By: Ryan Black

Ok, you guys won’t believe this but something incredible happened last night…

As usual on Wednesday evenings, I wander the streets of campus hoping to “bump” into an Ohio State player while loosely holding a cup of coffee.  In a perfect world a Joey Bosa or Zeke Elliott will “accidentally” come into contact with me as I spill my beverage all over myself. I’ll then say, “Now that’s what I call a sticky situation” and they will offer to become my best friend.

Well, it was another night I failed to get my platonic Buckeye meet cute but something even better happened. I thought I spotted Cardale Jones about ten yards ahead of me, so I tiptoed passed him and veered right into an alley to U-turn and enact my plan.

I noticed a spooky looking man in the alley who stood no taller than 5 feet tall, who stopped me in my tracks. He looked me dead in the eye and said with a voice as deep as the Pacific, “Come over here little child; come experience the unbelievable.” I couldn’t say no.

He held out a red and blue pill with his little hands and asked me to “choose”.

I obviously grabbed both and swallowed. The little man freaked.

The next few minutes became really weird; I remember loud screaming from a very deep voice, a sharp pain from my gut and my vision became fuzzy as I slipped into blackness.

I woke up in a dumpster in an alley off of High Street very confused. Now this is only the 3^rd or 4^th time I have woken up in this particular dumpster in my life, so I knew something could be wrong. I checked my phone and it said 11:15AM which seemed odd because campus should have a bunch of student foot traffic for a Thursday at this time but it was dead.

As I walked by the USA Today newspaper stand, I was stunned when I noticed the date- Sunday November 8^th… How? Why? Somehow I had went 4 days into the future… What was going on?

I stood in shock for a good 10 minutes before my vision started becoming blurry and my stomach ached again. I had a feeling I wasn’t supposed to be here, that I was headed back to where I belong, back to Wednesday night.

I knew I had to do something before I returned, so I shattered the glass of the USA Today newspaper receptacle with a kick Cam Johnston would have appreciated, got out my Iphone 3, opened the sports section and began taking snapshots of the college football scores and headlines from the day before so I could have evidence to show of my journey.

I was able to secure ten screenshots before I returned to Wednesday evening in a pool of my own vomit feeling like I was punched 40-50 times in the stomach with tiny fists. Do with these as you see fit…

I’m still contemplating who that man was and what I discovered but that is for me to deal with.

Here are the College Football Headlines from Sunday November 8^th:

LSU 23 ALABAMA 14: BAMA SHOULDN’T BE PUNISHED IN RANKINGS FOR LOSING TO TEAM WHO BEAT BAMA

CLEMSON 34 FLORIDA STATE 28: DABO BEATS JIMBO FOR MOST REDNECK NAME TITLE

GEORGIA 17 KENTUCKY 14: BULLDOGS EXCEPTIONALLY UNEXCEPTIONAL AS USUAL

TEXAS TECH 63 WEST VIRGINIA 57: HISTORY MADE WITH FIRST EVER GAME WITH ZERO TACKLES

MICHIGAN 38 RUTGERS 14: HARBAUGH SAYS SOMETHING ODD POSTGAME, MEDIA LAUGHS

ARMY 7 AIR FORCE 7: GAME CANCELLED IN 2^ND QUARTER DUE TO FORWARD PASS

OKLAHOMA STATE 41 TCU 37: GUS JOHNSON BREAKS DECIBEL RECORD ON LAST SECOND TOUCHDOWN. 10 INJURED

MICHIGAN STATE 45 NEBRASKA 24: MSU WINS. MIKE RILEY STILL BALD

AUBURN 20 TEXAS A&M 17: AUBURN WINS AFTER TEAMS COMBINE FOR 8 TURNOVERS BAD DEFENSE AND RECORD NUMBER OF PENALTIES. STILL PASS EYE TEST

OHIO STATE 41 MINNESOTA 17: QB CONTROVERSY PART 3?

Take the weekend off from watching football (since you already know the outcome), call your bookie and enjoy yourself some you time.

Bonus: Wife still pregnant. Al can read my thoughts…

Double Bonus: If you’re like me and you hate desserts, get ready to be Larry David this Thanksgiving…

Welcome back to the bye week version of The Urban Dictionary.

Rather than make comedic light of a serious issue that happened this past weekend involving a particular quarterback, this piece won’t follow the same regular format – not to mention that issue has been drilled into the ground by every Ohio State media outlet in Anthony Schlegel style.

Schlegel=OSU media outlets. Hopeless fan=issue.

