 10 actual coaches the last 3 listed above aren’t considered coaches but are part of his non coaching staff. With Coach Meyer and all 10 asst coaches already named the staff is complete. Coach Meyer has named himself the STs coach. One thing is very evident with each confirmed hire it is obvious that Coach Meyer is hiring smart and young coaches with specific ties to certain geographical areas of the country for recruiting purposes.

FraudWatch Finale

There comes a point in every college football season when you have to sit back, take a look at all the undefeated teams and ask yourself which ones are faking it, coasting through their early season on a wave of bad opponents and lucky wins.  For me, that point comes exactly at Week 5, when the field of unbeatens is usually whittled down to just over a handful.

In 2011, college football’s Year of Stupid, it should come as no surprise that with a third of the season already in the books, fifteen teams had still yet to lose, and that of those fifteen, exactly zero would finish the year unblemished.  It’s time now to take a final look at this year’s FraudWatch, an experiment in separating the contenders from the pretenders.

A quick refresher: I have defined a “fraud team” as one who makes it to Week 5 undefeated (and with at least four wins), yet ends the season with five or more losses (including all post-season games).  I look mostly at the two things mentioned above: opponents’ overall record and margin of victory.  Lots of bad opponents or close games usually indicates a fraud team.

I also added a couple of extra categories for teams that only showed some of the signs of fraudulence and predicted those teams to finish with anywhere from 1-4 losses.  I also declared all other teams “safe,” and guessed that none of them would lose more than 2 games.

The overall results were pretty good.  Of the two teams I identified as most fraudy, one (Texas Tech) achieved just that, somehow managing to lose 7 games.  The other, Kansas State, had a little better of a year than expected, losing only 3 games.

The next group (pegged at 3 or 4 losses) was the real eye-opener.  Both Illinois and Georgia Tech (my #3 and #4 teams) finished with 5 or more losses.  The other team in this group, Oklahoma State, became the only fraud-ranked team that should have been left off the list, losing just once all year.  Had these teams been included with the top two, I would have gotten 3 out of 5 correct, which isn’t too shabby.  Next year, I will not be so generous.

Of the three teams in the 1-3 losses group (‘Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin), two (OU, Wisky) were properly placed with 3 losses on the year, while Texas overunderachieved, dropping five games, meaning that 4 of my top 6 ended up being actual frauds.

Only one of the seven “safe” teams, Clemson, turned in a season with more than two losses.  And this points to the primary success of FraudWatch, accurately separating the contenders and pretenders with only a couple of missteps.

Changes to the system next year will most likely be merely aesthetic.  I’ll drop one of the categories and split teams into Frauds (5+ losses), Pretenders (2-4 losses), and Contenders (0-2 losses).  These groups will be divided relatively evenly based on how many total unbeatens there are.  If there is any unbalance, the Frauds and Contenders groups will be the heaviest, because that’s more fun.

Iowa Live In Game Chat

The Light…

…at the end of the tunnel.

His name is Urban Meyer and he will be responsible for putting to bed on of the darkest periods in OSU football history. The last time Ohio State’s football team lost 7 games the state capitol of Pennsylvania was destroyed in a fire. The Klondike gold rush began, and Grant’s Tomb was officially dedicated. This year was officially BS.

The 2011-2012 season is officially over thank the lord. It was a fitting end to a dismal season. Special team let downs and let downs by key seniors highlighted a sloppily played game by OSU’s offense and special team.

Ohio State’s defense played well limiting the Gators to 263 yards total offense and actually out-gained the Gators. Andre Debose took a kickoff following a Braxton Miller touchdown to Devier Posey 99 yards completely untouched. OSU tacked on a late first half field goal after Miller overthrew a wide open Posey in the end zone. In the 2nd half the Buckeye special teams let down was continued as Florida blocked a punt and ran it back 14 yards for a touchdown.

Posey and Herron had 2 fumbles combined and J.B. Shugarts and at least 2 false start penalties that I know of before I forced myself to zone out and start making fun of Penn State. We also had Jim Bollman going out with a band and running play action on 3rd and longs multiple times. Can ANYONE tell me why ANY offensive coordinator runs play action on 3rd and long? Who on Earth are you trying to fool? End rant.

