Blog Archives
That Sweet Buckeye Roll
(ESPN)
“Ohio Against the World”
There are shirts and sweatshirts with the above phrase proudly printed on them, one of which caught the eye of an ESPN cameraman. To say the least, it was fittingly awesome to see it on national television at the 2015 Sugar Bowl last night/this morning. After an exhilarating upset, a majority of people will say that Ohio State was a sleeping giant against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
And you know what, they’re right to some extent.
The Buckeyes were serious underdogs versus the cream-of-the-crop of the SEC in New Orleans (SEC country, by the way). After running, throwing, blocking, leaping and hitting the hardest they had all season, Ohio State continued to shock the college football world by slaying the biggest, baddest dragon in all the land.
42-35 is a score that will be remembered well beyond January of 2015. The dominating era of the SEC is over, while the Buckeyes have entered a new era of success that’s continuing to rise without a visible ceiling. Plus, the Big Ten (Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Wisconsin) is having one hell of an impressive bowl season. The results are changing and so is the perception, including Ann Arbor signing Jim Harbaugh.
It was also fitting that earlier yesterday Oregon absolutely blitzed and blew out the Florida State Seminoles 59-20 in the first College Football Playoff Semifinal in a national championship-like environment in the perfectly pristine Rose Bowl in picturesque Pasadena, California. It was fitting because the go-to college football blowout was Ohio State’s national championship disaster versus the Florida Gators 42-14 (we all remember who Florida’s coach was then too). On the same day the Buckeyes “officially” (2011 Sugar Bowl) beat the SEC and #1 team in the country, Winston and the Seminoles are now the standard-bearers for worst college football performance in a major game in recent memory.
From a Buckeye fan to all those down in Tallahassee, have fun with that sign on your back. And don’t think people will soon forget the poor sportsmanship of most of your players displayed when they walked off the field without shaking Oregon’s hands after the game. That nationally televised action spoke volumes regarding its program reputation.
The statistics in the 2015 Sugar Bowl are plentiful, but the ones that had the largest impact were:
- Third Down Conversions (OSU 10-18, AL 2-13)
- Total Yards (OSU 537, AL 407)
- Time of Possession (OSU 31:19, AL 28:41)
- Cardale Jones (243 Yards Passing, 43 Yards Rushing)
- Seven Different Ohio State Receivers Had Receptions
- Ezekiel Elliott (230 Yards on 20 Carries, Long of 85)
- Amari Cooper (71 Yards Receiving, Long of 15)
- Blake Sims (3 Interceptions, including a Pick-Six)
- Ohio State’s Reverse Touchdown Thrown by the 5th String Quarterback (Wide Receiver Evan Spencer) to Michael Thomas for the Catch of the Year
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has repeatedly said that the future is bright in Columbus and he’s absolutely right. In terms of his freshman and sophomores, plus another stellar recruiting class ready to arrive, the Buckeyes are here to stay. In fact, last night’s amazing upset was not only one for the ages, not only was it against the #1 team in the country, not only was it against the top team in the SEC and its top coach in the heart of SEC country and not only did the Buckeyes win with their third-string quarterback in his second career start (truly surreal), but Ohio State did it a year early. It was long-believed that the 2015/2016 season would be the year, but to Arlington, Texas Buckeye Nation will go.
The Buckeyes will be the underdogs in the 2015 National Championship game versus the sensationally electric Oregon Ducks at AT&T Stadium on January 12th. It will be a different type of challenge for the Scarlet and Gray, but not one that unfamiliar. Ohio State upset a similarly fast and dynamic Oregon Ducks squad in the 2010 Rose Bowl 26-17 when nobody in the national media gave them a shot. With that being said, the Oregon Ducks, led by Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota (ie -“Super Mariota”), will undeniably be a challenge worthy of a national championship.
Buckeye Nation is really hoping that their sleeping giant hasn’t fully woken up and that Urban Meyer and Co. are really good at Nintendo…and not just at beating “Super Mario Bros.,” but also that “Duck Hunt” game.
