Bucks Win Big!
(They were lucky)
OSU Kicks Butt!
(They were lucky…)
In a game in which the defense beat Penn State 14-6 and the
offense won 14-0, the Buckeyes survived a monsoon and quacked their way to an
impressive-sounding yet unsatisfying 28-6 win Saturday. Rain is certainly a
great equalizer when one team is far more talented, it is said, but Troy Smith
deserves an Emmy (if not the Heisman) by refusing to use the weather as an
excuse. His one big play to Robiskie overcame an otherwise lackluster
performance but, once again, overlooked tailback Antonio Pittman was the
catalyst to get the Bucks moving downstream – I mean, down the field.
You have heard all the excuses by now and many are
warranted. But, at 14-6, the Nits were driving for a tie when Morelli blew up
like a puffer fish and served up ESPN highlight moments to Malcolm Jenkins and
then Antonio Smith respectively. No sense dwelling on the specifics (that’s the
last vestige of an uncreative mind…) but I did have some more “stream” of
consciousness thoughts:
- OSU’s special teams looked decidedly not-so-special,
particularly during the first half. Modest punting, the roughing the kicker,
Ginn looking lost on returns, etcetera. If the punt was the most important
play, then they were getting out-played. Except:
- The Willie Mays catch that Russell made at the one
yard line was a beaut. And, on the other hand, how do they make a Penn State
punter (heretofore averaging less than 35 yards a kick…) look like Ray Guy?
The answer: let the ball hit and watch it roll for 20 or so…
- On two touchdowns, they got to feel the
euphoria…twice! That is, Pittman scores and pandemonium follows. He then
watches from the bench for five minutes while the official confirms
he scored. He gets a few more “atta-boys”. Jenkins scores and the same
scenario is rolled out as the refs look to see if he really stayed in-bounds
(he did). They should have checked to see if he really spiked the ball
after he crossed the goal line (he didn’t!).
- From Penn State’s perspective, the best runs of the
day belonged to JoePa – presumably after he made it to the locker
room. Was that weird, even for college football?
- It was the second week in a row that the Buckeyes
covered the spread in the last minutes on fluky stuff. Last week, it took a
27-year old South African freshman to knock in a field goal from 52 yards.
This week, it took a fifth-year walk-on to return a pick-for-six. There’s
lots of money changing hands out there that is starting to ask questions…
- The first 57 minutes or so of the game saw more rain
than fireworks. But in the last two+ minutes, Ohio State got 116 yards of
interception returns. That was more yardage than either team gained passing
the ball all day.
So far in 2006, they have seen good backs: Garrett Wolfe,
Selvin Young, Jamaal Charles, and PSU’s Tony Hunt. All have had their way with
OSU. So far in 2006, they have seen no good quarterbacks: Phil Horvath,
Colt McCoy, Dustin Grutza, and Anthony Morelli. In two of the next three weeks –
on the road at both Iowa and Michigan State, they are going to see good running
backs and good quarterbacks. So far, they have been a little lucky. If
they want to run the table and claim their rightful reward as national champs,
they’re going to have to step it up a bit. I have to say that the defense seems
to be coming on in certain areas. They need to bring all those areas together in
the game. The offense? Man, just give OSU a dry field and watch OSU go…
* * * *
Greatest QB ever?
…Tony Gonzalez made that remark about – who else? Troy Smith. Which got
me thinking. (Which, in itself, newsworthy.) A year ago, they didn’t even know
if Troy would be OSU’s #1 guy at the controls and – now – they are discussing
him in such lofty terms? I think the discussion is warranted. In recent years,
you only have Craig Krenzel to put on a similar pedestal and Craig got there by
simply being a winner (much like Rex Kern from a bygone era). But even Krenzel
never racked up the gaudy single-game stats like Troy has had against Michigan
(twice), Notre Dame and Texas. Who else? Joe Germaine. But he was more of a pure
thrower and he didn’t have enough games to rack up the stats. Then you have the
guys with the names but without the numbers: Jim Karsatos and Kirk Herbstreit
(!) and the like. Maybe Art Schlichter could be considered.
But, whoever you consider, consider this: if things
continue to play out, the kid who was the last commitment five years ago, the
kid that was a weak #2 to a strong Justin Zwick, Troy Smith, would have
to be considered at the top of any such list.
*
* * * *
Speaking of which… One basic measurable element of an OSU quarterback,
perhaps a definition of success in his career: how did he do against Michigan?
