Archives for November 2012

The season is coming to a close for more and more members of the 2013 class. Once all the guys are done completely I will add a season wrap up post with all their stats. Until then some of the players are still playing and working their way towards championships.

Jalin Marshall– Jalin Marshalls season is over.
Eli Woodard– His team Eastern suffered a 19-18 loss to Lanape. A tough loss for Eli and his team.
Cam Burrows– His team Trotwood-Madison beat Mount Healthy 48-0. Cam had a fumble recovery.
Joey Bosa– His team St. Thomas Aquinas beat Cooper City 53-0. Joey had 6 tackles and 2 sacks.
Marcus Baugh– His team John W North enjoyed a 28-6 win over Arlington. Marcus had 3 catches for 63 yards and an INT on defense.
Evan Lisle– Evan Lisles season is complete
Ezekiel Elliott– His team John Burroughs HS enjoyed a 56-13 win over John F. Kennedy. Zeke had 13 carries for 119 yards and 5 total TDs.
Billy Price– His team Austintown Fitch suffered a 35-26 to St. Ignatius. Ending his teams season.
Jayme Thompson– His team Toledo Central Catholic beat Midview 50-7. he helped advance his team to the next round of the playoff.
J T Barrett- His team Rider beat Denton 40-7. Unfortunately JT is out for the season with a knee injury.
Michael Hill– His team Pendleton beat Prosperity Mid-America 9-6. His season is over due to a hand injury.
Taivon Jacobs– His team Suitland enjoyed a 49-7 win over Eleanor Roosevelt. Taivon had 3 catches for 74 yards and a TD.
Darron Lee– His team New Albany enjoyed a 25-6 victory over Beechcroft. No stats were available.
Tracy Sprinkle– Tracy Sprinkles season is over.
Tim Gardner– His team Lawrence Central enjoyed a 21-7 win over North Central. Tim helped his team make the Regional Championships.
Johnny Townsend– His team Boone enjoyed a 35-7 win over Cypress Creek. Johnny had a muffed punt recovery and an INT and 5 tackles.
Tyquan Lewis– His team Tarboro HS enjoyed a 53-13 win over Beddingfield. Tyquan had 4 tackles and 1 TFL.

Ezekiel Elliott continues to show Buckeye Nation why Urban Meyer and his staff choose him over more highly touted RBs. The guy is just flat out a baller. He has speed like we have prob never seen from a RB and elusiveness that will fits the system Coach Meyer is implementing. If he lives up to the hype that he is producing with his game play he could be something very special for years to come at OSU.

Braxton Miller and crew picked up right where they left off this afternoon, grinding and throwing their way to a perfect 10-0 record, beating Illinois soundly and unequivocally, 52-22.

The defense once again came to play, limiting the admittedly anemic Illinois offense to a paltry 170 yards. The Illini couldn’t get anything going on the ground or through the air. Nathan Scheelhaase was pestered all game long by Simon and Williams and the defense stonewalled whatever rushing attack Illinois tried to mount.

The linebacking corps also came to play, with Shazier and Boren keeping Scheelhaasein in front of them and containing Donovonn Young and the Illinois ground game.

Braxton definitely “went back to quarterbacking school” after the Penn State game. His passes looked much crisper and his pass to Rod Smith on his 50 yard wheel route was a thing of beauty. He also is clearly developing a rapport with Nick Vannett. Braxton also pitched in with 73 yards on the ground and a TD run to top of another impressive performance.

For his part, Carlos Hyde put together another strong effort, carrying the ball 18 times for 137 yards and three touchdowns.

At this point, the Ohio State ground game is a known quantity. They’re going to grind out yards on the ground and get them in bunches at times. The passing game is still nascent, but is showing signs of development.

All was not perfect, of course. Special teams coverage left something to be desired and personal fouls kept drives alive longer than they should have. Fumbles can be costly. But we’ll let the coaches worry about that and just enjoy another dominating performance.

Ohio State: 52
Illinois: 22

Save The Turtle!!

Everybody outside of Columbus thinks that they know how this will go down.  However, the Fightin’ Zook’s…errr…Beckman’s will undoubtedly rise to the occasion and play its best game of the season against Ohio State.  This is how it works when Illinois and Ohio State play.  It is like a college football bizarro world.   Like Danny Hope snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and still clapping like a boss.

I think most of us Buckeye fans know how this one is going to turn out.  It will be gut-wrenching.  It will be ugly (It would be uglier if it were in Memorial Stadium), but OSU will find a way to pull this out and maybe get an insurance touchdown mid-way through the fourth quarter.

Anyone that tells you this will be an easy game…they just don’t know B1G football.

Previewin’

I would give all kinds of grief to the Illini fanbase, but they have enough problems.  Its football team is horrible, and they don’t even have a good basketball team to look forward to in the wintertime.  I’d think that there is a contingent of Illini fans that would like get Zook back at this rate, which is basically say that a kick in the balls (Zook) is better than an “honest to goodness” punch in the face (Beckman).

Beckman will get the Illini back on track.  It will take some time.  Illini fans…look at Toledo this year…that will be you in about 2 years.  Godspeed.

When Illinois has the ball

Scheelhaase.  He is the Illinois offense, which isn’t saying much for 2012.  The Illinois offense is terrible this year for whatever reason (UFM says it is the young wide receiver corps, so I’ll believe him.).  It ranks 103^rd in yard passing per game (184.9 y/g) and isn’t much better at running the ball gaining only 132.5 y/g, which is 91^st in the FBS.  Scheelhaase was more productive the last two years and has more interceptions (5) than touchdowns (4).  For as good as Scheelhaase has been the last two years, this has to be a disappointment to Illinois fans.  More of a disappointment than living in Illinois (and don’t tell me you live Chicago…Bloomington-Normal isn’t a freakin’ Chicago suburb).  The running game is non-existent.  I don’t see how Illinois is going to be able to move the ball on the OSU Defense, but this game is for the Illi-Buck so expect the unexpected.  Hankins and Co. on the D-line should have a field day if they decide to try and run, since the there is no way that OSU would play 10-yards off the Illini WRs right?

When OSU has the ball

Illinois is giving up 30 points per game.  In the last five games, the minimum amount of points given up was 31 points to offensively-challenged Wisconsin.  That defense made Michigan and Derpnard look like Oregon.  Lots of Shoelaces spoon-feeding on offense…and a lot of ole’ defense.  The Illinois defense has a couple of decent players that can cause problems like Akeem Spence and rush end Michael Buchanan, but this wont be enough to keep OSU from scoring points.

Prediction
Barring any terrible B1G reffing (I’m looking at you Illinois 2007),  OSU starts slow (AGAIN) and falls behind early giving Illinois that glimmer of hope that will last until the 3^rd quarter.  Miller and Hyde get their rushing yards and the Buckeyes grind out another win.

OSU 37-13

How you feel?

As always, presented without comment.

Stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.