Ohayou Gozaimasu, Ohio State fans. It's the first Wednesday of the new year, and much as I'm trying to purge the demons of 2011, they continue to linger with a mind-numbingly awful bowl season.
I'm just...so...tired.
Still, there's no need to abandon all hope ye who enter here. We are mercifully in the offseason where the most talked about story is concerning athletes on Twitter, one that is probably not even true1.
At least basketball serves as a palette cleanser, and last night's win over Nebraska was just what the doctor ordered for the Scarlet and Gray faithful. It was a blowout. Sullinger dominated. The bench played significant minutes, and not because of foul trouble. J.D. Weatherspoon satisfied our dunk craving in decidedly delicious fashion.
I think that last item was the only thing that kept me sane after witnessing a soaking wet Brady Hoke accept the Sugar Bowl trophy.
LESSONS IN LOSING. On Saturday night, when the basketball team couldn't pull away from Indiana and ended up getting beat, it reminded me of the Kentucky loss in the Sweet Sixteen2. As Matta noted to Bob Baptist, the lessons learned from that contest were of little use to last year's squad, considering it was the final game of the season. However, losing in December means the current team can examine and then improve upon their mistakes.
Sullinger, who claimed that Matta wasn't particularly pleasant company during Monday's practice, reached this conclusion from going over tape: "Not taking nothing away from Indiana, but there were a couple possessions when we watched film that we realized that’s not us. We didn’t play like us that whole time down in Bloomington."
They responded with a defensive performance that overwhelmed the Cornhuskers, who turned the ball over 17 times while scoring just 16 field goals. The offensive effort was solid, but the Buckeyes continued their recent trend of being sloppy with the ball. Their 19 turnovers were two more than they recorded at Indiana, a stat that will ensure Matta doesn't become too genial at practice.
SO IT BEGINS. Although details are scarce about what Urban Meyer discussed when he gathered the football troops yesterday morning, Doug Lesmerises reported that his thesis statement was "win now." He requested that his players focus their attention on the team and on that motto, perhaps explaining how the Twitter ban rumor materialized.
In any case, Bradley Roby and Philly Brown concentrated on another worthy cause last night: tweet-trolling Michigan.
Now u gota wait another 10 yrs for ya next victory against us smh
— corey brown (@phillybrown10) January 4, 2012
Around the same time, Meyer made his first appearance at a hoops game. The BTN cameras caught him sitting in a suite, looking like a boss, as if you'd expect anything different.
Lesmerises also mentioned that Mike Brewster, Mike Adams, and Boom Herron should all receive invites to the Senior Bowl. Posey was not named, but that list isn't official, so I won't be surprised if he's eventually included. According to NFLDraftScout.com, those four players are the most draftable Buckeyes, with Adams leading the way.
This would be overturned. Your 2011 college football season.
IF IT WASN'T FOR DUMB LUCK. Virginia Tech, along with the officials, handed Michigan the Sugar Bowl last night. Despite the 23-20 OT win, the Wolverines still didn't deserve to play in that game ahead of Michigan State, but everything about it was just so 2011.
Michigan ran for a mere 56 yards and threw for 128 yards. Denard Robinson was only 9/21 passing and rushed for 13 yards on 13 carries. It didn't matter because his wide receivers can catch a jump ball better than Sam Thompson or J.D. Weatherspoon. MVP Junior Hemingway was especially adept last night, snagging both a 45-yard TD and a 17-yard TD.
While Virginia Tech outgained Michigan 377-184 in total yards, the Hokies ran into red zone problems. Out of five trips, they scored one TD and settled for field goals the other four times. When they actually attempted to walk on the wild side—a fake punt with seven minutes left—it failed and eventually led to Michigan breaking the tie with a field goal.
Moving the ball down the field with four minutes remaining, it looked like Virginia Tech could take the lead. Instead, the conservative play-calling turned into yet another Justin Myer FG, this time knotting the score with two seconds left on the clock. Up to that point, Myer, who had been the third-string kicker until the starter was arrested and his back-up violated curfew, was a perfect 4/4 on his kicks. Foreshadowing...
In overtime, Hokie QB Logan Thomas hit Danny Coale for a diving TD grab on third down. And then the replay officials overturned it, though I don't know how they had conclusive evidence to do so. Myer subsequently missed his field goal attempt, and Michigan set up Brendan Gibbons for the game-winning kick. His inspiration? Brunette girls. Like, gee, SO GLAD I COULD HELP.
At this point, I'm convinced that Les Miles has placed some kind of Voodoo curse on the entire college football world. He's basically the queen in that fairytale show on ABC, and the only ones benefiting from his stranglehold on the sport are his current team and his alma mater. The rest of us have had to suffer through events that make zero football sense. That's all I can come up with to explain how a pedestrian Michigan team Forrest Gumped their way to an 11-2 record and a BCS bowl win.
Worst. Season. Ever.3
TIME IS NOT ON THEIR SIDE. A day after their football brethren ended their season on a clock miscue, the Wisconsin basketball squad had their own issues in an OT loss to Michigan State. The Badgers' game-tying three was initially ruled good, but then the refs waved the basket off when they determined that Ryan Evans did not release the ball before time expired on the backboard clock. Bo Ryan was a teeny bit irate.
Ben Franklin once said, "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and Wisconsin winning at the Kohl Center." The latter is no longer a guarantee now that the Badgers have lost two in a row at home, including a defeat at the hands of Iowa(!!) on Saturday.
At 3-0 in the conference, Michigan State is sitting atop the B1G standings. Along with edging Wisconsin, they've beaten Nebraska on the road and Indiana at home, which was a laxative-esque game of runs. The Spartans are currently riding a 14-game winning streak.
The Chicago Tribune's Shannon Ryan believes that Michigan State, Michigan, and Indiana all pose threats to Ohio State's chances of claiming the Big Ten crown, and that the race could be much more competitive than originally thought.
I'LL LINK TO THAT. Derek Dooley is finally allowing DeAnthony Arnett to transfer to Michigan or Michigan State... Bo Pelini, having a whale of a time... The Reds are going to win the World Series... Omar Little was arrested in Baltimore... A mashup of TV theme songs... An Inspector Spacetime poster... The 25 Creepiest Twilight Zone episodes... '80s Film Alphabet.
- 1 Not that it stopped some people from writing 1200 words on the subject.
- 2 PTSD flashbacks and all.
- 3 How it has not driven me to interpret The Yellow Wallpaper, I do not know.
