Worley keeps the Pipeline flowing

OSU FootballThis was going to be a huge recruiting weekend but by most accounts it was going to be biggest for the 2014 class. There are a few guys from 2013 who will be there this weekend though and it didnt even take getting to Friday night to get the first commit out of the weekend.

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Christopher Worley is a 6’3″ 190 lbs 4 star LB/Safety from Cleveland, Ohio. Worley is one of many who have come to OSU via the Glenville Pipeline. Christopher Worley becomes recruit no 22 for the 2013 class. By many accounts he is a hybrid player he can play both Safety and LB and may be destined to play the STAR position at OSU. He is a BIG hitter and has a lot of speed. He will need to hit the weight room though and may need a redshirt year to get use to the system but he is primed to be another stud from Da Ville. 247sports ranks him a 4 star and the 28th best athlete in the country. ESPN ranks him a 3 star and the 42nd best OLB in the country. Scout ranks him a 3 star and the 55th best OLB in the country. Rivals ranks him a 3 star and the 52nd best OLB in the country. Below you can see his JR year highlights.

Marc Givler of Buckeye Grove broke the news via Twitter.

Christopher Worley just confirmed the news via his own twitter.
https://twitter.com/Jizzle_6/status/289853541630238720

The importance of “Conference Pride”

You will have to bear with me here for a few minutes as most of the people reading this post are B1G fans and have no idea of what “Conference Pride” is or what I am talking about. You see there are 14 teams in the S-E-C and if you know anything about those fans it is that in their mind they truly believe all of them won a National Championship Title last night. Not only that but they also feel like all of them have won 7 straight titles and 9 of the 15 total BCS titles.

For an example, Vanderbilt recently won a bowl game over a 7-6 North Carolina St team from the ACC. Their fans had a chant going for most of the 4th quarter: S-E-C… S-E-C… S-E-C. Could be heard I am sure for miles around the stadium as if this Vanderbilt team had just won a conference title. They hadn’t, by the way, as a matter of fact I don’t think Vanderbilt ever has won one (maybe they have heck I don’t even know if they have won 20 conference games in the last 20 years to be honest). The fact that Vanderbilt is a middle of the road CFB team doesn’t matter to its fans or any of the fans of other SEC teams. They saw it as a victory for the entire conference and proof that the SEC is better then the ACC.

Last night a 12-0 Notre Dame went into the BCS title game against a 12-1 Bama team with possibly the biggest fan base that Bama had ever come up against. Notre Dame fans were on their own though, it was their fans against an entire conference fan base. Things didn’t start off well even before the game started. Johnny Manziel, the Heisman winning TAMU QB, was seen on the Bama sideline yacking it up with the team he beat earlier in the year. For OSU fans this would be like if TTUN was in the game and Braxton Miller was there hanging out with Denard and company — NEVER EVER WILL HAPPEN. In the SEC, though, it is completely normal and accepted I am sure Johnny Football went clubbing last night with Bama players and fans and celebrated like he just won a BCS title.

Finally here is where it starts to matter: The Media/voters. They are the ones who are perpetually pushing this conference superiority crap and not calling it out for the BS that it is. Most B1G fans can’t and don’t look past their own teams to see why rooting for their arch enemies is so important (Myself included). I will use one voter as an example of how conference pride is important.

Jon Wilner is a voter and media member from the San Francisco area. He voted Ohio State 10th in his last AP poll last night. Here are a few of his insane thought processes.

Example 1

* Spent no time filling out the top line with Bama and slotted Oregon into the No. 2 spot almost as quickly.
* I never considered ranking Oregon below Stanford because of the head-to-head result.

Basically he just said I know Stanford beat Oregon but so what that proves nothing!!!

Example 2

* Florida lost by 10 to Louisville in the Sugar Bowl but only dropped four spots from my early-December ballot. The Gators won at Texas A&M and at Florida State, and they beat South Carolina and LSU — those wins served to largely offset what happened in the Sugar.

We will get back to that Sugar bowl win by the BIG EAST team soon!!!

Example 3

* I have been asked on numerous occasions if I’m ranking Ohio State far below its place in the AP poll because of the sanctions.

The answer: Nope. I’m ranking Ohio State far below its position in the AP poll because that’s all the Buckeyes deserve.

They shouldn’t be confused with the undefeated champion of the Big 12 or Pac-12.

The B1G was mediocre this season — closer to the Big East than the SEC — and when given a chance to show its stuff in non-conference play, tOSU struggled to beat Cal.

