Notes from the Fickell presser, and other happenings around the world of college football, including updated NCAA investigation information (it’s not just us) and the latest on conference expansion.
Buckeye 411
- Injury Update- Nathan Williams is still out, and Adam Homan had surgery this week. Andrew Sweat is banged up, but expected to play, but there’s no official word on Philly Brown at this time.
- Fickell Speaks– If you’re a fan of discussing time outs and so forth, you’d have loved today’s press conference. The long and short of it- He wished he would have called a time out prior to Miami doing so late in the fourth, but was also thinking that the offense would need at least two if they were going to make a comeback from being down two scores.
- Captain, My Captain- This week’s representatives: John “Sandman” Simon and Zach “Kill Everything That Moves” Boren
- Just For Giggles- Fickell, on Joe Bauserman being shown laughing on the sidelines late in the game,
I know Joe hurts every bit as bad as I do. Just like me up here, I smile and I show that I’m happy and everything’s going great when my stomach down inside is sometimes in a knot.
No, that’s not something you want to see. Whether he was disguising or masking how his gut felt, I have confidence that Joe hurts every bit as much as I hurt. We try and tell those guys, nothing goes unnoticed whether it’s on the sidelines of a game, whether it’s in a classroom, wherever you are having something to eat. Just make sure you understand that.
But I haven’t noticed anything that would tell me that Joe isn’t 100% with us
- Vaunted Athlete “OR” To Start Against Buffs– This week’s depth chart indicated that Bauserman OR Miller would start for the second straight week. When asked about it at Tuesday’s media event, Fickell said that they were letting them compete during the week and would make that decision closer to gameday. Later, Michael Brewster said that he didn’t notice any significant change in the prep time at practice. FWIW.
- Playing Time- As part of his remarks, Coach Fickell said that he thought young players learn more by playing rather than by watching. Later, he commented that his hopes were to get a better rotation of folks in the defensive secondary in order to counter the Colorado passing attack and to give people the experience needed.
- Whoopsie- John Simon said that, during film, the Buckeyes missed 27 tackles against Miami. Under normal circumstances, that figure is in single digits.
- They’re Probably Saying “Boooooraxton”- Coach Fickell, responding to questions about the boos during the Toledo game and whether or not he anticipated more against Colorado,
Really that’s probably one thing I haven’t given a whole lot of thought to. I mean, hey, they’re passionate about what they do. I understand everybody’s got a job to do. They pay their money to get in. They love Ohio State, Ohio State football. If they don’t like something, they let you know.
That’s not what we’re going to focus on. Hopefully that doesn’t affect us mentally in any way.
- In Other Words- This
This Week In Scandal
- If It Quacks Like A Duck- then it probably got served a Letter of Inquiry by the NCAA. No need to fret, Oregon fans; you wanted a big-time program, I guess this means you’re part of the family now.
- “I Hope We’re Not In Serious Trouble”- Those were the words of the ol’ ball coach hisself, responding to the recent Notice of Allegations sent to South Carolina by the NCAA. Eric covered this in his updated NCAA post, but the quick summary is that Gamecocks were getting amazing deals on hotels from “boosters”. And no, I’m not sure one of them wasn’t Shatner. Also under investigation is the same philanthropy/charity that impacted Sharif’ Floyd’s career at Florida…
- Vacation, All I Ever Wanted- Eric mentioned this as well, but North Carolina has gone the Ohio State route and vacated their wins from the 2008-09 season in preparation for their time before the Committee On Infractions.
- How About This For A Sanction- Bob Stoops received a pay raise this past week, to about $5 million a year. Jim Tressel, due to his contract, would have been seen his salary go up to match the actions of his fellow coach, if, you know, he’d learned how to “forward”. I’m sure the $5 mill will help Oklahoma celebrate their next huge BCS win against UConn.
- Two Can Play That Game- The NCAA is itself under scrutiny, this time in a class action lawsuit alleging that the Association is negligent in regards to concussion prevention and treatment.
- Sweet As Sugar– Buckeye fans’ favorite “bowl that never happened with players who shouldn’t have been allowed to play” is now under the microscope, as HBO takes a look at payments made by the Bowl Committee to politicians, similar to what got the Fiesta Bowl in hot water. I’m sure Mark May will connect the dots and say that Ohio State is the common denominator in all of these situations:
Expand O Rama-
- Excellent Work- Jason “Mr. Winderful” has a good take on the greed involved with all of the expansion plans, which seems all that more relevant given Stoops’ huge payday (and no stipend extension for his players). Also, our friend Bacon Ninja sees my playoff idea, adds expansion, multiplies by “relegation” and comes up with awesome. Mmmmm… Bacon.
- BREAKING NEWS- Even as I was typing this, the PAC-12 decided that they weren’t interested in expanding after all… making all the great plans of Texas and Oklahoma fans for naught (for now). Since I already had this cued up, here’s what else was in the works (and may still be, for all we know)
- And, As Always, The Fault Lies With- ESPN, according to someone who’s not me, but who’s a Texas writer and can see how the four letter network effed this up for everyone.
- It’s All Relative- Rumors on Tuesday were that West Virginia’s applications to the SEC and ACC were rejected. This week’s LSU/WVa game just got reaaaaally interesting.
- In Good Company- One of the concerns re: the PAC-12 situation was the academic standings of Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, who seemed to be a part of a package deal. While TBPU and OU are now guided by separate Boards of Regents, there does seem to be the expectation that both universities will move together. This may also be putting the kibosh on “OU to the SEC” whispers, as there are concerns about TBPU’s academics there as well. In the SEC. I’m just telling you what I’m reading.
- Then That Happened- Allegedly, there was a move to have Navy in the Big lEast before the exodus happened this weekend, and you’ve got to think that TCU is super duper excited to have joined a conference that’s thousands of miles away in travel and is losing it’s marquee football programs. You know who else might be moving east? Penn State. (just a rumor, folks). That could make the Leaders/Legends awards really interesting, right?
- Ah, Mizzou– They’ve called a public Board of Curators meeting in Columbia on Thursday, and the initial speculation was a move to the SEC. But that was based on the Big 12-2-1 blowing up, which isn’t happening, it seems. Or IS it…
- But, we can be thankful for all the LULZ that the great team at Rock M Nation brought–
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