Hey, Wolverines!

Beanie Wells: The Best Back in College Football

The guy missed three games with an injury this year. Otherwise, he would be in the mix for the Heisman Trophy. This may be the best run I have ever seen by a college running back. Unbelievable! (Please, Beanie, stay at Ohio State for your senior year!)



If that run featured Wells' finesse, the one below demonstrates his incredible power:



In Beanie's freshman year, I wondered if he would make it as a Big 10 running back. He seemed to give way to the pounding backs must face in the league. (Of course, in my "prime," I couldn't have made it through the first team workout!) But he has become a fierce competitor, willing himself to push through incredible hits. The guy's low center of gravity and seemingly unstoppable leg drives cause him to make something out of runs that, with ordinary backs, would be dead at the lines of scrimmage.

Shakespeare on the Oval

Think that The Ohio State University is just about football Saturdays?

Think again.

The largest university campus in the world is a place where the Arts and Sciences flourish. Its professors and student body are among the tops in the world.

Read here about a new and unique relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company just established by the university.

One of my favorite classes during my years as a student at Ohio State was Introduction to Shakespeare. While I had read a lot of his plays while in junior and senior high, the course took my appreciation of "the Bard" to a whole new level.

This new relationship will give OSU students unprecedented opportunities to learn and apply the works of Shakespeare in their lives.

Go, Buckeyes!

[By the way, what's the Oval? See here.]

Go, Buckeyes!

After the loss to the then third-ranked Penn State squad, it appeared that my Ohio State Buckeyes would have no chance at a fourth-consecutive Big 10 football title. But then Iowa beat the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes handed an improving Northwestern team a big loss. Now, the Buckeyes are tied for first in the conference, with today's game against Illinois and next week's rivalry week confrontation with the team from up north still to play.

This season, filled with disappointments and tenacious reversals of fortune, has already given Buckeye fans plenty to cheer about, as well as providing us with a look into a future with the phenomenal Terrelle Pryor as quarterback.

But today, the Buckeyes need to take care of business, taking a win against the Fighting Illini in Champaign, followed by a win over Michigan. A Big 10 Championship is in sight!

Go, Buckeyes!

Buckeyes Face Huge Test!

My beloved Ohio State Buckeyes play host to Penn State's Nittany Lions tomorrow night and I don't mind telling you, I'm nervous. While the Buckeyes are a great team which has made steady progress with freshman QB (and PA native) Terrelle Prior at the helm for the five games since a crushing loss at USC, Penn State is a formidable team.

The bottom line: If the Buckeyes win tomorrow night, they'll deserve the Big Ten title that will almost surely come their way for the third consecutive year, assuming they win out the rest of the season.

By the way, the Buckeyes who get so little love nationally after going to two consecutive national title games (and losing) have received little affirmation in the polls for their steady improvement in the past five weeks. Depending on who you believe, they're ranked ninth or tenth in the country. But the more objective computer rankings put them at fifth nationally. Penn State is ranked third, both by the computers and in the polls. If the Buckeyes pull off the upset, will the coaches and sportswriters who vote in the polls start to show Ohio State some respect? We'll see.

For more information on the game, go here and here.

Go, Buckeyes!

Big Game Tomorrow!

I'll admit it. The combination of Ohio State's lackadaisical offensive line play and the oft-noted tentativeness of freshman QB phenom Terrelle Pryor from last week, along with Michigan State's excellent play thus far this year, makes tomorrow's game between the Buckeyes and Spartans scary. The Buckeyes will have to kick their game up a few notches to come out of East Lansing with the win. But they can do it.

A Buckeye win will be a big boost in Ohio State's quest for a Big Ten championship and may give the squad extra confidence for its meeting with Penn State in Columbus next Saturday.

See here.

Go, Buckeyes!

[UPDATE: I was shocked by the way in which the Buckeyes manhandled the Spartans. It isn't, I don't believe, that I underestimated Ohio State. I simply thought that Michigan State would have a better game. Next up: The Nittany Lions of Penn State, a fantastic team, presently ranked #3 in the country. Go, Buckeyes!]

