While the university presidents still have to vote, the new Big Ten division alignment starting in 2014 is being widely reported as official. Gone are the confusing alignment (which never really achieved the competitive balance it was designed for) and the arrogant-sounding division names (which never really gained even the minimal acceptance Jim Delany thinks they did).

Instead, the divisions will be called the “East” and the “West,” and will be made of the eastern-most teams (East) and the western-most teams (West). I know it sounds crazy, but it just might work. Oh, and this might surprise you: The Big Ten will actually be the only conference with geographically-named divisions that adheres completely to the division names. Conference USA comes close, though.

But let’s stop wasting time. The single most important result of this realignment is that Ohio State and Michigan will be in the same division. This means we no longer have to worry about that looming threat of moving The Game to an earlier point in the season, nor the tempting-but-ultimately-terrible prospect of a repeat edition in the B1G title game. (Well, technically we have to worry about that one for one more season.)

So with Ohio State/Michigan as the annual East season-ending showdown (often, one assumes, with a B1GCG appearance on the line), it would be silly for the conference to not attempt to stage a similar battle on the other side. Nebraska/Wisconsin makes the most sense to me at this time, although Iowa could potentially be in that mix if they ever hired a coach that tried a little bit.

TTUN will never get a ring of their own and they will never get their name on ours.

Earlier today Rece Davis and Chris Spielman visited Columbus on their spring practice bus tour. They devoted today’s College Football Live segment to the Buckeyes and talked with Urban Meyer and Braxton Miller (could not find the video with Miller). Meyer reflected on last year’s team and touched on his expectations for Miller and the team as a whole for 2013. Meyer also talked about his health and taking time off this off-season for the first time as a head coach.

If you happened to miss it, check it out!

Well it has only been 3 days since our last recruit landed and after a huge weekend it is fitting that they started off the weekend with a commit and ended it with a commit. It just happens that both recruits are LBers and thats not a horrible way to bookend the big weekend they had. The best part about the newest commit is that he was high on TTUNs big board and Coach Meyer and his staff was able to sway him away from Coach Hoke. Which of course has gotten TTUN fans in a tizzy and that is always fun. So here he is….

Kyle Berger announced he has committed to Ohio State via his Twitter account.

Kyle Berger is a 6’3″ 205 lbs 4 star OLB from Cleveland, Ohio. Kyle is one of the top players in Ohio and one of the best prospects in the country. He brings a lot of speed and toughness and has the ability to rush the QB or drop back into pass coverage on TEs. Most importantly for OSU fans is he fills a spot of need as OSU is thin at LBs and will take several in this class. Taking him out of the grasp of TTUNs best recruiter in Greg Mattison is just icing on the cake. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 204th best prospect in the country. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and the 246th best recruit in the country. Scout ranks him a 4 star and the 2nd best OLB in the country. ESPN doesnt have him ranked as of yet. If you want to see his highlight video click on THIS LINK.

Brutus took Braxton Miller’s spot at quarterback during Student Appreciation Day and it did not end too well… Lets just say we do not have a quarterback controversy in Columbus.

The 2014 class for the Ohio State Buckeyes is going to be a fill the need type class. You will see a lot of Offensive Lineman and LineBackers in this class. You will also see some Safeties with both starting safeties set to graduate after this year. With this newest commit they got a guy who could potentially depending on how his body fills out could play any of those 3 positions which in and of itself is insane. This kid is blowing up lately and could very well become one of the best recruits in the 2014 class when all is said and done.

Sam Hubbard announced he was committed to Ohio State via his twitter account.

Sam Hubbard is a 6’6″ 225 lbs 4 star Athlete from Cincinnati, Ohio. Up until 2 days ago Sam was a commit to Notre Dame to play Lacrosse but decommitted shortly before coming on a visit to Ohio State today. it didn’t take him long to accept an offer to join the 2014 class and sounds like He really found his home now. Sam is listed as an Athlete listed as a Safety or LBer but based on his size at 6’6″ he could if bulked up be an amazing OT as well or play on the DL. His potential is unlimited at this point the only question is will he live up to it. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and the 239th best prospect in the country. ESPN doesn’t have him ranked as of yet. Rivals has him ranked as a 3 star. Scout has him ranked as a 4 star and the 18th best OLB in the country. Below you can see his highlight video.

(Click headline to see full pictures, not working on the homepage)

Here are two more successful plays that are also ran out of the Pistol formation. The first is from the NFC Championship game between the 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons and the second is from the Thanksgiving match up between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. Just like the 49ers, the Redskins and Robert Griffin III run the Pistol very well. After drafting RGIII, coach Mike Shannahan went down to Baylor to visit with head coach Art Briles to learn more about the Pistol offense. The Redskins are a good example of a team that uses the passing game very well out of the Pistol, due to RGIII’s supreme arm strength and dual threat ability.

Counter: Once again, here are the 49ers running the three back “diamond” formation out of the Pistol. They used the same formation and same personnel when they ran the lead play, with Frank Gore (#21) behind Kaepernick and their two tight ends, Vernon Davis (#85) and Delanie Walker (#46) as lead blockers. This is blocked the same in Pistol as it would be in any other formation, as it is your basic counter play.

Gore has a great hole to run through because Vernon Davis kicks out the defensive end and the pulling guard  gets to the second level to block the linebacker. Walker should have gotten inside the hole a little quicker, but with a patient back like Gore the play is still a success.