But instead, in case you haven’t heard, the great Urban Meyer has released his new book – Above The Line, which came out October 27. The book is about leadership and lessons that Meyer learned from last year’s championship team. Meyer went on Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor in his famous “No Spin Zone” segment to talk about the book:

I would love to see O’Reilly bring Braxton onto the no spin zone and see what might happen.

I figured that was worth pulling back out of the bag to watch a few more times.

But Meyer’s book can easily be purchased here on Amazon.

This is not at all Urban Meyer related, but this is too funny not to share. Everyone should tweet this at Paul Finebaum to ruin his day. But nevertheless, “the SEC myth,” explained by a proud fan of the surprisingly undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes.

Lastly, I would like to point out that in light of some criticisms by notorious haters of Urban Meyer and Ohio State, Dennis Dodd and Clay Travis of Fox Sports, that I think Meyer handled this weekend’s situation well and was correct in suspending Barrett for the Minnesota game. Travis and Dodd have both slammed Urban for his handling of the situation and calling him a hypocrite for what he said about how he would have dealt with the Jameis Winston issue if he were at Florida State. As far as I know, Meyer did not have to punish Barrett at all for any reason, but he decided to anyways, which falls in line with what he has done in the past and also falls in line with his book.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this random string of randomness, but next week will be back on track, following the game against the Golden Gophers.

By: Phil Schoch, Twitter me @osuphil95

Each week in this spot, we squint and peer at the college football landscape – the storylines, point spreads and match-ups – and predict each B1G game as well as a few national spotlight games.

Backsliding Again.

After leveling out on the season at 49-49 against the spread, Pick ’em & Tidbits lost its mojo in Week 9 and carded a meager 2-5 against the spread and 5-2 straight up. The PM Stukenburg Fearless Prediction was a flop once again as Penn State demolished the Flailin’ Illini, 38-0. The yearly totals stand at 51-54 against the spread (48.6%) and 79-26 straight up (75.2%).

JT & the Bye-Week Blues.

Twitter, blogs, fan bases, sports radio blowhards and writers across the nation weighed in with their definitive opinions and takes. One extreme nailed JT to the cross and called for Pontius Meyer to name Barabbas as the starting QB. The other extreme dismissed the OVI as he’s just a kid (he’s not) and he made a college mistake. As usual, the truth and consequences fall in the middle.

Best of luck and health to Jerry Kill.

Between the time my Week 9 article was submitted for review and went public last week, Jerry Kill held his tear-jerker press conference announcing his retirement due to ongoing health issues. Kill announced his retirement and two hours later, my article – critical of Kill and the Gophers for underachieving in 2015 – was released. The outpouring of emotion and respect from both the coaching and media communities certainly proves the level of esteem with which Coach kill is held. Due to the timing of the article release, I felt like Michael Richards in his cameo appearance in the movie, So I Married an Axe Murderer. NSFW Alert – Mild Language.

November is for Contenders.

When the leaves began to fall and the first frost coated the Midwestern plains, legendary Buckeye coach Jim Tressel was fond of saying (I’m paraphrasing), ‘October is for beer, brats and Trick or Treat candy, but November is for contenders.’ The calendar has rolled over to November, so let’s take a conference-by-conference look at the glut of contenders, their remaining schedules and project a College Football Playoff foursome.

BIG XII

Despite the lack of a conference title game, the Big XII is set up for a compelling, four team, round robin playoff. Because of the conference’s aversion to defense, I don’t see any of these four sliding through unbeaten. Baylor is breaking in a new quarterback. Oklahoma lost to 3-5 Texas. TCU had near misses against Texas Tech and Kansas State. Who trusts Oklahoma State’s defense? As long as one of these teams is 11-1 at the end of the season, I think they are getting in this year. Why not TCU?

SEC

The winner of the SEC is a lock (almost) to make the Final 4. The fly in the SEC ointment is 2-loss Ole Miss. The Rebels (and LSU) control their own destiny in the SEC West. Does a 2-loss SEC champ get in? Does a 1-loss divisional runner up (Alabama) get in? Florida has a manageable route to playing for the SEC title with 1-loss. A lot of football to be played, but I’ll predict an SEC title and Final 4 appearance for LSU.

ACC

Barring an epic letdown-loss, Clemson is the safe pick to advance to the Final 4.

B1G

Barring a repeat of Michigan’s 1969 colossal upset of undefeated and defending champion Ohio State, look for the Buckeyes to roll into Indianapolis and expose Iowa in the B1G Championship game.