P.S. The nickname for Ohio State’s quarterback is 12-gauge…
The Backup’s Backup Plan
FYI – This may be the first college football game in history when announcers and fans will know the name of a fourth string quarterback (Freshman Stephen Collier, Ohio State).
It’s safe to say that Ohio State football fans (and players) are cautiously optimistic/worrisome of what the immediate future will hold for its team. With a third string quarterback starting in the Big Ten Championship game against a tough Wisconsin Badger squad, Buckeye fans are, at a minimum, curious of how their team will perform. And this curiosity could potentially continue into the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, but that’s a discussion for a different day. Plus, it’s also contingent on the quality of an Ohio State victory. Regardless of the jitters we the fans and the team are feeling before before tomorrow’s big game, someone put together a hype video that plays off of these concerns.
Offense wins games, but defense wins championships is an eternal truth of sports.
Ohio State has 60 minutes to discover its true character tomorrow night.
A Leap of Craziness
There is an annual tradition at The Ohio State University for students to jump into the famed Mirror Lake during Michigan “That Team Up North Week.” This leap is usually quite cold because it takes place in mid-late November. However, Mother Nature decided to test the sheer will and bravery of the Buckeye faithful this Winter season with extra frigid winds and plenty of fresh snow to play with in ways that can only be concocted in college.
All of us can now say in unison, “I miss college!”
How many fans would make the bone-chilling leap, despite new campus restrictions requiring participants to wear a wristband…?
Was there ever a doubt? This is The Mirror Lake Leap during “That Team Up North Week.” Just as the Buckeyes will take the field on a blisteringly cold Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, the fans have once again clearly shown their dedication and solidarity with the men in scarlet and gray.
Borderline freezing weather? What borderline freezing weather?
The question of the week: What heats up a frozen Buckeye?
Kicking That Team Up North’s ___ (clearing my throat) football team.
Go Bucks!
The Annexation of Patience
There is a trend in sports that has transformed analysts and “experts” into Bingo contestants that frequently stand-up with bravado and gusto to shout “BINGO!” for all to hear.
The only problem is that this occurs after only marking off one letter.
College football punditry is a perfect example of this evolving dynamic. There is a tendency to want to declare with absolute certitude the two best teams in the country each week. Admittedly, it is perfectly okay to speculate about teams and their corresponding achievements and failures. Totally fine. These are fun debates. However, it shouldn’t be exercised in the definitive nature that is done today. Three games into the season and the national championship is already being predicted with incomplete statistics from some of the aforementioned analysts.
Will the BCS Standings remain exactly same by the end of the regular season? Probably not. And that’s partly because of the unpredictable and inspirational dimension of college athletics.
It’s a weird phenomenon: these analysts love to watch college football, but they are more often than not so eager to chisel in stone certain bowl match-ups with incomplete statistics and records that they end up not allowing football teams the “ridiculous” courtesy to work hard, improve and then play their best game by the end of the regular season as a final exclamation point to their fall campaign.
As written above: weird.
While the schedules for most Division 1 college football teams list around 12 games, the attention span for most analysts seems to range from 5-7. At this point, most of the “experts” would have you believe the top two teams are pretty much penciled in (not with a pen, but pencil mind you) and that the remainder of those seasons are mere technicalities.
Of course, do you know how many “technicalities” have resulted in shocking upsets or surprising victories?
One of the amazing aspects of college football (and college sports in general) is that anything can happen…anything! In college, the underdog, whether a single player or an entire team, has the potential and opportunity to shine for that one play or one drive to win the game or to make a strong goal line stand to complete an upset for the ages.
What’s even more incredible is how many of these moments occur during the final seconds of the last games of the season when everything is on the line.
Hopefully, the lighting crew won’t turn off the lights in the stadiums on those players, coaches, teams and fans when those unbelievable plays happen at season’s end.
Technically speaking, that would be a terrible thing to do. And the same notion goes for day games as well.
Otherwise, the world may never have witnessed the incomparable, “Annexation of Puerto Rico” that only works as the last play…
Those “one time” moments help make up the magical fabric of sports.
So, let’s just sit back, relax and watch some football.
You just may see something special.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 