Eleven Warriors

First posted at Inside The Shoe

The 2012 recruiting class took a huge momentum shift nationally, when Urban Meyer raced into the picture for Ohio State. Enough cannot be said about how Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel continued to recruit, and recruit well. Before Meyer came onto the coaching staff, Fickell had wrapped up 9 recruits on his own, and had picked up some pretty decent players.

Once Urban stepped in though, the bar was set a couple of feet higher. Recruits are gaining interest fast, and now are taking a serious look at where they stand.

Now another recruit has joined the mix, and we didn't have to wait long to hear from another star prospect.

That prospect is Camren Williams of West Roxbury (MA) Catholic Memorial. Williams, a 6-2/200 linebacker, is a four star recruit that is currently committed to Penn State. He the brother of current UNC offensive lineman Brennan Williams.

We talked with Camren on Tuesday night, and he gave us the latest info on his recruitment and thoughts on Ohio State.

Twas the week before Christmas, after a week of a recruiting circus,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a walrus.
The pads were all arranged and cleaned by the crews,
In hopes that the NCAA will come with some news.

The players were practicing, preparing for Gators ,
While stories were being told by those that are haters.
And with Sarah and her Twitter, I with my tweets,
Had just settled our brains for this year’s defeats.

When out of nowhere came a bowl ban and some schollies,
I sprang to my computer and jumped my dog Holly.
Away to a new window I click on the tab,
Type in Elevenwarriors and gave enter a tap!

The gray box that appeared on the first page,
Gave the feeling of pain too much for my age.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a tad strong sanction, and comments “click here”.

With a few harsh words, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment I was about to feel sick.
More rapid than eagles the cursing they came,
And we screamed, and shouted, and called them by names!

"Now Tressel! now, Smith! now, Pryor and Posey!
Come on, Boom! Come on, Hall! Stop imposing!
To the top of the BigTen! to the bottom of football!
Now go away! go away! go away all!" (all except Hall!)

As I dry heave with a bit of vomit in my throat,
The sugar in my coffee continues to float.
So down to the section I enjoy the most,
With the comments a coming, and Tressel to roast.

And then, in a twinkling, I read for some proof
That recruits will be staying and playing under our roof.
As I drew in my breath, and relaxed just a bit,
I realized that this was not that much of a hit.

One bowl ban in a year of growing,
Braxton Miller will develop his throwing.
A bundle of scholarships they will be losing,
Doesn’t mean much, cuz 5 stars they are choosing.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his smile did so too!
His cheeks were like roses, when his passion came through!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
As he fired arrows of knowledge they should know.

“This team is a winner, you all see that,
Wouldn’t you want a buckeye on your hat?

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his point,
“The NCAA loves us, they will not disappoint.”
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
“I know something, you’ll play in the Rose!”

So with that all said, screw the NCAA, And Gene smith too.
You both must hate us, and same back to you.
But most of all to my friends at EW,
"Happy Christmas to all, and no more Bollman to view!"

Glen Mason.

The former Buckeye player, and most recently successful Minnesota head coach would be a great hire. I just don't know if he'd want to leave his job at the B1G Network; or, if he did get back in to coaching - he may want a head coaching job. But, this would be a great springboard to a head coaching job in a few years. They could just call him the "Co-Offensive Coord." or "Asst. Head Coach" or something, title-wise. But, he would be great working mainly with the O-Line and running game.

I always liked Mason's Minnesota teams, (even his Kansas teams in the 90s), because they just "got it" in terms of power football, the running game and the offensive line.

His teams produced great RBs at Minnesota, a consistent top tier running attack, and some great offensive lines. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 - Minnesota finished 1st in the Big Ten in rushing offense and 3rd, 4th, and 4th in the country in rushing offense.

I think he was fired on an emotional whim after they blew a lead to Texas Tech in a bowl game a few years back, but Minnesota should've realized they have a ceiling there, and Mason took them about as high as they could go. They should have never fired him.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7353605/south-carolina-gamecocks-not-disputing-rules-violations-cut-scholarships

Seriously? Where you at ESPiN? From a monetary perspective, these violations are WAY worse than the the Tat-5. The hotel even had a special rate for athletes! That in itself is a big NCAA no no. Six scholarships over three years? Whoa now! Let's not get crazy!