PAC 12

Stanford is the West Coast’s last semi-legitimate chance to crack the Final 4. I don’t see it happening.

Independent

It’s time for Notre Dame’s preferential treatment to end. Force them to join a conference by cutting off their access to the Final 4!

Wildcard Longshots

The continents will reconnect to reform Pangaea before an undefeated American Athletic Conference champion makes the Final 4 before a group of 1-loss blue bloods.

Pick ’em & Tidbits Final 4 Prediction… Ohio State, Clemson, LSU and TCU.

Saturday, November 8, 2015

Around the B1G…

Pick ’em says… Penn State (7-2) and Northwestern (6-2) are playing for bowl positioning. Christian Hackenburg has found a receiver who can snare his wayward throws and arm punts in Chris Godwin. Nits, 20-17.

From 1966 – 2012, legendary Minster (Ohio) resident, Paul ‘P.M.’ Stukenborg (pictured above) posted his weekly sports predictions in the hometown paper, The Community Post. Each week, Pick ’em will make a P.M. Stukenborg Fearless Prediction and call for an underdog to to knock off the favorite.

Pick ’em says… The Boilers 55-45 victory over Nebraska was their first home B1G win in Darrell Hazell’s three-year tenure. Illinois is fading. Boiler up! 24-22.

Pick ’em says… The Hawkeyes have been consistent and efficient on their path to 8-0. The Hoosiers have been injury and turnover-prone on their path to another unmemorable season. Iowa, 27-20.

Pick ’em says… To their credit, the Terps haven’t completely phoned it in. They just aren’t any good. Badgers, 34-17.

Pick ’em says… After another blowout loss, Rutgers coach Kyle Flood sleeps with the fishes. Michigan, 38-10.

Pick ’em says… It’s the too-good-to-be-true point spread of the week. The Huskers are 3-6 and the Spartans are 8-0. Somebody knows something that we don’t know. Spartans, 24-17.

Pick ’em says… 1 yard. 19 seconds. 1 timeout. The Gophers blew the opportunity for a major feel good/rivalry/momentum victory. Their emotional tank has to be on E. Look for the Buckeyes to rally around Cardale Jones in his return. Buckeyes, 31-13.

National Spotlight Games

 Pick ’em says… It’s the biggest game in the ACC most seasons and 2015 is no different. What is different is that everyone expects Clemson to roll. Be careful Dabo. Tigers 27-24.

Pick ’em says… The Big XII round robin tournament starts this week. Both Okie State and TCU have one quality-ish win apiece – they both defeated Texas Tech. I just don’t trust the Cowboys on the big-ish stage. Frogs 45-35.

Pick ’em says… LSU has two quality wins (at Miss State & Florida). Bama has two solid wins (Wisconsin & at Georgia). Alabama’s offense is the weakest of the four major units and it’s about time Les Miles goes voodoo priest-mode on the big stage. Tigers, 23-17.

The Heisman award is the most prestigious and honorable award in all of college football. It is awarded to the best of the best and once you win it. you will forever go down in the history books as one of the all time greats. Here is my current Heisman Watch in order

1- Leonard Fournette- LSU RB

Fournette is currently number one on almost all of the Heisman watch’s out there. He has made some real unbelievable plays and has even more unreal stats. So far in 8 games, Fournette has 1,352 yards and 15 touchdowns, but in my opinion, the craziest stat of all is his yards per carry, which is 7.7. That is insane especially when you consider that LSU has played a difficult schedule so far, and some extremely good defenses. If he keeps up this pace of play, he will run away with the trophy.

2- Trevone Boykin- TCU QB

As expected, Boykin is the best QB in all of college football. He is the main reason that TCU is still undefeated and will have to keep up his high level of play if they want to be successful in the postseason. So far, he has thrown for     2, 927 yards with 28 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. His completion percentage is at almost 67 percent and his QBR of 89.1. They have a lack of big match ups so far so we will see in the coming weeks just how real Boykin and TCU are.

3- Corey Coleman- Baylor WR

Coleman is unreal right now. in 7 games, he has 18 touchdowns, which is equivalent to over 2.5 touchdowns per game. He also has an astounding 962 yards this season so far, which is an average of 137 yards receiving per game. To top it all off, he is averaging 21 yards per reception. He is having an absolutely ridiculous year  and is a big reason as to why the Bears are number 2 in the country. With the injury to Seth Russell we will see if that hurts Coleman’s production at all.

