Friday, November 30
Ohio State, of course, is done with its football season but that doesn’t mean there’s no football to watch on Saturday. The Buckeyes will be hoping for an upset from either Pittsburgh over No. 2 West Virginia, or more likely, Oklahoma knocking off No. 1 Missouri in the Big 12 title game. The Dispatch’s Ken Gordon says that might happen during this crazy season.
With all that’s happened this year when it comes up upsets, Dispatch columnist Michael Arace wants a football playoff.
ESPN.com’s Bruce Hooley, who also hosts a radio show here in Columbus, with a long story on how OSU’s ending early could help the Buckeyes get into the BCS.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Doug Lesmerises, who isn’t even from Ohio, shows he’s been paying attention to matters of the Buckeye State with this story on how both head coaches in the Oklahoma-Missouri game are from the state of Ohio.
No matter what bowl the Buckeyes qualify for, they will not be leaving as early as they did last year, if the players have anything to say about it, writes Lesmerises.
Finally, the Dispatch has a story on Penn State head coach Joe Paterno’s salary being announced.
On the basketball side of things, the Dispatch has a story on the positives to come from OSU’s loss to North Carolina Wednesday night.
Also, the Indianapolis Star has a day-old story on Ohio State head coach Thad Matta’s ties to the Butler program. Butler is Matta’s alma mater, and the Buckeyes and Bulldogs meet tomorrow.
While Marcus Hartman here on Scout.com has a preview of the women’s basketball team’s showdown with Maryland tonight, the Dispatch also has a story on OSU’s attempt to rebound from a loss Sunday. That story is accompanied by a preview box.
And with Friday the dawn of the Ohio high school football finals, we have a couple notes of interest involving OSU 2009 commit Storm Klein. Cleveland.com will have online audio and video of the games, while the Dispatch has a preview of Klein’s game and the Newark Advocate has an interview with Klein and a photo gallery of a pep rally for Klein’s Licking Valley squad.