Gore’s patience allows Walker to double team the linebacker and he follows his blockers for a solid gain of six yards on first down. If Gore was a bit more explosive he may have been able to gain a few more yards but you cannot complain about a six yard gain and a well executed play.

Play Action: Here is a good example of how the Redskins used play action against the Cowboys for a big play on Thanksgiving. The ‘Skins lined up in their diamond formation out of the Pistol, with two backs and a tight end in the backfield along with RGIII. With RGIII’s running ability and Alfred Morris’ success running the ball, you can see that the Cowboy’s are expecting run from this formation.

When RGIII fakes the hand off to Morris, you can see the entire secondary stop to play the run. The lead blockers in the backfield and the RGIII/ Morris combination have effectively fooled the defense into thinking that they are running a lead play, while the two receivers are effectively running their routes. I am guessing that the top receiver is more of a decoy to keep the corner and the safety on his side of the field occupied, while the receiver at the bottom (Aldrick Robinson) is about to take advantage of the over aggressive safety that is peeking into the backfield.

Now that it is known that the ‘Skins are passing the ball, the secondary is already beat. Both of the safeties stopped their feet while Robinson has been running full speed and is about to defeat this cover 4 by the Cowboys. The safety on Robinson’s side should have read play action and dropped back, not stopped his feet to make a play on the running back. The top receiver has done his job to sell the route to the other safety and now the deep post will be wide open.

The safety on Robinson’s side is responsible for this easy touchdown but it was all set up by the Redskins’ effectiveness of running the ball and setting up play action.

In cover 4, it would be on the safety to stay inside on Robinson, as it would be impossible for the corner to cover this post alone. The safety was clearly looking in the backfield and stopped his feet, which allowed this easy 65 yard touchdown pass.

Just like any other formation, play action is set up by a successful running game. If the Buckeyes use a lot of Pistol and have success in the running game, it opens up big plays like the one above. We all know the running game will be successful with Miller, Hyde and the plethora of running backs, so we shall see if Miller’s arm has improved to take shots down field against an overly aggressive defense.

If there are anymore play suggestions that you would like for me to breakdown, leave them in the comments!

This will keep B1G defensive coordinators up studying very late this offseason.

The Pistol offense took the NFL by storm last season, most notably by the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Collin Kaepernick. 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh used the Pistol formation at Stanford with Andrew Luck, then incorporated it into his NFL playbook. Many thought that the Pistol was just a college gimmick and an NFL fad like the wildcat formation but Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III and other dual threat quarterbacks will have something to say about that.

Kaepernick excelled in the Pistol offense at Nevada under Coach Chris Ault, the creator of the Pistol offense, and Braxton Miller possesses some of the same traits as Kaepernick. When one thinks of the Pistol, they think of just the read option but in reality, a variety of running plays can be run out of the formation. There’s the read option, counter, power, lead, inside trap, quarterback sweep, and almost anything else that is run out of a pro-style formation. Also, with the quarterback at 4-5 yards, he is still a serious threat to pass the ball and that is what makes this offense very difficult to stop when it is ran correctly. I can only imagine Meyer watching 49ers’ film and salivating over the thought of Miller, Carlos Hyde and two other playmakers (B. Dunn and R. Smith in practice) in the same backfield.

Read Option:

Here are a few screen shots of the 49ers in the Pistol versus the Bills last year. They’re in a 2- back Pistol alignment. Kaepernick is going to put the ball into RB Kendall Hunter’s stomach and keep an eye on the Bills defensive end to see if he crashes down on Hunter or stays home to play Kaepernick. The H-Back will pull across the line of scrimmage and kick out the outside linebacker if Kaepernick keeps the ball or create the hole if Hunter gets the ball.

Kaepernick puts the ball in Kendall Hunter’s stomach and reads the Bills defensive end. Kaepernick is looking right at him and sees that the DE is crashing down to play Hunter.

After seeing the end crash down, Kaepernick pulls the ball back from Hunter and runs through a huge hole with the outside linebacker getting kicked out by the H-Back for a huge gain.

Running the read option out of the pistol will highly benefit Miller and the offense. We saw Miller succeed in running the read option last year mostly out of shotgun for big gains and expect the same but with more wrinkles out of the Pistol.

Lead:

This is the 3- Back diamond formation of the Pistol that was seen at practice on Tuesday by 11 Warrior’s Kyle Rowland. If the two lead blockers get inside to the linebackers, that forces the safety down in run support to make the play on the running back. This play is your basic lead run play that can be run out of basically any formation. (These images below are from www.nationalfootballpost.com)

The 49ers used their two very athletic tight ends, Vernon Davis (#85) and Delanie Walker (#46) in front of Frank Gore (#21) as lead blockers. Davis got to the second level and got a good block on an inside linebacker and Gore gets a big gain up the middle with a chance to make the safety miss.

There are many, many more plays out of the Pistol that Miller will run this season. This is just a small example of two plays that the 49ers ran of out Pistol that Meyer will implement into the playbook this spring. If executed correctly by Miller and the rest of the offense, this will be an even scarier wrinkle to an already scary offense.

I’ll post a few more of these to elaborate later on and if you want me to breakdown any specific offensive plays or formations leave them in the comments!