In case you missed it

(“In case you missed it” is our semi-regular posting of Ohio State news and other content that we think you would find interesting (since we did))

– You probably already read this, but we are posting it for posterity’s sake and as a show of our agreement and support for the growing anti-Herbstreit movement: Herbie the Impaler from Ramzy Nasrallah of Bucknuts and Twitter fame.

– Another thing that you already knew but must be linked for completeness sake – Tate Forcier has left Michigan for greener pastures. While his announcement is ripe for mocking, we will observe the proper amount of mourning before making light of the situation. Also: that is one weird family.

– Overworked from pushing away Razorback linemen like they were so many bothersome gnats, Cameron Heyward had to have surgery to repair a hyper-extended elbow. We have the technology…

– There are eight NFL hopefuls in the year’s senior class. I think most of them will be drafted and hope to see Cameron Heyward go in the first round.

– Jamel Turner – The once future Buckeye has had a somewhat tragic trajectory since committing to Ohio State but things are looking up for Turner, including a long shot at returning to Ohio State. Godspeed.

– Finally, this may have little interest to most readers, but those of you (us) that are fellow bloggers or Twitterers that have encountered the occasional dissenting opinion on a blog post or tweet will get a kick out of Jeff Pearlman tracking down a commenter who had some not-so-nice things to say about an article Jeff wrote about Jeff Bagwell.

OSU Men’s Basketball Weekly Wrap-up

We had quite a week for the Ohio State Men’s Basketball team. Two games, a video and a mention in the Wall Street Journal. To the week:

(1) Ohio St 70 v. Iowa 48 – If there ever was proof of the value of home court advantage, it was this week. After Iowa played Ohio State tough on their court they were thoroughly beaten on Ohio State’s.

David Lighty and William Buford led the way with 18 and 15 points respectively. Oh, and freshman Aaron Craft tied a record with seven steals. No big thing.

A couple days later, The Wall Street Journal asked if Ohio State is College Basketball’s Next Power? There’s nothing here you didn’t already know, but what a boon it was to hire Thad Matta in 2004.

And then there was this:

Unfortunately once it has been seen it can never, ever be unseen.

(1) Ohio St 73 v. (22) Illinois 68 – Again, revisiting the home court advantage – Illinois played Ohio State tough all the way through this slug-fest and the home court clearly energized the Illini.

The Buckeyes didn’t play their best game, but it was enough to weather multiple runs that Illinois went on.

And what more can we say about Aaron Craft? This was clearly his week to shine (video above not withstanding). After playing some shut down defense against Iowa, he basically bottled Demetri McCamey up (who only scored 5 points) and hit clutch free-throws while visibly nervous in the final seconds of Saturday’s game. He took on the pressure like a champ.

Up next week, games against Purdue on Tuesday (1/25) and text-book trap game at Northwestern on Saturday (1/29).

Final 2010 Blogpoll Ballot

For posterity’s sake:

I hadn’t heard anything from the Blogpoll on High directing us on when this was supposed to be submitted and it’s basically old news at this point, but here you go. This was a collaboration between myself and Sylvester-Yon Rambo. I would say this could be a jumping off point for an early look at how 2011 might shape up but it’s the belief here at MotSaG HQ that 2011 will be the beginning of the end of the dominance of the SEC.

In Case You Missed It

Been meaning to get to a lot of this but have been busy. Here are some quick hits:

– I’ve been waiting for decent video to show up on YouTube from the Sugar Bowl of the Arkansas offensive lineman’s cheap shot on Cameron Heyward, but thankfully Tyler T. has the lowdown on the Arkansas player: Wade Grayson, a Dirty Razorback. (Hey Buckeye-sphere: Let’s Google Bomb Wade Grayson with Dirty Player). I have some more thoughts on the topic that may come up in another post.

– So I think Herbie is dead to us at MotSaG HQ. His AP ballot being the final nail in the coffin as far as I’m concerned. Do you guys agree?

– I have no real opinions on the guy, but hey Michigan’s got a new Head Coach.

– I know I don’t have to repeat these kind of statistics for you choir members (hint: that makes me the preacher) but Dr. Saturday had some nice things to say about Ohio State and Jim Tressel:

The model of consistency: Ohio State, which finished fifth in both polls, the Buckeyes’ seventh top-10 finish in nine years. Only USC, with seven top-five finishes in a row from 2002-08, can match that over the last decade.

Count your blessings, Buckeye fans.

– Now that the 2010 College Football season is all snugly tucked in to bed, Orson reads it a night-time story. No one does it better.

Year in Review

Mannycincy brings us an excellent year-end highlight video:

Love the music he used for the Sugar Bowl. Sounds like the soundtrack from Inception It’s “Chaos / Email” by John Powell from the Green Zone soundtrack.

OSU is 1-0 against the SEC!!! (in the 2010s)

Wow, I don’t even know what to say. After utter domination in the first half, I know I am not alone in thinking this game was OVER. OH-VER. The way the team played in the second half in contrast to the first was stark.

That being said, this was the absolute definition of Tresselball. We had a multiple score lead and we went into turtle mode. I know a lot of fans hate the game plan, but can you argue with the result?

