Rod Smith: Noooooooooo! I don't know what I hate more: the drug testing "industry" or seeing a talented guy not put the puzzle together. Right now, it's probably a toss-up.
I thought Urban recruited thugs and gang-bangers, though? Dismissals for failed drug test(s) is not what Mike Bianchi promised me.
But in all seriousness, I'm gutted about this one. I was/am a true believer of Rod Smith. The dude is an NFL talent, and he will get his chance at the next level, even if he has to do it the hard way.
Happy trails, Rod. You will forever be a Buckeye.
THE SEASON-SAVING OT DRIVE. As we discussed yesterday, J.T. Barrett came through in the clutch with Ohio State's season hanging in the balance on Saturday night. (Thankfully Twitter wasn't around during Ohio State's national championship run, because #OSUTwitter would've melted it.)
From Doug Lesmerises of cleveland.com:
"I mean, I was definitely nervous going onto the field," Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott said Monday. "It was do or die, you know.
I, the man sitting on the couch, was not worried.
"You go on the field, it was the loudest it was all night. You saw those white pom-poms bouncing up and down. I mean, it was something surreal. It was like you were in a movie. We just knew we had to go. You couldn't hear anything, you had to get face to face with J.T. to hear the play. So we just knew we had to score."
EZ-E nailed that last part.
"You knew," offensive lineman Pat Elflein said, "[J.T. Barrett's] got our back. This guy's going to lead us."
Barrett did. And the season, in that moment, was saved.
And that's why I think Ohio State will have a different edge going into the game against Michigan State. I'm not saying Ohio State will win (the stars aren't yet close enough for a proper reading), but I am not shamed by their chances.
DOUBT CREEPING IN AFTER NARROW WIN? While I refused to let myself be worried during Saturday's contest, I will admit the game was much closer than I anticipated. Sure, Ohio State caused a lot of its own problems, but Penn State played admirably after getting in a 17-0 halftime hole.
But Ohio State won, and I think the nature of that win would do a lot to instill confidence in a young team. The Columbus Dispatch's sage, Tim May, however, disagrees. From an article titled: "Ohio State football: Doubts likely to creep in after narrow win."
What’s not hot?
The offense. Penn State was No. 6 in the country in total defense going into the game, but the Buckeyes put together several nice drives in the first half on the way to a 17-0 lead. Quarters three and four were disjointed efforts by the offense, though, especially because J.T. Barrett — No. 3 in the country in passing efficiency headed in — was not hot at all. He missed on several passes that could have put it away, and the pick-six he tossed to defensive lineman Anthony Zettel and the interception he threw to linebacker Mike Hull to set up another TD flipped the game.
[...]
Back to the drawing board
Third-and-short. The Buckeyes weren’t stoned on every third-and-1; it just seemed like it. They were intent on running the ball against what had been the nation’s No. 1 defense against the run (60.2-yard average) and wound up with 219, led by Ezekiel Elliott’s 109 that included a 10-yard TD run. But the offense had no rhythm in the second half, and wide receivers hardly factored into the passing game, making just three of the team’s 12 receptions.
The doubters certainly got some ammunition on Saturday night, but Ohio State didn't lose. As Kerry Coombs said, if Ohio State was the team that its doubters think it is, it would have crumbled like a Nature Valley granola bar.
I do agree with Tim, however, on the point about needing to go back to the drawing board on third and one. I think their up-tempo run up the gut has been figured out by the competition.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ IN PUMPKIN FORM. I'm ecstatic Joey Bosa — an 11W reader, by the way — is proselytizing on behalf of the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ emoticon, because I've been a disciple of it since 2011.
Unfamiliar with the origins of the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯? From Kayla Chayka of The Awl:
The shruggie or “smugshrug,” as it is sometimes called, is what's known as a “kaomoji,” or “face mark” in Japanese. It's similar to an emoji or emoticon, but it incorporates characters from the katakana alphabet, instead of underscores and carets, for a wider range of expression. (The (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ table flip is a favorite.) It went viral in English when, after Kanye West shot down Taylor Swift in favor of Beyonce during his infamous 2010 Video Music Awards interruption, he gave a little shrug with his hands outstretched in a slight acknowledgement of his own ridiculousness; the rap crew Travis Porter immediately tweeted, “Kanye shrug —> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯” as a crude representation of the gesture. For a time, post-Kanye, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ continued to represent a kind of self-aware victory over the world: It was appropriated as the victory trademark of SeleCT, a competition-level Starcraft II player from Team Dignitas, after which it became known as “sup son,” and by late 2011, it was parodied on YouTube by Starcraft competition announcers and plastered on signs held up by fans.
After seeing the light of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, it’s hard to not notice it everywhere. Han Solo makes the gesture in Star Wars, as Reddit noticed in 2012. Daily Dot writer Miles Klee caught the Spider-Man super villain Mysteriodoing it. In 2013, it appeared in a Reddit post that commanded users “lol idk just upvote.” “Lol idk” seems like a fairly apt description of the shruggie’s meaning, but it also doesn’t begin to describe the nihilism that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ embodies today.
