FINALLY... it is Michigan State week. I love Ohio State, but boy, watching the Buckeyes house teams like Rutgers, Maryland, and Illinois was getting old. (As were teams like Penn State and their one-sided Super Bowls.)
FINALLY... Ohio State will play in a Big Ten where they'll be an underdog. Finally. Finally. Finally.
I am super juiced about this one. Now, the struggle of getting through this week commences. (Thankfully, the Cincinnati Bengals are scheduled for a dumping by the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.)
J.T. BARRETT NOT GOOD ENOUGH SAYS INTERNET MAN. Bad news, folks: Ohio State already lost to Michigan State, because an MLive.com columnist riddled off a bunch of one-sentence paragraphs saying so. I wish I were making that up.
From Mike Griffith of MLive.com:
Barrett's mobility is decent, his arm is strong, and he's fairly accurate.
But Barrett's not good enough to beat Michigan State in next Saturday night's Big Ten East Division showdown without a run game to balance things out.
Oddsmaker Danny Sheridan said on Friday that the Spartans would be a 3 1/2-point favorite.
Right now, the home team looks like a pretty good bet coming off a bye week.
Even Fox Sports' Charles Davis said while broadcasting the Oregon-Stanford game on Saturday night that Michigan State is a team nobody wants to play.
Well, there you have it. The "strong-armed" J.T. Barrett isn't good enough to beat Michigan State because they're a 3½-point underdog to Michigan State. And yes, even Fox Sports' Charles Davis(!?!?!?) said during the Oregon-Stanford broadcast that nobody wants to play the Spartans. (Damn, those are some bold flavors that would make Guy Fieri blush.)
And yet, judging from the quotes from the aftermath of the Illinois game... Ohio State wants to play Michigan State. Hmmm. It really makes you think.
To me, the game will come down to the performance of Ohio State's offensive line (especially along the interior). The big mollies up front performing well would go a long way in making sure Ohio State doesn't turtle up like it did in the second half against Penn State.
WIN THIS ONE FOR WOODY. I was not familiar with the debacle that was the ending to the No. 1 Ohio State-Michigan State 1974 game, but damn it looks like Big Ten refs have been comically bad for 40 years.
From Chris Solari of The Lansing State Journal:
Michigan State players jumped for joy as the scoreboard light bulbs flashed to zero. Moments later, Ohio State's guys were doing the same.
One referee signaled a touchdown. Another waved his arms, determining the game had ended. Woody Hayes' volatile temper boiled over as he back-handed an MSU fan who had rushed the field.
All Pat McClowry knew was he and the rest of the Spartans' defense had stopped Harold "Champ'' Henson at the goal line when it mattered most. And in the process, they had just pulled off perhaps the greatest upset in school history.
Final score: Michigan State 16, No. 1 Ohio State 13.
Oh, it's worse on YouTube:
First of all, #shoutout to everyone here that watched football in 1974 standard definition. Y'all deserve an honor .
Second: classic ruse from Spartans fans by rushing the field immediately as play expired. I'm not sure that'd fly in 2014, but it's a helluva way to discombobulate the refs.
I'm sure Woody Hayes, who had just been upset in diabolical fashion, took this loss in stride:
Woody Hayes' volatile temper boiled over as he back-handed an MSU fan who had rushed the field.
[...]
"Woody went berserk," said [former OSU quarterback Cornelius] Greene, who is now a coach at St. Albans School in his hometown of Washington D.C. "He immediately went after the commissioner verbally and told him that we got hosed. Coach wanted to battle. He told us to put on our helmets, and let's battle them the right way.
Wow, I needed a GIF of Woody Hayes back-handing that shit-talking MSU fan (13:29 in the video) yesterday. Also, there's no way Woody Hayes could coach in this day and age. He'd literally be a walking multimillion dollar liability.
TORRANCE GIBSON DECIDES TODAY. Torrance Gibson, 2015's No. 1 dual-threat quarterback, is set to announce his college decision today at 1 p.m. (watch it live here). Ohio State led the last list he published.
While some question if Gibson can play quarterback at the next level, there's no doubting he's an electric athlete who draws comparisons to Terrelle Pryor (who was pretty solid for Ohio State).
Here's what a source told the Lord of Whispers:
"Right now, it'd be pretty surprising if he didn't pick us," the source said. "There shouldn't be any surprises, but it's also important that we know it's not even close to over. We have to recruit everyone through signing day, but it's even different with Florida kids. It's going to be an interesting few months, but we believe we're the right fit for him and not just on the field."
And there you have it, folks. Get your celebratory GIFs ready, because this would be a massive fish for the 2015 class. Here are some highlights to whet your appetite:
And while another big 2015 target, offensive lineman Mathew Burrell, was reportedly set to decide this week or next, it doesn't look like that's the case (via @TeddyHeisman):
Because I'm his father.
PENN STATE FAN FIGURES IT OUT. Penn State's offense continued its dismal 2014 campaign on Saturday against Maryland. (PSU students weren't quite ready for that noon kick the day after Halloween as they were when OSU rolled into town.) The Nittany Lions only mustered 19 points in the loss, but one 100% rational fan has a plan to fix all that:
That would change everything, indeed. Although I'm an Ohio State fan, I too would love to see Christian Hackenberg, a regressing sophomore with no offensive line, run the same offense as Peyton Manning.
NOBODY WENT HARDER THAN THIS FLORIDA FAN THIS WEEKEND. The best part about this photo is you don't know if this Gata fan drank himself stupid to avoid remembering the Florida-Georgia game or if he did it to forget Will Muschamp lived to coach another day. Either way, dude went hard:
Not sure what amuses me more: the pastel shorts or the dude holding onto the gate to prevent falling from off the face of the Earth (much like Florida's program after Urban Meyer left).
And since we're #talkinSEC, it looks like there's a range of November bangers on tap in the baby NFL:
Some the "baby" NFL opponents in month of November: Old Dominion, UT Martin, W Carolina, ULMonroe, Samford, Presbyterian, Charleston south
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 2, 2014
That's such an underhanded tactic; I hope the committee punishes teams for it, but I'm not holding my breath.
THOSE WMDs. Athletes love Lisa Ann... The Life and Times of Hetty the Hoarder, the Witch of Wall Street... How this working man became Japan's most controversial marathoner... A WILD BOSA EMOJII EMERGES... Sky-diving cats... The great California doughnut war.
