Archives for November 2015

Leading up to the Buckeye’s most anticipated game of the 2015 season so far, I will take a look at the Buckeye’s most competitive match-up over the last 5 years, the Michigan State Spartans.  Below, I will highlight some of the Spartans key players whom Ohio State was at one point recruiting or have ties to the Buckeyes in some way.  During Michigan’s decade of disappointment, the Spartans have stepped up admirably on the recruiting front, often taking the Ohio kids who the Wolverines once thrived on.  With 27 players hailing from the Buckeye state, the showdown in The Shoe on Saturday will be a familiar battle for many of the Spartans.

Connor Cook: Cook is one of those Ohio kids that everyone seems to pass over but turns out to be quite a good player, ala Luke Kuechly.  Cook attended Walsh Jesuit High School and his only big time college offer was from the Spartans.  Cook is the prototype pro-style quarterback.  He has above average arm talent and his downfield accuracy has improved immensely since his early years in East Lansing.  He was known early on as a kid who could make all the throws, including the one that would inevitably cost his team the game.  He has cut down tremendously on his mental mistakes as he’s only thrown four interceptions so far this season.    Cook will undoubtedly be a high draft pick in this Spring’s upcoming NFL draft, and should continue MSU’s string of sneaky NFL quarterback success. (Drew Stanton, Brian Hoyer, Kirk Cousins & technically Nick Foles)

Aaron Burbridge:  Received an offer from the Buckeyes, but the Farmington MI product seemed to be destined for Sparty from the early stages of his recruitment.  The Top 100 player never really was a contender to sign with the Buckeyes although he would always include OSU in his list of top schools along with MSU and UM.  As it turns out this was another big win for the Spartans against not only the Buckeyes, but Michigan as well.  The senior leads the B1G in receiving ( 65 rec 1,021 yds 6 tds) and could arguably be the best receiver the Buckeye secondary has faced all season.

LJ Scott:  Scott is a player that many Buckeye fans believed would eventually be a part of the Buckeye’s 2015 recruiting class.  After Scott’s teammate at Hubbard, George Hill pledged to the Buckeyes, most assumed the two close friends would set up a package deal.  Well in a few months that may actually be the case, but Sparty could be the recipient of the dynamic duo.  There’s been some news lately that Hill has been looking to play defensive back, and the Buckeye coaching staff didn’t quite see him in their plans for the secondary, so the two have parted ways.  Scott has received some run during his inaugural season in East Lansing, but has been slowed by injuries as of late.  Still, he has seen more playing time already this year than he would have received in Columbus his freshman season.

Malik McDowell: Most of us remember the McDowell recruiting saga which extended past signing day a few years ago.  Malik wanted to be a Spartan, his mother for some reason or another, was adamant he would never attend MSU – which put the Buckeyes squarely in the thick of things alongside Michigan.  Clearly the son beat out the mother in this debate, and Michigan State couldn’t be happier.  McDowell has developed into a game changer along the defensive line, and is very similar in size and style to Ohio State’s Adolphus Washington.  Malik is coming off an outstanding performance against Maryland where he racked up 8 tackles, 4.5 tfls, .5 sack and a forced fumble, resulting in B1G Defensive Player of the Week Honors.  I would be shocked if that’s the only time we see the sophomore earn that distinction.

Ohio State fans around the country should be grateful for TMZ releasing the dash cam footage of J.T. Barrett’s arrest last week. Perhaps more importantly, we should be grateful for all the comments on Twitter, Facebook and other online message boards from internet trolls and OSU haters that followed the release of the video. It may be just the fire the Buckeyes needed at this point in the season to complete their mission to win their second straight national championship.

Like many Ohio State fans, I was disappointed, frustrated and angered by the video – more because of the timing of its release, as opposed to the content it displays. Barrett was arrested in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 1 – on a bye week – and was subsequently suspended for the Minnesota game on November 7, and has had to feel the wrath of public shaming that always accompanies the Court of Public Opinion. He plead guilty in his court appearance on November 10 and had his license suspended for six months, among other punishments – both legal and team-related in nature.

