Eleven Warriors

It's been two years since Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany kicked off expansiongeddon and we've yet to go a single month without talk of a team (or teams) swapping affiliations.

Last weekend, Andy Haggard, chairman of the Florida State Board of Trustees, seemed to legitimize some of the smoke surrounding an FSU move to the Big 12. When asked about the potential addition, Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas responded with the semantically slick "Have we had any conversations with Florida State? No."

The uber-connected Neinas, the first man blue bloods call when looking for an elite coach -- he placed Mack Brown at Texas, Urban Meyer at Florida, Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and Les Miles at LSU -- has done a remarkable job of turning around the Big 12's fortunes. It wasn't too long ago, the conference, under previous commissioner Dan Beebe, was hemorrhaging teams, having lost Nebraska to the Big Ten, Colorado to the Pac-12 and Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC.

Neinas has reversed the league's run of bad luck and then some. The Big 12 and SEC recently forged an agreement to have their two champions meet in a bowl and some are saying FSU to the Big 12 "is inevitable" with a transition set to begin next month.

And now this:

My sources confirm an agreement in principle has been reached for Clemson to join the Big12. @TruthOrBear247 @theDudeofWV @GSwaim

— Cory Fravel (@CoryFravel) May 20, 2012

Who is Cory Fravel? He works in business development for Simply Green Lawn Care in Atlanta and moonlights as an author on a lightly trafficked Clemson blog.

Does he have something? Your guess is as good as mine. His tweet was retweeted by Clemson's flagship FM station, so there's that. One thing is for certain: public "nos" from those that would know mean very little and the Big 12 looks to be back from the dead.

Good morning Buckeye faithful and welcome to your Sunday Skull Session. We hope you've been having a great weekend.

Now that spring football is over, the majority of Buckeye fans (perhaps a generalization) have been scouring the web looking for any bits of football information to hold them over until the fall.

For me personally, I have been able to curb my "no-osu-athletics-until-fall-depression" with Reds baseball and jumping on the New York Rangers bandwagon.

Okay, I admit it, I also jumped on the 76ers bandwagon but solely because of Evan Turner. It's just impossible not to thoroughly enjoy watching him, especially after being in Columbus during his three years at Ohio State. I truly feel like I watched him grow up, despite not knowing who he was until Thad locked him down in 2006. Anyway, watching him come into his own during the playoffs has been great.

Besides watching the MLB (I'll be tweeting from the Reds @ Yankees today), bandwagoneering the NBA/NHL and working, I've spent the last few days analyzing the post-spring depth chart, just like all you people out there (you know who I'm talkin' about). I have nothing left to think about and can't wait until all the summer news and hype kicks off. Just a matter or time..

DOSE OF ROUNDBALL RECRUITING. Scout has released an update for their top 100 for 2013. Ohio State commit, Marc Loving, dropped down to 35th overall (originally 26th).

Several other Ohio State targets made moves as well. Chicago Simeon SF Jabari Parker (6-7/215) remained the overall number 1 and SI has said that he is the best high school baller since Lebron. This kid is a must get for Thad, but he has every major program in his ear. Jabari has multiple major decisions on the horizon with choosing a school, but he also has a Mormon mission that could delay his jump to the pros. That'll be a very interesting story.

Several other Buckeye prospects made the list including Florida C Chris Walker (6-10/205) sticking at #6 overall, Michigan SF James Young (6-6/190) moving up to #7, Maryland C BeeJay Anya (6-8/255) moving up to #11, and South Carolina SG Sindarious Thornwell (6-4/175) up to #19.

With plenty of time remaining before the first signing period, you can definitely expect many changes after the AAU season this summer.

Happy weekend, Buckeye fans! I'm making a special guest appearance for your Saturday Skull session, which gives me the opportunity to wish everyone a pleasant Saturday night, though unlike Elton John, I cannot endorse fighting.

Some of you are probably watching Hang Time and California Dreams on TNBC¹ this morning. I'm assuming those are still on, anyway. I haven't been up before noon on a Saturday since 1996. 

If you don't keep up with the NBA playoffs, or you only pay attention when it's a close game with a couple of minutes left like I do, you might have missed the 76ers overcoming an 18-point deficit to beat the Celtics. The series is now tied at two games apiece.

The Sixers were terrible in the first half, and Evan Turner struggled mightily with his shot. Despite only going 5/22 from the floor, Turner did lead his team with 16 points and also grabbed nine boards. 

Somehow, the Lakers avoided falling into a 3-0 hole to the Thunder, but since no former Ohio State player did anything of note, I don't care. 

ALL THINGS MUST PASS. Living up to his middle name, Urban Frank Meyer is not one to mince words, especially when it comes to criticizing the receiving corps. Jon Spencer of CentralOhio.com praised his candor when discussing the passing game, which the new coach continues to describe as "not very good right now."