Ohio State is now on the precipice of beating the Wolverweenies 4 times in a
row. That’s only happened twice in Ohio State history. And only 3 times has a
quarterback been around to be part of a team that beat them three in a row. OSU
had 3 different starters in the '60-'63 span when they won those four. That
leaves '34-'37, and those were a bunch of no-names then. They haven’t had a QB
beat those twits in consecutive years since Corny Green and now they have
OSU’ssecond QB in 6 years just one win away from a possible hat trick. That’s
Troy Smith. And that might be his ultimate mark of greatness as they think back
upon his journey here at Ohio State in years to come…
* * * *
A passing shot at the
floundering tuna…A week without me taking a cheap gratuitous shot at
All-Everything coach, Charlie Weis, is just unacceptable. Or, it could be said,
Charlie standing in your doorway is like a day without sunshine.
But for the first time in years,
ESPiN has spun a tale they can all enjoy here in Ohio. Herewith is the obit of
one coach formerly known as Charlie Weis:
* * * *
Another Post Mortem
from a Notre Dame message board…Last
year, Charlie Weis’s biggest win was a loss to USC. This year, CW found a
match in the “Coaches Stranger Than Fiction” category as he and John L. Smith
took turns trying to lose on Saturday night. Smith won that contest (by losing,
that is…). I would call Charlie a Smith “Mini-Me” but it would be more like a
“Maxi-Him”.
Anyway…the rumbles are
growing in South Bend for the insufferable coach whose abilities can’t cash the
checks his ego writes. One Domer web-spinner wrote the following observation
after the Weis Guy imploded against another Michigan school just one week
before:
“Here
is the bottom line. Notre Dame has only once before lost a game that badly (the
Michigan game, that is) when ranked that highly (1945 versus Army). There have
only been 19 worse margins of defeat in the past 50 years. It was the seventh
worst home loss in history, putting Weis in the company of Brennan (2), Kuharich
(2), and Willingham (3). Lou Holtz and Dan Devine never lost by more than 25
points in 202 games. Frank Leahy and Ara Parseghian combined for 3 losses of
more than 25 points in 223 games. I’m not pointing that out to say that Weis is
applying for membership in one club or the other, but that beat-downs like they
experienced on that Saturday are historic occurrences. His players let him down,
to be sure. But let’s not make a habit of it, alright Coach?”
They know that Charlie
considers himself in an area (or is that an area code?) all by himself.
According to comparisons with true legendary Domer coaches, perhaps he
is, after all…
* * * * *
Greene with envy…OSU’stalent scout in the Northeast,
Bill Greene, is a man of strong convictions and possesses an unerring eye for
unearthing high school football talent. He turned OSU on to super athlete (and
recent Buckeye commit) Devon Torrence when Devon was but a sophomore. And who is
the latest talent that has Bill slathering and pitching woo? Well, you don’t
have to go far down the hallway in the Torrence house. Not only do I love his
description of Devon’s younger brother, Devoe, you have to love Devoe’s
description of his love for Ohio State. Here’s what Bill had to say recently:
He's
playing at a level that I haven't seen out of a junior around here since Mike
Doss. He's easily the best player in Stark County, better than Gamble, Dailey,
Morgan Williams or brother Devon. OSU, Michigan, Penn State, Texas and USC are
but a few that are contacting Canton South. He's been on the field with 4
members of Duane's Top-100 seniors and has outperformed all of them, including
Devon, Sean Baker of Canfield and Garner and Ifft of Dover.
He's 6'2" and 215 pounds playing primarily WR on offense, a position he knows
nothing about, but South is in the spread and he has to be on the field. Last
night he had 123 yards receiving in the first half. I told Duane I thought he
was going to break the school record for receiving yardage, but they moved him
to TB on the opening drive of the 2nd half. In 3 carries he went for 15, 19 and
a 35 yard TD run. He ended up with over 120 yards rushing and 140 yards pass
receiving on a total of only 15 touches.
On defense he's the best LB in the state regardless of class. I've always
thought MLB but he's too athletic to waste in the middle. I see Will linebacker
in his future but he could end up a TB. He will be a national recruit.
He's just like his brother when it comes to college----"List? Ohio State is my
list."
Would you call that “Devoe-tion”?
*
* * *
Kicks just aren’t getting harder to find…And as the
final installment in the series-that-will-never end, and my briefs about each
position and the recruiting ramifications therein, they are finally
brought to the kicking positions and the possibilities thereto.
