Good morning and welcome to the first championship Monday of the Urban Meyer era in Columbus.
The Buckeyes, thanks to Penn State's controversial loss in Lincoln, captured at least a share of the Leaders Division and can now clinch things with any combination of an Ohio State win and Penn State and Wisconsin losses. It's funny that I mention that because the Buckeyes just happen to be heading to the second-worst city on earth this weekend to take on the Badgers.
Except for a blip against Michigan State a few weeks ago, Wisconsin has its ground game grooving, with Montee Ball and James White combining for 359 rushing yards Saturday in Bloomington.
Thankfully, Ohio State expects to have Etienne Sabino back for the tilt, which should help the Buckeyes defend what's essentially a one-dimensional attack. OSU had success against Ball last season in the Shoe, holding him to 85 yards on the ground, the only game in which he was held under 100 yards when he touched the ball at least 15 times.
Ball enters the game needing just one score to tie the NCAA mark for career rushing touchdowns and I can think of nothing sweeter than to blank him at home on Senior Day.
Look for Urban Meyer to try to leave a lasting impression on Bret Bielema and the Badgers if he's given a chance, considering the bombs Bielema tossed his way during the recruitment of Kyle Dodson.
JT WILL BE IN THE HOUSE. With the school planning to honor the 2002 Buckeye team next week against Michigan for the 10-year anniversary of their national championship run, one question has repeatedly popped up: Will Jim Tressel, he of the multi-year show cause, be in attendance?
Dustin Fox long ago tweeted that Tressel, will in fact, be there, but there's nothing like hearing it from the horse's mouth:
We're happy in our honeymoon with Urban Meyer, but I can't wait to hear the Shoe erupt when Tressel and his team are honored on the field.
OUT OF THE SUBSCRIPTION-BASED WEBCASTING WILDERNESS. Some of you may have seen the Buckeyes run past Albany for an 82-60 victory yesterday at the Schottenstein Center. If you didn't, don't feel bad as the game was not televised, instead carried only over btn.com, which requires a monthly or annual subscription. That's a hard sell for one or two basketball games a year, but thankfully, the rest of the schedule will be televised.
Aaron Craft led the Buckeyes with 20 points, providing an early answer to the offseason question of who will supply points beyond Deshaun Thomas, who finished with 19. Lenzelle Smith Jr. chipped in with 18 and Sam Thompson earned the first start of his career — on his birthday, no less.
But the real highlight of yesterday's action occurred in the postgame when Albany coach Will Adams offered up this beauty:
"They have McDonald All-Americans on their bench; my team goes to McDonald's just to eat."
You. We like you.
Shannon Skywalker [Kirk Irwin photo via @AlissaC_OSU]NOT THE BEST OF DAYS ON THE HARDCOURT RECRUITING FRONT. If you're a fan of basketball recruiting, you may want to look away.
Yesterday, five-star power forward Noah Vonleh committed to Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers. The Haverhill, Mass., product had offers from nearly every school of significance—UConn, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, Syracuse and UCLA to name just a few—but Vonleh had lined up just one visit beyond the weekend trip to Bloomington that sealed the deal: Columbus on 11/23.
Vonleh quickly canceled that visit and becomes the sixth member of an IU class that has just three guaranteed spots — four if Zeller leaves early, which he's expected to do. Tom Crean, the Nick Saban of college basketball.
Hours later, Toledo Whitmer product Nigel Hayes—younger brother to former Buckeye footballer Kenny Hayes—announced that he will be attending Wisconsin, completing the one-two combo to the gut.
Nigel Hayes was offered after his brother transferred and he has repeatedly said great things about Ohio State both on Twitter and in interviews, so while it may be easy to point the finger at Kenny's departure from the football program as the reason for his brother's decision to sign with the Badgers, I don't think that was the case. We'll just have to deal with it.
With Vonleh and Hayes both out of the mix, Ohio State won't announce any commitments for the early signing period and now turn their attention to Andrew Wiggins, the top-ranked recruit in the class.
If it means anything, two guys close to the Toledo basketball scene are saying the Buckeyes will be just fine with Toledo St. John's Marc Loving.
BILL SNYDER, THE WORLD IS YOURS. Thanks to Alabama's stunning loss to Texas A&M, there's a new team atop the BCS standings for what feels like the first time in a half decade. Kansas State, 10-0 after taking care of TCU over the weekend, is your new king of the hill.
Oregon and Notre Dame moved up one spot as well, to No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the standings, with the Ducks .0177 points off the lead and the Irish .0101 out of the second spot. Amazingly, Alabama remains 4th, with Georgia rounding out the top five.
Nebraska is the Big Ten's top-ranked team at 14th, while the Michigan Wolverines, fresh off an overtime win over Northwestern, check in at No. 21. It's going to be sweet watching a team that Ohio State hung 63 on playing in the Rose Bowl, you guys.
While we're on the topic of polls and standings, the fact that two one-loss SEC teams are slotted above the Buckeyes in the AP Poll probably means it's time to give up on the dream of Ohio State capturing the wire service's unofficial championship. Let's just win out and get ready to unleash hell on 2013.
PLAYOFFS?!! ESPN is closing in on a deal that will give the network broadcast rights to college football's new playoff. The price tag? $7.3 billion over 12 years.
That figure, which averages to around $608 million per year, takes into account the $215 million annual payout ESPN has committed to the “contract” bowls — the Rose presented by Vizio, Champions and Discover Orange — in addition to the playoff package.
While a formal announcement could come at some point this month, industry sources cautioned that the two sides still have some contract details to hammer out. Sources say the TV committee, made up of five commissioners, must ultimately approve the deal before it becomes official. A final version of the contract has not yet gone before the TV committee.
However, sources say ESPN and the BCS commissioners have reached a broad agreement that will keep the games on ESPN, which still has two seasons left on its current deal.
That's big coin.
With a total package of BCS bowl games, including the playoffs, going for $608 million annually, the BCS’s rights fee will approach the money the NCAA makes for March Madness. The NCAA’s package with CBS and Turner pays an average of $771 million annually over 14 years.
Those of you hoping that another network—Turner, Fox or NBC—will step up are sure to be disappointed as ESPN hopes to have this locked down during their exclusive negotiation window.
On the topic of the coming playoff, BCS commissioners are meeting this morning in Denver and are expected to limit the semifinal game rotation to six bowls. So, one more piece of the puzzle, but still plenty to lock down.
ETC. Buckeye icer Sam Jardine suffered a gruesome arm injury when his forearm was slashed by a skate from an Alaskan player Saturday. Luckily, he's headed towards a full recovery... Kill some time with OSU's new Makio archive... Derek Dooley reportedly out at Tennessee... Ohio State's O-H-I-O photo collection numbers over 10,000 but this one may be our favorite... Washington State to review receiver Marquess Wilson's allegations of abuse... Bo Pelini gets an earful... Columbus is getting a bikeshare system.
