Ohio State has announced that they have scheduled the Oregon Ducks for a home and home series in 2020 and 2021. First the Buckeyes will travel to Autzen Stadium then the Ducks will come to the ‘Shoe in 2021.

Oregon will be sandwiched between TCU (2018-2019) and Texas (2022-2023,) on the Ohio State out of conference schedule.

You have to love that the Buckeyes are willing to play the best teams year in and year out.

Can’t even imagine what Phil Knight will have in store for these games.

The Buckeyes survived a massive scare against Purdue and almost lost their Heisman Trophy candidate for a while. Once again, Sparty fell in a close game, this time to rival Michigan. Over at Penn State, Bill O’Brien’s offense looks unstoppable as they continue to play conference spoiler and Nebraska ripped the hearts out of  the Northwestern faithful. Overall, it was a great weekend for B1G football fans.

1. Ohio State (8-0)- After Braxton Miller went down, Kenny Guiton led the Buckeyes to an amazing come from behind win. They now travel to Happy Valley for their biggest road test of the season. Keep an eye on Miller’s health throughout the week as the Buckeyes will need him at %100 to keep their unbeaten streak alive.

2. Michigan (5-2)- Denard Robinson orchestrated the most clutch drive of his career to steal the game from Michigan State. Also, it was surprising to see a kicker make clutch field goal after clutch field goal to lead his team to victory.

3. Penn State (5-2)- Penn State squashed Iowa after the Hawkeyes big win over Michigan State. They now welcome the Buckeyes into Happy Valley for the Banned from Bowl Games Bowl.

4. Nebraska (5-2)- Nebraska squeaked out a win versus Northwestern and now have Michigan up next for a prime time showdown.

5. Wisconsin (6-2)- Don’t look now, but Wisconsin is finally living up to their lofty preseason expectations. They welcome a reeling Spartan team into Camp Randall this weekend for what should be a classic B1G battle.

6. Northwestern (6-2)- The Wildcats hope to bounce back against an up and down Iowa team after a heartbreaking loss to Nebraska. It will be very interesting to see how this team responds after a last minute loss like that one.

7. Michigan State (4-4)- Michigan State is surprisingly 1-3 in conference play after another close loss, this time to in-state rival Michigan. The formula to beat MSU is simple; shut down Le’Veon Bell and chances are that you walk out victorious. Sparty now has to travel to Camp Randall in attempt to salvage their season.

8. Iowa (4-3)- The Hawkeyes were coming off of a big win at East Lansing and were undefeated in conference play until Penn State came to town. Iowa hopes to rebound at Northwestern this weekend.

9. Purdue (3-4)- Purdue could have had the upset of the year in B1G play, but got a dose of KG. It will be interesting to see how this loss effects the Boilermakers as they travel to Minnesota this week. Upset alert.

10. Indiana (2-5)- Navy came back to defeat the Hoosiers for their first B1G win since 1979. The Hoosiers have lost their last three games (MSU,OSU,Navy) by a combined 8 points and look to get a conference win this weekend versus a very poor Illinois team.

11. Minnesota (4-3)- The Gophers played Wisconsin tough for the first half before getting ran over in the second half. They square off against Purdue this weekend in a game where anything could happen.

12. Illinois (2-5)- The Illini got a much needed week off and look to get out of the B1G basement this weekend versus Indiana.

Compare to last week and feel free to discuss…

A short synopsis of thoughts on today’s game at Purdue with more in depth coverage to follow.

On the first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, Purdue QB Terbush completed a pass to running back Akeem Shavers who had beaten Storm Klein easily and he went untouched for the 83 yard touchdown.  Although the Buckeyes were able briefly take the lead later in the first quarter on a touchdown drive that was capped off by a Braxton Miller run, the lead was quickly relinquished with a 100 yard kickoff return on the ensuing kickoff.  With a blocked extra point on their first touchdown, Purdue held a 13-7 lead at the end of the first half, limiting the Buckeyes offense to 49 yards on the ground with 52 yards through the air.