[ANOTHER UPDATE: Wow!]

YES! GO, BUCKEYES!

Fun!

This promo currently appearing on the Big Ten Network purports to show the conference's head football coaches on home visits to high school recruiting prospects. I love Penn State coach Joe Paterno's bit of intense thespianism at the end.



Also love Jim Tressel's, "You do know about our Buckeye leaves..."

I Knew That OSU Would Beat USC

I just didn't now which OSU. SC's Trojans seem to have trouble with at least one Pac 10 rival every year and in fact, Oregon State beat Southern Cal two years ago, as I recall. All of this is apt to mess up the national rankings, which previously had the University of Southern California Trojans at number one.

In the meantime, that other OSU, my alma mater, The Ohio State University, begins its Big Ten season when it welcomes Minnesota to venerable Ohio Stadium on Saturday. Beanie Wells will be back in the game and Terrelle Pryor will be taking the snaps. Hopefully, the offensive line will be ready to play. The Buckeyes can still have a great year in what is clearly a rebuilding period.

Go, Buckeyes!

More Trojans!?

And they won't be pushovers.

Go, Buckeyes!

OUCH!

The Dispatch put it best with its online headline: WIPEOUT!

[The above picture from Fox Sports was, I think, taken after the Buckeyes' second consecutive BCS National Championship loss. Not all Buckeyes fans are crying tonight. We knew how good USC is...or at least, suspected it. We had braced ourselves.]

I Think That I May Now Be Sick

Here

Putting Things in Buckeye Perspective

This editorial cartoon from The Columbus Dispatch puts things in perspective, the woman in it asking the question that all Ohio State football fans have been wondering about all week long: Will Beanie Wells be able to play in tomorrow's game?

The answer is, "No." But hopefully, he'll be ready for next week's showdown with USC.

Go, Buckeyes!

YES!

See here.

Go, Buckeyes!

One more. I know it's the NIT. But the performance of the Ohio State men's basketball team in this year's tourney bodes well for next year.

More here.

Go, Buckeyes!

Regular readers of Better Living know that I thought that my beloved Buckeyes could easily have lost three or four games this season. Everybody in Buckeye Nation thought that the 2007 season was a rebuilding year, a period of marking time in preparation for the 2008 season, when it seemed likely that Ohio State might realistically vie for the Big Ten and national championships. But the Buckeyes have proven to be big-time overachievers. The national title game tomorrow night is icing on Scarlet and Grey cake. The LSU Tigers will be the toughest opponents the Buckeyes will take on this season.

Go, Buckeyes!

See here.

The Game

Go, Buckeyes!

Beat Michigan!

Regular readers of this blog know that this Buckeye fan always regarded 2007 as a rebuilding season for the Ohio State football team.

I also pointed out a few weeks ago that the last four games of the regular season would be major tests for the Buckeyes.

Many focused on the team's away games against Penn State, held three weeks ago in Happy Valley, and tomorrow's game against Michigan, ignoring the "Oreo filling" of the four week stretch, Wisconsin and Illinois, both formidable teams.

Ron Zook's Illini played a masterful game last week, particularly as they gobbled up yardage and time in the fourth quarter, knocking Ohio State out of first place in the BCS standings with a 28 to 21 win.

A Buckeye victory over Michigan at the Big House tomorrow is far from a given as the Buckeyes and Wolverines enact the 2007 installment of what I regard as the greatest rivalry in sports. All three of Michigan's losses this year have been to very good teams: Appalachian State, a football power among smaller schools; Oregon; and Wisconsin. Michigan Stadium provides the second-best home team advantage in college football, after Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

The Buckeyes, who dropped to seventh place in the BCS standings after last Saturday's loss, still have a remote--extremely remote--chance of playing in the national championship game. But more immediately, they're playing for the Big Ten title and a little respect after Illinois seemed to vindicate the skeptics' assessments of Ohio State.

