My mom sauntering into the comments yesterday was a new experience for me. When a wild mom appears on the internet things can go a lot of different ways. My first reaction to take a hammer to my router, but everything turned out okay (75+ upvotes!). So, thank you guys for being nice to my mom, who is also nice.
Anyway... how do you do, Mike Weber?
WHY OSU IN THE PLAYOFFS MAKES PERFECT SENSE. Ohio State is in the playoff. Kick rocks, haters.
From Stewart Mandel of FoxSports.com:
There's no question recency played a huge part in the decision. Remember, the committee previously met on Mondays and Tuesdays. For the final edition, though, members watched the games together all weekend and began their vote Saturday night as soon as the championship games ended. Ohio State's clinic wasn't just fresh in their minds -- it was probably still playing in the background. And yet, I do believe if they met today they'd still pick the Buckeyes, due to the following sequence of events that transpired over the last week of the season.
[...]
Finally, while Jeff Long insisted it wasn't the committee's job to "send messages" about scheduling, there's no doubt in my mind that a contingent of members on that committee -- particularly the sitting ADs -- were uncomfortable with rewarding Baylor while it openly defies the larger movement around the country to beef up schedules. A quote Barry Alvarez gave me in an interview for my book last spring has always stuck in the back of my mind: "It's pretty easy for me to take a look at a schedule and see what the intent of the schedule is." Baylor's intent is pretty clear; it doesn't have a Power 5 opponent scheduled until 2017. (But it's already got Incarnate Word locked up.) Meanwhile, for all the flak Ohio State took for losing to Virginia Tech, the Buckeyes also scheduled and slaughtered a Cincinnati team that finished 9-3 and shared the American Conference title. Throw in 6-5 Navy and the Buckeyes took on three teams tougher than anyone Baylor did.
So to recap, TCU and Baylor's schedules finally aligned closely enough after the final week that the committee invoked the head-to-head tiebreaker, at which point the decision came down to Baylor or Ohio State. The Buckeyes' performance against Wisconsin gave them more quality wins (as defined by the committee) than the Bears and a better overall body of work (nine wins over bowl-eligible teams to Baylor's five). In the end, it probably wasn't that difficult a decision.
No, it wasn't a difficult decision for anybody that watched the Wisconsin game that isn't a fan of, or drawing a check from, Baylor or TCU. I would've put the entire committee in jail myself — Dog the Bounty Hunter style — if they had held Ohio State out of the playoffs.
My question is what are people going to say when Ohio State wins the whole damn thing? (Because that's what's going to happen.)
HOW OHIO STATE CAN BEAT BAMA. To win the title, however, Ohio State will have to roll back the Tide. Urban Meyer said his team will have to be "on point" to beat Alabama. But, what needs to happen beyond coachspeak?
From David Fox of Athlon Sports on five reasons Ohio State will beat Alabama:
1. Cardale Jones
This is counterintuitive but perhaps crazy enough to work against Alabama. If Cardale Jones really is as good as his performance against Wisconsin indicates, Ohio State will be in good shape at the quarterback position despite all the odds. Jones completed 12 of 17 passes for 257 yards with three touchdowns against a top-five defense in Wisconsin. And that's essentially all the game film Nick Saban and his staff will have to dissect. We know Jones has a big arm (15.1 yards per attempt against the Badgers) and one of the best deep threats in Devin Smith (26.6 yards per reception). A dropback passer also is a different look for Meyer against Saban, who faced Tim Tebow in the coaches' two SEC championship matchups.
I, uh, I wouldn't call King Cardale a "dropback passer" (although the King can drop if he damn well chooses), but everybody seems to be real concerned about ol' Cardale facing the mighty Alabama defense. But, unless Nick Saban is a sorcerer, he only has 17 meaningful passes in Cardale's career to analyze. Granted, I haven't watched a lot of Bama this year, but I'm quite confident its defense played more than 17 snaps.
Sure, Alabama will likely throw the sink at Cardale, but it's not like Wisconsin went at him with the kid gloves (despite what the score would tell you). The King was ready for Wisconsin, and you can bet your ass he'll be ready for the Tide.
3. Ezekiel Elliott
Meyer went his entire career without a 1,000-yard running back before Carlos Hyde did it last season. Now, Meyer has had two in two seasons. Elliott will make Jones' job much easier if he can continue his hot streak into the playoff. Elliott rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries against Wisconsin, nearly tripling Melvin Gordon's output in that game. Elliott is averaging nearly nine yards per carry in his last three games.