Although the Buckeyes would again take the lead at the midway point of the third quarter, Purdue promptly answered on their next drive with a touchdown of its own.  The score was 20-14.  On the next possession for the Buckeyes, Braxton Miller broke a long run but was pulled down by the back of his jersey landing hard on his shoulder and leaving the game with an undisclosed injury.  Any hope of Braxton’s return went out the window when it was reported that Miller was taken to the hospital.

With Braxton out of the game, things only got worse as Purdue downed a punt on the one yard line with Kenny Guiton directing the offense.  A penalty in the end zone gave Purdue a safety and an eight point lead 22-14.

With the Buckeyes offense sputtering and seemingly unable to overcome the 8 point deficit, the Buckeyes had to punt the ball back to the Boilermakers with 2:40 left in the final quarter with only one timeout remaining.  With the help of a penalty on 1st down, the Buckeyes defense forced Purdue to punt the ball back with 1:53 remaining.

Guiton engineered a 7 play 61 yard drive that was capped off by a two yard pass to Chris Fields with the two point conversion being successful on a pass to Jeff Heuerman.

In overtime, Purdue won the toss and selected to play defense first.  The Buckeyes scored without much trouble on a 5 play 25 yard drive to take the 29-22 lead.  After two incompletions on first and second down, Purdue picked up five yards on third to force 4th and 5.  With the pocket collapsing, Terbush scrambled and threw a prayer to the endzone that fell incomplete.

The legend of Kenny Guiton may only last one week with the uncertainty of Miller’s status, but nevertheless, it is in the record books.

After giving up 87 points and 918 yards in the last two games, all eyes will be on the reeling Ohio State defense as the units looks to earn its way back to Silver Bullet status or, more realistically, to preseason expectations when the Buckeyes welcome the Boilermakers who are trending downward but are in search of a season defining win.

The good news … the game is being played at home and not in West Lafayette, where the Buckeyes have struggled mightily in recent years.

OHIO STATE DEFENSE V. PURDUE OFFENSE

Looking at the remaining games, the Purdue game comes at the perfect time as the Boilers and Illini are the only relatively poor offenses (Illinois is beyond relatively poor, but that story is for another day) remaining on the schedule, allowing the defense the opportunity to gain some confidence before making a trip to (insert inappropriate comment here) Happy Valley next week.

This week also marks the first glimpse that Buckeye Nation will get of the Buckeyes defense since Urban has begun appearing at defensive meetings.  As we are all well aware, Urban’s presence at the meetings isn’t out of sheer boredom with carving up other Big Ten defenses; rather the Purdue game follows the Buckeyes defense’s worst game of the season.  Following the Indiana game that we all wish we could forget, Urban said he was “’not happy at all’ with what had been going on with the defense, players and coaches.”  He continued that long-term the Buckeyes could not be successful scoring a lot and giving up a lot, but at some point we have to play good defense.  Not surprisingly, no player on the Buckeyes defense graded out as a champion following the Indiana game.

Although it pains me to point this out, the Buckeyes defense currently ranks 69^th in total defense, 33^rd against the rush, 103^rd against the pass, and 53^rd in scoring.  Insert Urban into the defensive team meetings and the public notice that he has put out an “APB” for tough guys to step up on the defense.  Perhaps the addition of Zach Boren with a week of practice at linebacker returns to high school all-state performer form.  If so, Boren’s legend will last for ages or until Boren III finds a way to upstage him if that’s even possible.

Boren is not the only player on the move for a defense that is searching for answers, leaders, and tacklers, as Urban has mentioned that Nathan Williams may also see some time at linebacker.  In my lifetime, I cannot remember ever being as worried as I was last week that our defense would be unable to stop an Indiana offense should they be successful in recovering a second onside kick, so I’m up for trying new things as long as we figure things out before next week.

Luckily this week, we welcome in the Boilers who rank 77^th in total offense, 63^rd in rushing, 69^th in passing, and 45^th in scoring.  Purdue plays two quarterbacks in Caleb TerBush and Robert Marve and the only thing I can really say is that Marve has shown toughness by playing with a partially torn ACL, but neither Purdue quarterback is much of a threat to have a big game.  I look for the Buckeyes to send all kinds of blitzes at the Purdue offense in order to force the quarterbacks to beat us.  I don’t think they are capable of doing so.

