Prayers to the families of those injured in the ride malfunction at the Ohio State Fair yesterday. The video is one of the most horrifying things I've seen in recent memory.
ICYMI:
- Ohio State released its 2017 fall camp schedule.
- Buckeyes offered Marcus Hooker, the younger brother of Malik.
- Big Ten players prove they're human by attempting to draw their school logos.
- D'Angelo Russell proves he's still young, says he doubts he'll return to Ohio State's campus in part due to Thad Matta's firing.
- The Buffalo Bills traded Cardale Jones to the Los Angeles Chargers.
- Oklahoma State objects to Ohio State trying to trademark "OSU."
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
In better news, the local team returns to the practice field today before a lot of y'all will be up (6:30 ET—shoutout to Urban Meyer for this).
Follow Dan Hope, Andrew Lind, and Tim Shoemaker on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Word of the Day: Equanimity.
HOOSIERS CRUISING FOR A BRUISING. Indiana head coach Tom Allen, whom I still couldn't pick out of a lineup of peers, called the Hoosiers' opener against Ohio State the biggest in school history.
You might think it's the biggest game in school history. But you'd be forgetting—or perhaps, like me, you didn't even know about—Indiana's 1968 loss to USC in the Rose Bowl, which is a thing I still don't believe.
According to cornerback Rashard Fant, the locals are already fired up about the big game.
From dispatch.com:
“When I signed (with the Hoosiers) people were like, ‘Indiana? You mean that school that plays basketball?’ ” Fant said.
Hoops fever aside, Indiana has a bit of football buzz after making two straight bowl games — losing both to finish 6-7 each season — for the first time since 1990 and ’91.
“I get stopped by people (on campus),” Fant said. ” ‘We’re hoping for a breakthrough,’ is the line they use. Around town people are excited. It’s great to see. I can’t wait to see the crowd the first game. We just want to go out there and make them proud.”
Fant signed with the Hoosiers in 2013, so he has seen the ruckus Ohio State fans bring to Bloomington. But he has not seen the Buckeyes open the season in their western annex.
The odds are his team will make Memorial Stadium proud as it will be ~82% Buckeye fans.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT BOOKER. Jerome Baker exploded onto the scene last year, which was especially crazy considering he started the season behind Dante Booker on the depth chart.
Baker's play helped keep team doctors cautious with Booker's recovery from an MCL sprain. Hadn't Baker performed like that, Booker would've been put back into the mix.
From 247sports.com:
“There’s one thing that people need to know about Book,” [middle linebacker Chris] Worley said. “Every week, I’m pretty sure the media people were mad because he was listed day to day. That was because at any point he was going to fight past it … and he did fight past it.
“He wanted to play but with the way the season was going and the way the linebackers were playing there wasn’t a need to rush him back. Just get him healthy and take care of him the best we can.”
Worley added, “He is a fierce competitor and nothing will stop him at all.”
It's not like Urban Meyer, Luke Fickell, and Greg Schiano were bad at evaluating talent. When Booker explodes in his own right this season, the only people who will be surprised are those who haven't been paying attention.
HARBAUGH! I'm in "the media" and wasn't born when Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh predicted and delivered a victory in Ohio Stadium. So my opinion of him being hilariously entertaining is obviously skewed.
That said, it's a big year for Harbaugh, who hasn't relented in his antics. His conference rivals have already proven what can happen in Year 3.
From Pete Thamel of yahoo.com:
Harbaugh can hang out with Judge Judy, sleep at a recruit’s house and call out opposing programs and athletic directors for NCAA misdeeds. He can attend WWE events, coach first base for the Tigers and take his team on an overseas field trip to Rome. We know all that. We’ve seen him tweet about it, heard about it on his YouTube channel and been subjected to breathless 24-hour coverage of his every move.
Now it’s time for some actual wins to go viral, as 2017 is the year where Harbaugh’s biggest challenge will be Michigan’s on-field production matching its coach’s off-field profile. Here’s a reasonable standard that Harbaugh is unlikely to live up to in year three – that of Penn State’s James Franklin and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer. Franklin won the Big Ten last season in his third year in State College, an impressive feat considering he took over a program decimated by NCAA sanctions. Ohio State won a national title in Meyer’s third season there, and Meyer also took over a program weighed down by NCAA sanctions.
So what’s in store for Harbaugh in year three? In speaking about the maturation of his young roster, he offered a solid synopsis of what to look for in the program: “It happens on the football field, in the most honest manner possible. The truth must be told when you step out on the football field. You can no longer bullcrap or e-mail somebody. You’ve got to go out there and actually prove it.”
There's nowhere for Harbaugh to hide this year, though I'm sure Michigan fans will yelp about a young team if Michigan fails to finish higher than third in its own division.
If Harbaugh does fall to 0-3 against Ohio State, which he will, then you might as well cement him as Michigan's John Cooper. (Something I said from the jump, for those keeping score at home. [Please don't bring up things I was wrong about. Everybody thought Johnny Manziel was going to be good. Everyone.])
WHAT A MEMORY. Speaking of Michigan, if you want to take a walk down memory lane to their most embarrassing defeat in school history, today is your lucky day.
From sbnation.com:
It was seemingly based on a presumption that its skill athletes could best receivers like the 5’9 Jackson, who finished with 111 total yards and two touchdowns and later ran a 4.37 at the NFL combine.
"They were playing off man, and we had time to catch the ball and hit some underneath routes," Satterfield says, "and so we were able to hit [WR] Dexter Jackson a couple of times. He can run, but the thing he didn't like is if you crowded him. But when you go man like that, he thought he had a lot of space, and it gave him confidence to say, 'All I gotta do is catch this ball, and then I can use my speed to outrun them.'"
It’s better to be superior in the trenches than out wide ... provided you don’t allow explosive plays. It took Michigan a while to realize it couldn’t survive with so much man coverage on the perimeter.
"If they'd walked down and pressed our receivers, I think that would have put more pressure on our guys, but they played off, even though they were playing man. Once we had a little bit of space, then we were gonna take off with it."
I watched that game until halftime on BTN in Montana. I went to the Montana Grizzlies–Southern Utah Thunderbirds slobberknocker thinking Michigan would stage a second-half comeback. When they announced the final score, I think I was the only elated soul in the majestic Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Everyone else was petrified of having to possibly play the Mountaineers in the playoffs. (The 12-0 Grizzlies lost to Wofford in the first round of the playoffs that year—the first time a team south of the Mason-Dixon line beat Montana at home in the playoffs.)
BIG FELLA APPRECIATION. Though Ohio State returns to the practice field today, we're still about a month away from the big lights.
To pass the time, here's an eight-minute montage of Dre'Mont Jones and Robert Landers destroying opposing offensive linemen.
Think about that tandem the next time you hear somebody complain about defensive tackle recruiting. (And then remember this year includes a healthy Tracy Sprinkle.)
THOSE WMDs. How checkers was solved... The last generation of typewriter repairmen... A son's race to give his dying father immortality... Albert Belle in the 7th inning of Game 3 of the 1996 ALDS... Al Fatz done came down: The untold story of a Cleveland anthem.