Meyer puts most of the blame last season on the inexperience and lack of leadership at the QB and WR positions. Since his staff is limited in their coaching duties until August, that means players have to take charge and build chemistry:

"What I'm hearing is that our quarterbacks (Miller and backup Kenny Guiton) have taken a leadership role, the receivers are working on things, and they're starting to figure things out."

Based on his comments, it sounds like the QBs have come a long way in that category, but there is still much progress to be made. Hopefully that happens, considering Ohio State is, according to former Wolverine Steve Everitt, "stuck" with Braxton Miller. I will remember that remark the first time Denard Robinson gets dinged up next season and Devin Gardner has to come in to replace him. 

Your Friday 11W Digest catches you up on the content you might have missed or need to read again for your own good.

This Week in Skull Sessions

• Saturday's Skull Session on our cool coach, Mary Sue Coleman admits hiring Rich Rod was a mistake, TBDBITL's new Director, Harvey Updyke still being creepy and what will Mike Leach do at Wazzou. (Johnny)
• Sunday's Skull Session on The Sporting News ranking of college football coaches, the downfall of the Big Least, Jim Delany's stance on a playoff and nationally ranked NC TE Josh McNeil has OSU on his list of 12. (David)
• Monday's Skull Session on the benefits of Ohio State's switch to semesters, Sweat passes on a potential NFL career, beer sales at the 'Shoe, Tom Herman doing work in Texas and Florida State doesn't know which way to go. (Jason)
• Tuesday's Skull  Session on the academic success of the football team, Ohio State playing at Duke in the B1G/ACC Challenge, Buckeyes on the College Football HOF balleot, Tate Forcier now in the CFL and ten defensive players who could garner Heisman votes.(Danny)
• Wednesday's Skull Session on Urban's town hall meeting, B1G meetings, Orlando Pace's snub, Zach Boren's surprising spring and Ohio hoops teams hanging at the Governor's mansion. (Sarah)
• Thursday's Skull Session on B1G AD's being wussies on home playoff games, spring two-deep, sanctions helping USC?, the Weis debacle at Notre Dame and more on Sweat choosing law school over the NFL.  (Chris)
• Friday's Skull Session on more of the wussification of B1G ADs, Urban has a change of heart, relegation in college football and defending the threeball in college hoops. (Johnny)

15 Fridays until Gameday Eve.

This Week in Editorials

• Mount Buckmore, the 1970's, Griffin, Hicks, Cousineau and Gradishar...oh my. (Chris)
• A Modest Proposal, how former football players can help our energy crisis. (Johnny)
• Strike Your Gait and Win, an inspiring piece on Adam Taliaferro. (Ramzy)
• Breakfast Served Cold, the College Football HOF simply doesn't like pancakes. (Jeff)
• Urban's First Depth Chart, how much will change when fall camp starts? (Chad)

This Week in Recruiting

• Catching up with Michael Ferns. (Alex)
• Catching up with Da'Shawn Hand. (Alex)
• Hoops Class of 2012: Ohio State missed on some big time prospects. (David)
• Catching up with Clifton Garrett. (Alex)
• Forecasting 2013: Wide Receivers, who will join Jalin Marshall in the class of 2013? (Alex)

Best of the Rest

• Ohio State to travel to Duke for ACC/B1G Challenge.
• Stat Session: Meyer and Tressel, a continued look at the offenses with really cool stats. (Chad)
• Around the Oval: May 15, a look at the women's track team winning back-to-back B1G titles, a big weekend in Bloomington for baseball and men's tennis advances in the NCAA'a against Notre Dame. (Kyle)
• Team Player, an insightful look at the pride of St. Clairsville, Tim Spencer. (Joe)
• Post-Spring Depth Chart Released, 'nough said. (Jason)
• Late Night Stealth Contest: Still time to tell us what's in the SEC van. (Jason)
• Meyer's 'Pivot' Players, what to expect from players with versatille skill sets in Meyer's offense. (Ross)
• OSU reports 46 minor violations, The Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises doing public records work. (11W Staff)
• Buckshot: We Love the Rose Bowl.
• Buckshot: Weatherspoon heads to Toledo.
• Buckshot: 30 for 30 Vol. II is coming, one of which will star Clarett

The people's champ for the week of May 12-18, 2012: Conference Winners Only, by YANKEESCUM, should a school be allowed in the Final Four, if they didn't win their conference?

Brutus and company practicing their chair pose

In the Ohio Union on Tuesday evening, Urban Meyer held his first town hall meeting with nearly 800 Ohio State students. Like last month when he invited them to watch practice one morning, it was all part of his effort to reach out to the student body and grant them another peek behind the football curtain.

As he previously said, "what's every student want? They want ownership and access. We're going to give it to them."

At the 90-minute long event, Meyer was joined by his wife Shelley, Luke and Amy Fickell, Mike and Jen Vrabel, and Mickey Marotti, who led the crowd, along with Zach Boren and Brutus, in a high energy drill. The team already performs the drill before practice to get themselves in the right mindset, and once the season starts, the students will also participate:

"Right before we go back into the locker room, I'm going to bring the whole football team and coach (Marotti) right in front of the student body," Meyer said. "We are going to teach the students (the drill) and that is going to be our new tradition. You do that with your football team, we will go back in (to the locker room) and we will come back out and kick a little ass for you guys."