Aside from the actual boneheaded and appalling act of drinking and driving, Barrett handled the situation like a responsible adult throughout the process. He was respectful and polite to the police during the stop, went directly to Urban Meyer to explain his wrongdoing (as opposed to hiding and making excuses), plead guilty in court and will continue to feel the repercussions of his actions for a good while.

But it seemed so out of place for TMZ to broadcast the footage when they did. Punishments had been doled out, the case had been closed. Barrett was ready to move on, make amends and do whatever he could to repair his damaged persona, amongst his teammates and his millions of supporters around the country. Then the video came out – and suddenly Barrett looked just like every other stereotypical star athlete, thinking he should be entitled to special consideration and privileges. Commence Round 2 of public backlash on social media and online message boards.

I admittedly have never met Barrett and have no idea how he truly is as a person, but by all football-related accounts, he’s a good kid and a valued leader. From that standpoint, it’s a shame that he now has thousands of strangers – many of whom dislike him solely because of the university he attends – defiling his character online. To many, he is now an absolute monster – a dumb, irresponsible jock who drives drunk, gets away with stuff because of his “lenient” head coach, and thinks he should get away with it because he’s the starting quarterback at Ohio State.

And while it’s unfortunate that Barrett’s character came under scrutiny – by his own doing – all of this TMZ-related backlash does present a silver lining for the Buckeyes. The negative talk from analysts and fans of opposing schools around the country could help build a more cohesive team and provide a strong “us against the world” mentality that was lacking as top-ranked team in the country.

Given how respected Barrett is by his teammates, and how contrite he has been since the incident, the avalanche of negativity surrounding him will likely lead the team to elevate their performances and rally around him. I can see it now – on November 28, as the Buckeyes wait to run onto the field at Michigan Stadium, you can almost guarantee that Michigan fans will verbally berate Barrett with alcohol-related heckles. Moments before he steps onto the field, he’ll be mocked for everything that happened. And it will strengthen an inferno that is already raging inside of him – and to a greater extent, it will fire up his teammates to have his back in that hostile environment.

Make no mistake about it, TMZ’s release of that video has ignited a fiery “us against the world” mentality amongst this close-knit group of Buckeyes, and they’ll continue to ride that momentum en route to another national championship.

As someone who generally keeps his nose out of politics and #trendy topics, I typically wouldn’t take the time to mention this.  But maybe it’s my age or the father-to-be coming out of me… whatever it is, I felt compelled to ask something of anyone reading this.  Regardless of your political stance or your beliefs or customs or any other differences you might have – just take a minute today to look around and be thankful for the love of your family and friends and those close to you.  We as human beings often take this for granted.  What happened Friday night should be all the evidence you need to realize that all of those things can be snatched away at the slightest moment.

Okay, onto the week that was in Big Ten Football.

#1: Iowa keeps the Big Ten Championship game exciting

Iowa has little competition between now and an undefeated regular season, no question about it.  And as long as the College Football Playoff Committee keeps them ranked in the single digits, it just looks that much better for the Buckeyes in Indianapolis.

#2: Tracy Claeys is real AF

I used to say that Jerry Kill was my second favorite head football coach in the B1G.  Well much like his former position at the University of Maryland, his spot in my heart was also filled by Tracy Claeys after this press conference.

#3:  Connor Cook injures shoulder

He’s already told reporters that he will play against Ohio State this weekend.  But think about what would have happened if the Browns would have blitzed Roethlisberger this weekend on that bum foot.  Would have changed the game significantly, right?  Hmmm…

#4:  Double OT in Bloomington

My goodness what a cluster-you-know-what this was.  People were tweeting that a Big Twelve game broke out on the Big Ten Network.  Rudock lived up to the hype finally but the Michigan defense appeared very beatable.  Just imagine if the Hoosiers had the Silver Bullets.  Or Zeke Elliot.  I’m guessing there wouldn’t be a need for any overtime periods in that matchup ::dramatic pause::

#5:  Buckeye defense is just as potent as its offense

Anyone complaining about a 28-3 victory like it’s the end of the world needs to get things into perspective.  Anyone else that’s worried specifically about field goal kicking and pass protection needs to remember who coaches this team.

