Purdue should not be able to match up with Ohio State in any way, shape or form, yet innocuous little Purdue has bedeviled the Buckeyes. Brees to Morales, Troy Smith's goal line follies, Terrelle Pryor's stupefying turnovers and the PAT doink in 2011 all contributed to Ohio State is 2-4 record in West Lafayette over the last thirteen years going into this week's road game. The 49-0 victory in 2010 doesn't exist now that Buckeye fans have all been mindwiped of that year.
Enemy bloggers are smug about these struggles, but Ohio State media members don't respect Purdue and neither do Ohio State players. Nor should they; remember Purdue Harbor, lads.
BARNETT CLOSER TO THORPE AWARD. On the heels of Ryan Shazier's Butkus Award consideration comes word that C.J. Barnett is one of 15 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award for the country's top defensive back. Barnett is having a great season; who would have thought at the beginning of the year that he would be a Thorpe semifinalist and Bradley Roby would not?
MONDAY PRESSER NOTES. Urban Meyer and Luke Fickell gave their first interviews on the week of the Purdue game yesterday. Aside from Kyle Rowland's recap and the full transcript, some bullet points:
- Devin Bogard retore the ACL against Penn State that he tore in 2012, which will put him out for the year. He seems in good spirits heading into his surgery later this week.
- Meyer singled out Jeff Heuerman for praise on account of his blocking. Meyer said the staff needs to get him more catches.
- Meyer is frustrated that the defensive line hasn't gotten regular penetration and the linebacker corps is not solidified; he's thrilled with the kick return and kick coverage teams.
- Dontre Wilson is getting more touches because he’s becoming a better blocker, though he's still more valuable as a runner than as a decoy.
- Braxton Miller's accuracy jump comes from better arm strength, a quicker release and a firmer grasp of the offense; he could get better at targeting checkdown receivers when the pocket breaks down.
- Purdue’s change from a 4-3 to 3-4 defense a few weeks ago means less available game tape.
- Tyvis Powell, Vonn Bell, Trey Johnson, Chris Carter, and Steve Miller stood out in mop-up time.
- Fickell tried to talk Marcus Freeman, Purdue linebackers coach and former Buckeye, out of coaching. Fickell never thought about football coaching growing up because he was surrounded by wrestling coaches.
- And Meyer refuses to say "lose", instead calling it the 'L' word.
THE BLOWOUT BOONDOGGLE. As you're well aware by now, Ohio State went 19th century on Penn State's behinds. The win kept Ohio State steady in the BCS standings and inspired some sparring over Ohio State's margin of victory.
In the blue corner, USA Today's Dan Wolken, who thought Meyer ran up the score and DQ'd the Buckeyes from national title contention:
...if the Buckeyes wanted to put themselves into the discussion, they should have made an emphatic statement against Wisconsin and Northwestern, not a Penn State team with 61 scholarship players. It's quite a coincidence that a week after the BCS standings came out and made the picture clear, Urban Meyer ran it up on someone at the first opportunity. Sure, Ohio State played backups for much of the second half in a 63-14 win; it's also true Meyer challenged a spot in the fourth quarter to get the ball back with his team leading the game by 49 points. Sorry, but too late. Those tooth-and-nail battles with Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa helped establish the BCS pecking order, and no victory margin against the Big Ten's weak sisters will thrust the Buckeyes above one of the top three. Better hope for some help.
And in the red corner, Yahoo's Dan Wetzel, who says forget the haters and blow everyone out:
Twenty wins in a row and Ohio State is the new Boise State – the team the voters are looking for a reason to leave out.
So let's say Urban Meyer would never, ever try to run up a score and wasn't doing anything like that when he challenged the spot in the middle of a blowout of Penn State.
That's his prerogative, and some will criticize him because they think running up the score is unfair to opposing teams.
Under the BCS though, if Urban Meyer doesn't do it, if he doesn't try to make his team look as good as possible, isn't he being unfair to his own players?
So who's in the right? For starters, Wolken isn't moving the goalpost, he's tearing it down so there's no possible target. Perception has hurt Ohio State all year long – the only time Ohio State has gained points in both polls was during a bye week – and now there's nothing Ohio State can do in its final four or five games? As for the challenged spot, it was a fourth down play at the OSU 20 that Meyer successfully challenged to get the ball back. When the winning team challenges and wins a call of that magnitude, it's hard to get upset.
Wetzel's comments are wrapped in a healthy disdain for BCS politics and disrespect for the Big Ten's strength. As is often the case, his writing about Ohio State is a means to an end to bash the BCS, but he favors a more cutthroat style. One wonders how his opinion would change if the BCS didn't exist.
Wetzel is closer to the truth on this one. Both agree that Ohio State needs help to make the BCS championship game, but Wetzel is encouraging Ohio State to do what it needs to in order to achieve its goal while Wolken is asking Ohio State to lie down and give up. Someday, when the cyborgs rule everything in 2043 they'll clearly define what running up the score is.
