Archives for August 2013

Buckeyes Dominate Early, Finish Off Buffalo 40-20 (Instant Reaction)

osuHelmetWith the first game of the season, you have to assume there will be jitters, mistakes and things are going to go sideways. This game was never in doubt but as with any first game of the season, it made manifest some of the issues that Buckeyes will have to work on as the season progresses.

At first, it looked looked like the Buckeyes might score an hundred points. After a couple runs by Jordan Hall, Miller’s pass out of the no-huddle offense struck for 47 yards from Braxton to Devin Smith.

The next series, Dontre Wilson made an appearance and was one ankle tackle away from breaking off a huge gain. His speed and ability to read blocks is very unfreshman-like. He is going to be special.

The Buckeyes would score two more times on a pass to Chris Fields and a 49 yard scamper up the middle by Jordan Hall. Things looked well in hand.

Going for two after the first two scores was, to me at least, a sign that Urban Meyer wasn’t fooling around. The QB sneak with Guiton and the pass to Hall were straight out of Urban’s High School playbook.

After going up easily 23-0, you have to give Buffalo credit for taking advantage of some Buckeye mistakes. The would make things interesting for a few minutes but The Buckeyes would prove to be too much to handle.

Ohio State 40
Buffalo 20

A few thoughts from the game:

ESPN was is mid-season form with their awful production, missing entire plays and horrible tight shots right before plays started. I thought I was watching BTN.

What a luxury it is that Kenny Guiton is on the sideline. After the inevitable cramps (you knew they were coming) beset Braxton, Kenny came in and calmly drove the Buckeyes down for a score at a point it looked like the Buffalo Bulls were going to make things a little too close for comfort.

Seeing Shazier being carted off was not a fun sight.

The fact that Warren Ball only saw the field a few times and Bri’onte Dunn was a non-factor is very telling. Wilson clearly is ready to contribute and even though Ezekiel Elliot wasn’t given as many chances, it looks like he’ll contribute as well. Dunn looks to be the odd man out.

The defense has work to do, but not having Roby to lock down Buffalo’s Nuetz did force the Buckeyes to play Reeves off him and the Bulls took advantage. The D line looked fine and Grant looks like he has improved his aggressiveness and should also be fine. With Shazier limited, Roby out and Barnett hurt, it’s really hard to get a true read on the defense. We’ll see how they look next week.

Finally, there was an Aussie punter sighting! He doesn’t leave his feet and he’s still booming punts. Too bad he isn’t going to be used too much this year. It’s a shame to see that leg go under utilized.

What did you think?

Buffalo Live In Game Chat

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Happy Game Day From Motsag!!!

osu

Three Yards and a Cloud of Links

Good morning Buckeye Nation. Bet you don’t know what today is!! That’s right its opening season for the Buckeye men and women’s cross country teams and women’s field hockey. So sit back and relax and enjoy our wall to wall coverage and break down of these sports.

Seriously I know these other sports don’t get the attention like football and basketball but they are important to a lot of folks especially to the ones out there working so hard on something they have such passion for and few recognize their sports. I do Three Yards to bring this information to you and to recognize all of Buckeye Nation sports because everyone who wears Scarlet and Gray is awesome.

Opener Falls Short: Buckeyes men’s soccer team opened their season last night and fell to UNC Wilmington 2-1 in double overtime. Senior Sage Gardner had the lone Buckeye goal.

“I am really proud of the way the team played tonight,” John Bluem, Ohio State head coach, said. “I thought they put in a great effort and the turning point really did not come until the red card late in regulation. Credit has to be given to UNCW though and their forward Colin Bonner; he had two good chances and finished both of them.”

The Buckeye soccer team gets back on the field Sunday taking on a Northern Illinois team that beat Cincinnati 3-0 yesterday.

“I know our guys will regroup and come out strong Sunday,” Bluem said. “Northern Illinois played very well against Cincinnati and the players know they need to move on from tonight and be prepared for the next match.”