4- Ezekiel Elliot- OSU RB

ZEKE!!!!!!!! He has probably the most impressive stat out of any running back, which is 13 straight games with 100 yards or more rushing yards. He has 1,130 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while averaging almost 7 yards per carry. If he keeps up this high level of play, especially since OSU has a decently tough schedule coming up, he will be in New York come December.

5- Christian McCaffrey- Stanford RB

McCaffrey is probably the big surprise on the list, but he is more than deserving of this spot. He has 1,060 yards rushing with 6 touchdowns. The most impressive part is that, in their last 4 games, 3 of those he had 200 rushing/receiving yards. He is averaging 259 all purpose yards per game. He is having a great year and if he keeps it up, he may surprise a lot of people.

6-10:

6- Dalvin Cook- FSU RB

7- Derrick Henry- Alabama RB

8- Paxton Lynch- Memphis QB

9- Deshaun Watson- Clemson QB

10- Josh Doctson- TCU WR

Expect Cardale Jones to play his best football of the 2015 season this Saturday against Minnesota.

In fact, don’t be surprised if he plays the best game of his career against the Golden Gophers, and makes fans wonder, “Wait, are we more dangerous offensively with Jones at quarterback?”

Aside from the negative news surrounding his teammate and friend, J.T. Barrett, Jones finds himself in the perfect situation to succeed this weekend – a situation that more closely mirrors the predicament he found himself at the end of the 2014 season. Now, with Barrett suspended from the game and thus not posing as a threat or “bullpen ace” for the Ohio State coaching staff to turn to, the rest of the Buckeyes will have no choice but to band behind him, elevate their individual performances, and do what it takes to win the football game. The same way they did in consecutive games against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon last season.

It’s absolutely a different scenario than Jones has faced all season – which might account for how seemingly unimpressive he had played in his first seven starts. Similar to how Barrett looked rusty and made poor decisions in early-season matchups – likely because of his desire to push to make enough plays to “win” the spot – Jones may have also been more hesitant to take chances on big plays out of fear that he could “lose” his spot. By playing cautiously (i.e. trying to limit mistakes), Jones may have actually played away from his strengths. The very strengths that may have prompted Urban Meyer to name him the starting quarterback from the onset. Instead of unleashing deep balls – his most noticeable advantage over Barrett – and trucking defenders on scrambles to convert third downs, Jones instead tried to play safe. He played safe because he was scared to give the coaches a reason to bench him for Barrett. However, it was actually a choice that limited the potential of himself – and the offense.

Think about it. In the final three games of 2014, Jones was the only option the Buckeyes had at quarterback, besides burning unproven Stephen Collier’s redshirt or running the Wildcat offense with Jalin Marshall. Jones was able to pair his natural raw talents with a sense of swagger – a swagger that only comes when you know that you are unequivocally the man. He knew that it was up to him to make plays to complement Ezekiel Elliott’s backfield prowess. He knew he had to do whatever it took to win games – even if it meant putting his body on the line and pummeling 310-pound nose guards. Likewise, all of his teammates – on the offense and defense – knew they had to elevate their games to put Jones in the best position to succeed.

Maybe Jones’s lack of deep ball success in 2015 isn’t because of the absence of Devin Smith – maybe it’s because he was scared to throw bombs unless it was dialed up in the right moment, for fear of making mistakes.

Cardale will have the privilege of playing with a sense of reckless abandon against Minnesota. Knowing that he’s already been supplanted as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, he’ll be able to mentally treat this game like it’s the national championship game. He’ll scramble for third down conversions; he’ll connect on passes of over 50 yards; and *Bonus* Elliott might run for over 200 yards again.

Don’t expect Jones to look like Aaron Rodgers out there on the field. He’ll still make mistakes here and there, but that’s who he is. He’s an imperfect game-changer. The reins will be loosened, he won’t be nervous about making mistakes, and the Buckeyes will roll over Minnesota. This Saturday, you can expect to see that shiny-looking 12 Gauge that Ohio State fans have been longing for since January.

The Votes are in!!

Teams	Points	Record	Last Week
	8	8-0 (4-0)	1
	17	8-0 (4-0)	2
	23	8-0 (4-0)	3
	33	6-2 (3-1)	4
	39	7-2 (4-1)	5
	54	6-2 (2-2)	6
	55	7-2 (4-1)	7
	60	4-4 (1-3)	8
	73	4-4 (0-4)	9
	86	3-5 (1-4)	12
	91	4-4 (1-3)	10
	97	2-6 (0-4)	13
	100	3-6 (1-4)	11
	104	2-6 (1-3)	14