Playing from behind much of the day against Wisconsin last week, Purdue’s punter outkicked their offense last week by almost 100 yards as Purdue only mustered 252 total yards.  I am hopeful that the defense puts up the type of statistics that were standard during the Tressel era this week and forces similar numbers as the Badgers did last week.

OHIO STATE OFFENSE V. PURDUE DEFENSE

While the Ohio State defense has been the subject of much criticism as the unit is doing some soul-searching, Braxton Miller has continued to be at or near the top of on the Heisman watch list.  Miller will have his day against a pretty porous Purdue defense which, following the close loss at Notre Dame, has given up 123 points (41 ppg) and 1588 yards (529 ypg) in the last three games against the likes of Marshall, TSUN, and the fighting Beliema’s.

During their recent struggles on the defensive side of the ball, Purdue has shown it is able to play equally poor on the ground and through the air as the Boilers allowed 439 passing yards when they played Marshall, while they allowed 467 rushing yards against Wisconsin.  On the season Purdue ranks 76^th in total defense, 97^th against the rush, 41^st against the pass, and 71^st in scoring in the NCAA.  Kawann Short will look to lead the Boilers defense, but with the offensive line dominance the Buckeyes have exhibited in recent weeks, it’s more likely that Short comes up short (lame, I know) against the Buckeyes O-line.

In opposition to the paltry Boilers defense, the Buckeyes will field an offense that ranks 34^th in total yards, 8^th in rushing, 100^th in passing, and 20^th in scoring.  With Braxton leading the Buckeyes against a pretty inept defense, it should be a matter of picking their poison for the Buckeyes offense and Braxton should put up solid numbers through the air and on the ground adding to his Heisman resume.  Joining Miller in thrashing the Purdue defense, Carlos Hyde should add his third straight 100-plus yard performance to the books as Purdue.  To complement the ground game, you can almost take a long distance connection from Miller to Smith to the bank and this matchup will also provide Corey Brown (I heard he doesn’t like to be called Philly, but then I hear everyone [coaches included] call him Philly) opportunities to turn short routes into bigger gains.

With a relatively soft matchup against a pretty inconsistent defense, the Buckeyes will look to fine tune the well oiled machine that the offense has become and hopefully cut down on penalties as the Buckeyes are tied for 11^th most in penalties committed per game (one instances where a high ranking is not a positive).

SPECIAL TEAMS

If this game goes anything like I prognosticate that it will, the Boilermakers should be punting early and often, providing ample opportunity to break one and add to what should be a dominant Buckeyes performance.  With a dominant Buckeyes offensive performance, the Piranhas will have plenty of opportunity to lay the wood on the Boiler returners.

Call me a glass half full type of guy, but I think the Buckeyes hit their stride at home against the struggling Boilermarkers.  Agree or disagree?

The Buckeyes survived a scare versus Indiana and have problems on the defensive side of the ball. A few teams had a bye week, but the Badgers took control of the Leaders Division with their resounding win over Purdue. Sparty has continued to falter at home with their loss against Iowa and look to bounce back this weekend at Ann Arbor. Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana have jumped up a few spots from last week while Sparty and Purdue have fallen.

1. Ohio State (7-0)- Plain and simple, the defense needs to improve if they want to go undefeated. It is inexcusable  to let up 49 points to Indiana but they should improve this weekend against a sputtering Purdue team.

2. Michigan (4-2)- Dennard Robinson had another great game, this time coming against the conference’s worst defense. Lets see how he does this weekend against a tough Spartan defense that has owned him the past couple of seasons.

3.  Penn State (4-2)- Penn State is a kicker’s meltdown away from being 5-1 on the season. I cannot say enough about Bill O’Brien and the job he has done over at Happy Valley.

4. Northwestern (6-1)- The Wildcats survived a scare from Minnesota and now get to prove their legitimacy against Nebraska. Lets see if they run on the ‘Huskers the same way that Wisconsin and Ohio State did.

5. Nebraska (4-2)- After getting beat down by the Buckeyes, Nebraska got the week off. They travel to Northwestern for a game with Legends Division implications.

6. Wisconsin (4-2)- Even though they lost to the Cornhuskers three weeks ago, it looks like that game woke their offense up. The Badgers are now in the drivers seat of the Leaders Division and it looks like they are a completely different squad that slept through the non-conference schedule. Also, congratulations to Montee Ball who passed Ron Dayne for first place in Big Ten history with 72 career touchdowns.