This is where he goes off the charts in his stupidity. He earlier said Florida which he ranked 6th ahead of Louisville at 14th lost to Louisville and was destroyed the whole game by Louisville no matter the final score. Oh by the way Louisville is the Big East Champions. He clearly thinks the SEC is far superior of a conference to the Big East yet in head to head the Big East won easily. Then he says OSU is comparable to the Big East not the Pac 12 or Big 12 and clearly not the SEC……. HUH???????? Stupidity at its finest.

You can see this hacks final ballot and a plethora of other stupid reasonings behind his final poll.

The SEC ended up having a so-so bowl season but if you believe the fans and media no one can compete with any of them no matter what the score boards say. Sure the SEC (see Bama) has been dominant lately and will continue to be so for many reasons for the forseeable future.

What isn’t true is that B1G fans need to hate each other so much so that we can’t and don’t support each other in the non-conf games. You see the squeaky wheel gets the oil. If B1G fans scream it enough the media/voters will start to believe it they are just that gullible. Still don’t believe me?

Check out this link that lists how all the AP voters voted 12-0 Ohio State in their final polls.

In conclusion for some to most voters facts don’t matter and that if B1G fans can come together and force our opinions that the B1G is better then everyone else maybe we can convince the voters to vote us significantly higher in the polls which will get us more teams in the playoffs. Maybe it wont as well but it does seem worth trying and giving it the old S-E-C try.

All together now…. RAH RAH RAH….. B-1-G…B-1-G…B-1-G….. RAH RAH RAH

Basketball Week in Review/Preview

Week of 12/30- 1/5 Review

Ohio State 70 Nebraska 44

Finishing off of a solid, yet unimpressive 10-2 non-conference schedule, the Buckeyes began B1G play on January 2nd versus the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The ‘Huskers traveled to Value City Arena with an inflated 9-4 record and ranking in the bottom half of the country in almost every single statistical category. The Buckeyes came out hot and displayed their best defensive performance of the season, allowing only 17 points in the first half and 44 for the game. Deshaun Thomas led all scorers with 22 points and actually outscored the Cornhuskers all by himself 18-17 at the half. Once again, their perimeter defense was excellent, holding Nebraska’s shooters to only %28 (6-21) from beyond the arc. Aaron Craft had a solid night distributing the ball with 8 assists and 0 turnovers, but shot 0-4 from the field and finished with 0 points. He needs to be an option offensively for this team to succeed, or we will be seeing his defender start to sag off of him, clogging the passing lanes and daring him to shoot. With a showdown in Champaign, Illinois on the horizon, the Buckeyes took care of business like they were supposed to and sent the ‘Huskers back to Lincoln with a bad taste in their mouths.

Illinois 2

Ohio State 55 Illinois 74

Illinois fell to Purdue in their B1G opener and it seemed like the perfect time for the Buckeyes to take advantage of a team that was coming off of an upset. Think again. The Illini handed Thad Matta one of his most lopsided losses of his career and it was not even as close as the scoreboard indicated. The Buckeyes have not won a true road game this season and do not have one quality win on their resume. This will become a problem come selection Sunday with the B1G being the strongest conference in all of college basketball. Brandon Paul led the Illini with 19 points and their 6-11 center Nnanna Egwu had a great game with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Deshaun Thomas dropped 24 points on 9-21 shooting, but struggled against the Illini defense to really find his shot. The Buckeyes have massive offensive troubles and if Thomas is struggling they really do not have second and third options like years past. This needs to be figured out quickly with Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Minnesota all on the horizon.

Week of 1/6- 1/12 Preview

Tuesday January 8th

The Buckeyes are hoping to bounce back after their blow out loss against Illinois by traveling to Purdue, the same team that defeated the Ilini the game before. This gives the Buckeyes a chance to get their first real road victory of the season against a .500 team who plays pretty well at home. The Boilermakers are one of the better rebounding teams in the country, averaging 41 rebounds a game, which could translate into a problem for the Buckeyes who have struggled on the glass in their losses. Ohio State can limit Purdue beyond the arc as they are shooting a modest %28 from three point land. The Boilermakers are very young but they are scrappy on the boards with freshman 7 footer A.J Hammons who averages 10 points and 6 rebounds a game. Offensively the Buckeyes need to worry about Terone Johnson, he led Purdue with 25 points in their upset win over Illinois. This is a good game for Ohio State to get back on track before they host the #2 Michigan Wolverines on Sunday.

Bradley Roby to return next season

Ohio State already has to replace 7 starters from a 12-0 team for next season luckily for them it won’t be 8 as Star CB Bradley Roby has told Columbus Dispatch Sports Reporter Tim May this evening he will return for his RS JR year which is huge as Roby is a star and a shut down corner who may be the best in the country next year. Below you can a recap of the conversation Tim May had with Bradley Roby via his twitter feed.

