Not sure what will be more fascinating: seeing if newest commit Torrance Gibson can play quarterback in college or the 2015/2016 logjam at the position. Ohio State went from thin at signal-caller to stacked real quick.
And #shoutout to Joe Burrow for handling Gibson's commitment like a damned competitor.
SPARTANS A BIGGER RIVAL THAN WOLVERINES? J.T. Barrett had an interesting quote after the televised scrimmage against Illinois that immediately raised a red flag with one of my friends. (Yes, I have, like, three of them.)
"This is why you come to Ohio State, to go play Michigan State at Michigan State. This is what it is. It's big-time."– J.T. Barrett
Barrett — I think, anyway — was talking about playing in big, primetime games. And make no mistake, this is the biggest game of the Urban Meyer Era. I don't think it was a slight to Michigan, but there's also no doubt Michigan State (and not their little brother) is the biggest roadblock to Ohio State's goals.
From Joe Rexrode of Freep.com:
And that's why Saturday's game at Spartan Stadium is enormous beyond this season's playoff race. Before MSU put a halt to it in Indianapolis, there was a lot of talk about Meyer and the Buckeyes running away from the rest of the Big Ten.
It does not look that way anymore. It looks like Dantonio and the Spartans are in this for the long haul. They have championship rings and a new locker room to show, they're developing NFL-caliber players, and they're making recruiting gains — look no further than 2015 running back L.J. Scott (Hubbard, Ohio), by all accounts a straight-up recruiting win for Dantonio over Meyer.
MSU is going to have more than 50 wins in the past five seasons when this one ends. That's not a brief uprising.
I'm no recruitnik, but I wouldn't count a recruiting victory over Urban Meyer until National Signing Day. That said — and I know this will seem sacrilege to some — but the Michigan State game means more than The Game this year.
I know, I know... "throw out the record books when these two meet," but there's zero percent chance Ohio State loses at home to Michigan this year. (And you can write that in blood.) There is, however, at least a 33% chance Ohio State loses on Saturday.
I'm not saying Ohio State-Michigan State is the new eternal blood feud... but this year? Michigan State means more. (And yes, I was sentient during the Cooper years; Urban F. Meyer is no John Cooper.)
BRAXTON AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. I wasn't yet sold on Braxton Miller returning to Ohio State next season, but this tweet from the Canton Repository's Todd Porter went along way in shoring up the doubt I had:
OSu asst Tom Herman said @BraxtonMiller5 is doing well w rehab & is engaged in meetings in qb room. Maybe ahead of schedule
— toddporter (@toddporter) November 3, 2014
In the end, redshirting this year might be the best thing to ever happen to Miller's career. Urban's spoke before how playing immediately (and not sitting behind a "grinder") hampered the development of Braxton's work ethic, and I think there's a lot to that. Braxton now knows how fast it can pass you by, and he's now taking nothing for granted.
MORE EVIDENCE OF AN SEC-ESPN CONSPIRACY. So, here is a video hosted on ESPN's servers — available on the SEC Network's official page — that mocks Big Ten fans for being paranoid about ESPN's SEC bias.
[EDIT: Of course — of course! — SEC Network videos are autoplay. Because I believe those who use autoplay videos should be stoned to death, you can click through here to view the video.]
To which I say: looooooool. (I do not recommend doing anything in response to this video than chalking it up and laughing; it's healthy to laugh at yourself.)
In the meantime, I will continue praying that one day SEC teams will have to face the reaper of playing December playoff games north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Until then, LET'S CHECK THE CIVIL WAR SCOREBOARD:
B1G: 1
SEC: 0
It is as I expected. And that's all General Sherman (undefeated in out-of-conference play) has to say about that.
BYRON MULLENS (NO NOT HIS HAIR) CUT IN CHINA. The last time we saw old friend of the program, Byron Mullens, he was looking like he was on top of the world after signing with a Chinese league team:
Unfortunately for Byron, his play apparently didn't match his bitchin' new hairdo.