Well, now you know. Anyway, here's the Bosa shrug in pumpkin form:
My @jbbigbear pumpkin pic.twitter.com/RdrF3LXeTr
— Cody Meade (@meader14) October 28, 2014
Since I'm over the age of 12 (and I don't own any kids [that i know of]), I'm not big on Halloween. But, even as soulless supreme hater, I can't find it in me to hate on a quality jack-o-lantern. Life comes at you fast, folks.
IS THE FIX ON IN THE SEC? Is it just me or is Mike Pereira, former VP of Officiating in the NFL and current Fox Sports "rules analyst," basically accusing the SEC of being fixed?
After lauding the SEC as the toughest conference in America (that's a federal law before before critiquing the SEC), Pereira minced no words about two situations in the last two weeks that left him, in his words, pissed.
From two weeks ago:
Two weeks ago, the officials at the Auburn-Mississippi State game were noticeably talking to someone, somewhere over their communications system at Davis Wade Stadium, who gave them information to pick up a flag for intentional grounding. It was an absolute farce.
That's a hot take, but Pereira turned it up even further:
Tennessee had the ball, fourth-and-4 at the Tennessee 42-yard line with 7:20 left in the first quarter. Alabama led 13-0. The Vols’ Matt Darr punted the ball 48 yards and the Tide’s Cyrus Jones signaled for a fair catch and caught it. There was a personal foul called on the play. That’s when the Farce Part II commenced.
This play clearly demonstrated it happened again. From the time the ball was snapped for the punt until a decision was made by referee Matt Moore, 2:36 elapsed. During that time, you could obviously see the group of officials that had huddled were getting input from someone. Someone, somewhere, was giving them information on the personal foul penalty that was called a dead-ball foul on the kicking team.
What? Are you kidding me?
SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? Pereira connects the dots:
Some conferences have been allowed to experiment by using an eighth official on the field. I don’t particularly like it, but I understand it. The SEC also has an eighth official on one crew, as well as an alternate official who actually stands on the line of scrimmage. He’s also been given approval to give input on specific calls from the line of scrimmage, such as the quarterback being beyond or behind the line of scrimmage when he releases the pass.
But now it appears the SEC has someone that nobody else has -- a mystery man. I’m not sure where he is, but he’s providing information to the officials on the field. If the SEC denies it, they’re not telling the truth.
My question is: what happens when an SEC crew is asked to referee a contest in the playoffs? The SEC has played by its own rules, which is fine, but when somebody like Mike Pereira is using words like "farce" and openly questioning the integrity of the SEC... that's another eye-opening beast entirely.
The good part, however, is knowing all empires eventually crumble.
JIMBO FISHER IS A PRAGMATIC SCUMBAG. While Urban Meyer is dismissing a senior running back for a failed drug test, Florida State running back Karlos Williams is still on Florida State's team.
From Kevin Draper of Deadspin:
According to a report from ESPN, an FSU student on June 23 was trying to purchase weed from three men in his home. Somehow things went crooked, according to the report, and the student,a 26-year-old FSU senior and former Marine, was robbed by two armed men. A police investigator set up an interview with Williams for June 30, but Williams no-showed, a Tallahassee police spokesman told ESPN. Williams's girlfriend—the same one he allegedly assaulted—told investigators that Williams had hired an attorney and wouldn't speak with them.
A month later Tallahassee police arrested Daravius Lawrence and charged him with robbery with a firearm. Williams was listed as an associate of Lawrence on the Tallahassee police report. "The two armed men haven't yet been arrested," ESPN reports, citing sources close to the investigation.
Last week, an assistant state attorney and an Tallahassee Police Department investigator also attempted to interview Williams about the robbery. Williams declined.
On top of that, here's a picture reportedly of a post from the mother of Karlos Williams' children:
And yes, as of this writing, Karlos Williams is still on the team. And yes, it's because Jimbo Fisher is a scumbag, but he's also a pragmatic one.
Yesterday, Florida State picked up a commitment from Florida's No. 1 running back (and Ohio State target), Jacques Patrick. THE REASONING BEHIND THE COMMITMENT MIGHT SHOCK YOU:
Jacques Patrick noted that his family saw the way Jimbo Fisher has defended Jameis Winston and that went a long way with his mother.
— Josh Newberg (@joshnewberg247) October 27, 2014
I want to die.
THOSE WMDs. PSA: do not go as Ray Rice for Halloween, but especially don't let your kid do it... NCAA's Mark Emmert hopes members revisit rule on autographs... "The Gentleman Thief” On the heist of a lifetime... "The Fight: Patterson vs. Liston" The days leading up to the event... "Against the Grain" Scrutinizing the gluten-free craze.
