Three Yards and a Cloud of Links

Good Morning Buckeye Nation.

New Ice: Today lets start off with some Hockey stuff.

The ice is down!  #GoBucks #OhioState #Hockey

The Ohio State Men’s Hockey twitter account has been active and they have posted pics of the new Ice for the Schott.

Kind of feels weird to be talking hockey already especially since football hasn’t even started which by the way is now into the single days countdown!!!

[Read more…]

Three Yards and a Cloud of Links

Good morning Buckeye Nation


Hall Of Fame Dinner: Ohio State Athletics 2013 Hall of Fame Dinner tickets are now available to purchase. There is 14 men and women being inducted this year, the dinner will be held at Archie M. Griffin Ballroom at Ohio Union on Sept. 27th and begins at 5:30 pm.


Mr. Hall of Fame: Today former Buckeye Cris Carter will be officially introduced into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Oh. Carter was an All American in 1986, in his Ohio State career he finished with 168 receptions, 2725 yards receiving, 16.2 yards per catch and 27 touchdowns in three years. Congratulations to Cris Carter one of my favorite Buckeyes.


Tennis Coaches: Bryan Koniecko and Justin Kronauge both were promoted to the women’s and men’s tennis teams. Both were former players and they understand the tradition of the programs. Congrats to both Koniecko (2006-09) and Krnauge (2007-10).


Canadian Camp: Julia McKinnon a sophomore women’s ice hockey player for the Buckeye’s has been invited to attend Canada’s National Women’s Development Team selection camp. McKinnon a native of Kelowna, British Columbia is one of 40 players invited to the camp taking place at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary Aug. 10-18th.


New Assistant: Buckeyes former All American Gabby Capuzzi was named the new assistant coach replacing Amanda Belichick who went back to her alma mater Wesleyan University as their new head coach.

What the…. : This falls under what the.. where can I get one of those!!


Guess what Camp opens tomorrow for Buckeyes football!!!

Until next time Buckeye Nation…

Three Yards and a Cloud of Links

OSU LogoThree Yards and a Cloud of Links is Men of the Scarlet and Gray’s newly renamed, semi-regular curated look at items that would interest the casual and hard-core Ohio State fan. These include news items, interesting blog posts and the occasional meme you’ve probably already seen. It’s all here and it’s all for you. Have a tip that should be included in the next TYAACOL? Drop us a line at motsag@gmail.com or through our Contact Page.

w680As the B1G grows: “It’s pretty obvious to us that the paradigm has shifted, and it’s not your father’s Big Ten,” Delany said via Brett McMurphy and Dana O’Neil of ESPN.

Adam Kramer of Bleacher Report talks about how the B1G is changing with their expansion, changing of league names (finally), and recruiting as a whole.

The B1G is making more of a push into the large market of New York by adding a bowl game at Yankee Stadium the addition of  Rutgers and the planned new B1G offices by 2014. The additions of Maryland and Rutgers pushes the B1G’s reach all the way to the east coast. Finally changing the Leaders and Legends divisions to being called East and West. The B1G is also having its inaugural men’s hockey season. Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin will be the teams. Not only is Men’s Hockey being added  as a B1G sport but also men and women’s Lacrosse will become the 27th and 28th official sports. Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, and John Hopkins(just men’s) and Northwestern (just woman’s).

It’s a new day in the B1G!!

He said What: Drew Sharp of freep.com recently posted a blog basically blasting Michigan and the B1G.

“A little delusion once in awhile isn’t terrible. Fooling yourself into believing that anything’s possible has restorative properties.

But eventually, reality hits you pretty hard squarely between the eyes.

The impending birth of a new football season doesn’t change an old argument: The Big Ten isn’t anywhere close to the SEC competitively. It wasn’t close 10 years ago. It’s not close now. It won’t be close 10 years from now.

Accept the limitations and move on.”

Now I don’t know what he’s hearing, watching or reading but I know for sure without a doubt there is a team in the B1G that is changing this attitude. The Ohio State University lead by, the coach who started the SEC dominance and has two National Championships, Mr. Urban Meyer. Urban has done an outstanding job at recruiting speed as he has been accustomed to doing wherever he coached at. As evidenced by watching The Opening the last two years you would have seen Urban’s recruits on hand as some of the fastest in the nation. Mike Mitchell finished first in last years Sparq combine while Terry Mclaurin represented Buckeye Nation well by almost beating ATH Speedy Noil.

Cory Mccune of Bleacher Report has a nice section that has a little breakdown and video highlights of each recruit of Ohio State.

