Once upon a time, Ohio State had a greater rival than The School Up North. That rival was Illinois, against whom Ohio State played its season finale every year from 1919 to 1933. The only remnant of that rancorous rivalry that survives to this day is the Illibuck... sort of.
A series of wooden trophy Illibucks have been made, painted, and guarded since the 1920s; what many people do not know is that the Illibuck was once a real turtle. In 1925, OSU junior class honorary Bucket and Dipper chose to commemorate the series with a long-lived snapping turtle – ironically, the turtle died in 1927 from the stress of passing between the schools – before using wooden turtles. With the rivalry risking total irrelevance with next year's divisional realignments, there is no better time for a live Illibuck than now.
The Illibuck would stand out by being college football's only live rivalry mascot, and if Ohio State and Illinois pick the right reptile they'll start a 250 year tradition. If the stress of transportation is a problem, why not use two turtles, one for each state? The Columbus Zoo is a fantastic home, and even a rinky-dink operation like Illinois can give its mascot a good home in its Wildlife Medical Clinic or the Lincoln Park Zoo. The turtles need not travel to road games, or even to home games if it would stress them too much. Some kind of exhibition available to the public would be enough.
We're a lot smarter about taking care of animals than we were in the 1920s, and a live Illibuck could rekindle a historic rivalry many Ohio State fans take for granted. Why let those Maryland newbies have all the fun with Testudinidae?
LONNIE JOHNSON DECOMMITS. In news that Buckeye fans were prepared for but disappointed by, 2014 Gary (Ind.) wide receiver Lonnie Johnson decommitted from Ohio State on Monday night.
Johnson committed to Ohio State over suitors like Missouri, Purdue, and Kentucky because of his rapport with the Buckeyes coaching staff. The Indiana star's commitment came as a surprise at the time, and his departure probably signifies his desire to go to a school with more opportunity for early playing time. He has received some offers from MAC and AAC schools, where he may get those opportunities.
Johnson's departure leaves Ohio State with two wide receivers in the 2014 class, Curtis Samuel and Terry McLaurin, and an athlete likely to see some time at receiver, Noah Brown. It is not clear if Ohio State will pursue any more receivers for the 2014 class. As with all decommitments, wish Johnson the best of luck in his college career.
SORRY FOR SHOWING CONFIDENCE. The week-long siesta is over, prompting coaches and players to give their thoughts on Illinois, the national scene, and the weeks to come. The most colorful moment of the interviews and press conferences came when Evan Spencer allegedly said Ohio State would wipe the floor with either Alabama or Florida State. It later came out that the quote was miscontextualized to refer to Florida State and he couched it by admitting his own bias, but that's enough to start riots. After social media picked up on his comments and talking to OSU PR, Spencer backtracked on his comments. Spencer and OSU athletics communications director Jerry Emig, respectively:
I did not mean to disrespect any FB team today. I am confident in my team, and as is evident in the video, I was having fun with the media answering their questions. I should have chosen my words more wisely. There was no intent to disrespect any other team.
Just spoke to Evan Spencer. He said he was having fun with the media today and he did not intend to disrespect any other team. ... Evan is an articulate young man who regrets his moment of over-enthusiasm. His comment was said with humor and with no intent to disrespect
Not that the apology prevented people from weighing in:
That's some unusual fandom for the second person. In summary: A player who said something sort of fun had had that comment taken out of context and turned into a media narrative about disrespect. The powers that be forced Spencer to give a pointless apology to Nick Saban's combine thresher of a football team, doing nothing to placate those offended by the initial jest and giving Spencer and other people who commented on the situation greater reason to distrust media. All in all, a fine tempest in a teapot.
PRESS CONFERENCE BULLETS. Other information came to light over the course of press conferences before the Illinois game. Recap, video interviews, and full transcript are available. Some additional bullet points:
- Urban Meyer said it would be a "stupid error" to talk about mid-year signings like Marcelys Jones by name [not a problem for us, though!]
- Josh Perry is practicing after suffering a dislocated finger. Curtis Grant was out with an ankle sprain and lower back injury, though he should be back on Wednesday.
- Taylor Decker will be back to full contact practice on Wednesday after his injury.
- Meyer is comfortable with voting in the coaches poll, and he was glad to get to see more teams play during the bye week.
- Meyer spoke with Florida Atlantic AD Pat Chun about his search for a new head coach and discussed an undefined number of coach profiles.
- Meyer tells his team that to get to the BCS title game, accumulating style points is not part of the team's job, but playing great is.
- Kerry Coombs said teams improve dramatically midseason by changing habit, scheme, and getting better. It was obvious to him that the team would get better.
- Corey "Pitt" Brown is a utility man, and Coombs is glad with where he's fit in over his career.
It is refreshing to hear a coach be blunt about style points, but this is the rare year where it doesn't matter how good Ohio State looks or how well it plays. Alabama and Florida State have already earned some style points, and with their schedules perceived to be leaps and bounds about Ohio State's, they can win narrow games the rest of the year and still finish ahead of the Buckeyes in the polls.