And, the unappreciated fact is that, in spite of what the naysayers will tell you, the Big Ten isn't down this year, it's stronger AND the troubles some of its better teams had with non-conference teams stem from the greater parity that exists in college football generally. The result is more exciting games and seeming "upsets."

But make no mistake about it, Ohio State, the 2007 season's great overachiever, and Michigan, the season's notorious underachiever, are both great teams, filled with nationally recruited players all hungry to prove themselves on the biggest stage in sports.

Once again, we can expect the OSU-Michigan game to be a war.

Check out:
How important is this game?
Everything's Coming Up Roses?
Will Lloyd Dot the I...in "win" or "Ohio'?
The always-interesting Tim May
Boeckman is focused

Hmmm

The Buckeyes can't let up today or when they face Michigan's Wolverines next week. This, from ESPN.com:

Michigan and its fans should not drown in its sorrows with Saturday's loss. Since 1980, the Wolverines have lost three times in the game immediately prior to playing Ohio State. Each of those previous three times, the Wolverines have bounced back and defeated the Buckeyes.

Closing in on Halloween, Buckeyes Face Scary Challenge

Last week, I talked about how their last five regular season game would give my beloved Buckeyes the challenges that their detractors around the country are claiming they haven't yet had. Ohio State's number one-rated defense did a fantastic job against Michigan State's number one-rated offense last Saturday, allowing the Spartans' offensive squad to score only three points.

But the offense gave Buckeyes fans a fright, turning the ball over twice in fifty seconds to allow the Spartan defense to score two touchdowns, making the final score much closer than it should have been.

Nonetheless, the Buckeyes passed the first of the final five regular season tests last week, allowing them to stay atop the major polls and the BCS standings.

So far, this has been a miracle season for the Buckeyes. As I've said repeatedly, I expected this to be a rebuilding season, a share of the Big Ten championship an outside hope. The team has outperformed all my pre-season expectations, giving thrills I never anticipated.

Tomorrow night will bring the biggest challenge Ohio State has had this season. The team goes into Happy Valley to face Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions. It was a night game at Penn State two years ago that dashed Buckeye hopes of a dream season. You can be sure that Joe Pa's team will be trying to spin another nightmare scenario again this year.

If the Buckeyes do win, it should turn a lot of detractors into believers, although it might not make them people happy.

Like the kid in my neighborhood I saw after Ohio State's win last Saturday. I decided to take a walk. The air was crisp and inviting, the leaves turning colors. The kid was catching football passes from his dad. He saw that I was wearing one of my Buckeyes shirts. This kid has never spoken to me before. But for him, the shirt must have been like a red cloth flung before a bull. "Michigan State should have won that game," he declared. I laughed; I thought a friendly laugh. But my response did nothing to soften his hostility. "I hate Ohio State." Now, he did say this with a smile. But he clearly meant what he said!

And we live in Ohio! But I suppose his reaction is symbolic to the visceral enmity that many people around the country have toward Ohio State. It's not unlike the hatred that some people have for the Yankees. Although the Buckeyes don't enjoy the kind of unfair advantage that the Yankees have in Major League baseball, Ohio State is clearly among the "haves" in college football, even in this era of increasing parity and resultant Appalachian State-style upsets.

The teams that play against Ohio State aren't immune to these feelings. The number one ranking the Buckeyes now enjoy effectively paints a target on the team's backs every time it hits the field. Each of the Buckeyes' four (or five, counting a bowl game) remaining opponents would love to make my neighbor kid's day by upsetting them. To them, the Buckeyes are a juggernaut who need to be knocked down a peg or two.

I get that. But to me, the Buckeyes represent my hometown, my state, and the only college to which I ever applied, the only college I ever wanted to attend.

My sentiments in favor of the Buckeyes are, I suppose, as irrational as those who hate them.

To all of which, I have a simple response...

Go, Buckeyes!

To read more, go here.
And here.
Also here.
Check here too.

Please Pray

for Ron Springs. The Ohio State football great is in a coma in a Dallas hospital and it's said that his condition is grave.