Good morning Buckeye Nation.

Behind The Scenes: Sports Illustrated Pete Thamel did a “behind the scenes” piece yesterday. He gives us his Ten Lessons on what he encountered with the Buckeyes.

I felt this was a pretty good article just not to happy we will be probably losing OC Tom Herman after this season.

Making Noise: The NCAA released a video on the top five loudest stadiums. The list is as follows:

No. 5: Lane Stadium, Virginia Tech

No. 4: Camp Randall Stadium, Wisconsin

No. 3: Kyle Field, Texas A&M

No. 2: Autzen Stadium, Oregon

No. 1: Tiger Stadium, LSU

As you can see the Horseshoe didn’t make the list. This doesn’t surprise me since the NCAA came out with this list and we all know how much the NCAA loves the Buckeyes.

Special Uni’s: There are stories out there that the Buckeye’s will be wearing rival uniforms against Wisconsin Saturday. They will be wearing the same uniforms they wore against Michigan last season and will have on chrome helmets.

First off if these are rival uniforms how is it you will be wearing them against Wisconsin. Just because they have been getting better this last decade and made the games interesting doesn’t move them to rival territory.

Second whats with the chrome helmet fade? I’m not sure how I feel about this one but apparently Urban Meyer likes the look and when you have a bunch of recruits coming in you try to look sharp.

Memories: Who is upset this guy isn’t the coach of Wisconsin anymore?

Highlights from the 2011 OSU vs. Wisconsin football game

The barn burner that was in last seasons game

Until next time Buckeye Nation…

Finally!  Conference season is upon us and first up, the pesky, and dangerous, Wisconsin Badgers.  Here are a few players to keep your eye on Saturday.  One of them is even a good ole Ohio boy!

Wisconsin 

Melvin Gordon, Running Back  #25-  While the Badger backfield also includes James White, Gordon is slowly beginning to take over the role of the feature back.  In all four of the Badgers games this season, Gordon’s worst game this year was 140 yards on 9 attempts, in a 48-0 win against Tennessee Tech.  Needless to say the kid is explosive.  He can between the tackles, with great vision, and when he gets in to open space, defenses are usually chasing him.  Now as dangerous as Gordon is, he has yet to face a defense that allows less that 150 yards rushing per game.  In his three games against FBS opponents, Gordon is averaging 161 yards per game.  Gordon will face an Ohio State defense who has only allowed 79.75 yards per game.  One side will have to budge.  If Ohio State wants to win, they must contain Gordon.

Jared Abbrederis, Wide Receiver #4-  Abbrederis is the utility man for Wisconsin.  Even with their limited passing attack, Abbrederis is still averaging 15.9 yards per reception.  He is the safety blanket  for the below average quarterback Joel Stave.  Abbrederis will attempt to take advantage of the play action game the Badgers will run on occasion.  Roby, and the rest of the Buckeye secondary will have to be wary of Abbrederis’ ability to sneak behind defenses for a big play.  If he is able to get behind the secondary just once and make it count, it may just give the Stave the confidence the Buckeye defense does not want him to find.

Chris Borland, Middle Linebacker #44-  Now for the Senior from Kettling, Ohio.  Chris Borland was a two star recruit out of high school, and for that reason, he wasn’t even offered by the Buckeyes.  Four years later, Borland is an All Big Ten linebacker, and is the cornerstone of the Badger defense.  Borland won’t put up amazing stats, but he anchors the Badgers stingy rush defense.  He has excellent positioning and will rack up massive amounts of tackles for the Badgers.  Look for Borland to be the consistent stronghold of the Wisconsin defense on Saturday.

Ohio State

Curtis Grant-  “This is without question one of the defining moments of his career.”  That was a direct quote from Urban Meyer, on the Big Ten weekly teleconference.  Ding, ding, ding, Curtis Grant your bell has been rung.  Grant will be HUGE in stopping the Badgers run game.  He has done very well this season in filling running gaps, and wrapping up running backs.  I’d be surprised to see Grant not play well Saturday night.  He’s a great, not good, but great run stopping line backer and should have a productive night Saturday.

Carlos Hyde-  This will be Hyde’s real first game back (with all due respect to FAMU).  Hyde’s conditioning will be tested in this game, as he will be called upon to tote the rock early on against a very stubborn Wisconsin defense.  The front seven of Wisconsin will be one of the biggest and stout run defenses will face all year.  Hyde will need to establish a power run game, to help set up other areas of the offense.  If the Badgers D are forced to respect Hyde, then the rest of the offense will open up for Braxton Miller, and will greatly assist any rust he may have to shake off.  Hyde is big time back, who shows up in big games.  I wouldn’t expect a lot of yards out of Hyde Saturday night, but I will expect him to get the call down close to the goal line.  If he can average around 3.5 to 4 yards a carry, the Buckeye offense will be very successful Saturday.

