11W ICYMI:
- Kyle continues his coffee tour, here's his sit-down with the Admiral of Navy's fooball program.
- Citro's look at Urbz's first two recruiting classes by geographical region.
- Vico's Better Know a Buckeye series continues with Noah Brown.
- Jones' look at the sail route within OSU's offense.
- B1G football championship will be in Indy through the 2021 season.
Friday's NSFW Anti-Work #Bangers:
- Urban Meyer needs to get this German Shepherd on the team. ("There are no rules in the books saying a German Shepherd can't play linebacker!")
- 23 minutes of Stone Cold Stunners.
- 50 Cent's "Places to Go."
URBAN TALKS REBUILDING OSU. Cleveland.com has been running a week-long series on the three years since Tatgate, and yesterday's installment featured the Buckeye Overlord, Urban F. Meyer.
While some fragments of the media still think Ohio State got off lightly, Urban disagrees categorically:
"It's a huge difference; I hear people make comments, 'It's just one, it's three,' - it's nine scholarships. When you have the Christian Bryant injury, when you have the special teams issues we had last year because we had 12 kids down with season-ending injuries, that's significant. Obviously, it didn't destroy our program, but it's significant. It's noticeable."
"What if Christian Bryant never broke his ankle?" is my least favorite game to play with memories of 2013 football team.
Urban also disagreed with the notion Ohio State was in "disarray" upon his arrival (emphasis mine):
"I think on a national level or even local, there may have been a misunderstanding of, 'Was this place in disarray?' I think there was a lot of stuff going on, but in the big picture it was relatively minor stuff. The schematic issues we had to deal with, the change of personnel, the change of style of offense, but that's transitional issues.
"So if you say there are remnants of the previous (coaching staff), if there is I don't know if it's all bad. We haven't changed much of our academics. The way we do our business with our academic system, it's really good. We completely changed the weight room, but that's just a philosophical approach to things. So I'm not sure, I'm not giving you much because I don't really know. (It's just) typical transition issues I've been a part of several times now and I didn't feel it was that major."
So what was the philosophy in the weight room before Urban Meyer and his mutant trainer, Mickey Marotti, arrived on the scene?
Because whatever it was, I think we all got a good look at the philosophical difference in the 2007 title game.
PHIL STEELE LIKES THE BUCKEYES. The four Buckeyes Phil Steele has picked as preseason All-Americans were unsurprisingly included on Phil Steele's preseason All-Big Ten team.
Braxton Miller, Jeff Heuerman, Joey Bosa and Michael Bennett all collected first team honors.
Dontre Wilson, Devin Smith, Noah Spence and Doran Grant were named to the second team.
Taylor Decker and Curtis Grant appeared on the third team.
Corey Smith was the sole Buckeye named to the fourth team.
Not going to waste my time quibbling over a preseason media team, but the bottom line is the Buckeyes are stacked with talent this year.
WISCONSIN(!?) IS B1G'S CASH KING. USA Today released their 2012-2013 revenue database and — *switches to Buzzfeed voice* — the number two team on the list might shock you.
| SCHOOL | TOTAL REVENUE |
|---|---|
| Texas | $165,691,486 |
| Wisconsin | $149,141,405 |
| Alabama | $143,776,550 |
| Michigan | $143,514,125 |
| Ohio State | $139,639,307 |
While the Big Ten is raking money from their network, Wisconsin was also helped by a $58.9 million fundraising windfall during the 2012-2013 year.
Now if they could just start turning these hundreds of millions of dollars into significant football victories...
CHRIS CLARK THINKS MSU RUNS THE B1G. Here's Ohio State's No. 1 tight end prospect to Cleveland.com yesterday (emphasis mine):
"Definitely the last couple years, Michigan State has dominated the Big Ten," [Chris] Clark said. "It is a great program, just like Ohio State, but Michigan State has that toughness factor to it and they play unbelievable defense. Coach Dantonio is just a tough coach, a masterful defensive coach and they do great things with the tight ends in terms of a true pro-style offense."
I keep saying this, but there's a reckoning coming to the B1G this fall.
ATHLON PICKS BUCKS OVER SPARTY. At least one publication seems to know the score as we head further into the "preseason predictions" portion of the off-season calendar.
Here's Athlon Sports yesterday, in their voluminous Big Ten preview:
... The Buckeyes are Athlon’s pick to win the Big Ten in 2014. Quarterback Braxton Miller is among the nation’s best players, and coach Urban Meyer has assembled plenty of talent at the skill positions. Ohio State also has the nation’s No. 1 defensive line for 2014. Filling the holes in the back seven of the defense is critical for the Buckeyes’ chances of making an appearance in college football’s four-team playoff.
THOSE WMDs. New rules for instant replay... John Calipari is college sports' newest 50 million dollar man... Inside the Ohio State Reformatory... US troops approaching Omaha beach for D-Day, 70 years ago today... A break down of each argument in next week's O'Bannon trial... 27 photos that prove Ohio's gorgeous... This ain't no wimpy baby goat!!!!.... Irony... A type house divided... Yeah, about that "record" Kaepernick deal... I need a pair of these boots... From TeddyBallGame: Michigan man refuses to stop road trip when girlfriend dies, drives cross-country with corpse...
