Does this change anything? No. However, it is refreshing to see the Big Ten admit the error. The correct call could have easily changed the outcome of this game, Illinois would not have gone to the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes would still have their conference winning streak intact, and there would have been less bickering around their involvement in the BCS Title game.

A couple of interesting notes from the article:

• Tressel didn’t want to waste his challenge so early in the game. Seems reasonable thinking that a more crucial play could come up later. Hindsight is always 20-20 but it seems to me challenging that play would have wiped out a huge 80 yard run by the Illini and could have swung some serious momentum to the side of the Buckeyes.
• It appears that the head referee of that game, Steve Pamon, is no longer officiating games. Pamon and his crew had already come under fire during the Penn State - Purdue game earlier in the season; that is in addition to the concerns with the OSU - Illinois game. Yahoo! Sports also did a story on Pamon that indicated he had a shady side to himself. Zoinks!

In the grand scheme of things .. this is all nothing and I understand that. But isn’t it sometimes nice to consider things that might have been. Kind of like when I sit back and contemplate the fleeting chances I once had to meet Jessica Biel. In reality they were next to none but our fathers know each other and I’ll be damned if that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a chance!

A quick look at Ohio State’s schedule:

Clearly, the Buckeyes have the most difficult out-of-conference matchup - at Southern Cal on September 13. Outside of that game the clash against Troy proves to be the Buckeyes other challenging out-of conference opponent.

The Southern Cal game proves to be interesting an accompanies many story lines. Pete Carroll versus Jim Tressel - two of the greatest coaches of this generation who bring together two of the greatest dynasties of this era, two vaunted defense led by All-American linebackers, Carson Palmer’s ill-willed words against the Buckeyes, and more!

I think the key to who breaks this game open is whose offense gets the first break; currently that nod goes to the Buckeyes. Outside of Joe McKnight there is not much experience on the offensive side of the ball for the Trojans; however, this USC under Pete Carroll and they seemingly always deploy a very talented offense.  With that said I think one has to look inside the trenches at the lines.  Ohio State will deploy a very talented offensive line against a USC line that proved to be feisty last season only giving up 84 yards per game on the ground while also  getting to the quarterback 45 times. However, that line replaces two starters who went in the first round of the NFL draft and for that reason I think the nod goes to the Buckeyes.

I fully expect of tough hard fought game against USC but I cannot see the vaunted Buckeye defense led by potential All-Americans James Laurinatis and Malcolm Jenkins yielding too much against an offense that returns only one starter on the line and will breaking in a quarterback who proved to be inconsistent last year.

Expect the Buckeyes to enter Big Ten play undefeated at 4-0. That’s where things get dicey.

The schedule makers were not very kind to Ohio State. While the Buckeyes open the Big Ten season against a rising Minnesota squad from there they face Wisconsin, in Madison, at night and then in succession - Purdue, at Michigan State, and back home for a prime time contest with Penn State. Thankfully the Gods of scheduling gave the Buckeyes a week off between the Penn State tilt and the game at Northwestern.

Two games out of this stretch scare me more than any - the two night time contests. The last time the Buckeyes went to Wisconsin at night they walked away with a loss and everyone knows that the best thing to go with a Wisconsin sausage is some of that delicious Milwaukee’s Best. Camp Randall will be rowdy and if the Badgers new quarterback Allen Everidge can come into his own this could spell trouble for all of the Big Ten. Wisconsin yields a formidable offensive line and one of the studliest running backs around in Pajamas (PJ) Hill.

Penn State could surprise people around the country this year. While everyone expects Daryll Clark to be at the helm full time I wonder if JoePa will deploy the antithesis to the Boeckman-Pryor combo and spell the speedy shifty Clark with Devlin. I know it sounds weird but it gives the defenses more to prepare for and more film to watch. We will see. The loss of Sean Lee on defense will be tough to overcome but Penn State likely possesses one of the toughest defensive lines in the Big Ten. Penn State always plays the Buckeyes tough and what better way to legitimize yourself than a big victory over the Buckeyes, in prime time, at the ‘Shoe.

Of course Illinois, and the Battle for Illibuck, will be another great challenge the game that everyone is looking forward to is the game against Michigan and it’s first year coach Rich Rodriguez. The past three Michigan first year coaches have been victorious against the Buckeyes and Rodriguez would surely love to continue that streak. Many folks, naively or not, think that Roddy will try to run the ball 70% of the time still that is highly unlikely unless incoming frosh Justin Feagin is just stoopid good. Expect a balanced attack that spreads the ball around and searches for advantages against every defense. I’m not predicting a big win but I think the Buckeyes prevail this year.