7. Iowa (4-2)- It looked like Iowa won the National Championship after their win at Michigan State. But a few weeks ago I had written Iowa off and after back to back wins the Hawkeyes are playing their best football. They welcome a hot Nittany Lions squad into town this weekend for a huge tilt.

8. Michigan State (3-3)- Sparty’s offense cannot score and it looks like Kirk Cousins was a greater loss than expected. Also, what has happened to the home field advantage at East Lansing? State travels to the Big House this weekend in hope of salvaging their season.

9. Indiana (2-4)- Although the Hoosiers have lost four straight, they have been competitive in all of their losses. Indiana’s offense can score with anyone and they look to take advantage with Navy and Illinois coming up next.

10. Purdue (3-3)- Purdue has fallen apart and looking at their results, they do not have a marquee win. It does not get any easier for the Boiler Makers though as they travel to Columbus to play against the buzz-saw that is the Buckeye offense.

11. Minnesota (4-2)- The Gophers remained competitive but fell at home to Northwestern. Scary moment for Coach Jerry Kill as he endured a post game seizure in the locker room, lets hope he recovers and gets back onto the sidelines soon. Maybe they can go into Camp Randall this weekend and get a win… But probably not.

12. Illinois (2-5)- The Illini are flat out horrible in all phases of the game. Enough said.

Compare to last week and feel free to discuss…

I need to start off with a disclaimer: I absolutely hate writing these kinds of posts. Whenever there is a controversial topic where both sides are passionate and stubborn it is nearly impossible to convince either side to be reasonable and have a discussion and not a fight.

Having said that, I want to tackle the issue of Ohio State’s defense and, in particular, Luke Fickell.

First lets start off with some facts.

Facts for 2012:

• Ohio State is 7-0
• The defense is giving up 24.6 PPG
• OSU is giving up 122 YPG on the ground
• OSU is giving up 277 YPG in the air
• Total defense is 399 YPG

Facts for 2011:

• Ohio State was 6-7
• The defense gave up 21.0 PPG
• OSU gave up 141 YPG on the ground
• OSU gave up 180 YPG in the air
• Total defense is 321 YPG

Now, for some of you, at the beginning of the year I heard a lot of people saying, “Coach Meyer better not FIRE Luke Fickell after he guided OSU through a 6-7 campaign and gained a lot of respect from fans and the media for helping guide OSU through a difficult time.” Fast forward ten months and OSU is now 7-0 and I am hearing a lot of fans screaming, “Coach Meyer better fire Luke Fickell.” WHAT?????

That alone might make my case. But if it pleases the court, I’d like to introduce some additional evidence for the jury.

Exhibit A – Last year, Luke didn’t call defensive plays and the defense was just as bad if not worse in some categories. Such as: in the seven losses, OSU gave up 25.5 PPG and in the seven wins this year OSU is giving up 24.6 PPG. Sounds like an improvement to me.

Exhibit B – OSU is running a completely new offense that is based on speeding things up and scoring as fast as possible. This strategy keeps the offense off the field a lot more and the defense on the field A LOT more. The more they are out there the more tired they get and more chances they have to make mistakes. Nine chances per game, to be exact. Last year, the defense was on the field for an average of 64 plays per game. Through the first seven games of this year, the defense is averaging 73 plays per game. A lot can happen in nine plays.

Exhibit C – OSU has lost a lot of talent to transfers and injuries. Of the last ten linebackers recruited, two are still with the team. TWO. We are decimated with injuries all over the defense to some of our key players. Some of those injured are still not 100% and are playing hurt. Every starting defensive back has missed time this year. We have had two of the three linebackers miss extended time. Half the defensive line has missed extended time.

Exhibit D – OSU has a serious depth issue and because of that they have to play a lot of freshmen who just aren’t ready to play at this level without making mistakes along the way.

Exhibit E – OSU is so depleted they have moved a fullback to linebacker and a defensive end to linebacker. Both of whom are seniors and have spent the previous three plus years playing at that position. That is a recipe for disaster.