Later, Braxton Miller, Etienne Sabino, and John Simon made an appearance and appropriately closed out the affair with a rendition of "Carmen Ohio". 

Much like a Comic Con panel except presumably no one was dressed as Wonder Woman or Inspector Spacetime, the purpose of the forum was to embrace the students and to build even more excitement for a much-anticipated season. The intent was not for the coaches to answer hard-hitting questions such as "Why did Jeremy Cash really transfer?" and "Vrabel, how badly did you want to punch Jim Bollman last season?"

Instead, they handled softballs about their preferred date night locations, which caused Vrabel to overshare as he replied, "If I have purses, shoes, or Mexican food, I'll have a good shot at the end of the night."¹

If you are left wondering, "but where do the Meyers and Fickells like to dine? I MUST KNOW!", then I can help you with that particular cliffhanger, based on nothing but assumptions.

Other than what was reported in the articles linked above, I don't know for certain what else happened because I am no longer a student and when I was, Jim Tressel never organized a town hall of his own. Nevertheless, I can still offer my imagination.

Moderating the evening was student leader Jared Kamrass, and after The X-Factor portion² and the introductions were over, he directed questions from the audience. Here's a selection of some that maybe possibly could have been posed and the exchanges that potentially might have followed, perhaps:

Does B1G Commish Jim Delany have something up his sleeve?

Once a decade or so, the pragmatic Jim Delany comes out from his time-deprivation chamber to advance the plodding Big Ten a revolutionary step forward. Inexplicably, Delany then crawls back into his shell like a frightened turtle where the league hibernates for an indeterminate amount of time.

This cycle is as predictable as the day is long.

Last month, Delany took a small step forward – a large leap for Delany-kind – by offering his support for a prospective four-team playoff model that began percolating of heightened anticipation. He suggested, though, that he preferred a model that included higher-seeded teams hosting the semifinals.

B1G athletic directors emerged from meetings this week in Chicago with the league now staunchly against the idea and instead prefer to utilize BCS bowls. This turnabout could be a bargaining chip, the product of calculated genius. It also could be tomfoolery and caving to what Death to the BCS author Dan Wetzel calls the ‘bowl cartel.’

“For us, it’s critical to keep the Rose Bowl in the equation,” Michigan State AD Mark Hollis told reporters on Tuesday.

Twitter sensation Fake Dan Beebe responded most aptly yesterday when he tweeted, “direct Message to Jim Delany: I wish I knew 3 years ago that I could make you do whatever I want if I just called myself the Rose Bowl.”

It appears the cartel won, for now. But if this is just a thinly-veiled bluff, perhaps Delany should work on his poker face.

Much of Delany’s nearly quarter-century spent as the head of the Big Ten’s political machine has been directed with conservatism not seen since the formation of the Whig Party. When Delany’s Model-T gets to sputtering too loudly, though, the sand-bagging son-of-a-gun surprises us with some blockbuster that screams, “gotcha!”

Such was the case in 2007 when, against dire prognostications of industry experts, he spearheaded the launch of the Big Ten Network. Last month’s comments were a cursory step forward, but akin to a flat-earth believer finally confessing the earth is round.

Maybe Delany was merely opining when he came out in support of playing semfinal games on home sites. However, before going on record, you can wager any amount you’ll blow on today’s Facebook IPO that he wouldn’t make such proclamations without support of his conference constituents.
 

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to your morning Skull Session. As you've no doubt read below, Ohio State was yet again tattooed (see what I did there?) by the NCAA for numerous NCAA violations that ranged from "haha really??" to "okay, that was pretty dumb." These violations are sure to have a lasting impact on the integrity of the program, as OSU staff and players struggle to answer questions such as "Vrabel: Skoal or Red Man kind of guy?" and "Why didn't you hire an official intermediary whose sole job it is to send texts to parents to let them know which gate to enter for a scrimmage?"

Of course, as Jason pointed out, the video with Gene Smith and Archie Griffin is pretty stupid; there's really no excuse for that kind of obvious potential violation. Still, the idea that the NCAA is concerned with recruits spending between 1 and 5 dollars over their allotted amount on a recruiting visit strikes me as one of the more Felix Ungar-y things I could possibly think of. Fnneehh! Text instead of an email?? PFFNNNEEHHH!

Anyway, just scroll down a bit if you'd like to see to exactly what kind of minutiae the NCAA will get its collective panties in a wad about, and silently grin to yourself as you start to realize just how much trouble the University of Miami is eventually going to get in.

WE JUST WANT SOME FRIENDS :( That's basically what Purdue AD Morgan Burke is claiming the reason is behind the ol Bee One Gee deciding to throw any amount of goodwill they might've accumulated back in the face of fans by leading the charge against home playoff games for college football.