As is customary, Urban Meyer and company met with the media after practice Wednesday and the chatter, coupled with a method of fan torture known as a bye week finally fading out of the rear-view, should have you primed for the return of Buckeye football this Saturday afternoon.
Meyer, Braxton Miller and Corey Linsley all talked about the challenge Iowa's defense is alleged to present, and how having a chance to become the first team to score a rushing touchdown against the Hawkeyes is serving as motivation.
A week of rest should do wonders for Carlos Hyde after a bruising performance keyed the win over Northwestern but I'm betting Miller benefited even more and should take over via the air and on scrambles if the Hawkeyes sellout to stop the run.
He simply hasn't looked good running with the football this season, admitting he was tentative due to the lingering effects of his MCL sprain. The good news is Miller says he's now fully locked and loaded and I think the percentages are in his favor that he won't cough up three more footballs inside the opponent's 10-yard line this season.
On the defensive side of the ball, Curtis Grant took part in practice. It's great to hear the kid is back with his football family as he mourns the death of his father. How sweet would it be for Grant to turn in a spirited effort on Saturday?
HERE COMES THE RUN-STOPPA. Much has been made about the upcoming battle between Iowa's stout front seven and Ohio State's versatile rushing attack but I think possibly an even larger factor might just be how well Iowa's running game fares against the Silver Bullets, led by Imodium J-B.
Even if Iowa manages to slow the Buckeye running game, it's likely Ohio State could still have a big enough talent gap to keep their streak of putting up at least 30 points intact.
This appears to be a fairly solid Hawkeye defense – they've yet to yield a rushing touchdown – but they did just surrender 277 yards passing to Sparty's Connor Cook, 412 total yards, and 26 points to a Jim Bollman led offense.
Throw in the fact Ohio State's offense is averaging over 17 points a game more than Iowa and you have to wonder if Iowa's offense has any chance of matching the OSU offense's production if they can't run the football.
Marc Morehouse of The Gazette is going down the same path and comes with numbers that don't paint a pretty picture for Hawkeye fans.
Against Sparty, the Hawkeyes ran for just 23 yards on 16 carries with the team's leading rusher, Mark Weisman, posting a meager nine yards on seven carries before being forced out of action due to a bum foot. With the Hawkeyes rendered one-dimensional, they failed to score in the 2nd half, at home, with quarterback Jake Rudock hitting on just 14 of his 31 throws for 98 yards with a pick.
Yes, Michigan State has the nation's best Rush Defense but Ohio State ranks 6th and the group is giving up just 32 yards on the ground in two conference games, one of which was against the always-talented Wisconsin backfield.
The lack of balance all but doomed the Hawkeyes in Iowa City against the Spartans, a fact not lost on three-time B1G Coach of the Year, Kirk Ferentz:
“There are some teams that are going to make it very difficult for you to run the football, so you better find some other ways. When you get in games like that, it’s not a lot of fun. It’s more fun if you can be balanced, certainly.”
So, if it falls on Rudock to keep pace with Miller, in Ohio Stadium, because the Buckeye front seven slams the door on the run, the Hawkeyes have no chance.
Bill Hancock: Not as cool as Herbie HancockTHE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL. College Football Playoff executive director, Bill Hancock, addressed the media yesterday to discuss details of the new system.
Hancock announced members of the 13-person committee but the roster was old news that point. The real news came as he unveiled details of how the committee will go about deciding which four teams will be afforded the chance to participate in the playoffs.
Potentially eschewing any reliance on computer or human polls, the committee will have "flexibility to examine whatever data they believe is relevant to inform their decisions", including factoring in significant injuries plus the usual metrics such as record, strength of schedule, head-to-head games and conference standing. (I still don't get the whole conference standing, i.e. "champion" thing. It's supposed to be the top four teams. A dominant conference could fairly and squarely produce two of the four best resumes in football in a given season.)
The committee will meet in person throughout the season and release a Top 25 anywhere from four to five times during the season with the first poll published at midseason and the last coming on "selection weekend".
Members, each of which will serve three-year terms over the long haul though the initial group will be staggered to create continuity, will not have their individual ballots publicized.
Just like the BCS, the College Football Playoff is far from perfect but at least it's a step in the right direction.
HE'S CRAFTY, HE GETS AROUND. A day after CBS Sports ranked Handsome Aaron Craft the #8 player in their Top 100 list of overall players, the site released their Top 30 Point and Combo guards and again, Craft gets much love, clocking in at #3:
The faction that hates Craft needs to check themselves. Guy plays hard -- but not in an obnoxious way -- and is a prototypical Awesome College Player. He will probably put up 12 points, six assists and more than two steals per game. Also, when he got engaged in the offseason it produced a waterfall of emotion on Twitter. -- Matt Norlander
Wow. Marcus Smart, Russ Smith and Craft is a pretty sick top three.
QUICK CLICKS. Like Frogger only with a car... 11 Hidden Messages in Company Logos... High School Ump Has a “Whoomp! There it is!” Strike Call... Beautiful aerial shot of WTC and New York City... Directly above Central Park... WNBA Finals Dominated By Minnesota Lynx’s 8-Months Pregnant Power Forward... This musk deer is a vamper... Herm Edwards has lost his mind... Logo Mashups for All the Teams in Each City... Turbo and Ozone got nothin' on this cat... Kirk Ferentz doesn't answer questions very clearly... Speaking of Kirk, he's just 60-45 since 2005 (57%), failing to rank in the Coaches Poll Top 25 in seven of those nine years.
