Folks, I'm happy to report today is a talking about football day.
Commander in Chief Ryan Day will address the media at approximately noon. We'll stream the whole interview live on the site, but you should also follow Dan Hope, Colin Hass-Hill and Taylor Lehman on Twitter dot com for coverage from the Woody.
ICYMI
- Inside Valedictorian Harry Miller's preparation.
- Why Julian Fleming picked Ohio State.
- The Big Ten has a new commissioner.
- Getting to know new commissioner Kevin Warren.
- The nation's top kicker commits to Ohio State.
Word of the Day: Lucubrate.
BEWARE THE BEARCATS. Luke Fickell and his Cincinnati Bearcats come up I-71 to Columbus early in the season to give Ryan Day a warm welcome to Ohio football, and even though the Bearcats are far from the best team the Buckeyes will play this year, maybe Ohio State should be at least a little concerned.
Dan Murphy of ESPN has that game as the one the Buckeyes should beware heading into the season.
5. Ohio State: Sept. 7 vs. Cincinnati
Are the Bearcats the toughest team on Ohio State's schedule? No. But former Buckeye Luke Fickell will still have more head-coaching appearances in the Horseshoe than Ryan Day when this game kicks off. Fickell will be bringing a very solid group with him to try to upset a young Ohio State team that has a lot to figure out before this legitimate test early in September.
I'm really puzzled by this choice, mostly because there's almost no real rationale other than "Luke Fickell coached in that stadium before Ryan Day!" – which is undeniably true, but he also went 6-7 that season, so let's not assume that means anything at all.
Cincinnati is a much better team than I think people are giving credit, so I definitely don't mean any disrespect but still, this is really your "watch out!" game? Not the early road test against a fiery Nebraska team with a trendy Heisman pick at quarterback? Or the the road game against a young Northwestern team that gave the Buckeyes a game in December? Hell, I might be afraid of Deondre Francois and the fighting Lane Kiffins before Cincinnati.
The Bearcats have a legitimately good defense, but I'm just not sold that they match up well with Ohio State. The teams that had success against the Buckeyes last year were the teams with high-powered offenses going against that train wreck of a defense.
The teams that leaned on defense and couldn't score (*cough* *cough* Michigan *cough* *cough*) had mostly no chance even if the game appeared kinda close.
But maybe everything's different this year, who knows?
ODEN + TITUS. Two of the greatest basketball players in Ohio State history teamed up behind the mic this week as Greg Oden joined Mark Titus' podcast to talk about a number of things ranging from what it's like to be a No. 1 overall pick to Titus being a Titus.
Tomorrow on @oneshiningpod, @clubtrillion reunites with his old basketball teammate Greg Oden to share some stories from their days at Ohio State!
— The Ringer (@ringer) June 3, 2019
Subscribe here: https://t.co/SOJKRRToMr pic.twitter.com/IM7BuMbt8y
I vividly remember that story Oden shared, and I then remember that Oden was the first Buckeye player in any sport that I completely understood leaving early, even as a 12-year-old.
I remember reading some very slight indications that he might be even halfway considering returning to school for another year and even my sixth-grade self knew his body was a ticking time bomb and he needed to make his money while he could.
I'm not going to fight anyone who calls Oden a bust, because even though it wasn't at all his fault, he was kind of the definition of a bust, but people forget how absolutely scary good he was.
It's easy to say Kevin Durant should have gone No. 1 overall in hindsight, but look back at Oden's college tape and honestly tell me you wouldn't want that on your NBA team.
HOOKER FEELING GOOD. Malik Hooker hasn't been completely healthy since he's been in the NFL. He entered the league banged up, got banged up in his rookie season and suffered nagging injuries after that.
But now, he's feeling good.
From Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star:
Malik Hooker hasn’t had a feeling like this in the NFL before.
Hooker’s right next to T.Y. Hilton on a perfect night at Victory Field, signing autographs for a line of Colts-clad fans that seems to stretch on into forever. A half an hour later, Hooker walks to the mound for the first pitch and tosses a perfect strike, a smile beaming across his face.
For the first time since the Colts drafted him, Hooker can truly enjoy the summer.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt since I left college,” Hooker said. “Probably even better than that.”
If he's truly feeling better than he felt in college, that's an absolutely terrifying thought for any quarterback tossing a ball longer than 20 yards against the Colts secondary next season, cause I know how that worked out against the Buckeyes back in the day.
B1G IN VEGAS, BABY. The Big Ten's got some new bowl partner's y'all.
Starting in 2020, the conference in which the Ohio State Buckeyes play football (and many other college sports!) will play in a bowl slate featuring at least 11 different bowls stretching across eight different states, including Vegas and North Carolina for the first time.
From a Big Ten release:
The Big Ten’s new bowl lineup will allow teams and fans to visit world-class cities while having the opportunity to experience 11 different NFL stadiums, along with some of the most iconic venues in the country, including Rose Bowl Stadium and Yankee Stadium. These outstanding facilities have hosted or will host 29 different Super Bowls in nine different stadiums. In addition, new partnerships in Charlotte and Las Vegas will create opportunities for new postseason experiences for participants and fans, while the conference returns to Phoenix for the first time since the 2013 postseason.
The Big Ten’s future bowl lineup consists of the following postseason games:
- Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual (Pasadena, Calif.)
- Capital One Orange Bowl (Miami)
- Citrus Bowl (Orlando, Fla.)
- Outback Bowl (Tampa, Fla.)
- Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas)
- Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (Nashville, Tenn.)
- New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, N.Y.)
- Belk Bowl (Charlotte, N.C.)
- Cheez-It Bowl (Phoenix)
- Redbox Bowl (Santa Clara, Calif.)
- Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit, Mich.)
The conference office announced six-year bowl extensions with the Citrus, Music City, Outback, Quick Lane and Redbox Bowls and six-year agreements with the Belk, Cheez-It and Las Vegas Bowls. The Big Ten’s current agreement with the Pinstripe Bowl, which runs through 2021, has also been extended through 2025. The Big Ten previously announced a 12-year extension to face a Pac-12 team in the Rose Bowl Game through the 2025 campaign and an agreement with the Orange Bowl to send a Big Ten team to face an ACC representative at least three times following the 2014-25 seasons.
These new bowl games and locations are all fun and good, but realistically, if any of those games involve Ohio State in the next 10-20 years, you're going to find some Buckeye fans on the edge of bridges.
STICKING WITH HER. A year ago, junior Olympian and Buckeye gymnastics commit Lexi Edwards absolutely shredded her knee, tearing her ACL, PCL, MCL and both menisci and suffering a knee joint dislocation on a vault in warmups.
It was obviously a long way back to the top, but she's nearly there, and she's had the support of her future team the entire time.
From Bob Brown of the Times Dispatch:
(Her physician, Michelle) Tyler said in 30 years of practicing sports medicine, she can count on one hand the number of true knee dislocations she’s seen.
But the severity of the situation never deterred Edwards.
She was already verbally committed to attend Ohio State on an athletic scholarship before the injury. The Buckeyes maintained her scholarship throughout her recovery, which is not always the case in instances of severe injury.
Their confidence, Edwards said, helped her maintain positivity and belief.
“That meant everything, honestly. … They were behind me 100% and I was very grateful,” she said. “My coach told me that when I get there, their trainers and doctors will push that extra mile to get me where I need to be.”
Shoutout to Lexi, and God help anyone she competes against once she gets to Ohio State.
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