Archives for October 2013

For those that follow me on Twitter and Google+, you saw that I was quite livid over the national media’s same old, yearly attack against the perception of the B1G conference. I’m quite frankly fed up with it. I’m not saying the B1G is anywhere near the best conference in America (I’d put the B1G fourth, just ahead of the Big 12), but this conference deserves more respect than it gets. I feel like the Buckeyes are responsible for it too because this derision from the media began after Ohio State lost back-to-back National Championship games to The Chosen the SEC conference. It then escalated after several embarrassing B1G losses in major bowl games to once again the SEC. Many have already written off the B1G again this season and many don’t see the conference redeeming themselves. Well I say they’re wrong. What needs to happen for redemption? Ohio State needs to make it to the national title game, which I think they will because 1) I don’t see the Buckeyes losing. 2) Oregon has too tough of a schedule to not lose at least one game. 3) The ACC champion always loses one game. Wisconsin also needs to win out, which would give them 10 wins and a possible shot at receiving an at-large bid for a BCS bowl game. And of course the rest of the B1G needs to do well on New Year’s Day too. This is all easier said than done, but don’t write off the conference after only seven weeks. There’s still a long way to go before bowl season.

Nebraska 44 Purdue 7

You know one team not helping the B1G’s perception? Purdue. The Boilermakers are just downright horrible. I’m not trying to take shots at them, but that’s just how it is for them right now. Nebraska out gained Purdue 435-216, but it wasn’t even that close. Nebraska’s backup quarterbacks Tommy Armstrong and Ron Kellogg split time in this game and weren’t that impressive, as they threw for three interceptions. But it didn’t matter because the running game did all of the work for the Huskers. The Cornhuskers rushed for 251 yards and five touchdowns, including 126 yards and touchdown from star running back Ameer Abdullah. Purdue’s only score came with 39 seconds left in the game. Let’s move on to the next game.

Michigan State 42 Indiana 28

Michigan State scored 42 points. And they were all offensive touchdowns! Let that sink in for a moment. This is the same Michigan State offense that could barely score against Western Michigan in their opener. Give credit to the coaching staff in East Lansing for turning it around. Also give credit to quarterback Connor Cook, who was 22 of 31 passing for 235 yards and two touchdowns. While Cook and the Spartans offense certainly aren’t lighting the world on fire, they now appear to have a good enough offense to help out their fantastic defense. Speaking of their defense, they were able to keep the Indiana offense in check and didn’t let them get into their normal pace. Indiana starting quarterback Nate Sudfeld completed 14 of 30 passes for only 137 yards. In fact his backup Tre Roberson outplayed him, completing 11 of 17 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns (quarterback controversy in Bloomington?). The Hoosiers’ running game only mustered 92 yards. Who do the Spartans’ defense get to victimize next? Purdue…oh boy.

Wisconsin 35 #19 Northwestern 6

On paper this looked like a fantastic match-up. And then Wisconsin reminded everyone they have a running game that will destroy any opposing defense it faces (minus Ohio State’s defense). Wisconsin did what they do best against the Wildcats, rushing for 286 yards and two touchdowns. Melvin Gordon rushed for 172 yards (one touchdown) and James White rushed for 101 yards (one touchdown). Give credit to the Wisconsin defense too, which is highly underrated. The Badgers held the normally potent Northwestern offense to only two field goals, under 200 yards passing and only 44 rushing yards. The Wildcats were clearly drained from their emotional loss to Ohio State the previous week and just couldn’t overcome a well rested Wisconsin team playing at home. Don’t be surprised if Wisconsin runs the table the rest of the way.

Penn State 43 #18 Michigan 40 (4 OT)

Now for the most thrilling game of the week. This game felt like it was never going to end, with both coaches choosing to play very conservative in overtime and rely heavily on their kickers. Except Michigan relied too much on their kicker, allowing Penn State running back Bill Belton to score the game-winning touchdown in the fourth overtime. Michigan kicker Brendan Gibbons was 4 of 7 in his field goal attempts, with two costly misses that could have won the game for the Wolverines. Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner returned to his old ways, throwing two interceptions. But he still had a good performance. Gardner threw for 240 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 121 yards. You can’t pin this loss on Gardner because he brought Michigan back in the game after trailing early (down 21-10 at the half). Running back Fitzgerald Toussaint was simply shutdown by the Nittany Lions’ defense, rushing for 27 yards on 27 attempts. Despite the bad performance from Toussaint, Michigan can pin this loss on their defense who let the Penn State offense make a late fourth quarter charge to send the game to overtime. Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, torching the Michigan secondary. It was a great win for the Penn State football program and head coach Bill O’Brien. On the flip side, it was a damaging loss to Michigan’s conference ranking and national perception. The Wolverines are a mess and will need to get it together quickly if they want to remain in the Legend’s division race.