Oh yeah, anyone catch this beat down?  I WISH I could have watched this fight with “Money” Mayweather.

Yes ladies and gentlemen it is that time of the season we have all been waiting for. These next two games on the schedule are going to either make or break our season. They are going to show us that we are either a team that just plays to the level of our competition and that’s why we have not played great football all year OR they are going to show us that we are not quite as good as we thought we were.

Another benefit to these next two weeks is that we will finally have two wins for the playoff committee to look back on and say”ok they have definetly beaten a few highly ranked teams”. Unfortunately, it could have looked even better for us if Michigan State hadn’t laid an egg 2 weeks ago against Nebraska, but, never the less, wins agains these town schools is going to be more than enough to get us to the College Football Playoff as long as we handle our business in the BIG championship game.

There is also a very interesting underlying factor here as well coming into the last 2 weeks of the season. Thanks to that debacle Michigan State had against Nebraska. The final game of the season could determine the division champs between Ohio State and ttun. I think it is safe to say that coach Harbaugh has brought this team back from the dead much faster than expected, in doing so he has really lit a fire under this rivalry. So much so that beating ttun is the only way we can get to Indy for the championship game. On a side note, I hope all of you people that said Ohio State needs ttun to be good again to have a steady rivalry all feel good about yourselves because I for one hate the fact that I actually have to worry about playing them again! Anyway, I’m sure this week is about to be a media frenzy for both the coaching staffs and players both during the week and weekend since College Game Day has decided to attend the festivities. Hopefully Urb and the rest of the coaching staff can get our guys to that cuvited ” 9 units strong” that they always talk about because there are few in the country that would argue when Ohio State is at its best it’s doubtful anyone can beat them. Go Bucks beat Sparty!!

It wasn’t as dominating of a win as fans would have liked it to be, but that’s true of pretty much every game Ohio State has played this year. Regardless, the Buckeyes are still undefeated after holding off the pesky Minnesota. Today, OSU visits an Illinois team that while not great, isn’t terrible either. They tend to blow out much worse teams and get blown out by much better teams. There was a stretch where the Illini won close games against Middle Tennessee and Nebraska, then lost close games against Iowa and Wisconsin.

J.T. Barrett will be back in the starting QB spot today after his one-game suspension, and—barring injury or further disciplinary action—that’s unlikely to change for the rest of the year. Even though it took way longer than anyone expected, the Ohio State Quarterback SituationTM appears to finally be resolved. The Illinois defense is surprisingly not awful, so don’t be shocked if the Buckeyes take another quarter or so to get going this week.

Michigan had little trouble dispatching the woeful Rutgers last week, and are likely feeling good heading into their road match up against Indiana. Like Illinois, the Hoosiers saw a promising early season derailed once they got into conference play. In fact, Indiana is 4-0 this year against non-Big Ten teams and 0-5 against Big Ten teams. Those records can be a bit misleading, however. Only one of their non-conference wins was by more than a touchdown, and their losses to conference front-runners Ohio State and Iowa were only by a combined 15 points.

Jake Rudock finally had a showcase game last week throwing for 337 yards and 2 touchdowns, as well as adding another touchdown (and a completely unnecessary 2-point conversion) on the ground. That this explosion came against Rutgers, one of the worst passing defenses in the country makes it a little less impressive, but for the first time this season, Rudock has proven that he can contribute significantly to the offense, and that’s going to be important going forward.

The key for both Ohio State and Michigan today is to not get caught looking ahead. The Buckeyes’ next two games are against Michigan State and Michigan, while the Wolverines take on Penn State before this year’s edition of The Game. Those three games are going to decide the Big Ten East. Penn State is out of the running. Ohio State and Michigan State can win the division by winning out. Michigan needs to win out and another Michigan State loss, which means they’ll be cheering hard for Maryland today, so they don’t have to cheer for Ohio State next week.