Does anybody know anything about Boone, North Carolina, other than it's the home of Appalachian State? I, uh, I might have to move to there in January.
JERRY KILL: WINNER. Jerry Kill is my favorite college football coach, and yes, that includes Urban Meyer. I've been a fan of Kill's ever since he was at Southern Illinois (#shoutout to the Salukis), and I was at Montana (#shoutout to the Grrrrrizzilies).
But take it from this soulless degenerate: Kill is one of those guys you will never read a word of bad print about, and if you did, it would be because the writer is an asshole and not anything to do with Jerry Kill or his good works.
From Eric Seger of The OZone:
“We had some kids struggling and our APR (Academic Progress Rate) was very low,” Kill said. “If they aren’t eligible, you don’t have good players on the field. We locked in on that first, we went from having a 2.1 GPA and we’ve had four straight semesters right around 3.0.”
For comparisons sake, Ohio State’s team GPA has hovered around the same mark since Meyer’s arrival in 2011. Much like Meyer, Kill stresses coaching staff stability and unity and it shows.
He’s brought the same people with him wherever he’s gone, most notably associate head coach and offensive line coach Matt Limegrover (been with Kill since 1999 at Emporia State) and associate head coach/defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys (since 1995 at Saginaw Valley State). The latter took over for Kill when he took a leave of absence to get his health in order last fall, leading the Golden Gophers to four straight wins before faltering down the stretch against ranked teams Wisconsin and Michigan State.
I was/am worried about this game — even before the trip to East Lansing — because Kill is a class coach, it's going to be 20 degrees at kickoff, and Ohio State is coming off an emotional win. It has all the factors of a trap game.
Kill is the real deal because he's won at every level. Hell, despite a loss to Illinois, he has Minnesota sitting at 7-2. The Gophers, coming off a taxing of Iowa (#shoutout to Kirk Ferentz's agent), will give Ohio State all it can handle on Saturday.
Hopefully Minnesota's Iowa tape was enough of an attention-getter.
BUCKEYES OPEN IT UP. Remember in 2005 when an offense consisting of Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, and Santonio Holmes only mustered 10 points in a loss at Penn State? And then Jim Tressel opened it up and Ohio went to two title games in two years?
I think the win over Michigan State could do similar wonders for OSU's offense.
From the Associated Press via The Winona Daily:
"Our mantra for the week was we were going to empty the chambers," he said. "We needed to be very aggressive. That was a staff-wide, offense-wide kind of a philosophy."
[...]
The Buckeyes ran for 268 yards on 41 carries (6.5 per attempt), led by Hyde's replacement, Ezekiel Elliott, who gained 154 yards on 23 carries. Barrett — a minor surprise as the starter when Miller went down — completed 16 of 26 passes for 300 yards and also ran for 86 on 14 carries.
The linemen, who looked more like matadors in the 35-21 home loss to Virginia Tech in Week 2, allowed only one sack and provided terrific blocking for Barrett, Elliott and the three Buckeyes with at least 90 yards receiving.
Saturday was the apotheosis of the Urban Meyer-Tom Herman offense. I hope the chambers stay emptied too, because Ohio State was electrifying when it came out swinging against the Spartans.
And why not? Ohio State has better athletes than anybody in the Big Ten. Plus, it needs as many style points as possible from here on out.
THAD MATTA IS GOOD. The NCAA named Ohio State the second best "football-basketball school" in the country. (If you listen closely, you can hear Gene Smith cackling.) And while everybody knows Urban Meyer dominates on the recruiting trails, Thad Matta just pulled in a quality heist of his own. According to some it's the best 2015 class in the Big Ten.
From Scout's Brian Snow:
It is close, but this honor once again goes to Thad Matta and Ohio State. The Buckeyes have been a force on the recruiting trail since Matta arrived on campus in Columbus, and he continued it again with a very solid four man class.
While the Buckeyes didn’t land a five-star recruit like they did last year in highly D’Angelo Russell, they do have a high level shooter and scorer in Austin Grandstaff, a physical presence on the low block in Daniel Giddens, a true point guard in A.J. Harris, and a very unique forward in Mickey Mitchell who provides elite passing ability and a high IQ for the game.
Overall this is the type of class that should stick around campus for a while and provide a lot of building blocks for the program as Matta and his staff work on reloading the roster.
Thad talked about his 2015 class in-depth over here. It was also interesting to hear Matta call Austin Grandstaff a better shooter than John Diebler in high school. Mickey Mitchell will be a fun one to watch, too.
... And this concludes your monthly reminder that Thad Matta is an underappreciated boss.
MARSHALL TO RETURN PUNTS. It seems like it's been a decade since Ohio State returned a punt for a touchdown, but I have a feeling that drought is about to come to an end. With Dontre Wilson officially sidelined, Jalin Marshall, the electric H-back from Middletown, is Ohio State's next man up at punt returner.
But, there will be growing pains.
From Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com:
"I should have called the poison call and made everyone get out of the way," Marshall said after practice on Wednesday night. "But I tried to step up in there and return the punt and it caused a turnover and that's on me."
The muffed return was recovered by Michigan State and the Spartans scored a touchdown on the next play to take a seven-point first-quarter lead. Ohio State moved past the mistake and went on to a 49-37 win, but as the Buckeyes look forward to Minnesota on Saturday, they have to get their return game in shape.
Yes, that's right, folks: Urban Meyer left Jalin Marshall in despite committing a mistake. Why? Well, the same reason he left Dontre Wilson in:
Meyer said Tuesday he didn't take Wilson off his return duties after the second fumble because "we have a culture here where if you make a mistake, that's OK."
I don't think Urban received enough credit for sticking with Dontre Wilson. Sure, the Texan committed some costly turnovers, but Urban trusted his instinct, Dontre stayed in, and he caught two critical second half catches (one for a touchdown).
Hopefully some fans remember stuff like this the next time a player commits a turnover.
WISE WORDS FROM LeCHUCK. Former OSU great LeCharles Bentley, who runs a premiere offensive lineman factory these days, had some fire tweets yesterday:
When a coll FB program only recruits the top 1% of genetic gene pool, don't tell me what they "build". Diamonds will always shine. #Truth
— LeCharles Bentley (@OLineWorld65) November 12, 2014
Take the walk on and "build" him to a starter. That takes a process and demonstrates mastery. The Orlando Pace's of the world are born.
— LeCharles Bentley (@OLineWorld65) November 12, 2014
For additional context: Nick Saban squares up with Urban Meyer's apprentice (Dan Mullen) this Saturday. So, who is the true coach?
From that story: MSU has three players in starting 22 over 3 stars. 'Bama only has two starters who WEREN'T 4* or 5* http://t.co/y4FXEGcsRt
— Bob Carskadon (@bobcarskadon) November 11, 2014
Hmmm. Really makes you think. Eat the bread, everyone.
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