My preseason prognostication puts the Buckeyes at 12-0 and returning to the BCS National Championship game. Expect heart attacks at USC, at Wisconsin, at home against Penn State, and with Michigan. However, expect a strong, experienced, determined, Buckeye squad to win an unprecedented third straight outright Big Ten title and to challenge for their first national title since 2002.

This is the second arrest of an Ohio State football player in the past three weeks. Eugene Clifford was arrested for assault and has been released from the team; he did have a bit of a rough past including a possession charge shortly after signing his LOI in 2007.

To the best of my knowledge this is the first incident that Doug Worthington (who is two weeks shy of 21 years of age) has had since his arrival in Columbus. If that is truly the case I expect him to sit out against Youngstown, not start against Ohio, and potentially not start versus USC. In addition I would imagine Worthington will find himself performing extra sprints and lifts.

In the wake of the Kevin Grady DUI I am quite surprised to see another Big Ten (football) athlete picked up for the same offense so shortly afterwards. A strong message needs to be sent. While it appears Mr. Worthington didn’t imbibe all of the spirits of several small villages like Mr. Grady had the message needs to be the same - that you are expected and will be held to a higher standard.

At least Worthington doesn’t need to worry about Mike Barwis releasing wolves and going all Chuck Liddell on his @$$ though.

One of the things writers do when they have little else to write about it make a list. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s cheap, it’s overdone. Therefore, I will participate (seeing as how it sounds an awful lot like myself).

Terrelle Pryor:

Besides wearing a diaper at Ohio State he’s apparently a film room freak. Recently the Columbus Dispatch reported that Pryor spends a lot of time in the film room with none other than … Todd Boeckman. Recently when Boeckman was unavailable to watch film with Pryor it was noted that Pryor was trying to track down Joe Bauserman (the likely number two quarterback) to break down film with him.

This ought to equate to good news for Buckeye fans as Pryor also reportedly showed up on campus in the best shape of his life.

Michigan: Tradition Stealer?

MGoBlog informed me of something I was unaware of … Michigan is unoriginal. All this time I just thought they were cheats. Cornell’s hockey cheers, Princeton’s winged helmets, and apparently Bo read Bear Bryant’s book and stole the ‘Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.’ It was the title to Chapter 12 from Bryant’s book published in 1960.

What’s next, Gold Pants when they beat the Buckeyes?

ESPN.com Big Ten Blog:

Not sure how old these are … seeing as how I never visit ESPN.com but there is a blog dedicated to the conferences and the Big Ten blog (written by Adam Rittenberg) is a fairly good one. He seems to do a good job profiling each team and has some good things to say. Check it out.

Fall Camps:

Kick off in a little more than week. Man, the season is almost here … how great! There are some great questions out there.

• Does Steven Threet emerge as the starting QB at Michigan under first year coach Rich Rodriguez? Or, does incoming freshmen Justin Feagin make a splash?
• How quickly does super-Frosh Terrelle Pryor pick up the OSU playbook? Will he be the catalyst to lift the Buckeyes over the hump?
• Can Iowa and Penn State rebound from rough off seasons (read: numerous arrests) and have successful seasons?
• Will Tim Brewster find success in season number two at Minnesota? With one year under his belt QB Adam Weber should provide a spark but is it enough?
• What will be the biggest upset of the year? We’ve seen some good ones in recent history … the unmentionable in Ann Arbor, Duke over Northwestern, BGSU over Minnesota, Toledo over Penn State … who blows it this year?

My next upcoming posts will break down each team’s schedule individually and will provide my thoughts on how the seasons shapes out for those teams which will lead up to my final preseason Big Ten predictions. Until then I bid you goodbye and happy bashing.

I caught onto Deadspin long after its inception so I never truly understood (or bothered to) why it was created. Leitch’s introduction to the book quickly cuts to the chase as he tells the tale of Ron Mexico. For those unaware of Ron Mexico he later got into trouble for killing dogs, dogfighting, and more. Yes, I am talking about Michael Vick and if you don’t know Ron Mexico I implore you to click the link.