For anyone curious, this is the hotel: http://www.whitneyhotel.com/photos.asp

I know it's overkill at this point, but it's really getting annoying that violations are going on everywhere else, but they used all their resources to crucify Tressel. What's more, someone int he athletic department actually tried to dispute that the price is comparable to what they would have paid for off campus housing. What?! Are you joking? A hotel is not an apartment. If anything, their athletic department should be charged with extreme stupidity and failure to understand why a hotel and apartment are priced differently.

Initially posted at http://www.thebestdamnpoll.com

This is a statistical analysis of bowl games.  I took national rankings in 13 different categories to give each bowl team a score.  The categories were total offense, total defense, scoring offense, scoring defense, penalties, turnover margin, time of possession, 3rd down conversions, opponents 3rd down conversions, red zone efficiency, opponents red zone efficiency, opponents record, and team record.

I looked at each match up and gave each game a title of either a PUSH (less than 10 point differential between team scores), SOLID (10-20 point differential between team scores) or BLOWOUT (greater than 20 point differential between team scores).

Here is the breakdown by score ranking and each teams score.

1. Alabama 9.6
2. Wisconsin 19.7
3. Michigan 20.7
4. Stanford 22.0
5. Boise State 24.5
6. LSU 24.7
7. Virginia Tech 28.6
8. Oklahoma 30.9
9. Georgia 32.4
10. TCU 35.7
11. Temple 36.2
12. Houston 37.0
13. Oklahoma State 37.5
14. Michigan State 37.7
15. South Carolina 38.9
16. Georgia Tech 39.3
17. Toledo 39.7
18. Arkansas State 40.3
19. Kansas State 41.2
20. Arkansas 42.3
21. BYU 42.4
22. Rutgers 44.6
23. North Carolina State 44.7
24. Oregon 44.8
24. Nevada 44.8
26. Clemson 46.0
26. California 46.0
28 Southern Mississippi 46.1
29. Missouri 46.4
30. Illinois 47.1
31. Texas 48.4
32. Nebraska 48.5
32. Notre Dame 48.5
34. Virginia 50.5
35. Florida State 50.7
36. Mississippi State 51.3
37. West Virginia 51.5
38. Ohio State 51.6
39. Air Force 52.1
40. Ohio 52.9
41. Cincinnati 53.5
42. Wyoming 54.2
43. San Diego State 54.3
43. North Carolina 54.3
45. SMU 54.5
45. Iowa 54.5
47. Louisville 54.8
48. Florida International 56.1
49. Texas A&M 56.3
50. Tulsa 56.6
51. Western Michigan 56.8
52. Penn State 57.0
53. Vanderbilt 57.2
54. Arizona State 57.3
55. Northern Illinois 57.4
56. Utah State 57.8
57. Louisiana Tech 58.4
58. Utah 58.5
59. Pittsburgh 59.3
60. Northwestern 59.5
61. Wake Forest 62.1
62. Florida 62.8
63. Baylor 64.0
64. Washington 64.4
65. Marshall 66.8
66. Louisiana Lafayette 68.9
67. Iowa State 69.6
68. Purdue 74.3
69. Auburn 75.8
70. UCLA 82.7

Here are the games.  I call a home game one in which the home team travels around 150 miles or fewer to the destination. 