Kicking, of course, covers both punting and place-kicking
and they will cover both of those in this squib:
Punters
All that AJ Trapasso lacks to make it to the level of
“greatness” at this point is “consistency”. He will just get better, however,
and he is but a sophomore in eligibility. Thus, the new kid on the punting block
doesn’t need to arrive until 2008. That would be AJ’s last year and a great
red-shirt year for a freshman. Backing up AJ is Jonathan Thoma (who is a walk-on
freshman) so he might have a year yet for making some noise. And they sincerely
hope that injured Tyson Gentry (soph) can walk on the field one day, as well.
The kid that seems to be in the cross-fire of attention so
far as punter is Ohioan Ben Buchanan (yes, Class of 2008) who was on a visit
last Saturday for the Penn State game. How about either “BUUUUU” or “Buchanan
the Cannon”? Have to think ahead, you know…
Placekickers
Just like those halcyon days of yore when Mike Nugent and
Josh Huston bestrode the gridiron, they have two talented place kickers, who are
both young. Well, young in eligibility but curiously “old” in respect of their
eligibility ages! That is, Aaron Pettrey is a 20 year-old red-shirt freshman
while Ryan Pretorious is a 27 year-old sophomore. Both have demonstrable skills
looking to have de-monster-able years. The only recruit the Bucks might look at
is someone like Ben Buchanan (see above) who both punts and kicks. Place
kicking? No hurries here, mon
* * * * *
Where would they play?…Two weekends ago, while they
watched the Amazin’ Blue humble a way-overrated Notre Dame squad, it was hard to
miss on TV that it seemed everyone in on the action was an Ohio recruit that
they didn’t get! In just the first quarter, big plays came from Prescott
Burgess, Mario Manningham, Shawn Crable, Brady Quinn and Chinedum Ndukwe.
Prescott and Mario came out of the Warren Harding program where there is
Michigan recruiting presence through their assistant coaching staff. Crable is
an anomaly out of Massillon who surprised everyone by heading north. And
Quinn/Ndukwe both emigrated from Dublin Coffman in the same year.
Here’s the question – there have been a number of kids we
thought Ohio State should have had. If they had come aboard the Buckeye
bandwagon, well…where would they be playing? In whose place?
Here’s a list of names from the top of my head. Your job
(should you choose to focus that long) is to answer those two burning questions
of where would they be playing and in whose place?
- Prescott Burgess
- Mario Manningham
- Shawn Crable
- Brady Quinn
- Chinedum Ndukwe
- Fred Davis
- Kevin Bemoll
- Alex Daniels
- Javon Ringer
- Freddy Lenix
- Rico McCoy
- Michael Massey
- Joe Thomas
- Joe Thomas
- Derrell Johnson
- Michael Bush
- Richard Washington
- Bryan Andrews
(To be continued next week…)
* * * * *
First the Horseshoe, then the library… The Ohio State University athletics department announced a
$5 million gift to the university library renovation during halftime of the
football game against the University of Cincinnati.
"The library needs a champion, and they decided they
should be a part of that," said AD Gene Smith. The gift is the largest his
department has given the university.
Ohio State continues to
improve its standing on the academic side of things – and it does it in the eyes
of its athletes, as well. This is both a timely gift and a reminder that the
sports-nuttiness of the university can pay off for everyone involved.
The money was the second-largest donation received for
the $109 million renovation of the main campOSU library, known as the William
Oxley Thompson Memorial Library. The gift came just one day before the facility
officially closes to students and faculty members until the renovation is
complete in 2009.
* * * *
MC-13 and a bunch of other
numbers to follow…In my hate-mail bag, when Michigan or Notre Dame fans
become all fumble-bucked and fat fingered and can’t think of a good insult to
hurl my direction, they fall back on the old Maurice Clarett canard. Tiresome, I
tell you. Hey – the guy played here for about 7 games about four years ago!
Let’s move on, people…
Now that Maurice has hit (a new)
bottom, I can only hope for the best for him and for the un-tarnishing of the
reputation he was so willing to discolor. But I do take solace in knowing that
they shouldn’t hear any new “Maurice Clarett of Ohio State” stories in the next
3-5 years. That is one good thing coming out of this mess. I hope Maurice is
another good thing when he comes out of the mess of his own making.
For the record, MC-13 is now
MC-A529720…
If you have a record, or are
trying to set one, or you just want to clear up the record on some inane topic,
Mr. Bucknuts is happy to entertain your ideas. Reach him at
MrBucknuts@yahoo.com