Happy middle of the week everyone, if you’re anything like me you’re just now sitting down to enjoy a morning cup o’ joe as you try and forget some of the responsibilities of the day. You’ve come here to focus on what really matters: re-fueling your tank of Buckeye knowledge (it’s a lot cheaper than a trip to the gas pump AND the bathrooms are cleaner…win win.
What am I even talking about? Who knows. Let’s get to what really matters.
WHY SO SERIOUS? Adam Rittenberg recently wrote a piece outlining what he believes to be the “Big Ten’s Coaching Villains”. The three coaches that made the list were Bielema, Dantonio, and…you guessed it Urban F. Meyer.
This seems a little crazy to me, Meyer hasn’t even coached a game in the Big Ten and he’s already being called a villain? Rittenberg explains that Meyer’s baddie moniker stems mostly from what he’s done on the recruiting trail, specifically “flipping” recruits already verbaled to other schools.
While I understand that some coaches *COUGH-HARUMPH * Bielema *AHEM* were sore when a few of their recruits decided to jump on the Buckeye bandwagon; people must understand that a lot of these flipped kids had a ton of interest in the Buckeyes until it looked like the USS OSU was sinking. Meyer wasn’t stealing recruits as much as he was trying to bring some of them back on board (see what I did there?) after the ship was righted.
Personally I don’t ever believe Meyer is going to pull a Bielema and drop 83 on the Hoosiers. But then again…he might do something close. Either way his villain status will never reach full BRET mode.
As much as fans of the Big Ten want to make it known that they don’t like Meyer, secretly deep down they’ve got to know his hire makes the Big Ten a better conference. Something we can all get behind.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR 2018? The Ozone put together a handy chart outlining the Buckeye’s full and partial football schedules until 2018. While I have absolutely no idea what I’ll be doing in six years, I can unequivocally state that even if I’m bankrupt, living under an overpass and have befriended a Funyun I will still care about Ohio State football. So naturally I was interested in what was going on.
2016 jumped out as a year that could be particularly difficult. Granted it's hard to say how the balance of power will shift in college football over the next four years, but my gut tells me playing Oklahoma, Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin on the road is going to be a tough climb (can I book a plane ticket to Oklahoma four years in advance btw?)
Also, taking a look at these schedules it’s hard not to gravitate toward the 2013 schedule. As we all know, ’13 will be the first year Meyer will get a crack at a post-season. Getting Wisconsin and Penn State at home is nice, but unfortunately (I can’t believe I’m about to say this) we have to play Purdue AT PURDUE. It will be interesting to see if the Ross Ade troubles will continue to plague the team in the Urban era. Hopefully this new coaching staff can shake that unwelcome tradition.
Wait till after noon for this?...DOUBTEMS.FLAG POLE...HIGH NOON. Yesterday Buckeyextra reported the 2012 Ohio State-Michigan game will kickoff at noon on Nov. 24. In other news, the sky is blue and fish seem receptive to worms. But seriously, this just feels right doesn’t it? The Game has started at noon seven out of the past 10 seasons. In 2004 and 2005 the powers-that-be declared the war begin at 1:00 and in 2006 (#1 OSU v. #2 UM) The Game kicked off at 3:30.
I don’t know about you, but when I have to wait an extra second for this game I start to lose my mind. The extra three and a half hours in 2006 felt like listening to a cover-to-cover audiobook of Atlas Shrugged read by Lou Holtz.
This game is going to have a ton of build-up with Hoke and Meyer meeting for the first time and I suspect if both teams have respectable records GameDay will be in Columbus. While Kirk and friends usually cover the 8 or 9 pm primetime game, they certainly haven't shied away from covering a solid OSU-UM noon matchup. Which leads me to my next question, how would you feel about The Game being played under the lights?
I SEE YOU ED. Tom Dienhart of the BTN recently sat down with OSU Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach Ed Warinner for a quick Q and A. A lot of what Warinner said wasn’t Earth-shattering. He stated Buckeye fans can expect to see more balance from the offense this year with the spread. He identified some playmakers on offense (Hall, Miller, Devin Smith, MICHAEL THOMAS!!!, Corey Brown, Hyde, Boren and Stoneburner) and he said the O-line is coming together nicely, even with a lack of depth.
That all sounded great, but what really jumped out was what Warinner said when asked if this offense was similar to any he's led in the past:
“It’s different. There are elements of the spread that are common. It’s about 40 percent the same as the offense we had at Kansas…There are passing concepts that are similar, so maybe it’s about 50 percent the same”
Buckeye fans who've had their hearts stopped a time or seventeen during the Tresselball field-goal friendly era should be rejoicing after this statement. If the offense even remotely resembles what Warinner was doing at Kansas, then I should consider patenting “The Show at the Shoe” tees. Don't believe me? Consider this from Warinner’s OSU bio:
"Warinner's talents as an offensive coordinator then took center stage from 2007-09 while at Kansas. The Jayhawks posted the three best offenses in terms of total yards and passing yards in those years and also had three of the top seven scoring seasons in school history… His 2007 Jayhawks were the nation's second-highest scoring team (42.8 points per game) and set a school record by averaging 479.8 yards per game."
I’m truly excited to see what three great offensive minds in Meyer, Herman and Warinner come up with over the next few years. It will be fun to watch.
LINKED IN. Hey want to rip off your ears?...Have a listen, Thank You Facebook. The number one rivalry in sports...because BuzzFeed said so. Why oh why oh why would someone do this? Sneaker freaks take note. I don't care who you are...this is funny.