So yeah…the game was tough to watch…

Moving forward…

Jim Bollman is gone.

Urban Meyer and a great coaching staff are in.

The future looks bright…or certainly brighter than it’s been in the past year.

Gator Bowl Live In Game Chat

Florida vs. Ohio State Preview

Call it what you want:

The .500 bowl
The Gene Smith is a Retard Bowl
The Mediocrity Bowl
The Please Just End the Season Bowl

The Sponsors call it the TAXSLAYER.com Gator Bowl. I like mine better.

4 Years ago these two teams played a meaningful game, we all know how that one ended. By the way…who coached Florida in that game again? Come January 2nd the Florida Gators and the Ohio State Buckeyes will play a meaningless exhibition game in Florida’s backyard. This is just one of 33 completely meaningless bowl games. There is only one bowl game that matters and even that could be disputed, thanks to the moronic goat rodeo known as the BCS (enter circus music here).

Or…on second thought is the Gator Bowl meaningless for the Buckeyes?

Even though the game itself is meaningless, playing it has given OSU 15 extra practices. Not only does this allow a very young team to gain added experience, it also allows new coach Urban Meyer the ability to see what hand he has been dealt. Meyer will be able to observe players like true freshman Braxton Miller among others and find out their strengths and weaknesses.

But for players like Braxton Miller and his stable of young and inexperienced wide receivers this extra practice time is crucial. Miller with Devin Smith, Evan Spencer and Corey Brown will lead this Buckeye offense into the future and they all need the reps. It was the practice time Terrelle Pryor had prior to the Rose Bowl that turned Pryor into a more consistent passer.

The game itself can also give OSU another much-needed victory vs. another annoying SEC team. The thought of yet another game filled with SEC…SEC…SEC chants is enough to make me want to puke.

Florida will be without Jabba The Weiss who took the head coaching job at Kansas…terms of his contract were leaked and he will get unlimited pork rind burritos, bacon donuts, bacon, steak bacon, bacon with steak on it, chocolate sauce, more bacon, diabetes medication, jelly beans, girl scout cookies, little debbie cakes, and barrels of Cornish game hens with unlimited BBQ sauce.

Though I don’t believe Weiss will be missed. His offense was ranked 71st in the nation and it was loaded with players at the skill position. A couple of those players that Ohio State does need to key on are Florida running backs Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps. Rainey may be the fastest player in college football as he runs a sub 4.3 40 yard dash…that is if it wasn’t for Jeff Demps who reportedly ran a sub 4.2 40 yard dash. The bottom line…they are both REALLY fast and could be game breakers for Florida.

Florida’s QB is John Brantley, a steady as she goes no frills pocket passer that will pick a defense apart if given time. Ohio State has not had great success getting pressure on opposing QB’s and rank 67th in sacks nationally. Offensively and defensively these teams are statistically very similar. Florida can’t quite get to the QB either as they are ranked 73rd, which is good news for Braxton Miller.

Ohio State offensively will continue what they started during the Michigan game. We will see a lot of Braxton Miller lining up in the pistol using a more wide open offense. This will be or should be an improved version of what we saw against the skunk kittens. Michigan’s defense was a top 7 defense in the country and Ohio State put up 34 points and should have been more.

Here is what we can expect:

Also look for a steady dose of Boom Herron was named the team MVP by his peers. Herron will get the bulk of the carries from the tailback spot but make no mistake this is Braxton Millers show, you know it, I know it so you better bet that Florida knows it and will key of the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

My keys to the game:

1. The OSU defense needs to get back to a bend don’t break defense. They have had far too many let downs on defense that lead to big plays in just about every single game. I can’t remember the last time an OSU defense gave up so many big plays game after game after game.

2. The OSU defense MUST get pressure on Brantley…if they do not…it will be a long day for the OSU defense. Denard Robinson looked like Aaron Rogers vs. OSU because they got no pressure on the fleet-footed QB.

3. Key on Demps and Rainey. Both are dangerous in the open field and could break off some BIG gainers that could be back-breaking to OSU’s defense.

4. Let Braxton be Braxton…he had over 300 yards of total offense vs. a good Michigan defense and SHOULD have had more on some over thrown passes.

Prediction:

Ohio State 27
Florida 17