Sweep: Ohio States women’ volleyball team took out Liberty last night in their season opener. The 23rd ranked Buckeyes won the three sets 25-22,25-22,26-24.
Senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Leary tied a career high 21 kills and had 8 digs while junior outside hitter Erin Sekinger had career high 15 kills and junior Taylor Sherwin had 40 assists.
Ohio State returns to action Saturday with a 1pm match vs. Green Bay in DeKalb, Ill. The Buckeyes close out the NIU Invitational Saturday night, facing host Northern Illinois at 8pm

Opening Day: As I said earlier the Buckeye field hockey team opens its season today, its 43rd. They will be taking part in the Conference Cup hosted by Temple in Philadelphia, PA. The Buckeyes take on Temple today at 2:30 and then finish the tournament tomorrow vs #2 Maryland or #20 UNH.

Get Your Tickets: Ohio State ice hockey single season tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10am. The Buckeyes will have 22 home games during this inaugural Big Ten hockey season.

To get you in the mood: OK not like you really need to get in the mood for the football opener versus Buffalo today but I will leave you with some videos to enjoy.

Buckeyes Tradition video.

Bringing the “Juice”

All we do is win!!

This you can NEVER get tired of

Buckeye Radio Network: Seen some folks on twitter and talked to some people who want to know where to here the game today. Here is the link for the Buckeye Radio Network

Good luck to all wearing the Scarlet and Gray today and everday. Until next time Buckeye Nation…

Friday Open Thread: Buffalo

osuHelmetIt’s almost here: we are less than twenty-four hours from kick-off in the beloved ‘Shoe. Yours and my 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes will begin their pursuit of a National Championship begins NOW.

On Fridays during the season, we will be holding these “Open Threads” where we’d love to hear your thoughts. We want to hear your prediction for the final outcome, which players you’ll be watching, what kind of things you’d like to see. We want to foster a community discussion about the up coming game and hear from you, our readers, and what you’re thinking about

We had a chance to chat with another fellow college football blogger at UB Bull Run, Ronnie looked at which players would be the most interesting to watch, Chip listed some things he’ll be interested in seeing during the game and lastly, we previewed the game. Jeremiah thinks we win 52-6. What do you think?

So hit the jump, watch that excellent Leadership video Ohio State Football put out, tell us your thoughts on the game, AND GO BUCKS!

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MotSaG Chat with Malik Jefferson

5star_recruit_iconThe Ohio State University is known as having some of the best linebackers in the country year in and year out. We have a huge hole to fill at linebacker and Urban is targeting a very talent linebacker named Malik Jefferson. Jefferson is by all accounts one of the top if not the best linebacker in the country. I had a chance to chat with the 6″3 215lb lb from Mesquite, Texas. Jefferson runs a 4.5 40 yard dash and is continuing to grow and has a chance to be a special player who could wind up in Columbus.

malik

Q: When did Ohio State first make contact with you and how did it feel?

A: In February, Coach Herman came down and offered me a scholarship and it felt amazing and it was a great honor!

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Ohio State Hype Video- Leadership

(H/T to @davidtrichel)

Q&A with a Buffalo Bulls Blogger

So I decided to try and do something a little different for you readers and thought lets see what the opponents bloggers think about the upcoming game. I know we will have previews of the players, break down their plays and all that fun stuff we like to read about. I am hoping this will continue into a weekly series with each opponent the Buckeyes face this year.

I reached out to the University of Buffalo fans to see who I could get in touch with to possibly do this and a great gentleman from ubbullrun.com by the name of BrandedBull emailed me and we went from there. I would like to thank BrandedBull for taking time out and answering some questions that I came up with. Being this is the first time doing this I couldn’t think of all the questions I wanted to ask so hopefully I will get better with each one.