From Sports.Sina.com:
新浪体育讯 北京时间10月11日，CBA[微博]南昌季前赛进入第三天。在比赛开始之前有消息曝出：山西队因为不满大外援穆伦斯表现，想要更换外援。这一消息得到了山西队主教练杨学增的确认。
今晚山西队的比赛被安排在第二场，但是主教练杨学增一人早早的来到了现场。在被问及大外援穆伦斯目前的情况时，他表示，“确实想要更换他，现在已经开始在找换的了。”不过杨指导表示并不光是对他在季前赛表现的不满，还有一些训练方面的问题。季前赛已经进行的两场比赛，穆伦斯上场时间有限，表现平平。
其实这并不是拜伦斯第一次登陆中国的联赛，在之前夏天举行的NBL联赛中，穆伦斯曾在季后赛阶段效力于陕西信达，在同江苏同曦的半决赛上，陕西1比2落败，痛失决赛资格。而穆伦斯除了第一场表现神勇以外，在输掉的两场比赛中仿佛是隐形了一般。但尽管如此，在此后不久坊间还是传出了山西队有意签约拜伦斯的消息。虽然山西方面出面否认，但最终这桩交易还是成型。
Because I'm an idiot who was publicly educated in Marion (a triumvirate of educational death knells if there ever was one), I did not learn to speak, read, or write Chinese. But, I'm going to guess this isn't good for our hero.
Let's consult the oracle, Google Translate, in order to get to the bottom of this:
Ticker October 11, CBA Nanchang preseason game entered its third day.In the news leaked before the start of the race: the Shanxi team because of dissatisfaction with the performance of large foreign aid Mullens, want to replace foreign aid. The news was confirmed by the Shanxi Yang Xue's coach.
Tonight's game Shanxi team was placed in the second, but coach Yang Xuezeng a man came early to the scene. When asked about the large foreign aid Mullens current situation, he said, "really wanted to replace him, and now has begun to change the look of the." But Yang guide said they were not just for his performance in the preseason discontent , there are some aspects of training. Two games of the preseason has been carried out, Mullens playing time is limited, mediocre.
In fact, this is not the first time landing in China 拜伦斯 league, NBL held before the summer league, Mullens has played in the playoffs stage Shaanxi Cinda, in the semi-finals with Jiangsu Tong Xi, the Shaanxi 1 2 defeat, lost finals. The Mullens addition to the first field heroics, losing two games in like a stealth general. Nevertheless, anecdotal or soon thereafter came the Shanxi team intends to sign Yuebailunsi news. Although Shanxi aspect denied, but eventually the deal still forming.
Hmmm, it was as I suspected: large foreign aid Byron Mullens has been cut two games into the preseason for limited, mediocre play.
You might say "time is a flat circle," but Byron Mullens became a millionaire through limited, mediocre basketball play. That's swagger you have to respect.
THE DEFENSE IS SO READY FOR SATURDAY NIGHT. I'm not yet ready to anoint Ohio State's defense as some Silver Bullet replicas, but they are improving every week. Even crazier: every key player will return next year other than Michael Bennett. So, it excites me, the fan, when I see stuff like this on Twitter late on a Tuesday night:
@1Tyvis been watchin all day
— Darron Lee (@DLeeMG8) November 4, 2014
If the defense wins the game against the Spartans? Then I'll crown their asses. Simple as that.
YOU COULD OWN CARDALE JONES' DODGE CHARGER. I assume the car can fly (like Cardale), is built like a tank (like Cardale) and is worth $1,000,000 (like Cardale). Does anybody have a quick million to float your boy so he can ride around in his hero's Dodge Charger?
Selling my Dodge Charger, HMU for pics and info
— Cordale Jones (@CJ12_) November 4, 2014
Long live Cardale Jones.
THOSE WMDs. Summary of Brady Hoke's/Will Muschamp's Monday press conferences... Now you know how it feels, Penn State... MSU's Darian Hicks ready to "let that dog out" vs. OSU... Meet your teen daughter's new heartthrob: Alex from Target... My new jam (NSFW, obvii).