New Mexico Bowl - Albuquerque December 17th
Temple 36.2 vs Wyoming 54.2
SOLID Temple

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl - Boise December 17th
Ohio 52.9 vs Utah State 57.8
PUSH Ohio

New Orleans Bowl - New Orleans December 17th
Louisiana Lafayette 68.9 vs San Diego State 54.3
SOLID SDSU
Home Game for Louisiana Lafayette

Beef O'Brady's Bowl - St. Petersburg December 20th
Florida International 56.1 vs Marshall 66.8
SOLID FIU

Poinsettia Bowl - San Diego December 21st
TCU 35.7 vs Louisiana Tech 58.4
BLOWOUT TCU

Las Vegas Bowl - Las Vegas December 22nd
Boise State 24.5 vs Arizona State 57.3
BLOWOUT Boise State

Hawaii Bowl - Honolulu December 24th
Nevada 44.8 vs Southern Mississippi 46.1
PUSH Nevada

Independence Bowl - Shreveport December 26th
Missouri 46.4 vs North Carolina 54.3
PUSH Missouri

Little Caesars Bowl - Detroit December 27th
Purdue 74.3 vs Western Michigan 56.8
SOLID Western Michigan
Home game for WMU

Belk Bowl - Charlotte December 27th
North Carolina State 44.7 vs Louisville 54.8
SOLID NC State
Home game for NC State

Military Bowl - Washington December 28th
Air Force 52.1 vs Toledo 39.7
SOLID Toledo

Holiday Bowl - San Diego December 28th
California 46.0 vs Texas 48.4
PUSH Cal

Champs Sports Bowl - Orlando December 29th
Notre Dame 48.5 vs Florida State 50.7
PUSH Notre Dame

Alamo Bowl - San Antonio December 29th
Baylor 64.0 vs Washington 64.4
PUSH Baylor
Home game for Baylor

Armed Forces Bowl - Dallas December 30th
BYU 42.4 vs Tulsa 56.6
SOLID BYU

Pinstripe Bowl - New York December 30th
Rutgers 44.6 vs Iowa State 69.6
BLOWOUT Rutgers
Home game for Rutgers

Music City Bowl - Nashville December 30th
Mississippi State 51.3 vs Wake Forest 62.1
SOLID Miss State

Insight Bowl - Tempe December 30th
Iowa 54.5 vs Oklahoma 30.9
BLOWOUT OU

Texas Bowl - Houston December 31st
Northwestern 59.5 vs Texas A&M 56.3
PUSH TAMU
Home game for Texas A&M

Sun Bowl - El Paso December 31st
Georgia Tech 39.3 vs Utah 58.5
SOLID GTech

Liberty Bowl - Memphis December 31st
Cincinnati 53.5 vs Vanderbilt 57.2
PUSH Cincy
Home game for Vandy

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl - San Francisco December 31st
Illinois 47.1 vs UCLA 82.7
BLOWOUT Illinois

Chick-Fil-A Bowl - Atlanta December 31st
Auburn 75.8 vs Virginia 50.5
BLOWOUT UVA
Home game for Auburn

Ticket City Bowl - Dallas January 2nd
Houston 37.0 vs Penn State 57.0
BLOWOUT Houston

Capitol One Bowl - Orlando January 2nd
Nebraska 48.5 vs South Carolina 38.9
PUSH South Carolina

Gator Bowl - Jacksonville January 2nd
Florida 62.8 vs Ohio State 51.6
SOLID Ohio State
Home game for Florida

Outback Bowl - Tampa January 2nd
Michigan State 37.7 vs Georgia 32.4
PUSH Georgia

Cotton Bowl - Dallas January 6th
Arkansas 42.3 vs Kansas State 41.2
PUSH K-State

BBVA Compass Bowl - Birmingham January 7th
Pitt 59.3 vs SMU 54.5
PUSH SMU

GoDaddy.com Bowl - Mobile January 8th
Arkansas State 40.3 vs Northern Illinois 57.4
SOLID Arkansas State

Rose Bowl - Pasadena January 2nd
Wisconsin 19.7 vs Oregon 44.8
BLOWOUT Wisconsin

Fiesta Bowl - Glendale January 2nd
Stanford 22.0 vs Oklahoma State 37.5
SOLID Stanford

Sugar Bowl - New Orleans January 3rd
Michigan 20.7 vs Virginia Tech 28.6
PUSH Michigan

Orange Bowl - Miami January 4th
Clemson 46 vs West Virginia 51.5
PUSH Clemson

BCS Title Game - New Orleans January 9th
Alabama 9.6 vs LSU 24.7
SOLID Bama
Home game for LSU