MotSag: How exciting is it to watch one of the best linebackers in the nation, Khalil Mack, each week?

ubbullrun: It has been an absolute pleasure to see a player of Mack’s Caliber thrive in Buffalo. For a player to have zero Division 1 offers to grow brings great pride to a fan base who has not had much to cheer for the past three years. Buffalo is starting to place players in the NFL, with Josh Thomas in Carolina, Trevor Scott and Steve Means in Tampa Bay, Naaman Roosevelt in Cleveland, and James Starks in Green Bay. It will be fun to see how Khalil Mack performs on Sundays. The last big player we had with high draft aspirations was James Starks who won a Super Bowl with Green Bay missed his entire senior campaign in Buffalo (and missed many games in Green Bay!) I just hope Khalil stays healthy and has a monster season.

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Players to Watch: Buffalo Week

Buffalo
#46 Khalil Mack- This is the best football player in the country you have never heard of. He is a pure 3-4 outside linebacker that stands 6’3, 248 pounds, and is extremely versatile. NFL scouts have recently picked up on Mack’s talent due to his excellent 2012 season. Mack recorded 94 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and 8 sacks, in just 11 games last season. Some scouts have Mack going as high as the 1st round. Despite his lack of notoriety out of high school, Mack has made a name for himself as a complete linebacker, who is not only an elite pass rusher, but also able to drop in to coverage. Mack is an elite football player who can reek havoc if not contained. He will provide an early, major test against Mewhort and true sophomore Taylor Decker.

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College Football is Finally Here: B1G Preview for the Weekend Ahead

After many long months of waiting college football season has finally arrived! As much as I love baseball, college football holds a special place in my heart. I especially enjoy watching B1G football.

Every year the B1G is expected to step it up and produce some impressive results on the field, with this year being no different from the rest. Last year the conference was hurt by two of its most illustrious programs, Penn State and Ohio State, being punished with bowl bans. Now that the Buckeyes have served their penalty, high expectations return to Columbus. Ohio State is the consensus favorite to not only win the conference, but run the table and play for it all in Pasadena. As far as the next best team in the B1G? That’s anybody’s guess.

In the Leaders Division Wisconsin lost Montee Ball, but have 10 other Wisconsin-like running backs waiting in the wings (namely James White and Melvin Gordon). Penn State is in year two of their bowl ban and break in two new quarterbacks. Indiana has a lot of starters returning to the team and the pressure is on head coach Kevin Wilson to get the team to a bowl game. Illinois head coach Tim Beckham is already on the hot seat in Champaign, despite the fact that its only his second season with the program. Purdue breaks in new head coach Darrell Hazel (former Buckeye coach) and look to begin rebuilding their program.

In the Legends Division Nebraska has Taylor Martinez return for what feels like his 10th year in the program, but their defense is a huge question mark. Michigan State is the exact opposite of Nebraska. They have a great defense, but four different players competed for the QB position. Northwestern is receiving the most preseason hype in decades, but many are unsure if they can handle the high expectations. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz has been getting bashed by the media and fans all offseason and looks to silence the doubters. Minnesota looks to continue to build off their 6-6 season last year and move up the ladder in the conference. And the team up north finally has an actual quarterback again, but do they have enough to be considered an elite team?

Enough chatter, let’s get to the opening week games:

Thursday, August 29

Indiana State @ Indiana – If this was a basketball game taking place in the 70’s, with Larry Bird lacing it up for the Sycamores, I would be pretty psyched about this game. But instead it’s a football game in 2013. Even though I’m not thrilled about this match-up, these two actually played a tight game last season in the opener. Indiana only won 24-17 and only led by a touchdown at halftime also. I expect Indiana to learn from last season and dispatch Indiana State with ease.

UNLV @ Minnesota – This is another non-conference rematch from last season. And it was even closer. Minnesota needed triple overtime to defeat the Rebels, 30-27. Close games like this are what make the B1G look bad. B1G teams aren’t supposed to have close games with teams like UNLV. I hope the Golden Gophers win this game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is another close game.

Friday, August 30

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