Leitch found out about the story of Ron Mexico through the Smoking Gun website. As he went lurking throughout the web to find the story he couldn’t find it anywhere. It disturb him so and to the point that he decided that sports fans needed a place to find sports news, as his blog states it, without access, favor, or discretion. To put it bluntly, it is a thing of beauty.

Leitch’s first part of the book (this isn’t written like a typical novel … think more of like reading a blog broken up into nicely categorized ’sections’) is about players. He starts of on steroids, being the sticky subject that it is and makes many a valid point.

One point I never considered in all the hubbub of the steroids era is that Cortisone is an injectable steroid. Never knew it, never thought of it!

I digress though because this was the most boring entry in the book. Everyone has an opinion on the steroids scandal and I generally sided with Leitch … ultimately who cares.

There were some great entries such as: Why Gilbert Arenas matters more than LeBron James (because he’s more real), Ben Roethlisberger Drinks Like a Champion (oh, man great!), and an interview with John Rocker (hilarity). The best entry in this section, however, is The Ballad of Lucious Pusey.

Yes, you read that right, Lucious Pusey. As Leitch says ‘that’s an epic name right there. That’s the type of name that’ll affect a man’s soul.’ Anyhoo, it seems Pusey had enough and decided to change his name to Seymour. Well, it seems people didn’t quite get it. While most believed he changed his name to Seymour Pusey he actually changed it to Lucious Seymour. As a result of Deadspin’s royal screw up the new named Mr. Seymour wrote Mr. Leitch a rather colorful e mail. One I cannot reprint here.

The second section of the book dealt with owners. I didn’t generally care for this section as much as the others. The best entry was Carl Monday Is Watching You Masturbate. Oh my God, roll on the floor hilarity.  Please for the love of all that is funny click here for your introduction to Carl Monday.

The third section, dedicated to media, was absolutely brilliant. While I don’t share Leitch’s fond distate for sport’s media .. it was one laugh after another reading this section. Highlights included, You’re With Me, Leather (a story about how Chris Berman picked up a chick at a bar, with just that line), The ESPN Clockwork Orange Experiment (where Leitch forced himself to watch one of ESPNs four major networks for 24-hours), and Peter King Wants you to See Pictures of His Drunken Daughter.

The final section dealt with fans and largely around Leitch’s own fandom. That was laregly okay but Leitch only saved himself with Why a Crappy Flatiron Yuppie Bar Is Now the Closest Thing I Have to a Home in which he describes his need to find a place to watch game 7 of the 2006 NLCS with fellow St. Louis Cardinals fans. I pictured myself doing the same thing which made the bit a lot more enjoyable. I believe I’ve done some of the same things (like falling on the floor after an excruciating play).

All-in-all, I really enjoyed the book. Heck, I read all 295 pages in 2 days which is most likely some sort of all time record for me with the exception of Choose Your Own Adventure Books (man I used to school those things). I’d recommend picking it up or at least watching that Carl Monday video for a week.

I can’t decide if it’s the inaccuracies I have discovered so far or my general lack of agreement.  For a refresher my post-Spring predictions looked like this:

1. Ohio State 12-0 (8-0)
2. Wisconsin 10-2 (7-1)
3. Penn State 10-2 (6-2)
4. Illinois       10-2 (6-2)
5. Mich State   9-3  (5-3)
6. Purdue        7-5  (6-2)
7. Michigan    6-6   (4-4)
8. Iowa           6-6   (4-4)
9. N’Western   5-7  (3-5)
10. Minnesota  3-9   (1-7)
11. Indiana       2-10 (1-7)

Now, please give me a break on how the records play out … that was just a fun experiment without looking at each team’s schedules (i.e. pulling it out of thin air). The SportingNews sees the Big Ten shaping up like this (they call the top 8 teams bowl eligible and place each in a bowl):

1. Ohio State
2. Illinois
3. Wisconsin
4. Michigan
5. Purdue
6. Michigan State
7. Penn State
8. Northwestern
9. Iowa
10. Indiana
11. Minnesota

The clear differences are how we respectively feel about Illinois, Penn State, and Michigan. In all honesty I cannot figure out their Michigan prediction.

First thing I notice is they predict Michigan as a preseason 18th in the nation. Excuse me, did I miss something? No one outside of Vegas is believing that! Nevermind that Michigan is perpetually the most overrated team in the nation; no other Big Ten team is in the Top 15. Michigan fans you can certainly thank preseasons rags like this and others who boast you up based on your tradition of winning. It’s a great tradition - don’t get me wrong - but voting Michigan so high simply because they’re Michigan is simply foolish sometimes. Nevertheless this is their right so I continue on.

