Somehow, we managed to avoid burning our eyebrows off during Monday’s festival of lighter fluid and are still able to get you thought hump day with the scoop across college sports.
Buckeye 411
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You're gonna' want to jot this down - Vested Interest– Hopefully you were able to check out our Monday series honoring Coach Tressel, particularly the articles from those who knew him on and off the field. What we missed, though, was the words of the man himself. Luckily, though, Doug Lesmerisis gave us an article tonight that did just that, as Tressel reflects on the last 12 months of change in his life. As you can imagine, though, there’s a lot of “Senator Speak”- polite words, nothing revealing… and to be honest, it made me miss him even more.
- Say Seis- Today, the good folks at Athlon emailed us to let us know that they were releasing their pre-season rankings, and the Buckeyes came in at number six. Not in the conference, in the country. Sweeter still? A certain group of “Sun and blue” folks find themselves at number seven. Check out the totality of Athlon’s coverage, and feel free to forward it to any mitten state friends you might have.
- Getting Rank- Speaking of arbitrary numbers, Rivals updated their top 100 recruits in the country this morning, and lo and behold the Buckeyes find themselves with 4 in the top 50 and three in the top 20. Other B1G schools have two top 50 recruits combined, and no other school has three in the top 20. Not that there’s not room for growth, but that’s yet another handy thing to send north via the interwebs.
- That Being Said- All of you knuckleheads who have taken it upon yourself to act more childish than the young adults who do stupid things from their unformed prefrontal cortex… knock it the hell off. You are SOOOOO not helping.
- That Being Said, Part Deux- Illinois HS standout and rumored OSU lean Ethan Pocic gave his verbal to LSU today. You know what they say about the grass being tastier and all that.
- Where Credit Is Due- Hats off to the Ohio State men’s tennis doubles pairing and women’s crew boat for winning national titles last weekend. I would have led with this earlier, but everyone knows that OSU is a tennis and crew school.
- Speaking Of Boats- This news allows me to be among the last to link to this.
Musical Interlude
I’ve traded in the smog for the humidity this week, so a little Midwest City by CalScruby is just what the doctor ordered:
Expansion/Playoffs/And So Forth
- As A Reminder- For those of you living under a rock (or Indiana fans… same difference), here’s a great primer on the why and who of the current college conference expansion landscape.
- And This Is Because- The Atlantic Coast Conference’s days are numbered. If Forbes is saying it, you’ve got to think that it’s gonna’ happen. Remember, that Forbes (money) magazine and not The Chronicle of Higher Education, in case you were keeping track of your “Student” athletes.
- Who Doesn’t Love Meetings? This week is the SEC and B12 conference meetings, and there are whispers that Florida State, Clemson, and Notre Dame will have representation at the B12 gatherings- in spite of what some are saying, you can expect some of the news about dates and numbers and agreements to start trickling out on Wednesday, although nothing will be solidified until the June 20 date to set the format of “Four team event (4TE) that’s not playoffs”.
- S!E!C!- In the Conference of Southern Aggression’s meetings, we can expect this week to hear more about a long term scheduling plan- a 6-1-1 plan- for the next 12 years. This plan would mean that each team would play the 6 teams in their division, one cross-division rival, and one rotating rival from the opposite division each year. So, it sounds as if they’re not looking to make any noise in the “expansion” merry go round, although that was their position last year before they picked up Mizzou and aTm.
- Playoff Payoff- It’s sounding more and more like the SEC will be “getting their way” in one form of “4TE”- it looks as if the participants will be made up of the top three conference champions and one at large if a champ isn’t in the top four. So, we’d still get two teams from one conference, similar to the result of this past season. Another reason why this is important? The payday from the Championship Game is expected to be huge- particularly if the plan to allow the venue to be bid out similar to the Super Bowl comes to play. If you believe that the first two games will be hosted by bowls affiliated with the higher rated team, one conference could certainly end up with two consecutive home field advantages.
Elsewhere In College Sports
- Congrats! Former Ohio State recruit Jamal Turner is going to be a Zip next year. Given all that’s happened to him, we’re definitely pulling for him to be successful.
- Education And Football- ESPN looks back to realize what we’ve known all along; football has outgrown academia. Related? There were 25 Old Miss players academically ineligible this spring.
- Not So Happy Valley News- The campus and community are getting ready for the trial to begin, while some last minute meetings are happening in closed quarters.
And, Finally
- Today, in Huber Heights: You know you can get those Doritos Tacos just about everywhere now, right?
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