Here are Ezekiel Elliott's rushing yardage totals from the last five games: 154, 91, 107, 121, and 220.
While I wouldn't expect Ezekiel Elliott to drop another 200 yards his next time out, I think those numbers are a testament to how far the offensive line has come since the second week of the season. (Future note: IN WARINNER WE TRUST, but even a blood magician can't replace four out of five offensive linemen overnight. That kind of thing takes time.)
I like where Ohio State's offensive line is right now. The Slobs are hungry, and they would be wise to stay that way, because if the offensive line doesn't show up against Alabama, Ohio State might as well not even get off the bus.
ARCHIE: THE STANDARD. I never watched Archie Griffin play a live snap (drawback to being born in 1986), but damn, do I respect that silky, silky boss hog. While this may be shocking to some, I must share: It appears Archie has more than the respect of a well-adjusted 28 year-old man with a world-renowned sweatpants collection and three cats.
From ESPN's Ivan Maisel:
"Archie is the godfather of the [Heisman winners]," said Andre Ware, the 1989 Heisman winner and an ESPN college football analyst. "He is the standard."
"He's one of the humblest Heisman Trophy winners I've ever been around," said George Rogers, the 1980 winner. "He doesn't say very much, but when he does, everybody listens."
"Archie always handles himself well," said Gino Torretta, the 1992 Heisman recipient. "There's a ton of respect for him."
Has there ever been a negative word ever uttered or typed about Archie Griffin by someone who wasn't playing against him on a football field? Because the only person of which I can place in his likability stratosphere is Minnesota's Jerry Kill.
If it weren't for Archie Griffin, I would have no interest in the Heisman. But every year — especially lately since all these young bucks keep grabbing themselves an early trophy — I stay vigilant on behalf of Archie's record. To me, it's one of the coolest and most iconic records in sports. Long live Archie Griffin.
NOOOOOOOO. Well, we knew this one was coming:
Source tonight indicates Matt Wells is, finally, out of #TulsaFB race. Also, Broyles Award winner Tom Herman interviewed in Little Rock.
— John E. Hoover (@johnehoover) December 11, 2014
Tulsa! There's a reason why they interviewed Herman in Little Rock: it's because Oklahoma is a desolate wasteland. Regardless, this was my reaction:
I understand Ohio State will always have elite talent, and Urban Meyer knows how to find assistants... but damn, losing Tom Herman is going to hurt, especially if it's to the likes of freakin' Tulsa!
THEY CAME HERE TO PLAY SCHOOL. It's probably because I was never a dynamo in the classroom or the football field, but I've always been impressed with guy who do well in both realms.
So, without further ado, here are Ohio State's 12 Academic All-Big Ten footballers:
- Sr. Darryl Baldwin – Sports Management
- Jr. Jacoby Boren – Sustainable Plant Systems
- Jr. Joe Burger – Engineering
- RS Fr. James Clark – Business
- So. Pat Elflein – Communications
- So. Ezekiel Elliott – Undecided
- Sr. Peter Gwilym – Finance
- Jr. Bryce Haynes – Biology
- RS Fr. Billy Price – Business
- Sr. Jake Russell – Marketing
- Sr. Nik Sarac – Exercise Science
- Jr. Cam Williams – Communications
Makes you think, for sure.
WHAT IN THE HELL? So, Nebraska hired Oregon State's Mike Riley, a 61-year-old who hasn't lost less than four games in a season since 2004. Oregon State responded by hiring... WISCONSIN'S GARY ANDERSEN?
what I heard -- Andersen was not happy at Wisconsin ... got along well with Alvarez but wanted to go back west. #Badgers
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) December 10, 2014
While Oregon State announced a $42 million athletics facilities renovation, the Beavers are currently one spot (No. 41) behind Wisconsin (No. 40) in total assistant pay. So yeah, look what firing Bo Pelini wrought the Big Ten.
It's not rocket science as to why large swaths of this conference are inept at football and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. (But don't blame me; I want better for Ohio State.)
As for Andersen's replacement, I'm 100% with Our Dear Leader Jason: BRING BACK BERT. The Big Ten needs a thumb-sucking villain who relishes in the hate.
THOSE WMDs. My man, Remy, stays bringing the statistical fire... Did not know Barry Alvarez's son, Chad, did a bid in the clink for microwaving a Sigma Chi parrot... Vine: a pilot's view of refueling a plane... The oral history of Boogie Nights... How dogs drink... Dennis Rodman, who is bad, on the triangle offense: " I learned it in probably 15 minutes ... It’s not that difficult. It’s a triangle."