Oh No She Didn’t: Speaking of recruiting I came across an article from Lisa Horne. She quotes, Bleacher Reports Andrew Kulha’s interview with Miami (FLA.) commit ,Kc McDermott as saying this in regards to Urban Meyer.

He came to my school a week after I told his assistant that I wasn’t even interested in them. I told him no to his face, and it’s got to be one of the top five reactions of someone ever. His facial expression was just so funny. My coach was tearing up and had to go in his office to laugh.

More like the state of shock where the guy has literally never been told no in his life. It literally looked like a kid the first time you tell him ‘no, you can’t do something.’ It looked like he was a baby about to cry. It was so funny.

She also went on to say that Five Star Defensive End Lorenzo Carter talked about his “drive through visit” to Ohio State’s campus. She implies that Urban is having a problem with recruiting because of “bad publicity”, kids talk.

Here’s my problem number one I’m sure that Urban has been turned down before and I’m sure it has been to his face, now I’m not sure but I’m betting that Meyer’s reaction was from the way the “kid” disrespected him. To say that coaches who have been recruiting longer than he’s been playing football haven’t heard “No Thanks I’m going elsewhere” is ridiculous. Number two when Carter claims his “unofficial visit” was just a drive through was anyone on the coaching staff notified ahead of time? Did we check into this or we just taking a kids word.

Trying to manufacture that there’s something wrong with the way Urban Meyer recruits, we should  verify what these kids are saying is true and number lets look at his whole body of work. Meyer is not going to get every single kid he wants, no coach will, but to take the word of two kids over his whole body of work is insulting.

Breaking, Another One bits the Dust: It seems like the Buckeyes have lost another player. Unfortunately its at an already thin linebacker corp. Luke Roberts is transferring to Harvard. He is the second player after David Perkins announced his transfer. Seems Luke turned down a scholarship to Virginia to attend Harvard. Wish Luke well in his future endeavors.

Thank You for your time.

Being a new writer to the site I would love to hear you input!!!

In Case You Missed It

Buckeyes begin league play vs. TTUN

The inaugural season of Big 10 men’s ice hockey kicks off with a humdinger of a game as the Buckeyes travel up north to take on a certain team up there. In addition to playing in a whole new league, the Buckeyes will also be guided under new head coach Steve Rohlik.

Mike Conley is the difference for the Grizzlies in Game 2

Many people doubted Mike Conley going into the NBA draft, after all he was mostly overshadowed by teammate Greg Oden. However, any doubts about this value were erased in game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. Conley hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:04 left in the game to put the Grizzlies up 94-90. Conley also had 10 rebounds and 9 assists on his way to 26 total points. Many now see Conley as an upcoming star in the league.

Dave Perkins is transferring

Perkins who is most famous for laying out Brutus a month ago has decided to transfer from Ohio State. The news comes rather abruptly and where he might end up is anyone’s guess.

Recruiting updates

Buckeyes have sent out a slew of offers this week. First up is Detric Dukes and Kirk Tucker a pair of LBs out of Georgia. Justus Reed a 3* defensive end from Florida and finally Deandre Goolsby a tight-end from Kansas rounds out the offers this week.

In Case You Missed It

College Football Playoff name revealed

The long awaited playoff in college football is becoming a reality as conference commissioners have decided on the name of the new playoff game. What name would they settle on? Something inspirational, something captivating, something… memorable? Nope. It will be called, “The College Football Playoff”. Voting has been opened up at the aptly named collegefootballplayoff.com website where you can vote on the logo from four equally uninspired designs. Truly democracy at its most boring.

Steve Rohlik named new OSU hockey coach

Rohlik brings 16 years of experience as a DI coach including the last three as associate head coach in Columbus. Before becoming a Buckeye he was a part of the Minnesota Duluth team for ten years including 2 tournament appearances as well as a trip to the Frozen Four.

Jonathan Hankins looks forward to the draft

Hankins, who was once a top twenty draft prospect has seen his stock go down over the last week. Now, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper has him as a top sixteen prospect… In the second round. Despite that, Hankins has kept his confidence up. Kiper pointed out that Hankins’ production was not as good this year as last. Says Hankins, “When they ask me about that (drop-off in production), I tell them we went undefeated as a team in 2012 and I was a big part of that,”

Reid Fragel confident in his NFL future

Coming off his private workout with the Bengals last week, Reid Fragel said it was ‘Awesome’ and that they said he improved his draft stock with the team. The former tight end has only been playing tackle for a year but despite that he is extremely confident in his skills. “This whole time, not to sound cocky, but I was confident in my ability to become an NFL tackle,” Fragel said. “That’s been a one-year project, and a credit to the coaches I’ve worked with.” Currently Fragel is ranked the 14th tackle and the 147th overall pick.

