Good morning, sports fans. Whoever performed a sacrifice to the college football gods after Braxton Miller was carted off in an ambulance, well done. Today is Bloody Tuesday and according to Urban Meyer, Braxton will be practicing.
Of course, we probably won't know how healthy he really is until Saturday, but for his sake more than anything else, let's hope he's the same explosive threat that he's been all season.
The always reliable depth chart was released yesterday and there were no changes from a week ago. Even Jordan Hall is still listed as a co-starter, though Urban didn't mention him in his presser. So, it doesn't seem likely that he'll return to the lineup this Saturday against Penn State, which is a shame for the Pennsylvania native.
One Pennsylvanian who should be good to go is Philly Brown, who left late in the Purdue game with an injury.
Speaking of injuries, not long after Najee Murray was lost for the year due to an ACL tear, fellow freshman and member of the kickoff coverage team, Devan/De'Van/De'van1 Bogard, met the same fate.
Urban, referring to him as one of his favorite players2, took it hard, saying, "If we could go out and recruit a hundred Bogards, life would be pretty good around here."
Now, how about the Buckeyes stop getting hurt?
PREPARATION OH. During the offseason, we heard a lot about the tough workouts the team was going through. As Bill Livingston (I presume) wrote, we're seeing their hard work, both from earlier in the year and in recent practices, pay off.
Then and now, Urban has praised guys that he thinks have turned things around. Two of those players, Kenny Guiton and Chris Fields, were instrumental in the victory over Purdue, and that kind of attitude adjustment is something their coach relishes:
"Every day someone makes a change. Every day you have opportunities. Every day something flashes across you that maybe you'll get a little better," Meyer said. "We're nonstop. That's one of the great things about college football as opposed to the NFL. These kids aren't driven by paychecks. They're not trying to support their family. Our staff, I'd like to think that's what we do as well as anybody in the country, is try to pull guys out of a spiral."
And the team seems to be responding. When Braxton left last year's Nebraska game with an injury, Ohio State imploded. This year, they had the confidence to pull out the win.
THE HEAD AND THE HEART. After the Indiana game when Urban decided to get more involved with the defense, some wondered if he would renege on his promise not to be such a control freak. But against Purdue, when it came to the most crucial play—the two-point conversion—he allowed offensive coordinator Tom Herman to make the call.
Whether it's his distance from the field during games or his Mensa-level smarts, Herman's pragmatism overruled the heightened emotions on the sideline. He told them, "I don't care if the O-line wants to run it. I don't care if Carlos Hyde wants to run it. This is what we've agree upon as a staff on Thursday for the last five weeks."
And it worked brilliantly.
PAIN IN THE PASS. Overall this season, Ohio State has been the best team in the Big Ten while Penn State is currently the hottest. When they meet on Saturday3, it'll be a bigger matchup than most expected it would be.
David Jones of The Patriot-News believes this is an important game for the future of the Nittany Lions:
A win over the unbeaten Buckeyes could be powerful stuff, an indicator to elite high school players that, even with depleted numbers over the next three years, they can hope to have ample support should they commit to Penn State.
If Penn State does win, their passing game will probably play a key role. They enter the game boasting the conference's leader in passing yards (Matt McGloin) and receiving yards (Allen Robinson), who will go up against an Ohio State pass defense ranked 11th in the B1G.
Jones is not impressed with Ohio State's linebackers and noting the defense's tackling problems, he foresees the Nittany Lions targeting the tight end. As his colleague Bob Flounders points out, Penn State has been productive at that position this season. They've played four different TEs and together, they've caught 51 passes, the most in the country.
BIG TENT. Residents of Happy Valley are greatly anticipating the visit from the Buckeyes. Last night, five days before kickoff, Nitannyville welcomed its largest crowd ever.
For the first time all year, the attendance in Beaver Stadium is expected to surpass the 100,000 mark. Even though neither team will end up in Indianapolis, fans are excited to find out which one will stay atop the Leaders Division standings. Beyond that, the Penn State players want to continue to send a message:
"If we’re proving anything, it’s that Penn State is not going anywhere,” senior linebacker Michael Mauti said. “You can do what you want to us. You can take things away from us, you can split us apart. It’s not going to happen. The guys right here care about the program, care about the university, care about each other and just want to play good. We want to represent our university the best we can and we have a lot of guys that have bought into what we are doing and our goals.”
Aaron Craft tells kids to take a look. It's in a book.Despite their vastly different situations, Ohio State can probably relate to that.
ON POINT. BTN's Brent Yarina has been counting down his top ten basketball players in the Big Ten. Right now, he's revealed #5-10 and while it's safe to assume that Deshaun Thomas will find himself on the list, the only Buckeye named so far is Aaron Craft at #6.
Meanwhile, Jeff Goodman ranked Craft as the fourth-best point guard in the nation, one behind Michigan's Trey Burke.
Everyone raves about Craft's defense, ability to get the ball to his teammates, and his relentlessness:
But the main criticism he's faced is on the scoring end. According to reports from Bob Baptist and others who have seen Ohio State practice, his shot is looking better. Craft is certainly capable of putting up points, and I think he'll be more consistent in that regard this season.
LINKBERRY. NBA GMs predict that Sully will be a sleeper success... Bet some wish this had happened to the refs from the Purdue game... Twitter speculated on Kenny Guiton's Saturday night... A look at Hoosier Hysteria... Let's hear it for the Os in college football records by state... Secret identity: Supercat... Behind the scenes photos from horror movies... Cancellation watch for new shows.
- 1 I've seen it written each way, and while he's listed as Devan on the roster, his Twitter account says De'van, which gives us another Deshaun/DeShaun Thomas situation. ↑
- 2 By my count, he's had about 42 favorite players on this team. ↑
- 3 Yes, they're both facing postseason bans, but hopefully the lame nicknames for this game are kept to a minimum. ↑