The “Abusement Park” is coming to Ohio State

OSU FootballSeeming for months it has been rumored that a certain LB was going to commit to OSU. He was a strong lean at the very least and a silent commit at the most. Well that all changed today as he officially became a member of the 2013 class and in doing so brought along his SPARQ National Title and world record.

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Mike Mitchell is a 6’4″ 225 lbs 5 star LB from Plano, Texas. Mike is a freak of an athlete as evideced by his highlight reel below and his nickname of “The Abusement Park” and his world record breaking SPARQ national title at last summers The Opening. Mike will most likely play outside LB at OSU and brings a lot of abilities in a complete package of pass rushing and run stopping. He is the kind of athlete you don’t see very often who can play right away at the next level and not be behind in size or speed. Scout ranks him as a 5 star and the no 2 LB in the country. 247sports ranks him as a 4 star and the 100th best recruit in the country. Rivals ranks him as a 4 star and the 30th best recruit in the country. ESPN ranks him a 4 star and the 121st best recruit in the nation. You can see his highlight reel below but it doesnt include his SR year.

Trey Johnson becomes OSU commit #20

OSU FootballFor a year OSU has tried and failed to land and also keep LBers for the 2013 class. They have had guys commit and decommit and others flat out choose other schools over OSU. While most of us fans were panicking Coach Meyer and his staff just kept plugging along and staying focused on finding the kind of LBers OSU needs and wants and that will fit in their system. In the end I doubt anyone thought OSU would go 0 for in the LB spot for the class so now that NSD is closing in they are snatching up the guys they want.

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Trey Johnson is a 6’2″ 220 lbs 4 star LB from Lawrenceville, GA. Trey is a former Auburn commit who decommitted when the previous coaching staff was fired. He has chosen OSU over Florida, Auburn, Penn St, and Tennessee. Trey is the total package he has the strength, speed, power, and instincts. Trey will most likely play the Middle LB position at OSU and has the run stopping ability and tackling to excel there. As a sophomore in HS he had 152 tackles. As a JR. he had 164 total tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss, and 6 sacks. As a Sr. he had 139 tackles and 17 TFL and 4 INTs. ESPN ranks him as a 4 star and the 96th best player in the nation. 247sports ranks him as a 4 star and the 3rd best ILB in the nation. Scout ranks him a 4 star and the 20th best LB in the nation. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 86th best recruit in the nation. Below you can see his Sr. year highlights.

Basketball Week in Review/Preview

Week of 12/23-12/29 Review

It wasn’t a very busy week for the Buckeyes with Christmas they only had one game and it was just a final cupcake primer in leading up to the start of the Big Ten season.

The only game of the week was at home against a 3-12 Chicago St. Cougars program that gave up little resistance. The game started off pretty slow for OSU with the team shooting woefully starting just 1-8 from behind the arc. They were not playing very good defense either and found themselves in a game that was too close early on. When they started attacking the rim and playing more of a inside out game the shots started to fall and the defense started to pick up and the Buckeyes never looked back in blowing out the Cougars 87-44. The Buckeyes ended up shooting 57% and 47% from 3 point range. they also out rebounded the Cougs 44-18 which helped a ton. Deshawn Thomas led the Buckeyes in scoring with 17 points and was one of 5 players with double digits. Evan Ravenel led the team in rebounds with 10. While it was a great game to work on some issues in the end it won’t do much for their Natl. reputation. This leads us to the start of the B1G season after going 10-2 in Non-Conf games.

Week of 12/30-1/5 Preview

Wednesday January 2nd

The Buckeyes open up B1G play by hosting 9-4 Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska as a team has not been very impressive so far with no signature wins and some really horrible losses. They are scoring 61 points a game while only shooting the ball 43%. They avg 32 rebounds a game and 11 assists. They have 3 guys averaging 13 points a game but after those 3 guys not much to talk about.

Saturday January 5th

The Buckeyes on Saturday will face a tough road test as they head to Champaign, Ill. to take on the 13-1 Illinois Illini. The Illini are a surprising team who came into the season unranked and have played extremely well under first year head coach John Groce and have worked their way up to being ranked 12th in the country. The Illini are led by All B1G player Brandon Paul who I am sure OSU fans remember for scoring 42 points against OSU last year. Paul is scoring 18 points a game this year on 43% FG%. He also leads the team in rebounds per game at 5.1 RPG. The team has 6 guys scoring 8 points a game or more so they have depth and will use it. They like to run a lot and try and control the pace of the game. As a team they avg 77 points per game while shooting 45%. They avg 36 rebounds and 12 assists per game as well. Should be a great match up and a chance for OSU to state their case as an elite team in the B1G.

The Spread, Week Eighteen: B1G Finish(ed?)