Jamarco Jones gets visit from OSU

In the never ending world of college football recruitment, the Buckeyes are making strides after one of their most important prospects. It looks like Meyer is bringing the house when it comes to Jones, going after the offensive tackle from Illinois hard. Jones just tweeted out 3 hours ago that he had spoken with Urban Meyer himself. Rivals gives Jones a 4 star rating and his position is one of the most important OSU needs to shore up going forward.

In Case You Missed It

Brian Robiskie re-signed by Lions

Former Buckeye Brian Robiskie has been re-signed by the Detroit Lions after being briefly released by them last week. Details of the deal aren’t yet known but his re-signing most likely has to do with the new minimum salary cap put in place by the NFL. Robiskie hasn’t done much to think he has a shot at a starting position and with Nate Burleson (the person Robiskie replaced) coming back and whichever receiver the Lions take in the draft, Robiskie certainly has a lot of work to do to earn a starting spot.

Devin Gardner thinks he’s Colin Kaepernick 

Can’t wait to see what some veteran defensive lines think about that

Yes, the similarities are striking.

Receivers make a splash in Spring Game

Michael Thomas, who I mentioned in last week’s ICYMI again looked very good. However this is eerily similar to last year’s spectacular performance which failed to foreshadow the disappointing numbers he would put up in the regular season. Meyer said about him, ““He’s one of those guys that just makes these great plays and then makes mistakes… That’s just either lack of focus or it’s inconsistency, which great players don’t have.”

Chris Field’s on the other hand impressed enough to earn a starting spot. The senior scored touchdowns for both the Scarley and Gray teams and has been impressing all spring. “I’m going to name him a starter today,” Meyer said after the game. “I told him I would if he finished this spring (strong). Chris Fields has earned a starting job on the offense, which is amazing.”

 Location, location, location

Bob Hunter writes about the Spring Game, “There was still the sense that location is what really mattered, that holding the “game” in an NFL stadium in a city that never really has embraced the Buckeyes made this day special. It added spice that the scrimmage wouldn’t have had were it just another spring day with 70,000 watching practice in the Horseshoe.”

Mike Osiecki fired as OSU head hockey coach

The three-year coach was fired today after what athletic director Gene Smith called, “a difference of opinion over the management of the program that could not be resolved”. During his tenure Osiecki compiled 46-50-16 record. Assistant coach Steve Rohlik will take over in the interim.

The more things change the more they stay the same…

This was an echoing statement during the course of my entire trip back to old Columbus town this past weekend.

After the standard Northwest Airlines red-eye from Seattle to Columbus (via 4-fricken-hour layover in Detroit), I spent most of the day recovering from sleep deprivation, which is odd as I slept on both flights and generally gained more sleepy time than I would in a typical evening back in the Jet City. Some red-eyes are good and some are decidedly “no bueno.”

Friday marked the arrival of one of my buddies from Washington that decided he wanted to experience the finer points of Columbus, Ohio. Believe it or not there are plenty of things to do in this city…just that most of them revolve around a combination of sports and alcohol/food consumption.

Ohio State Ice Hockey

My “ladyfriend” (she loves it when I call her this…really) my buddy, and I headed down to Value City Arena for some OSU Ice Hockey. Whoa…what a way to start off the sporting weekend. The OSU Ice Hockey (sprinkled with a bunch of youngsters) took on the #8 team in the country and fierce rival, the Miami Redhawks. It was a game of momentum swings as OSU was up on Miami most of the game, but a late call on OSU gave Miami a 5-on-3 advantage and it was able to capitalize on the power play to tie the game to go into overtime. The game ended tied through overtime at 3-3. The game went to a shootout (new rule for this year), which OSU was able to win 3-1. Good times…an exciting game and things look on the up-and-up for the Hockey Buckeyes. For Markell’s sake, I hope this a good season (regardless of the team age factor…or where they were picked to finish in the CCHA this year), as his coaching future at OSU likely depends on a good season this year. By the way, Miami hockey fans…learn some original cheers. There is a reason OSU fans don’t do them, and that is because we don’t want to copy from Michigan, which copied them from Cornell. You guys sound like idiots. At least do something cool besides the “It’s all your fault.. It’s all your fault.” Maybe pull out a Wisconsin-esque that’s debatable and go across conferences. Maybe you guys can start the O-H-I-O around the football stadium on Big Ben Appreciation Day with that capacity crowd of 2,500.

