If a dog is gonna bite...If you consider yourself among those that think DeVier Posey should be seeing more balls, you may get your wish this weekend. Due to the vicious hit Dane Sanzenbacher took last weekend, he's not listed on this week's depth chart and you have to assume we won't be seeing him this weekend. Small played often and well last weekend (aside from that one play, where he, you know, dropped a ball in the endzone), so he'll likely get the call as the 3rd guy in those sets, but the Buckeyes have been rolling plenty of four-wides this season, so Posey will get a good opportunity to show what he can do.
I think with the line having played their best game of the season in Madison, the last thing this team is waiting on is a breakout in the receiver corps. Robo has stumbled out of the gate -- probably injury related, but still stumbling. I think those that are ripping him for dropping the bomb Saturday night need to get on the clue train, because the defender was holding his right arm on the play, but clearly he has not been himself this year. Rumors are flying about Hartline and some locker room tensions, that if true, can't be a good sign.
One of these guys has to step up as Pryor's go-to guy and when that happens, this offense will be damn near unstoppable. Unfortunately, that opportunity may not come this weekend as the Boilermakers enter the game with a pretty bad run defense.
Boom Herron, put out of the Wisconsin game on what was an even rougher hit is also left off of the depth chart. Saine and Rasta will move up in his place. I touched on this a little in the recap, but the Big Ten needs to implement some sort of helmet-to-helmet policy like the NFL has in place (The Dispatch's Ken Gordon appears to agree). It was a monster hit and football purists might applaud it, but there's no need to lead with the helmet like that at today's speeds.
Outside of those two injuries, there's little change from last week's published depth chart to the one put out yesterday. Rehring did see action against the Badgers, but as of now is still listed as a backup to Cordle at left guard. Sabino is still penciled-in as the backup to Laurinaitis, though I'm sure we'll get a Spitler update at Tressel's press conference later today.
You may have noticed the eye logo in our Blogpoll ballot yesterday, though Les Moonves told us he'd kick our ass if we mentioned it before the PR went out, so we couldn't say anything about it. Now we can. The poll, the brainchild of MGoBlog's Brian Cook, will be featured exclusively at CBSSports.com. Huge congratulations to Brian and the presser CBS put out actually manages to use the words "influential", "popular" and "expert" and "blogger" in a sentence about college football, so mad props to them for pulling that off with a straight face:
Since 2005, the most influential, popular and expert college football bloggers have weighed in each week of the season, combining to create a weekly Top 25 ranking unrivaled in its authenticity and transparency. Each blogger's weekly ballot is publicly available, and the bloggers themselves post their ballots on their blogs, subject to the scrutiny of the fans.
As the new home for the BlogPoll Top 25, CBSSports.com will continue this tradition: The BlogPoll's initial results will be released on Monday, displayed side-by-side with the more traditional AP and Coaches' polls. Fans will be encouraged to review the ballot of the blogger associated with their favorite team and, if interested, even challenge them to defend their decision-making. The BlogPoll voters will take this fan feedback into account before submitting their final ballot, released each Wednesday exclusively at CBSSports.com.
The BlogPoll's founder and administrator, Brian Cook -- who publishes MGoBlog.com, the leading blog dedicated to Michigan football -- will continue to provide his weekly analysis, calling out individual bloggers for qualities like excessive deviation from the overall poll and "homerism."
Voting bloggers are vetted for editorial integrity before being allowed to participate and comprise many of the most knowledgeable, responsible and influential experts in the sport. The weekly BlogPoll ballots are among the most highly anticipated posts each week
The poll is already up -- in all of its glory -- next to the AP and Coaches Polls on the CBS website. And BHGP already has the sponsorship details sorted out with the "CBS Reebok Bud Light Levitra Blogpoll built by Home Depot and brought to you by Taco Bell". It's just a matter of time until we are tangling with Skip Bayless on Cold Pizza or whatever the hell that show is called these days.
Vico at OHD has been doing a bang-up job of posting classic game drive-thrus on YouTube, but if you're in the mood fore some instant classic action, the highlights of the Wisconsin game have been posted as a 10 minute clip. Good stuff.