Exhibit F – It is a time honored tradition for sports fans to blame the coaches when something goes bad. Maybe, just maybe, the players aren’t as good as we had all hoped. That’s not to say they can’t or won’t be great players but right now we have very few ELITE players on defense and those we have have been injured a lot.

Exhibit G – OSU has two defensive coordinators and a head coach and multiple defensive assistants. Somehow, Luke Fickell has become the scapegoat. If Coach Meyer thought Luke was the problem I am sure he would ask Coach Withers, who has had success calling defensive plays, to take over. Or any of the other defensive assistants. Truth is, he calls the plays and sometimes he calls bad ones. Sometimes the players just aren’t making the plays they need to.

Exhibit H – Coach Meyer and his staff will fix this problem and will do it by recruiting better defenders. They will put the best guys on the field and put them in a place to have success and if they fail they will replace them. That same theory will apply to the coaches as well.

What we have here folks is a perfect example of sports. There are very few “complete” teams, teams with great offenses, defenses, and coaching. Those teams are so rare and yet fans expect to have them every year for their teams. When it doesn’t happen some fans revolt and look for a scapegoat. Some fans blame the coaches. Some fans blame the players. Some fans blame the referees. In actuality there is enough blame to go around. So spread it around but make sure you have the facts and don’t blame blindly and be a lemming joining the masses in a good old fashioned rage-mob carrying pitchforks and torches.

Lastly, If I were to tell you two months ago OSU would be 7-0 right now and fans would be angry and wanting to see Luke Fickell fired, would you believe me?

After a slow week last week the guys picked up their game this week and put up some impressive numbers. Sadly a few guys were injured.

Jalin Marshall– His team Middletown Middies lost 27-14 loss to Lakota West. Jalin rushed for 165 yards and a TD and went 4 of 18 for 39 yards and another TD.
Eli Woodard– His team Eastern beat Clearvies 36-20. Clearview avoided Eli for most of the game.
Cam Burrows– His team Trotwood-Madison beat Troy 42-14. Cam was part of a total defensive effort that kept Troy to 56 passing yards and 1 TD in the air.
Joey Bosa– His team St. Thomas Aquinas beat South Broward 48-0. Bosa hhelped his team shut out the opponent.
Marcus Baugh– His team John W North beat Valley View 17-10. No stats were available.
Evan Lisle– His team Centerville suffered a 26-10 loss to Huber Heights Wayne. As an O-lineman he helped his team gain 160 total yards in the loss.
Ezekiel Elliott– His team John Burroughs HS enjoyed a 56-0 win over Clayton. He rushed 11 times for 87 yards and had 3 TDs in the shutout victory.
Billy Price– His team Austintown Fitch beat Marion Harding 68-7. Billy helped hold them to 107 passing yards.
Jayme Thompson– His team Toledo Central Catholic enjoyed a 49-21 win over Toledo St. John’s. He had 11 tackles and 2 pass break ups.
J T Barrett- His team Rider beat Lake Dallas 26-7. Unfortunately JT is out for the season with a knee injury.
Michael Hill– His team Pendleton enjoyed a 34-7 win over Carolina Academy. He had a fumble recovery. He also suffered a hand injury.
Taivon Jacobs– His team Suitland enjoyed a 46-6 win over High Point. Taivon 3 catches for 45 yards and 2 TDs.
Darron Lee– His team New Albany enjoyed a 17-6 victory over Big Walnut. Darron had 92 yards rushing.
Tracy Sprinkle– His team Elyria enjoyed a 49-13 win over Stow. Tracy had 6 tackles and 2 TFL and 1 sack and 3 QB hurries.
Tim Gardner– His team Lawrence Central enjoyed a 31-7 win over Bloomington North. Tim helped his team rush for 363 yards.
Johnny Townsend– His team Boone beat Ocoee 30-23. No punting stats could be found.
Tyquan Lewis– His team Tarboro HS enjoyed 43-22 win over Southwest Edgecombe. Tyquan helped hold them to 211 total yards.

Sad news for both JT Barrett and Michael Hill on their injuries. I am sure both will heal as fast as possible and be ready to join the team ASAP. OSU fans should be really excited about this recruiting class there is a ton of talent and speed in this group.