Braxton Miller-  Braxton’s rustiness is being way over played.  If this was Braxton of last year, who had messy mechanics and awful footwork, rust would certainly be a problem.  However, his mechanics are much cleaner this year, and he also seems much more committed to sticking with them than before.  Therefore, his rust may not be as serious as some are expecting.  Also, the Badgers secondary struggled against Arizona State’s pass attack two weeks ago, in a close loss.  Their secondary couldn’t handle the amount of weapons and tempo the Sun Devils threw at them.  I’m expecting a much similar story Saturday.  Braxton will also have his two trusted running backs, Carlos Hyde and Jordan Hall, to take some of the pressure off of him.  Expect Braxton to have a few quick early throws and get him in rhythm.  As long as his play-makers help alleviate pressure expect Miller to be just fine.  Braxton loves the spotlight, and I don’t think he will disappoint Saturday.

As always, presented without comment.

Stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

Good morning Buckeye Nation.

Bad Wheel: Today we will start with the unfortunate news that freshman wide receiver James Clark looks to be out for the season. Kyle Rowland of elevenwarriors.com tweeted out yesterday that this ankle injury is serious. Since this has happened in the first four games of the football season it looks as if James will be able to get a medical redshirt.

Clark is one of the many talented recruits from the 2013 class that ranks as one of the best in the nation. Our best to James Clark and can’t wait to see him back out on the field next season.

Glad I’m Not Her: Seems Y! Sports has video on Fox Sports sideline reporter Pam Oliver having a terrible season. She received a concussion last month during a preseason game when Indianapolis Colts quarterback Chandler Harnish hit her in the head while she was doing an interview and then this past Sunday during the Cincinnati Bungles Bengals game she almost was run over by The Ohio State University Marching Band.

Scarlet and Gray Island Invasion: Speaking of TBDBITL there is some video of the band performing on Miller’s Ferry and their trip into Put in Bay earlier this month.

I love the fact that this band gets to go preforming all around and all the fans that get to enjoy their talents. TBDBITL is Ohio State they are an institution and a great icon and always brings the goose bumps when you listen to them.

Early Recruit: Kind of upset our own recruiting specialists dropped the ball on this one The Ohio State Buckeyes have their first recruit for the Class of 2029!! Sullivan Besser is a future QB in the making. He runs a fast 40 and excels in the classroom.

Seems Busser’s parents thought it would be a great idea to send Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer a recruiting packet on the toddler. Urban being Urban sent a letter back to the family saying he couldn’t wait to see him make his 2029 debut and he would need to work on adding weight but the Buckeyes have a great staff to take care of that.

The Badgers: Since it’s “Beat Wisky” week. Hers a video highlight of what happened last season, lets hope its not that close this year.

Until next time Buckeye Nation.

There’s no need to ridicule Florida A&M here. They were clearly outmatched, and everyone knew that from the beginning. I’m also not going to address the absurd accusations of “running up the score.” If you watched the game, you know exactly what happened. If you didn’t, then you looked at the box score and let your opinion of Urban Meyer and Ohio State dictate your interpretation. So let’s get to what the Buckeyes accomplished in an admittedly unnecessary game:

Kenny G In The Record Book: Guiton officially became the Best Backup In The Nation by beating a record that even Bobby Hoying only managed to tie (twice). That his six touchdown passes all came in the first half erases this game’s ubiquitous qualifier of “against Florida A&M.” Congrats to Kenny. No one deserves this more.

Zeke’s Big Day: Ezekiel Elliott stepped into the lineup at the beginning of the second half and picked up 39 of Ohio State’s 65 rushing yards (the rest went to QB Cardale Jones) on an opening touchdown drive that spelled the ultimate doom for the Rattlers. These were the backups’ backups, and things were still running pretty smoothly. Elliott found the end zone again on Ohio State’s next drive, which included a spectacular 57-yard run. He would get a few more carries as Warren Ball and Devonte Butler were worked into the backfield. Elliott finished the day with 162 yards and two scores on just 14 carries, solidifying himself as a future contributor to the Buckeye ground game.

The (Sort Of) Return of Hyde: This was Carlos Hyde’s first game back from suspension, and he took the field for a 4th and 1 play midway through the first quarter. We converted (which, of course, was despicable of us) and Hyde would eventually cap the drive with a one-yard touchdown catch. Hyde had one more significant drive in the second quarter and finished with 41 yards on 5 carries. Obviously, his carries were limited in a game that focused heavily on backups, but it was a good performance after an extended absence, and he will be crucial in short-yardage situations as the season goes on.

Staying Healthy (Almost): Of course, it would have been ideal to have zero injuries on Saturday, but I think Buckeye Nation will still rest easy despite freshman James Clark getting hurt. I hate to diminish any injury and certainly don’t want to sound cold, but this is football and Clark is not a major piece of the offense. There is still potential for a medical redshirt if the injury is serious enough, and needless to say, I hope Clark recovers fully and comes back stronger.

Shutout: You can’t complain about giving up zero points and fewer than 100 total yards, regardless of the opponent. The Silver Bullets also allowed just two first downs in the entire game. I was surprised that we only snagged one pick, but Florida A&M wasn’t throwing as much I thought they would either.

All in all, the game was as perfect for Ohio State as one could reasonably expect. While I’m still a bit nervous about a rusty Braxton taking the field against Wisconsin next week, I wouldn’t have wanted him out there at less than 100% in a meaningless game either.