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/coaches12.html

Honestly, I think it's because it's URBAN FRICKIN' MEYER that Michigan is moaning.  Anyone else and they would be indifferent about the whole thing.  Ramzy's pretty much hammered home that this waiver is pretty common, but I'm excited to see who else gets added here (Withers, Stoops, or whomever).  At least it gives me some other bowls to take an interest in, such as Iowa State/Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl (who'd have thought) or Mizzou/UNC in the Indepence Bowl.  Sorry if anyone has posted this link, I haven't been able to frequent 11W due to exams lately.  3 More Words...

Again. Man, this is starting to feel like groundhog day. Grant Hill was able to come back eventually from his issues, but I think it may be time for GO to hang them up. Blazer fans are depressed, but (via their blogs) aren't killing the man, just feeling bad.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden has suffered another setback and may miss the entire 2011-12 season, according to a report on Portland-based KGW.com.

Oden
Oden

"Following Greg's most recent physical examination and evaluation, we've determined that he has suffered a setback," Trail Blazers President Larry Miller told KGW.com. "We're hopeful, but less confident that he will return to the court this season. We've stood by Greg from the day he was drafted and we continue to do so now."

The Blazers and Oden agreed to a one-year contract Friday, but not the $8.9 million qualifying offer that he had agreed upon earlier. Miller told KGW both sides agreed to negotiate a new deal, independent of the qualifying offer.

"I'm obviously disappointed with the setback, but I'm as determined as ever to return to the court," Oden said in a statement. "I appreciate the support of the Trail Blazers and our fans and that they continue to stand behind me."

Dear St. Nick,

I only have nine gift requests...

9-O.J. stops being afraid to hit. You are a more athletic Nate Salley.

8-Barnett/Bryant learn how to consistently cut the angle in half and break down to make the tackle. Whitner mode please.

7-Shazier/Sabino/Klein:Get well soon, play.fast., be the opposite of suck(lose 10-15 lbs.)

6-Big Hank/Simon/Williams: Stay healthy.

5- "...yard penalty on the offense, #76, repeat third down." Sorry, that sequence haunts my dreams.

4-Stoney goes all Hernandez.

3-Boren gets utilized as more than just a fullback.

2-J.Berry's hammy's stay healthy for just one year. Let Urban get his hands on you. Sandusky'd?

1-B.Miller find your inner Troy Smith (pre award banquet h.a.m.fest).

As you already know, my record is spotless this year. Get to it. 

Yours Truly,

Douglas Buckles

The College Football National Championship game is around the corner, happens every year.  And, we all know this is the first time both representatives reside in the same conference... and yes, it's that impressive SEC conference again.

The SEC conference is impressive, just look how they fared against the B10 last bowl season... A damn good Buckeye squad gave it their all to edge out Arkansas.  Mich St, the Co-B10 Champion (on paper at least), were overpowered, overmatched, and overwhelmed against the 4th best team in the SEC West Division, you know them as Alabama.  And, for comic relief, Miss St. hammered Michigan.

What you don't know about (from ESPN at least) is OVERSIGNING.  This blog and oversigning.com have hammered the issue, but it somehow eludes the national sports media.  Here's a quick breakdown: Oversigning: offering more scholarships than available spots. FBS teams have 85 scholarship spots; a spot is available when a scholarship player either: 1) graduates, 2) leaves early for the NFL, 3) kicked off the team, 4) transfers, 5) medical hardship, 6) Other... For SEC schools, the latter 4 happen a lot more than the Big 10.

Ok, where's my soapbox?  In the last four recruiting classes, which exclude 5th year seniors, here are the scholarships.  Ohio State - 78.  Alabama - 113. LSU - 105.  All three teams that recruit great players, but Alabama and LSU seem to have an extra recruiting class or two to make up their rosters.  The forgotten players just transfer out.  The bigger the talent pool, the greater the end product... hence, the top SEC schools are consistently better than OSU and co.