OSU SEVENTH IN PRESEASON KENPOM RATINGS. Overlooked in the middle of football season has been preseason basketball and its predictions. This weekend, statistician Ken Pomeroy released his 2013 preseason ratings and to nobody's surprise Ohio State is No. 7.
What is known: Pomeroy expects the Buckeyes to have college basketball's 12th best offense and fourth best defense, second only to No. 2 Michigan State in the Big Ten. No. 12 Michigan, No. 15 Iowa (!), No. 22 Wisconsin, and No. 25 Indiana round out the top 25; No. 30 Purdue, No. 35 Minneosta, and No. 46 Illinois are the other teams with realistic NCAA tournament hopes.
Unlike BCS computers, Ken Pomeroy's daily "KenPom" ratings give useful information throughout the season. The inside story ($) of KenPom accounts for player usage, lineup changes, tempo-free basketball, and team style when making predictions. Pomeroy tweaked his formula this year to de-emphasize blowing out bad teams by dozens of points, a quirk that sometimes overrated Wisconsin to an absurd degree and produced 1% less accurate results. Keep an eye on the site until March.
Northern Illinois: big fans of wearing the American flag. ANGRY BERTS. We don't try to stalk Bret Bielema's every action, the man is just that good at pissing everybody off. On Monday, he put himself in two more bad situations.
First, he accused Auburn of failing to give him tape of a "Swinging Gate" formation on extra points. It didn't matter because Arkansas was on a bye week and sorted out the problems with plenty of time to spare; nevertheless Bielema decided to rekindle a feud with Auburn coach Gus Malzahn. Bielema couldn't resist making the accusation public in violation of SEC rules:
It also appears Bielema broke an SEC rule regarding film exchange. "If teams believe violations of the video exchange policies have occurred, it should be reported immediately to the SEC supervisor of officials and not be discussed in the media," according to the rule in the SEC's bylaws.
Second, prized 2014 JUCO recruit Jermaine Eluemunor flipped his commitment from Arkansas to Texas A&M. This is the same recruit Bielema smack-talked Ohio State over in July:
It's a Sunday night and excited about the week ahead. Was good week of recruiting especially against "THE" University's of the world. #WPS
— Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) July 29, 2013
Arkansas fans reacted predictably, and Bielema couldn't have been any unhappier. The man's endless pettiness provokes grudges deeper and heavier than Captain Ahab's grudge against Moby Dick. To the last I grapple with Bert; from hell's heart I stab at Bert; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at Bert.
MARIOTA TURNS THE OTHER CHEEK. Marcus Mariota is having a great year. He has been racking up numbers for No. 2 Oregon and is positioned as one of two Heisman finalists. But this makes me like him even more.
In the Oregon-UCLA game this Saturday, UCLA made some pretty iffy tackles against Oregon. On one hit late in the game, Mariota talked the refs out of flagging UCLA for the hit. Mariota not only did not retaliate, he patted the Bruin's helmet as a form of encouragement.
"I don't know," Mariota said. "I just try to keep my head, and my guys did an awesome job keeping their heads. They did come after us a couple times, and for our guys to hold their character really says a lot about this team."
Keep an eye on Mariota and Oregon down the stretch. With an event like this under their belts, they may be Ohio State's preferred opponent.
AIR RAID ADORABILITY. With Halloween just two days away, now is the time to obsess over costuming. Vodka Joe Paterno is an admirable adult effort, and the best overall costumes are children dressed as coaches. Behold Texas Tech Red Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury:
I have no clue who this kiddo is. But I need a tiny @TTUKingsbury child!! pic.twitter.com/GQSziFdq0y
— Ashley Surber (@asurb21) October 28, 2013
This joins fellow first-ballot Hall of Costume Fame inductees Baby Andy Reid and Baby Mark Mangino. Great hustle, son.
LINKS AHOY. Beanie Wells can't shake the injury bug, even during a tryout... The seedy side of sports gambling gurus… Michigan's starting tight end A.J. Williams is suspended against Michigan State following an OVI arrest... The domestic violence case against Jared Sullinger has been dismissed… Penn State is paying $59.7 million to settle 26 claims of child sexual abuse by Jerry Sandusky... Former Florida center Mike Pouncey received a subpoena in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial… Four Oklahoma inmates escape prison via the shower… The health hazards of burn pits to military… Peru’s UFO investigation department is back in business… PLEASE DO NOT THROW CHAIRS INTO THE RING… Houston coach psyches out his team with fake uniforms… The infamous “Go Blue” skywriting cost Michigan $6,700… Kyrie Irving’s Uncle Drew does it again... A fantastic looking hot dog… This Cardinals/Red Sox split jersey is an abomination... Drumline, the prototypical sports movie… and David Eckstein is the grittiest, scrappiest lawyer around.
