Last night, Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints topped the Arizona Cardinals 17-10 in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton. It was but a lowly preseason game and the first one of the year at that. In fact, Brees only played one series. But, man was it ever beautiful watching the pads of two different teams pop for the first time in over six months.
After practicing Friday before taking the weekend off, Camp Meyer resumes in earnest this week with at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Because summer term finals are wrapping up this week, the team will hold single practices Monday through Thursday, with the team moving into camp residence on Wednesday.
The team will hold a single practice on Saturday, August 11, before resuming with a two-a-day on Monday, August 13. They will practice straight through to Sunday the 19th, holding two-a-days on Wednesday, August 15 and Friday, August 17.
From a media availability perspective, this week is going to be packed. Tonight, the media will get a chance to talk to Urban Meyer, so you can expect solid news about Bri'onte Dunn's status. Tuesday brings opps with co-DC Luke Fickell, OC Tom Herman, WR Corey Brown, OL Corey Linsley, LB Ryan Shazier and DL Michael Bennett. On Thursday, we'll get a chance to chat with co-DC Everett Withers, WR Evan Spencer, OL Andrew Norwell, DB Christian Bryant and DB Travis Howard.
Finally, on Friday, QB Braxton Miller, QB Kenny Guiton, LB Curtis Grant and DB Orhian Johnson will be made available for questions and Sunday brings the team's annual media day.
If you have a killer question for one of the coaches or players, let us know and we'll do our best to get it answered.
YEAR OF THE TANK. Add the Sporting News to the list of publications that are expecting little to no drop off for the basketball Buckeyes following the departure of Jared Sullinger and William Buford. In an early preseason poll, Mike DeCourcy has Ohio State at #4:
If you think losing Jared Sullinger and William Buford devastates the OSU offense, you clearly don’t remember power forward Deshaun Thomas. He’s ready to pick up the two dozen shots per game they left behind, and he’ll make excellent use of them.
I think a lot of casual Ohio State hoops fans will be surprised at just how good this team will be this season. If Amir Williams can step up and the hype behind LaQuinton Ross is real, another Final Four is a realistic goal.
Galloway may or may not go midriff in the boothPREVIEWING THE KNIGHTS. The esteemed Paul Myerberg previews UCF as part of his excellent annual countdown, with the Knights checking in at #37.
Phil Steele and many others are high on the Knights this season, but even in a perfect world, Myerberg can't see George O'Leary's squad getting past the Buckeyes:
Dream season U.C.F. loses at Ohio State but makes a major statement by upending both Florida International and Missouri to cap non-conference play. The Knights then dismantle E.C.U. and the Golden Eagles, roll through the weak slice of Conference USA and sneak past Tulsa, ending the season at 11-1 overall and 8-0 in league play.
In related news, UCF was hit with a one-year postseason ban for football last week, but the Knights are in the process of appealing the NCAA's decision. They now find themselves in the sweet scenario of going through with the appeal and pushing their postseason ban to 2013, or—if, say, they start out of the gate slowly—dropping the appeal and taking it on the chin this season.
UCF claims they haven't considered pulling back on the appeal as an option, but how could you not consider it?
AND YOU THOUGHT RECENT BOWL SEASONS WERE LOUSY. Last year, we witnessed exciting bowl matchups such as 6-6 Illinois vs 6-7 UCLA and a New Year's Day clash of 6-6 Ohio State and 6-6 Florida. This year, it could be worse:
Once again there are 35 bowl games on the schedule this year, which of course requires at least 70 Bowl Subdivision teams to meet the minimum six-win threshold for eligibility. Trouble is, the pool is already a bit smaller than usual this season.
Three schools — North Carolina, Ohio State and Penn State — are banned from the postseason because of NCAA sanctions. A fourth, Central Florida, was added to that list in an NCAA ruling this week, though that might not be in effect until the 2013 season if the school files an appeal as it has said it would.
Odds are, Miami will soon be joining that group, so the NCAA put a waiver in place:
First consideration would go to teams that are 6-6 but "would not normally be bowl eligible because they have a win against a Football Championship Subdivision team." Next, 6-6 teams with two FCS wins could be considered.
Third, a team that finishes 6-7 with the seventh loss in a conference championship game (think UCLA in 2011). After that, 6-7 teams that played 13 regularly scheduled games could be considered.
Thankfully, a bowl can only use these special pools once in a four-year period. The bad news? They'll all be using it this season.
GALLOWAY TO THE BOOTH. With Urban Meyer and Bob Davie returning to the field and Craig James hitting up donors for spare change after a failed U.S. Senate run, ESPN was entering the 2012 season short on analysts.
Enter one Joseph Scott Galloway.
Other changes include Brian Griese, who'd been on ESPNU games, moving to work ESPN noon ET games with Pasch. And Joey Galloway, a rookie game analyst, will call ESPN2 noon games with Beth Mowins – the only woman left calling national TV college football since ESPN dropped Pam Ward.
Galloway follows in the footsteps of Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Spielman as former Buckeyes that started their careers in the noon slot for the Worldwide Leader. Herbstreit will again pair with Brent Musburger, handling ABC's Saturday prime-time games, while Sean McDonough will take Meyer's spot working alongside Spielman.
[META] Congratulations are in order for Sarah Hardy, recently promoted to Senior Editor for Eleven Warriors. She's always been one of our best writers and now she'll be helping to make sure the rest of us deliver stories that are as error-free and well-written as what she typically delivers.
ETC. Notre Dame flips a Penn State recruit... A Big East senior associate commissioner is saying the league could ink a TV deal that could come close to or exceed the deal the ACC signed with ESPN... There's a reason Jeffrey Ross can only get gigs working roasts... Meanwhile, this needs to go away, too... Holley Mangold may not have captured a gold medal, but she'll be back... Usain Bolt, likeable guy... Big ups to these guys. Well done, gentlemen.