It’s bye week time here in Buckeyeland, so we’ve decided to present a couple polls to gauge how Buckeye Nation is feeling about a couple of the issues facing the coaching staff going into the second half of the season.

The first is: What would you do if you were in charge of who started at QB, Braxton Miller or Kenny Guiton

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The other question is about the poor play of the Ohio State defensive backfield. For some reason, blame has to be placed somewhere, so where would you place the blame with? The head coach? The Defensive Coordinator? The actual players?

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In the comments, let us know why.

As with any other open thread, feel free to discuss anything Buckeye, sports, or MotSaG related. Heck anything on your mind is fine!

There’s no Buckeye game this week, but there are a handful of compelling games. And just because we’ll be out of sight, doesn’t mean we have to be out of mind: this week we’ll look at the best games in terms of how those teams have performed historically against Ohio State.

Thursday

7:30pm

Rutgers @ Louisville. Ohio State is a combined 2-0 against these two teams who will be bolting from the American Athletic Conference next year. Both of those games were against Louisville in the early ’90s, when the Cardinals were independent and coached by Howard Schnellenberger, post-USFL debacle. (ESPN)

Saturday

Noon

Missouri @ Georgia. Despite both of these teams being in the Almighty SEC, Ohio State has a solid 10-2-1 record against them. Never mind that said record is almost entirely against Missouri, these two are to the Buckeyes what Lloyd Carr & Rich Rodriguez were to Jim Tressel. (ESPN)

Oklahoma vs. Texas. Ohio State is 2-3 against these historic giants, which sounds bad until you consider that the three losses are by a COMBINED seven points. Meanwhile, both of our wins are by at least ten. (ABC)

3:30pm

Florida @ LSU. You’re shuddering just thinking about it, aren’t you? Well, back in 1988 the Buckeyes beat LSU by three at home a year after playing the Tigers to a draw on the road. As for the other three games against these two teams, I can’t seem to remember. (CBS)

Northwestern @ Wisconsin. While the series between Ohio State’s last two opponents is a little closer, together they are 32-114-6 against the Buckeyes. (ABC)

4:00pm

Oregon @ Washington. Ohio State is 16-3 against two of the best teams in the Pac-12, with 8 wins over each team and 3 losses to the Huskies. Suck it, Phil Knight. (FS1)

7:30pm

NASCAR. With no Buckeye game to showcase this week, ABC has decided to abandon college football altogether in favor of cars driving in circles. “The track is kind of O-shaped, you know? So you all could watch anyway,” a network rep would probably comment if I asked. (ABC)

This week’s slate of B1G games features teams from the Legend’s division taking on teams from the Leader’s division. Both divisions are clearly different. The Legend’s division is a cluster and probably won’t be determined until the final game, whereas the Leader’s division is clearly Ohio State’s to lose. With most of the division pretty tight in terms of talent and win-loss records, pretty much every game matters for conference positioning and bowl eligibility. Every team, except Purdue and Penn State (bowl ban) have a shot at a bowl game. This makes for great football.

Indiana @ Michigan State

This game is all about the high-scoring spread attack offense of Indiana going against the suffocating Michigan State defense. These teams are basically polar opposites of one another. The Hoosiers win in high scoring fashion while Michigan State prefers to keep it low scoring and basically operate like a traditional B1G team. Indiana averages 346 passing yards per game (10th best in the FBS) and 44.4 points per game (12th overall). Michigan State is 7th overall in the FBS in points against, only allowing an average of 13.4 points per game. Hoosiers quarterback Nate Sudfeld should be able to score a couple of touchdowns against the Michigan State defense, but I don’t think enough to win the game. Home field is a key advantage for Michigan State and could really be the difference maker. I think Connor Cook and the Spartans offense will score enough against an average Indiana defense and pull off the victory at home.

