The Buckeye Battlecry

Silver Bullet Points Hunts In The Backyard

Alan Draper

Sports Editor

October 19 2011 6 min read

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No afternoon presser today, so here’s all the non-exotic animal related news… unless you count John Simon as his own overly evolved species of critter.

Buckeye 411

• Injury update: Again, nothing huge, but Coach Fickell said today that Travis Howard was running without problems, and that Braxton also looked pain free in the Buckeye’s 45 minute practice.
• Can’t Bye Me Love: Coach Fickell was adamant that he’s not a “bye week” kind of guy, and that this week gives them the opportunity to get healthy and work on some of the things that they’ve struggled with. “Getting better”, “men of action”, and so forth.
• That Being Said: Zach Boren seemed excited for the break, and mentioned that he played around 50 plays against Illinois on Saturday. Defensively, Johnathan Hankins also got in about 60 snaps or so; these guys have more than earned a little break of sorts.
• Captain, My Captain: No captain announcement du jour, but major kudos to tBBC favorite John “Sandman” Simon for being named the B1G defensive player of the week. Hankins called him the perfect teammate, and said he’s “not a normal guy”. See earlier comments.
• Prep Work: Continuing the John Simon love-fest; Mike Adams said that one of the reasons he wasn’t rusty upon returning to the lineup last week was having to go against Simon every week in practice, and that the Sandman never took a play off.
• Switcheroo: It was mentioned last week, but Rod Smith has been seeing snaps as scout team RB while he’s also learning the defense a bit over the past few games. The idea, it seems, is to find a place that helps the team and also gets him on the field- with Herron back, his touches at RB this season were going to be limited. Smith was also a linebacker in HS, and his brother (a Buckeye recruit) is currently at that position and talked this week about “giving him tips”.
• PT: Coach Fickell also spoke about the buzz from Carlos Hyde’s frustration at his playing time, and said that they encourage the team to be cautious when posting things online. He said that Carlos has a lot of great football ahead of him, and that he prefers players who are passionate and want to make a difference to those who are apathetic.
• Passing: Coach Fickell spoke about Braxton’s struggles in throwing a tight spiral, and joked that they may need to stretch his hand. He said that it’s a matter of relaxing; that he proves his ability in practice and in high school, and that it will come eventually.
• And With That: It’s good to remember what week it is-

Other News:

• Costumes! Err… Uniforms!!  Next week is the “unveiling” of the latest money grab by the Oregon athletic department tribute to Buckeyes from the days of yore with a special uniform for the Wisconsin game. We covered this earlier, but you can now pick up fan gear to get yourself ready to go. We’ve linked the snapback hat in our Amazon carousel over there, and will add the rest of the collection as it becomes available on the site. When you buy it, if you want to help us keep the lights on, click through our links to Amazon; won’t cost you anything, and gives us a little bit to wet our beak with. Personally, I see one of the Block O shirts in my near future.
• Party! Don’t forget this Saturday’s Time And Change event.
• Costume Party! Yeah, this guy wins:

This Week In Expansion:

• In Keeping With Our Theme: There are rumored to be more Tigers on the loose in the SEC, as Missouri’s move to that conference is inevitable (although unwise). That brings our animal kingdom total so the following- Three tigers, two bulldogs, one wildcat, one gator, one gamecock, a wild hog, an elephant, and two other teams with dogs on their sidelines.
• It’s Cute When They Try: Conference USA and the Mountain West folks announced a plan to merge last week, in order to avoid being poached as the third level of realignment happens (after the big conferences take from the smaller conferences, the smaller ones take from these guys). To be honest, though; this sounds less like a “merger” and more like a “we’ll have our champion play your champion” agreement that hasn’t been approved by the NCAA.  Although, I’m sure that everyone will be disappointed that there’s no burgeoning Hawaii/Marshall rivalry.
• Dominoes: Nope, not the former employer of Michigan’s AD… Here’s what we’re hearing across the landscape: With Mizzou to the SEC, the Big Integer is looking at Louisville and BYU to join TCU, although BYU may have other issues that the Texas Conference might not want to deal with. The Big East has bumped up their exit fee to $12 million, and has allegedly offered Houston the opportunity to join. So much for the Conference USA thing.
• Can I Just Say: that the B1G not running around like a drunk at closing time trying for that desperation hook up makes me just a wee bit happy? The fact that everyone keeps forgetting is that the B1G is more than just sports, and that the research dollars involved eclipse the TV dollars that everyone’s chasing after.
• But: I absolutely understand how this is an important issue for colleges, particularly as they look to maintain revenue opportunities as their enrollment numbers and state subsidies decline.  I’d rather see athletic departments try to be self sustaining than draw on the student dollar, particularly since ADs at large institutions are essentially minor leagues affiliated with academic institutions.

This Week In Scandal:

• Proud To Say: So far, I’ve got nothing Buckeye related. God, I hope I didn’t just jinx it…
• Up In East Lansing, Though: At this point, there’s not been a suspension related to the shenanigans by “little brother” in their win over Hok-ans Heroes. However, the other shoe might still be hovering…

And Finally

• Nothing To Fear: Seriously? The animals got free in Ohio, so you know we gots this under control…