The mag seemingly starts to contradict itself at this point; unfortunately Michigan fans it flubs up all over you. For each conference they assign a team that is ascending and descending. Michigan earned the descending crown for the Big Ten with commentary that reads as such:

The Wolverines won’t be down for long, but expect a dip as the program transitions to Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense. Not only is a quarterback need, but Michigan’s offensive line and receiving corps are a work-in-progress as the offense adapts to a new scheme.

Now, consider last season when Ohio State had serious questions surrounding it’s offense and the prevailing thought was the defense would have to carry them. They started out the preseason at number 11 which many called lofty for a team with an unproven QB, who lost their top 2 receivers to the NFL, and their starting running back. Sound familiar.  I believe this number 11 slot was earned strictly on what was returning on the defensive side of the ball which was far more formidable than what Michigan has returning this season.

So excuse me if I seem mildly confused at this point. I flip to the write up on Michigan and all hell breaks loose. I can’t find one positive comment about the offense!At least Beanie Wells was a mostly proven commodity coming back and the Buckeyes had several returning lineman on offense. They can’t find a positive thing to say about Michigan’s offensive side of the ball.

The cause of much of the angst is the apparent absence of a capable quarterback to make Rodriguez’s spread offense hum … A lumbering drop back passer, Mallett wasn’t the fit for this attack. But is apparent number 1 Steven Threet? … While he is more athletic than Mallett, Threet is still cut from the traditional-quarterback mold.

The article goes on:

With Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington both having left early to the NFL, there is no doubt that Greg Mathews is Michigan’s top veteran wide out. But how many passes will be thrown his way in this offense?

Running backs:

Mike Hart’s departure leaves a gaping hole at running back. The answer may be a tailback-by-committee.

The article also points out, which I have neglected to consider, that Michigan coaches were already teaching the zone blocking scheme so that does put the line a little bit ahead of the curve. However, this is a line returning one starter, Steve Schilling, who got decimated against Ohio State last year and needs to show considerable improvement.

Saying nothing positive about an offense leaves me at a complete loss. I don’t care how dominant a defense you have - if you can’t score you can’t win. The 2004 Penn State team only gave up an average of 15.27 points per game and finished 4-7.

Which leads me to this … how can the SportingNews completely fawn over this defense? A defense that last year gave up on average 21.4 points per game, 156.8 yards rushing a game, and an average of nearly 5 yards per play?

A defense on which they say Morgan Trent is the best player?! Morgan Trent?! Someone help me. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t stunned by how inept Morgan Trent appeared.

Their thoughts on Michigan, were they placed them nationally, and within the Big Ten, caused me the most consternation. Additional thoughts are this:

1. I think they’re a wee bit high on the Illini. They seem to think their defense is going to be some wrecking ball and while I believe that Vontae Davis is going to be stellar nobody can replace J Lehman. The Illini gave up 21.8 points per game last year and over 375 yards per game. On offense, Juice has to prove he can be consistent, Mendenhall must be replaced (Dufrene showed flashes of brilliance) and Arrelious Benn will need to have a formidable threat emerge at the other receiver position.
2. I think they’re a bit soft on Penn State. Something just reminds me of 2005 Penn State here; especially if Daryll Clark is as special as he looked in last season’s Alamo Bowl. The loss of Sean Lee does hurt, yes, but this is Linebacker U.
3. I don’t think they give enough credit to Bret Bielema and the Badgers. Quarterback questions may abound in Madison but Allen Evridge does have some experience and its not as if he doesn’t have a mammoth line and tremendous backs to rely on (hello, ala Todd Boeckman?).

Those are my thoughts. Overall, the magazine has been a good read and provided some good insight to the upcoming season. I just wish it would have been more consistent with their thoughts and where they ranked teams.

On the tube was an FSN series named ‘Amazing Sports Stories’ and the amazing story being reference was that of Ben Malcolmson.

Ben was the beat writer for the Daily Trojan, the USC student newspaper, and had covered the Trojan football team the previous two seasons. He decided to do a story about walk-on tryouts and in a moment of true clarity (see: insanity) young Malcolmson decided for the article he would try out for the team (see: purgatory). So Malcolmson did just that and tried out for the team thinking this would simply make an amazing article for the paper … that is until the names of those who made the team was posted and Malcolmson made the team, as a wideout.