Tomorrow night, Minnesota opens up the Big Ten bowl season against Texas Tech. No one has much faith in the Gophers, or the rest of the conference for that matter. All seven of the league’s bowl teams are underdogs and that just reflects the absence of top teams Ohio State and Penn State as well as the general (correct) perception that the conference just wasn’t that good this year.

But I thought it might be interesting to look at how this bowl season would have been different if there no were no sanctions in place for the Buckeyes or the Nittany Lions. I don’t mean to add fuel to your What-Might-Have-Been fire, but what else is there talk about? Cincinnati vs. Duke?

THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

#1 Ohio State vs. #2 Notre Dame

Yes, this is exactly what would have happened. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Ohio State would have been on top due to being ranked higher in the pre-season. There is no reason for Notre Dame to have jumped the Buckeyes throughout the year as both teams had close calls and ugly wins. As for the Bama aPAWLogists, sorry, but there’s no way the last two remaining AQ unbeatens don’t play for the title. You’ll never convince me otherwise.

THE ROSE BOWL

Nebraska vs. Stanford

I’m not sure that the Rose has to take the #2 Big Ten team in this situation (if anyone can verify, it would be appreciated), but I’m pretty sure they would. Penn State was an option here, but both their conference and overall records are worse than the Huskers, so I don’t think they’d be the pick here.

CAPITAL ONE BOWL

Penn State vs. Georgia

Michigan and Penn State are pretty much interchangeable for this spot. They both lost to the same teams in-conference and no common-opponent comparison favors either team significantly. You could argue that Michigan’s schedule earns them this bid, but Penn State was playing better at the end of the year. Also, Michigan sucks.

OUTBACK BOWL

Michigan vs. South Carolina

GATOR BOWL

Northwestern vs. Mississippi State

These two line up just as they did in real life, so maybe my taunting of the Wolverine fans I know was uncalled for. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. That’s never true.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS BOWL

Wisconsin vs. TCU

Bret Bielema always looks like he just drank a tub of Blazin’ sauce anyway, so maybe if this had been the Badgers’ bowl, he would’ve hung around. Thankfully, we’ll never know. I’m sure the Frogs would have enjoyed beating Wisky in a bowl again though.

MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL

Michigan State vs. Texas Tech

This would have been a far better match up for the conference, as the Spartans are more equipped to defend Tech’s passing game and attack them on the ground than Minnesota is.

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL

Purdue vs. Oklahoma State

Another that works out the same as in real life. So a loss.

LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA BOWL

Minnesota vs. Central Michigan

If you watched Western Kentucky play in (and almost win) their first bowl game ever last night, you probably need to look into getting some other hobbies. You probably also didn’t think about how they wouldn’t be there if not for the transgressions of Terrelle Pryor and Jim Tressel, et al. Unless ESPN brought that up. They probably did.

So there you have it. How do you think the B1G would have fared this bowl season if this was the slate? How do think we’re going to do for real? Approximately how much alcohol would an average human need to consume to watch all seven Big Ten bowl games in their entireties (assuming he had the technology to do so)?

A recruiting Christmas Present for Buckeye Nation

OSU FootballA day of giving and receiving is upon us and today OSU got a present in it’s first member of the 2014 recruiting class. Most of the attention lately has been focused mainly on finishing out the 2013 class but several guys from the 2014 class have been trying to commit to Coach Meyer but because of the small size of the class OSU has been asking the guys to wait to commit to give them time to finish out 2013 and for the players to make sure they are making the best decision for themselves. OSU will need several OLmen in the 2014 class and hence they are ready to admit the first commit in the 2014 class a behemoth of an Offensive Tackle.

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Marcelys Jones announced his commitment to Ohio State via his Twitter account.

Marcelys Jones is a 6’5″ 325 lbs 4 star OT from Cleveland, Ohio. Marcelys is a giant recruit who will bring strength and power along with a nasty side that OLmen need to be successful. He will need to work on his foot movement and speed and turn some of his “baby fat” into muscle but with the help of Coach Marotti and his S&C program he will get in shape very quickly. I am not sure he will stay a OT or move inside to OG depends how much he grows height wise in the next year to fit the type of body Coach Meyer wants in his OTs. The good news is most people believe that Marcelys is a package deal with 2013 recruit Chris Worley and 2014 no 1 recruit in Ohio and 5 star talent Marshon Lattimore. Rivals has no ranking for him for 2014 yet. Scout also doesn’t have a ranking for him yet either. 247sports ranks him as a 4 star and the no 3 recruit in Ohio and no 92 recruit in the country. ESPN doesn’t have him ranked yet either.

You can clink the link below to see his highlight reel.

Marcelys Jones Highlights

Merry Christmas From All Of Us At MOTSAG

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