Nebraska @ Purdue

Out of all the B1G games this is by far the worst of the bunch. Pretty much any team who plays Purdue from here on out that weekend will be the dud game of the week. Purdue is clearly the worst team in the conference. Nebraska is coming off one of its most encouraging performances this season as they had complete control in their win over Illinois. Quarterback Taylor Martinez’s status is still up in the air for the game, but it shouldn’t make much difference. Backup Tommy Armstrong proved he can step in and do well and would have no problem if he’s needed again against Purdue. I expect Martinez not to play since he isn’t really needed against Purdue and there is a bye on deck. Nebraska should win this game pretty easily.

#18 Michigan @ Penn State

If this game was taking place in Ann Arbor I would say Michigan wins this game by at least two possessions. But since it’s in Happy Valley it changes everything. Penn State is clearly a better team at home, especially since this is a night game. The Nittany Lion faithful should be extra loud for this one. Michigan is somehow still undefeated and I would argue this is their toughest test yet. Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner had his first turnover free game last week against Minnesota and looks to continue this trend. On the flip side freshman Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg is really starting to shine coming off a 300 yard performance with zero turnovers against Indiana. Both teams have a solid rushing attack that can look great and bad at times. With the offenses basically even I say this game comes down to the defenses. I think Penn State can ride the emotions of the home crowd and pull off the upset.

#19 Northwestern @ Wisconsin

Source

This game isn’t prime time like Michigan-Penn State, but it deserves to be. Both of these teams are coming off heartbreaking losses to the Buckeyes and really shouldn’t be ashamed about it. They looked great in both of their performances and took a more talented team to their limits. This game will determine who is the second best team in the conference. I know Nebraska, Michigan and Michigan State have an argument too, but these two teams have proven more to me. The loser is pretty much eliminated from contending for the B1G Championship because Northwestern has no room for error in a tight Legends division and Wisconsin already needs Ohio State to lose twice to pass them in the division (which is high unlikely). So everything is on the line for both teams. Wisconsin has a great rushing attack, averaging 300.6 rushing yards per game (6th best in the FBS). People tend to overlook their stout defense, which is only giving up only 14.6 points per game. Northwestern got a much-needed boost on offense last week with the return of Venric Mark. He didn’t put up flashy numbers, but certainly made his presence felt. The quarterback duo of Trevor Siemian and Kain Colter put up great numbers against the Ohio State defense, combining for 25 of 31 passing for 343 yards and two touchdowns. You could pretty much flip a coin when picking the winner of this game. While Wisconsin is near unbeatable at home, Northwestern has the talent and coaching to pull off a rare road win in Madison.

Good Morning Buckeye Nation.

Vegas gone Mad: Apparently Las Vegas experienced a $100 Million dollar swing due to the fumble recovery in the end zone by the Buckeyes Saturday night against Northwestern. The Buckeyes game seemed to have been a very popular game for bettors and since the Buckeyes beat the spread the odds makers lost out on this one. I personally don’t understand the whole betting thing so I don’t do it especially since I have no luck when it comes to it, heck I spent a week in Vegas and only spent 20 bucks on gambling actually came out a head by like 5 dollars so I was a winner!!

Best Rivalries: Seems another site did a Top Rivalries in college football. Grownupme.com gives us their Top 16 and of course everyone should have the OSU/scUM rivalry as Number 1 I was actually surprised they had the Army/Navy game as Number 5 it should be Number 2. I love the Army/Navy game and all that goes with it. I love the fact its on a weekend when there’s hardly any other college football game giving these future military leaders the spotlight they deserve. As a former Navy(SeaBees) man the game means more and since the Midshipmen is on a great winning streak vs the Black Knights I keep winning free beer from my former Army buddy. Psst hey Joel your still behind a six pack hahaha.

Elusive Big Man: Thad Matta and the Buckeyes are still on the look out for the elusive Big Man that they desperately need. The Buckeyes lost on on 7 foot center Elbert Robinson from Texas to the LSU Tigers. The Buckeyes will be very dependent on Amir Williams and Trey McDonald as their centers this season. I feel the Buckeyes only having one guy over 6 foot 8 this season is going to be an issue when March Madness starts. Williams hopefully will become more consistent this season but the Buckeyes really need to get another big man for next season.

Beautify Ohio:

Thanks to Bobble Head Woody on Google+ for this in the Buckeye Nation Community

Until next time Buckeye Nation…