Next topic…

Saturday was the standard trip to Northstar Café for yummy breakfast goodness (Did you ever notice they never make enough Ham-and-Cheese scones at that place?). Skull Session Entrance for the band. Over to Hineygate for some liquid libations and onward to the stadium for the “band” stuff. It was interesting to bring someone out here that had no idea what a gameday was like in Columbus and the utter chaos of pre-gaming and Hineygate and the crazy fanaticism involved with the OSU Marching Band. I kept mentioning the activities that we needed to see and that involved the band, which brought the looks of ‘seriously?’ I guess some of may take for granted the greatness of the OSU Marching Band at that a lot of schools don’t have the type of love for it’s band (ahem…Washington).

OSU Football

Oh yeah..that’s right there was a little event that took place on Saturday, as well. OSU and Purdue played a game of who’s offense was more inept for 4 quarters. Purdue won, but not for a lack of OSU trying it’s best. The defense and the special teams were fantastic for the Buckeyes. The offense seemed to have a Ro-Shambo session with itself every time it got inside of the 20-yard line and field goals seemed to be the main course of the day. I would be remiss if I did not mention the blocked punt by Mr Jenkins and resulting touchdown by Etienne Sabino in the first quarter. Outside of the offense (sounds like the entire team has the flu right now…especially on the offense) and pretty solid defense, the only disappointment that I had with the game was the fake field goal that stopped by a whistle in the second quarter. From our seats, it looked like AJ had so much room to run, he probably could have “speed-walked” for a first down. Terelle Pryor looked meh on this day. You can tell that he wants to throw the ball, but the defenses are starting to take away the quick slant or at least minimizing it’s effectiveness, as there were a few times that the Purdue linebackers and D-Backs were waiting for the receiver to catch it and not allowing the OSU wide receivers to make a play. Terelle’s play is a double-edged sword right now. We all want him to become an actual Quarterback, but if he sees a lane that he can exploit from any formation…he needs to take it sometimes. The designed QB runs are awkward (even the option looked decidedly worse this week, which should improve when Beanie gets rid of the sniffles and Herron gets the cobwebs cleaned out of his head).and you just wish that a little 2005 Troy Smith would crawl into TP’s head. 2005 Troy Smith’s ad-hoc running ability is what opened up the intermediate passing routes and allowed to him exploit both the underneath and 12-17 yard route with more regularity as the season progressed. Michigan State will be a challenge…especially if this weekend’s offense shows up next weekend.

Postgame activities included a “long” stop at one of the few remaining bars that actually stills existed from my times in Columbus…The Stube. Same bathrooms…Same 12-15 songs on the jukebox….Same beer prices. Same smell…and of course…same Stube magic.

Good to be back in cowtown with family and friends…even on a limited basis…

Other weekend observations:

  • The Columbus Bluejackets started off the weekend right by spoiling the season opener for the Dallas Stars (who are pretty good…but Marty Turco is still a bag of douche) on Friday and showed signs of being on a back-to-back on Saturday when they lost to the Coyotes (who are teh suck).
  • Michigan…moving on…Amstutz was given a lifetime supply of Tony Packo’s for this accomplishment.
  • A big shout out to Wisconsin for mailing in it’s season after losing a tough one to the Buckeyes last weekend. I am not even sure why they bothered showing up for this one. At least put up a fight on your home turf…gutless.Penn State is a good team, but they are not that good..imo.
  • Talk about paper-champions. Mizzou had that deer-in-headlights look (Us Buckeye fans are familiar with that look, see BCS Championship game film from 2006 and 2007) against Okie State on Saturday evening. They got punched in the face and the plan went straight out the window. I may be the only person that thinks this way, but as soon as Mizzou was behind in the game I pretty much knew that Okie State was going to win. Call it body language…call it Chase Daniels waiting for someone to spit on him…whatevah…
  • Looks like dreams can come true. Washington State lost to Oregon State eleventy-billion to three. The “0-fer” Apple Cup to decide the Pac-10 basement is one step closer to becoming a reality.
  • It has been a few years since OSU and Texas squared off in Austin, but it was nice to see Colt McCoy get a much deserved win against Oklahoma. Cant help but feel good for that team, which was getting no press leading up until this game.
  • Finally, there have been a few articles about some of the players wanting to see Boeckman in there from time to time. I’m not against it, but not sure if it sends the right message to Pryor at this point in his development.

~YNBA~