Good morning, everyone. We'll get to the Buckeyes in a minute, but first a quick rant about dinosaurs in sports. Not the Toronto Raptor, who is clumsy but good-hearted; rather, media dinosaurs.
Last night Chip Kelly made his NFL coaching debut, and one of the major storylines going into the game was how Kelly's lightning-quick, read-option heavy offense would perform. The dinosaurs were convinced that Kelly's offense could not be effective because the NFL is a gritty sport for manly men where quarterbacks hand the ball off or pass because they're not tough enough to run.
Chip Kelly's offense was fantastic: in the first half alone, the Eagles had over 300 yards of offense on 53 plays, more plays than four teams managed for the whole game in Week 1. But despite his offense's success, those pundits who said the offense could never work denied its success, moving the goalposts over and over again.
Faster-paced offenses usually produce better results than slower offenses, and despite the NFL's best efforts to pass off bland, cookie-cutter offense as the best thing around, the read option will flourish. People who refuse to accept innovation will be overwhelmed when the sea change occurs.
NOAH BROWN IS A BUCKEYE. The San Diego State game paid immediate dividends with the news that Noah Brown had committed to be the 18th member of the 2014 recruiting class.
Brown, a wide receiver from Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, N.J., had been expected to stay in state with Rutgers after they had been making a big push, but the visit this past weekend was evidently enough to seal the deal with the Buckeyes.
Rivals pegs Brown as the ninth best athlete in his class and 209th overall. With his size and versatility, he could secure some playing time as a freshman if he develops well. Brown is a strong addition to the class, if his junior highlights are anything to go by:
According to Noah Brown's high school coach, Brian Carlson, his rapport with Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes coaching staff made him feel more comfortable with Ohio State than anywhere else. He also had great things to say about Noah Brown as an overall package:
"Obviously, being at the next level, everything's raised," Carlson said, "but the conditioning, athleticism, intelligence, and determination he has -- I really expect him to be an impact player."
THE WALKING WOUNDED. Ohio State had a more impressive game against San Diego State than in Week 1 against Buffalo, but the injury situation might be more cause for concern. From the press conference yesterday, the coaches offered clarification on old and new wounds, most notably the injury that knocked Braxton Miller out of the game on Saturday.
Miller's MCL is sprained, which will hamper his speed and explosiveness. Were Miller not so important to the offense, a normal recovery time would be one or two games, but Meyer indicated that if he were ready to go he'd put Miller on the field. Another moderate injury was suffered by Adolphus Washington, who has a groin injury of some sort; because it was described as day-to-day, a groin pull or something similar is reasonable speculation. In positive news, Ed Warinner did say that Corey Linsley was 100% healthy.
Other nuggets of information from the pressers:
- Bradley Roby was impressive in his return, grading out at 99%. Nevertheless, Michael Bennett and Ryan Shazier were the defensive players of the game.
- Philly Brown was a big topic of discussion. In regards to sightseeing on the trip to Berkeley, he said that "California is not a special state," which could come back to haunt him in the form of half-hearted bulletin board material. He confirmed that Kenny Guiton is a major trash talker, calling him "obnoxious," and took slight offense to Meyer saying he was a terrible running back in high school, though Meyer tempered the teasing with praise of Brown's work ethic.
- Ed Warinner is trying to get everyone on the offensive line two-deep significant playing experience to establish depth.
- Dropping in the polls doesn't impact the team, according to Meyer.
Meanwhile, California writers are writing off the Golden Bears, under the belief that Ohio State's offense will take Sonny Dykes' Bear Raid offense out of rhythm. Writing off California so soon with Braxton Miller in question is hasty; Ohio State is a fifteen point favorite, which translates to about an 85% chance of winning. Guiton is as solid as backup quarterbacks get, but there's no such thing as a gimme game against a BCS conference opponent.
Sports Illustrated's story attacks Les Miles's tenure. SI SCOURGES STILLWATER. If Sports Illustrated is to be believed, it has two college sports programs over a barrel. The first is Alabama, and the story will drop some time in the indefinite future. The second is Oklahoma State, which Sports Illustrated is set to blast today and for the next five days.
Whatever the story entails, it is serious enough that Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder felt the need to apologize to his colleagues about the content of the story:
"I apologize to all the athletic directors in the conference for what's about to happen, for what's about to be said about a member institution," Holder said at a news conference without taking questions. "That reflects on everyone, all our brothers and peers, we're very remorseful about that."
The school announced over the weekend that SI had notified it of the upcoming series, which details transgressions by the football program starting in 2001. Oklahoma State said it has notified the NCAA and launched its own investigation.
According to USA TODAY's George Schroeder, the five part series' sections are titled Money, Academics, Drugs, Sex, and The Fallout. On the Money section, there has been some speculation that a former Oklahoma State coach paid players for performance dating back to 2001 under Les Miles continuing until 2011 under Mike Gundy. If Money is the first section, it will be released at 9 AM this morning.
There are some reservations to keep in mind about the series and the authors, George Dohrmann and his co-author Thayer Evans. Sports Illustrated has run several exposés on college football in recent years that fell flat, and if this does too it would constitute a trend.
Suspicions of a pro-Oklahoma bias on Evans' behalf are less insane than most perceived biases in media members; he broke into national media with Oklahoma writing, and wrote most of his national stories on Oklahoma, and his incredible mishandling of a feature article detrimental to Texas and positive for Oklahoma has led fans to suggest a bias against Oklahoma's rivals. As for Dohrmann, all the bile has already been spewed.
JIM MORA'S RIGHTEOUS FURY. Nick Pasquale, a freshman football player at UCLA, was hit by a car and killed on Sunday, an event which the UCLA has been mourning since. Head coach Jim Mora spoke to the media on Monday about Pasquale, until the press conference was derailed by a TV network technician talking on the phone in the middle of his eulogizing:
There are few occasions in which a coach is justified in walking away from a press conference before it is done, but given the circumstances Mora did as well as anyone could. It's also worth noting that he went back to speak to the beat reporters a few minutes later and the technician's news network offered an apology, so everyone saved some face.
LANE KIFFIN IS SO VERY SORRY. The other football coach in Los Angeles, Lane Kiffin, had a crummy weekend as well. Southern California lost to hapless Washington State at home, and because USC quarterbacks Cody Kessler and Max Wittek combined for a pitiful 54 yards passing and two interceptions, Kiffin was forced to address the quarterback situation.
Rather than making an announcement at a press conference like most coaches would, Kiffin announced it through a pre-taped interview posted to YouTube:
Kiffin will not address the media today about his QB decision. The school will post a video of Kiffin explaining his decision on YouTube.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) September 9, 2013
This video is reminiscent of Gene Smith's athletic department video addresses, but to Smith's credit he spoke directly to the camera/viewer. By going through the charade of an interview rather than addressing the viewer directly or making announcements to independent media, Kiffin's show of contrition felt especially forced. The unraveling of his time in Los Angeles is on a quick timetable.
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