You may have heard from someone at Eleven Warriors that autumn's here. As a pedant and Dwight Schrute aficionado, I must protest. This is false.
Fact: the autumnal equinox occurs on September 21st. Fact: any day between then and now falls under the season of summer. Fact: any worthwhile almanac would say the same thing. Fact: people who ignore almanacs are uneducated. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
For anybody who's not a stick in the mud, however, a mere four days separate us from the bludgeoning of Buffalo and all-around festivities for the first college football weekend of the year. Figuratively speaking, fall is close.
In the game's press conference yesterday, Meyer talked about Buffalo as much as media would allow him. As a 36 point favorite, much attention was elsewhere.
Meyer explained the lack of a two-deep chart as a result of being uncertain of how healthy some players were, though the team being "relatively healthy" is a positive. A two-deep would be helpful to anyone taking notes for the Buffalo game, but it is not clear if Ohio State will provide one this week.
For Buffalo's part, they expect to compete. Under coach Jeff Quinn, the program is on an upswing since a decline when Turner Gill left Buffalo in 2009, and reaching a bowl like they hope would improve the Buckeyes' paltry out of conference schedule. We'll have more to say on him later this week, but Khalil Mack of Buffalo is a big threat, being only 19 TFLs short of the NCAA record.
IN LANE STADIUM ON LABOR DAY. Word that Ohio State's game against Virginia Tech in 2015 would take place on Labor Day brought some interest, as it would be OSU's first Monday regular season game since playing Fresno State on August 29, 1994. The atmosphere in Lane Stadium ought to be electric, but the timing of the game is perilous. Week 1 matchups tend to be disjointed slogs, as a number of contests can show. What's more, the turnaround to Week 2 could be an issue.
Most non-Saturday games allow for a longer turnaround than Monday games. Thursday games, like Ohio State's season opener against Marshall in 2010, allow for a nine day layover. Most Wednesday MAC games have built-in bye weeks, but Monday and Tuesday games have four and five day turnarounds.
Right now, a tentative 2015 schedule would have Ohio State playing Virginia Tech on Labor Day and turning around to play Northern Illinois five days later. The odds are good that the NIU game will be rescheduled to a different Saturday, or a weaker team would fill that slot. Virginia Tech diehards know well how a Monday game can screw up the schedule:
That is in reference to a double whammy of the Hokies losing to Boise State and then James Madison five days later in 2010. The James Madison loss is about 80% as painful to Hokies fans as the Appalachian State loss is to Michigan fans, so if you want to get under a Virginia Tech fan's skin a casual reference is the way to go.
DECIDING THE TEAM CAPTAINS. At the press conference yesterday, Urban Meyer said that the team would vote on its captains in the afternoon and he would announce them soon. The captains have now been decided, but until they are announced we can only speculate. So who will the team captains be?
Four team captains is a common number, although five were chosen last year. Seniors tend to be elected, and the captaincy usually has at least a couple players from each side of the ball. With those expectations, here is a prediction: Braxton Miller, Jordan Hall, Jack Mewhort, Christian Bryant, and Ryan Shazier.
For each spot, there is some room for argument. Miller and Shazier are the two juniors on the list, but they are undisputed leaders at their positions and on both sides of the ball. The decision between Jordan Hall and Carlos Hyde would have been difficult until Hyde's suspension; now Hall seems like a clear choice. Mewhort and Andrew Norwell are the two senior linemen, and though both of them are deserving it would be strange to see four captains from one side of the ball and two at the same position. As for the last spot, the fact that Christian Bryant was sent to Media Day in lieu of Bradley Roby suggests that he rather than CJ Barnett will be the last captain.
Now that I've potentially embarrassed myself, watch as Noah Spence and Frank Epitropolous and Brionte Dunn and Trey Johnson are named captains.
Joey Bosa and at least four other freshmen will play. $3.07 = 5 GAME SUSPENSION. Arman Keteyian's upcoming book The System is based in his investigative reporting about college football, and it appears to contain some salacious details about the NCAA's investigation of Ohio State. Yahoo's Dan Wetzel calls it "the best book on the sport written in years," and in an interview with Keteyian, Wetzel shares some morsels from the book.
In the wake of the initial scandal regarding Jim Tressel concealing information he received from Chris Cicero, the revelation that Ohio State players had been overpaid by booster Bobby DiGeronimo resulted in Ohio State adding a Failure to Monitor charge to its list of transgressions.
Before disassociating the program from DiGeronimo, athletic director Gene Smith claimed to have had several forceful conversations with him. DiGeronimo disputed that:
"Never," DiGeronimo said. "Never called me. Never called me one time. Never. We never had a conversation about that. There was nothing. He's lying. He's outright lying. Never any meeting. Never any voicemail. Everything he says is a lie. Everything."
In addition, Keteyian alleges that the NCAA ignored important information about DeVier Posey's overpayment that resulted in a second five game suspension in 2011:
"The System" also presents the case that NCAA investigators were overzealous in parts of their investigation against Ohio State, most notably in ignoring some pretty compelling evidence that DiGeronimo overpaid player DeVier Posey by a mere $3.07 and should never have received a five-game suspension for that. It also shows the seemingly differing and troubling standards for players and coaches/administrators, where the former must recall every detail precisely or risk eligibility, while the latter is allowed to struggle with specifics.
This would be a very interesting book to keep one's eye on.
SPARTY, YES? Football Study Hall projected the Legends Division after projecting the Leaders Division last week. In a surprise, Michigan State is projected to win the division. According to Matt Hinton:
Michigan State is in this spot because they were much better according to advanced stats in 2012 than according to the final record, so much so that Study Hall colleague Bill Connelly has suggested the 2013 Spartans could be in for a closing-the-gap season rivaling Notre Dame's in 2012. (The Irish were 13th in the final F/+ rankings in 2011 despite an 8–5 record, foreshadowing last year's leap into the BCS title game; Michigan State was 15th in F/+ in 2012, on par with its 2010-11 performances despite falling from eleven wins to seven.) The defense is largely intact and still more than capable of keeping every game within reach. With any spark whatsoever on offense, they're all winnable, even if it's not pretty. Getting back to ten wins is just a matter of holding onto the ball and finishing.
That projection is much removed from human projections. 18 of 20 ESPN analysts predict Ohio State to win the Big Ten, and none for Michigan State to win the Legends Division. 16 of the 20 predict Alabama to win the national title, so conventional wisdom could be at fault for this. I hope so, as Mark Dantonio and Urban Meyer dueling with scowls would be something to behold.
NOT A TYPO. The fatback is alive and well at Michigan:
Nah, Hoke just likes size in his secondary, and in all other aspects of his life.
LINKS AHOY. RIP John J. Gilligan, Ohio's 62nd governor... How are the Houston Astros allowed to be so ridiculously cheap?... Men's basketball has a new recruiting coordinator in Christopher Spartz... Is Paul Bearer's video game advice hammier than a slab of bacon? Ohhhh yessss... Not the most flattering glamour shot, Taylor Martinez Speed Racer... With a 59 point spread, Oregon/Nicholls State is the Week 1 Worst Expected Beatdown winner... the Buckeyes are out of contention for 2014 RB Joe Mixon... Calling the Buffalo game will be Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway, and Paul Carcaterra... Did you know sharks used to eat dinosaurs?... Screw the political commentary, "American Football" by Harold Pinter is glorious at face value... Eh, the line is straight enough... Maryland football: catch the excitement... Related: Will Muschamp goes back on his word and Les Miles suspends a player in name only... and this gallery of Miley Cyrus twerking on famous paintings is spectacular.