Candid speech has no place in college football. NCAA STUPID, NEWS AT 11. Mark Emmert awoke to klaxons. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stared at the far wall of his bedroom. The bland wall had two adornments, a counting timer and a sign. The timer read 3:00:00:37. The sign read "DAYS SINCE A LUDICROUS NCAA DECISION". Three whole days without an idiotic decision. Better do something.
Seeing that the NCAA had gone several days without some mindboggling proclamation to call into question the purpose of the entire NCAA organization, Emmert paged his NCAA enforcement team to ensure some kind of ludicrous happening from them. And lo, the NCAA disqualified a cross-country runner for taking part in a recreational cross country race in 2009:
Long story short: Jared Ward, a returned missionary at BYU and a four-time cross country and track All-American, was denied a year of eligibility by the NCAA because he once ran in a recreational cross-country race against fat, old guys and people wearing bird costumes.
[...]
When Ward enrolled at BYU, he filled out the usual NCAA compliance forms, which include questions about participation in outside competition. According to NCAA rules, athletes who are a year removed from high school are not allowed to compete in organized competitions that will give them a competitive advantage. It is designed to prevent athletes from participating in competitive leagues that would give them an advantage before beginning college. ... The NCAA not only ruled that Ward would lose an entire season of cross country for one 16-minute effort, it intimated that he was lucky the penalty wasn’t more severe. BYU appealed twice and was denied twice.
Ward, a three-time all-American at BYU, has to sit out his senior season because he participated in a recreational race four and a half years ago. He and BYU are livid, seeing as he's one of the best runners in the country and any number of oddball exceptions for less innocuous activity would have cleared him. Hopefully the NCAA realizes yet again that it ought to grant an exception to its haphazard rules and take a break from being so paternalistic unsavory morally bankrupt baffling dumb.
BASKETBALL JUNKIE'S DELIGHT. As college basketball gains ground on college football in our consciousness, ESPN tries to grab attention however it can. One of the most novel and popular ways it does that is with the Sixth Annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. Put another way: if you're reading this and it's November 12th, there's live basketball on national TV right now.
The 18 game schedule began at 7 PM on Monday night with both women's and men's basketball (Stanford and Connecticut, Kent State and Temple) and continued with another game every two hours until the final broadcast at 9:30 PM on Tuesday. If you're reading this between 6 AM and 7 AM EST, New Mexico and Hawaii are going at it on ESPN 2; 7 and 9 AM, Hartford and Florida Gulf Coast, 9 and 11 AM, Quinnipiac and La Salle, and so on. For those wondering, No. 10 Ohio State's game against Ohio is on BTN and not part of the marathon.
The schedule comes to a climax with the biggest game of the regular season, No. 1 Kentucky playing No. 2 Michigan State in the United Center in Chicago. The game is a fascinating contrast of team composition, with Tom Izzo's capable veteran squad going against John Calipari's pile of tantalizing blue chip talent. As though the game weren't important in and of itself, a win would make Michigan State the consensus No. 1 and stake a claim for Big Ten dominance.
If you hate your job, just skip work to watch this all day. The concept and execution of the marathon are great, but you just know ESPN is laying the groundwork for life-devouring 48-Hour Marathon.
THE DREAM SCENARIO. Most people assume Ohio State and Michigan State are on a collision course for the Big Ten title game, but the efforts of this creative genius have revealed a more exotic championship game: Iowa vs. Indiana.
It's a cinch, so long as all of the following results happen:
- Week 12: Illinois beats Ohio State, Indiana beats Wisconsin, Nebraska beats Michigan State
- Week 13: Northwestern beats Michigan State, Wisconsin beats Minnesota, Indiana beats Ohio State, Penn State beats Nebraska, Iowa beats Michigan
- Week 14: Iowa beats Nebraska, Minnesota beats Michigan State, Michigan beats Ohio State, Penn State beats Wisconsin, Indiana beats Purdue
So you see, it's quite simple: with this exact combination of thirteen games involving all twelve teams, Iowa (8-4, 5-3) wins a four-way tie with Michigan State, Nebraska, and Minnesota while Indiana (7-5, 5-3) survives its own four-way tie with Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State.
Think of the atmosphere in Indianapolis; Kirk Ferentz and Kevin Wilson matching wits on the sidelines, Nate Sudfeld and Jake Rudock battling on the field, 30,000 fans cheering half-heartedly for mediocre plays, and Rose Bowl representatives attempting to strangle themselves with their neckties.
LINKS AHOY. UW-Madison's competitive eating champion... From 1942, the Big Ten in review. Featured: punting stats!... Tough break, man... Early effects of college basketball rule changes... ESPN Searching for a Few Loud-Mouthed [People] For New Afternoon Program. Meanwhile, Tebow... Exploring the ruins of ancient Turner Field... Sasha Baron Cohen can shove grandmas off the stage... and why did the Beatles succeed? Talent, ambition, and arrogance.