A few thoughts before I hit the hay:

  • People were saying this could be the most exciting game outside of the MNC game, and I guess they were right. That was not good for the cardiac health of Ohio State Fans.
  • Terrelle Pryor played a really good game but Cameron Heyward or Dane Sanzenbacher should have been the MOP of the game.
  • Heyward just played out of his mind this game. The whole defense played great but Heyward was intense. He looked unstoppable all game long, and the shot at the end of the game with Cam on his knees was unfettered joy. Reminiscent of Anderson at the end of the 2002 National Championship game.
  • What more can be said about Sanzenbacher’s play all game long? The fumble recovery in the end-zone was simply not giving up on the play, following the ball and taking advantage of the fumble. He played great all game, but that was a Senior play right there
  • The other great image was the shot of Mark May at the end of the halftime show. You could see the grimace of disgust when he knew he had nothing to say. I hope someone screen-capped that one.
  • The safety on Boom Herron was a botched call. In a game of dozens of missed calls, that one could have cost us.
  • Mallet is a heck of a QB and got no help from his WRs.
  • There’s plenty to discuss, let us know what you thought

Live Sugar Bowl Chat

Join your fellow Buckeye fans for our final Football Live Chat of the year:

Sugar Bowl Open Thread

We’ll have the normal live chat up before the Sugar Bowl around 8:15 PM, but I’m sure it will be the only thing you’ll be thinking about today (bye-bye productivity, Tuesday. It was going to be a wash anyway coming off the holiday weekend).

To get the ball rolling, what are you excited about this week? Has the terrible performance of the Big Ten on New Year’s Day put an undue burden on Ohio State’s shoulders? Has Tattoo-gate put a damper on your excitement? I know it has for me.

Who do you see stepping up as the offensive MVP? Defensive?

What’s your final score prediction?

Arkansas Previewed by Dan Fouts

We are proud to present to you this Most Excellent Preview of the Sugar Bowl by fan favorite and NFL Legend Dan Fouts:

It is the Sugar Bowl, which is one of the six BCS games that will be played this year. This game will be played in New Orleans. New Orleans is a city in Louisiana. Louisiana has been flooded and rebuilt numerous times. I don’t understand why the people there just don’t leave, this place is cursed or something. It is close to the ocean, which is wet. And susceptible to hurricanes and tsunamis. This is common knowledge and people should probably stop being so stubborn and such a burden on the United States Government.

The United States is made up of about 50 states. Arkansas is one of them. Like Louisiana, I don’t know why anyone would want to live in Arkansas. Hey, that reminds me: “What did Tennessee? Same thing Arkansas!”

You can expect that kind of punny humor all preview long.

So let’s talk about this game. We have here another match between the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference. The SEC has not been kind to the Big Ten and especially unkind to Ohio State in bowl games. The last I checked, The Ohio State Buckeyes hadn’t beaten a Southern team since the refs handed them the 2002 Fiesta Bowl.

Arkansas brings with it a very potent (sort of like my beard) offense led by former Michigan Wolverine Ryan Mallett. This Mallett kid started his career at Michigan and transferred to Arkansas when he realized he had no place in Rich Rodriguez’s system. Now, when you transfer schools you have to sit out a season. Many people think Mallett should enter the NFL draft this year, but smart people and my beard think that is a bad idea. That part about throwing a lot of interceptions should give Ohio State fans hope because they are rightly nervous about The Razorback high flying offense. Mallett has many options to throw the football to, all of whom happen to be good a catching the football, which is one of the many things a Wide Receiver should be able to do.

The Razorbacks also bring in a running back that is not Darren McFadden but sure looks like it: Knile Davis. Davis emerged as a solid second option for the Razorback offense down the stretch and is terrifingly fast. Wouldn’t you agree that silent K’s are pretty useless?

Now, in order for Ohio State to win they should strive to prevent Mallett from throwing the football to his fast teammates.

Ohio State brings its own awesome (again, like my beard) offense led by Junior Terrelle Pryor. Late last year it was revealed that Pryor had sold some of his championship jewelry. I wish he would have consulted me beforehand. I’ve sold some things as well, namely my soul to ESPN/ABC and CBS. That really didn’t work out that well. And yet Craig James still has a job.

Ohio State will have Daniel “Boom” Herron in the backfield (among a bevy of other young studs that back him up) that had a strong closing to his Junior year, rushing for over 400 yards in his final four games. During the Sugar Bowl, you may hear Ohio State fans chant a sound similar to “Boooo” when Herron has the ball. They’re not a actually booing him, they’re saying “Nooooge.” That’s because he’s a big fan of Ted Nugent. Also Mike Nugent played for the Buckeyes during a time which I boldly proclaimed many things that were actually factually incorrect. I will never forget this.

On Defense, Ohio State is led by Senior Cameron Heyward. Cameron’s dad, Craig, was a former NFL player. I’m not sure if that had ever been brought to your attention. He was known as “Iron Head Heyward.” It is a little known fact that his head was not actually made of iron.

The defense is loaded with players that can just flat out make plays. It’s Tackle City and Ross Homan is the mayor and Brian Rolle is the sheriff. Brian Rolle scares me. He plays with reckless abandon and he leaves it all out on the field. That is why Ohio State will probably win the Sugar Bowl because this defense will give 120% and leave it on the field.

Ohio State is coached by Jim Tressel. Jim Tressel is known as “The Senator” because of his sweatervest which is, as you know, is the uniform of all the senators. Also, because of his popularity and stability he would have been elected following the 2002 National Championship season, which, like the pass interfence penalty, would have been a BAD CALL.

Bobby Petrino, on the other hand, is actually the exact opposite of Jim Tressel. Stability is not in his vocabulary. He does bring a wicked offense that will give the Ohio State defense a run for its money.

The biggest key to this game will be scoring points and whoever scores the most will most likely be the winner. Unless the other team scores more than them, in which case they will be the winner.

I think Ohio State will be the winner by scoring 34 points while Arkansas will only be able to score 27.

(With apologies to Phat Phree (whose site I would link but appears their site has been overtaken by all manner of malware and viruses))

The Winners Manual

I don’t know for how long, but Jim Tressel’s The Winners Manualis available for free on the Kindle.