Does the season feel like it’s in full effect yet? The weather outside has been cooler, it’s getting darker sooner, the leaves are changing and the Foosball is on the ESPN, but I don’t feel like it’s “football season” yet. Either way, news-type things are happening and In Case You Missed It has a few you might be interested in:

BACK, AND BETTER THAN EVER: As SYR blogged yesterday (beating everyone, including The Dispatch, to the punch I might add), the “Charity 3” have been reinstated and will be in the line-up for Saturday evening’s tilt against the Miami Hurricanes. Hopefully that stands through the weekend, instead of having an NCAA “SIKE” hours before kick-off. Hopefully that’s the end of it and we can all move on, awaiting the Committee on Infractions final judgement sometime next week.

The Dispatch has the story of the Cleveland-area Booster accepting responsibility for the money the given to the three players (Hall, Howard and Brown):

DiGeronimo confirmed reports to The Dispatch that former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor gave the cash envelopes to his three teammates. DiGeronimo said the money was intended as reimbursement for travel expenses.

WHAT’S A BATTLE BOOSTER? Speaking of boosters, The University of Miami is changing its rules with regard to boosters having side-line access during home games. The change being they won’t have access. This takes effect this week against Ohio State.

WON’T YOU STEP BACK FROM THAT LEDGE, MY FRIEND: For those of us who had the knee-jerk reaction of “man our offense looks bad,” Ross over at Along the Olentangy to break down the offensive performance of the Buckeyes and actually made me feel a little better about our prospects going into the Miami game:

The good news is that most of the errors were results of technique and failure to recognnize what the defense was doing. Ohio State’s offense was not getting beat, but instead largely shooting themselves in the foot. The bad news is that these mistakes reflect an inexperienced unit, and OSU’s young players are going to have to learn and mature quickly.

Having Jordan Hall in the backfield should help with that.

HE’S FAST: Finally, our pals at EE-LEV-DUB look at Buckeyes in the EN-EFF-EL with the Week 1 Houndie.

ALSO: Football in Europe. When I lived Spain, a few of us Americans got a bunch of college age Spainards interested in playing some futbol Americano. With just six or seven of us to play, Fumble Rumble was pretty much the only option. It was ugly. Most Spainards aren’t built with a competitive spirit or killer instinct. It was like lambs to the slaughter. We stopped playing after about three minutes, when it became obvious someone of Spanish descent was going to get hurt. Watching that video makes me feel like I could lace up the cleats again and get it done in the Spanish American Football League.

We’re here for another live chat for Toledo Game. We should kick it off around 11:45. Game starts at 12 PM on Big Ten Network.

Hit the jump for the chat window. RSS readers will need to come to the site.

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Due to a scheduling mishap (hey, it’s the preseason, right?) we didn’t get a recap after the Akron MACssacre. Oh well, that means you’re stuck with my stream of consciousness of thought before we go into full Toledo mode.

One of the first things I was struck with was that Luke Fickell is NOT Jim Tressel. This was obvious when, with less than a minute to go in the second quarter and Akron unable to get any traction on the ground, Fickell called time-out after the OSU defense had stuffed Akron on first and second down. This, my former Tresselball friends, is not a Jim Tressel move.

Neither was throwing downfield at the end of the fourth quarter with the game well out of hand. Or going for it on fourth and long, trying to get Carlos Hyde his hundy on the ground. Again, this was not Jim Tressel.

I think these decisions were made clearly with that in mind. Fickell wants to distance himself from his mentor for a number of (obvious reasons) but ultimately I think he wanted to establish his own identity. Clearly he was successful, as the mid-field hand shake with the Akron head coach Rob Ianello showed.

I know I’m really going out on a limb here, but this defense is going to be really good. Better than people had originally anticipated, I think. Everyone got to play and just about everyone contributed. Very exciting.

On offense, besides the unexpected play by Joe Bauserman, this game felt like a movie trailer. Seeing the two young bucks running the ball was enlightenin. Both Rod Smith and Carlos Hyde have obvious upside but they also have work to do.

The tight-end utilization was a thing to see. While Jake Stoneburner may not be a young underclassmen like the rest of this offense, he and Joe Bauserman are going to make a nice combo.

And yes, while Evan Spencer’s one-handed catch was a thing of beauty, let us not forget Braxton Miller’s threading of the needle on his touchdown to Devin Smith.

Akron’s game was a taste of things to come and I think all Buckeye fans liked what they saw.

There’s still few hours until game time, but join in the festivities before kick-off!

Hit the jump for the chat!
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In Case You Missed It (but you probably didn’t, because you are the quintessential Buckeye fan and you are plugged-in and on top of all things Buckeye but we’ll link it anyway because we love to talk about Ohio State football. Sure, we’ve discussed this will all our Buckeye friends already but here it is again.) is back:

I seem to remember things differently. The door on the Terrelle Pryor Saga is mostly closed so this is like screaming into a disconnected phone, but it really bothered me when local (and national) pundits were referring to Pryor’s dislike for contact. I thought to myself, “Self: I seem to remember on more than one occasion that we all cringed as Pryor opted for one more hit than step out of bounds, right?” sportsMonkey later mentioned the same thing. So I went to the YourToobs. Sure enough. Examples: here, here, here, DEFINITELY here, and here and well I could go on, but that should do.

(I should note: I noticed how little joy I felt watching “Terrelle Pryor Highlights” on YouTube. It didn’t do it for me, like say, THIS VIDEO does. The chills kick in before the music even starts)

It’s just too easy. Yes, it’s easy to mock the Bleacher Report mercilessly, but they’re trying, guys! Anyway, here’s you’re weekly shooting fish in a barrel: This Bleacher Report list: 10 Buckeyes that wouldn’t start today makes my brain hurt.

My Twitter gently weeps. If it wasn’t official before, it appears to be so now: James Louis has transferred to Florida International University and is hoping to qualify for a hardship exception waiver so he doesn’t have to sit out for the NCAA-mandated one year following a transfer.

Ohio State transfer wide receiver James Louis and West Virginia transfer running back Daquan Hargrett both practiced Friday evening, coach Mario Cristobal confirmed.

It’s more than just a game. Speaking of weeping, you might want to have some tissues handy reading this from Ramzy over at Elfin Warriors.

#FIRECRAIGJAMES. Finally, Stewart Mandel (with whom we’ve vigorously disagreed with in the past) is awarded with an honorary title of MotSaG hero of the week for this line, after questioned whether or not he trusts Craig James when it comes to reporting about the Big 12:

I wouldn’t trust Craig James to report on sixth-grade volleyball.

On the heels of a great prediction post over at the Ohio State Blog Eleventy Warhammers (keep an eye on those guys, they’re gonna do big things some day!) we want to get in the game here, too.

So we’ve opened this weekend’s thread for our prediction post.

In the comments (and with this week’s poll) we want to hear:

• The 2011 Buckeyes season record (not including BTCG or bowl game)
• the 2011 Offensive MVP
• the 2011 Defensive MVP
• the 2011 Freshman of the Year
• and finally the 2011 Break-Out Player of the Year

My guesses:
Record: 10-2
Offensive MVP: Jaamal Berry
Defensive MVP: Etienne Sabino
Freshman: Braxton Miller
Break-Out Player: Michael Bennett

How about yours?

[poll id=”10″]