Last year OSU was pretty impressive (minus Wisconsin's first half).  Could you have imagined the sheer dominance of Pryor's/Tressel's final year (sigh) if they had 36 more top recruits to fill the roster.  Why do I say 36?  Because that's how many more recruits Arkansas had when they met in last year's Sugar Bowl.  This makes OSU's January win (I mean July loss) that much more impressive.

Coaches like Tressel and Paterno's kid speak out against it, but don't put them on a pedastal... Big Ten rules prohibit it.  Hire them in the SEC and they'll master the Oversigning Arts just to stay afloat.

Either the NCAA needs to step in and prevent schools from treating kids like commodities, or the B10 needs to join the club.  The NCAA legislates everything from restricting a recruits's bagel toppings (not a joke) to free tattoos, hopefully SEC vs. SEC will give them the wakeup call to address oversigning.  Remember, it's the NCAA... don't hope too hard.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was watching The Game with my 90 year old grandfather.  And he was generally perplexed by all the fuss over the BCS and the general opinion voiced by most college football fans that a playoff system is necessary to determine a national champion.  In a very endearing "in-my-day"-style rant, he said that for most of his life, college football teams played for school pride and for love of the game, not for national championships.  Getting to a bowl game was icing on the cake, and winning that bowl game was all the validation a team needed.  Sure, some newspaper folks polled a few insiders to determine a "national number one," but more often than not, the voting was split and most fans put very little stock in the results of these polls.

My grandfather's views gave me an opportunity to reconsider the conventional wisdom that a playoff system is needed in college football.  Although he didn't put it exactly this way, my grandfather was essentially asking why we all have to be so focused on who's number one.  Why can't we enjoy the games, the pageantry, the traditions, the highs, and the lows without needing to crown a national champion at the end of it all?  After all, (as Lou Holtz is fond of pointing out) over the course of a season, you get a different team every week.  Each week a team has to contend with injuries, illnesses, studying for midterm exams, travel time, home field advantage, etc.  All of these varied inputs can affect the outcome of a game and have nothing to do with the skill of the players or the planning of the coaches.  And then there are also factors related to sheer dumb luck, like freak weather conditions and how the ball bounces during a fumble.  Given all of these uncontrollable factors, even a victory on the field of play does not even really decide who the better team is!  And we all know this already.  We acknowledge it when we say things like "Ohio State beats that team 9 times out of 10."  When we say something like that, we are recognizing that an inferior team can beat a better one on any given Saturday due to a combination of factors, at least some of which are beyond either team's control.  So if the best team is not guaranteed to win any given game, then even with a playoff system, there's no guarantee that the best team will be crowned national champion.  Then there are other factors, like improvement over the course of a year.  So a team that loses two games at the beginning of the season (and thus would probably get left out of any 8-team playoff scheme), could end up being the "best" team at the end of a season (i.e. a team that could beat those other 8 teams that do make the playoffs).  For these reasons, it is unreasonable to expect a playoff system, no matter how it is devised, to reliably select the "best team in college football."

Then why is it so imperative to create a playoff system for college football?  I've heard some exclaim with dismay that football is the only sport in college athletics without a playoff system.  But isn't that what makes college football unique?  The bowl games are part of the character and tradition of college football.  Taking that away and replacing it with a generic playoff (just like in every other sport) would be to eliminate something that makes college football special and contributes to its sense of history and tradition.

So I know some of you will call me crazy for voicing this contrary opinion.  If you feel it necessary to demean the people who disagree with you, then do what you have to do.  (I'm used to it from my last blog post.)  But consider whether the desire to rank order that which is inherently unrankable is a rational goal.  To put the question another way, isn't an Ohio State victory over the Pac-10 (or 12 or 16) champion in the Rose Bowl just as satisfying as winning the "National Championship Game" against an opponent picked by some inscrutable combination of people and computers? 

I guess all I'm really tryng to do in this blog post is give you all the same opportunity my grandfather gave me to reconsider the "need" for a playoff system before automatically jumping on the bandwagon.