All Quiet on the Fiesta Front
Ken Gordon comments on the lack of buzz in the run-up to kickoff
As of Friday, there were a grand total of two national media members here, both from ESPN.com. Heck, there were only two Ohio newspapers represented — Columbus and Cleveland — until a few other reporters showed up Thursday and Friday.
It’s a sign of the times, newspaper-wise, with slashed staffs and budgets. Akron and Dayton stopped covering Ohio State regularly this year. In the past, Canton and Mansfield would have sent reporters to a bowl, but they’re not here, either.
I’ve noticed a little bit of that as well. There seems to be a sort of fatigue among Buckeye fans which probably stems from getting thumped in three straight big games and the fact that the season didn’t exactly play out as anticipated. It doesn’t mean fans will be doing other things Monday night, but you can definitely feel it.
Texas fans are likely in the same boat — having to settle for a matchup with a just-decent Ohio State team instead of playing for the crystal football. From press accounts, it appears as if the coaches and players have been grilled more on Oklahoma than they have been about the Buckeyes.
Are you more or less pumped than you thought you’d be?
Trick or Treat
Surprise! Not only will Rehring and Person both be starting Monday night, but they’re flipping sides! I’d like to think we’ve seen the depths of Buckeye line play this season, so maybe Bollman’s crazy idea pays off.
A Word on Pryor and the Media
It was big news Friday day when Tressel held Pryor back from speaking with the press. Partly because this broke unwritten bowl protocol of making a team’s starters available and partly because the ones most burdened by this decision are also the ones that produce the news.
The quasi-official explanation given was that Pryor (and fellow MIA starter, Brewster) were freshmen. But it was also a stroke of tactical brilliance out of the Vest. Pryor is your typical cocky confident freshman star and has already slipped by saying some very unsenatorial things this season. Whether it’s saying college football is like high school or taking shots at Mark May, he’s flashed his youth on more than one occasion. Why take a chance on giving the Horns any bulletin board material.
Besides, Tressel surely remembers what his last hotshot freshman starter said and did during a bowl week in Arizona.
The Dayton news media takes all its stories from the Dispatch and the AP anyway. I know, I live in the god-forsaken hell hole.
Well, my personal point spraed just widened with the news of Person starting Monday. I still cant get over Ricky Jean-Francois running over him in last years debacle.
I have had alot of pleasure in Pryors smack talk, something the Buckeyes lack. What, we cant even be confident in fear of pissing of the other team?
I’m a big fan of smack talk AND the player delivering.
anyone who has been to Glendale for a bowl game realizes that it is no Tempe. They shouldnt be allowed to call it the Fiesta Bowl.
Wouldn’t it be wild if all of a sudden the Rehring and Person switch turns this line into a dominant force and mauls the opposition?
That, or they start blocking in the opposite direction…
Or there is a bowl of gravy behind the d-line
I don’t know that any fans are fatigued. Hell, most I know are pumped that we get a chance on the national stage again, and to do something about it.
However, that vibe surrounding this game is probably the feeling that we might not like what we see again. I just don’t know how these same players are all of a sudden supposed to get good. I have never heard the theory that a player improves most between his second-to-last game and his last game. I’m afraid we are in for more of the same. I just hope I am surprised
Well, anyone bored with this year can watch the Under Armor game on ESPN at 8pm tonight.
Future Buckeyes playing are Jamaal Berry, Jack Mewhort, Melvin Felllows, CJ Barnett, Duron Carter, and DT hopeful Corey Adams.
Apparently Melvin Fellows hurt his knee and will not participate.
Watching Utah-Alabama made me sick (although I was glad Utah won). Why can’t the Buckeyes do this? They need to be mentally tough for this because Texas is going to score and people are going to get burned. I hope they can keep fighting though four quarters this time.
This Person-Rehring switcheroo (and the whole Pryor-and-Boeckman-on-the-field-together thing) smells to me of Bollman worrying that his job is on the line. Aside from that (but not necessarily exclusive of it), it also smells of desperation a little – trying something, anything, to make this offense work against a top-flight opponent.
We – and others, ad nauseum – talk about how the offense has shit the bed in three straight big games, but that’s not exactly right: add the pitiful Penn State game and Illinois last year and it’s FIVE in a row. So a little bit (or a lot) of desperation is in order here.
The irony here, of course, is that – assuming our defense can keep Texas under control, which I know is assuming a lot, but still – the standard run-heavy gameplan could be just what the doctor ordered Monday, given the Longhorns’ sack-happy defensive philosophy and the fact (acknowledged by them) that Beanie is a couple steps up from any back they’ve faced.
Chris Berman called the Cardinals’ stadium ” the giant toaster” today on Sportscenter.
I’m not as pumped as I should be, but I think it is because the game is on a Monday. Makes it tough to get together with friends.
I’ve noticed empty seats in New Orleans and a lot of empty seats in Miami. Perhaps lack of ticket sales will one day lead to scheduling changes.
Or playoffs.
one can only hope and pray
No, the reason the fanbase seems a lot less pumped is because of what happened in the bowl season thusfar, particularly the Rose Bowl. Had our Big Ten competition done better in bowl season, people might be a little more excited that we might hang with Texas. But there’s no evidence to support excitement.
Im giving this bowl seson a D+.
Alot of bad games, with alot of ridiculously unanswered what-ifs.