Trailing 32-31 with just over two minutes to play in the 1st half, Ohio State unleashed a 19-4 blitz over the next seven game-minutes to take a 51-36 lead before cruising past Northwestern, 76-60, last night in the Schott.
The Buckeyes placed four in double figures lead by 16 from LaQuinton Ross and 14 points and 10 boards from Lenzelle Smith Jr.
The game got interesting with five minutes to play as Northwestern's Nikola Volkoff Cerina took a swipe at Amir Williams, triggering a couple shoves from Ross that earned him an ejection. The good news is Q will not be suspended for Saturday's tilt against Minnesota.
Ross had 22 points in the first matchup with the Gophers and with Ohio State now sitting at 8-6 in league action thanks to five wins in the last six games, this team is on a modest roll with four games remaining the regular season B1G slate.
SILVER METTLE. For the 2nd year in a row, OSU signal-caller Braxton Miller won the B1G's Silver Football, given annually to the league's MVP, as voted on by the coaches. Having foregone a chance to go pro, Miller will return next season with a chance to become the conference's first three-time winner.
Miller met briefly with the assembled media following the trophy presentation at midcourt during halftime of OSU's hoops win over Northwestern and had plenty to say.
Despite receiving "one of the best feedbacks you can get" regarding his NFL draft stock, Miller said he always knew he'd be back for one last hurrah in Columbus.
Looking ahead to next season, Miller seemed to favor Ezekiel Elliott as the starting tailback, gushed about the speed of freshman Curtis Samuel and raved about incoming wide receiver Johnnie Dixon and his already-notorious work ethic:
Braxton Miller said he's very excited about Johnnie Dixon. Said he's a hard worker, could only be a three-year player.
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) February 20, 2014
It's great to hear Miller talking about the young guns especially at wideout because the returning crop including Devin Smith and Dontre Wilson, despite their obvious talents, haven't earned the right to have no-doubt starting jobs handed to them.
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND. Just over a week ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee proposed a rule change that would prevent offenses from snapping the ball (unless they prefer a five-yard penalty) until the play clock bleeds under 30 seconds so that defenses can substitute players.
The key argument for the move was that it likely reduce injuries as those poor, fatigued defensive players wouldn't be so vulnerable to big hits, coupled with the potential for less offensive snaps which by extension would decrease the amount of collisions, whether players were tired or not.
Yesterday, the story took another unexpected turn as the chairman of the committee, Air Force head coach Tony Calhoun, sang a different tune, citing a need for empirical data supporting the safety angle:
"I think the only way it can or it should become a rule is if indeed it is a safety concern," Calhoun said. "And that can't be something that is a speculation or a possibility. I think there's got to be something empirical there, where you realize, yes, this truly is a health matter in the terms of not being able to get a defensive player off the field."
"That's what you're waiting to see right now. You want to find out, is there certainly a -- I think it's got to be pretty resounding (in favor of the proposal). Otherwise it makes no sense to push a rule forward."
Ah, finally the mad politics within the NCAA might actually do some good. Bert and TuscaLucifer can't be too happy but guys like RichRod and Gus Malzahn are no doubt thrilled the rule change, which will be voted upon March 6th, is meeting legit resistance.
THE STARS SELDOM ALIGN. The guys over at Saturday Down South have been digging into exactly how many five-star recruits have panned out over the last 10 years by position and recently they took a look at the linebackers.
Interestingly, there have been 39 five-star LB's over the last decade (24/7 composite rankings) yet just nine of them graded out as "living up to the hype" though 13 of them are still playing and the jury is still determined to be out.
Ohio State, as you'd probably guess considering the state of the linebacker position in recent memory, didn't fare very well. The Buckeyes had just three names on the list with Etienne Sabino grading as on the low end of "good career / mixed reviews", Dorian Bell obviously labeled as a bust and of course, the jury is still out on Curtis Grant though he's got a long way to go to even earn "good career / mixed reviews" status.
On the bright side, maybe the law of averages is on the side of true frosh Raekwon McMillen blowing up in Columbus.
WITHERS TAKING PAGE OUT OF URBAN'S BOOK. Former Buckeye assistant and current head football coach at James Madison, Everett Withers, is wasting no time trying to change the culture with the James Madison football program.
To share his vision, the school released an all-access video of sorts and Withers comes strong:
Good luck to Coach Withers as he looks to reinvent the Dukes program.
QUICK CLICKS. WUT?!... Steve Spurrier calls Jadeveon Clowney’s work ethic ‘OK’... I'm sorry, I can't hair you. I'm hard of hairing... Report: Oklahoma self-reports excessive pasta violation... Dirty trees (but only if your mind is dirty)... A shot of the Columbus skyline you probably haven't seen before... Waffle House locations by state... Fur goodness sakes... Shaun White Reveals He Has Been Battling Clinical Unstokedness.