Thinking this was a hoax Malcolmson then rushed to head coach Pete Carroll’s office and was told this:

“You’ve got good hands and you’re quick.”

This was no hoax.

However, things turned for the worse; in only the fourth practice of the year Malcolmson went down with a dislocated shoulder. It would require surgery and about 8 months rehabilitation. Malcolmson’s dream had turned to nightmare.

Only Malcolmson channeled his inner Rudy and pushed through rehabilitation and joined the team within 4 months and with 3 games remaining.  Some friends of Ben started a campaign; to get Ben in.

The last game of the year, Notre Dame, and with the Trojans leading by more than 20 points in the 4th quarter Ben got in. While he doesn’t share the same heroics that Rudy did it is still a remarkable story.

I did a blog for the Columbus Dispatch site BuckeyeXtra.com last season after Antonio Henton’s arrest asking people to have patience and to remind everyone that these are just kids; and who can’t remember making mistakes between the ages of 17-23? I tend to still agree with that original assessment. However …..

Clifford is likely gone from the team and I believe this to be true regardless of the outcome of his case. This is arrest number 2 since he signed his LOI and is his fourth disciplinary issue all together. Not a good track record and especially more so considering you were already residing in the coach’s doghouse. Have fun playing 1-AA ball.

What to do with Grady is a little bit more difficult to ascertain. First of all, he’s never been in trouble before. BUT! blowing a .281 isn’t like saying ‘oh, I’ll have one more and leave’ and you just blow over the legal limit. In case you’re unaware .281 is more than 3.5 times the state legal limit.

Grady weighs in at a bit more that 220 pounds so according to this chart (and there is no indication on how long Grady was drinking) the quickest Grady could have achieved this blood alcohol level is within 3 hours at about 6 drinks an hour - or about 18 drinks. Wow! How does one get behind the wheel thinking that is safe? How does anyone let anyone else get behind the wheel after consuming that many drinks. Think about this … he could have been drinking longer meaning he had even more drinks.

Here is the real kicker … some sites suggest that death is possible any point about .25.

There is, however, one last issue with Grady’s arrest running through my head and that is Hot Rod Richy Rodriguez (who by the way decided he has some integrity today - more to come later). Perhaps if that was not the guy who brought to us the names Chris Henry and Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones I could be a little less skeptical about Rodriguez’ history of disciplinary actions.  Oh and I know, I know … Maurice Clarett and the whole those who live in glass houses things … do me a favor and shove save it.

I understand that a coach cannot be completely responsible for his players at all times and that some kids come with baggage but by and large I have been pretty pleased with how Tressel has handled incidents with his teams. You might make some mistakes when picking guys but how you handle them once they’re yours speaks volumes about you.

I personally feel that Rodriguez needs to step up and make an example of young Mr. Grady. First because this is his first disciplinary issue since his arrival. Second, because of the perception that he is a weakling when it comes to disciplinary measures. I saw you hand this kid over to Barwis and a several week suspension is in order.

There are some more slightly awkward.  Such as Keith Wells

Like, zoinks Scoob, when did the Buckeyes sign FloJo?

I digress.

I’m interested in what the next fad will be in college football. The interest used to be the cool coach (Pete Carroll), the next offensive genius (Meyer, Rodriguez), the classy stand up guy (Tressel), the fupa (you know who).

Schools are in an arms race to have the greatest facilities and recruits are as interested in those facilities as they are playing time. It seems weird to me. I suppose increased preparedness leads to the increased likelihood of early playing time.  Something tells me there is more to it. The steroids era.

Everywhere you turn the crackdown on steroids, methamphetamines, etc., has become all the rage. Now don’t get me wrong as it still takes a lot of work to get that big and strong; however, having an unfair anabolic advantage does it make it easier to get to the end result.  This kids nowadays need the same results as were seen before but without the addition of drugs into their body. Does anyone else see the connection between the crackdown and the rise in interest? Seems obvious to me.

I’ll again go back to my perceived difference in baseball. The fact of the matter is that schools from the south and the west continue to enjoy an unfair competitive advantage over teams from the north and east.

Don’t let this discredit the major accomplishment by the Bulldogs. They deserve all the glory they are soaking in. By their ranking in the tournament they were less likely a winner of this tournament than any champion of any sport in NCAA history. Now that there is a real feat.