Eleven Warriors

Ok, this is a College Football blog so the 4 people that read this already knew about Bobby 'Admiral Moron' Petrino.

Anyway, this reminds me of springtimes past when the 'Tressel Knew' Story hit the waves.  Boy oh boy, don't we remember.  But, OSU, full of resiliance and vigor, stood by there Championship winning man.  Of course, that only bought time for the sports media... not OSU.

Since ANY top 10 program has skeletons jammed packed in a closet, any investigative journaling team (SI, Yahoo!, and Not ESPN who doesn't really believe in exposing teams because it has to pander to the SEC and not reveal that Trent Richardson's umemployed dad somehow got a luxury SUV during Trent's Heisman chase... then again were also oblivious that a man with no income, Pryor, had 7 luxury car rentals until the very end).

The phrase 'no-news is bad news' did not apply.  Remember Ray Small, espnW for some reason, Sports Illustrated's BS piece 'How Deep it went'?  This led to Tressel's resignation, and this, and this, and then more worries... But nothing as abysmial, horrifying, and downright demoralizing as THIS ARTICLE (note: do not read if you have a weak stomach, if you are prone to flashbacks please consult your physician before clicking).

Arkansas, in spite of a lack of NCAA troubles, did the right thing.  If a guy on the payroll makes $1M or more, they should no to do the right thing.  Don't let the menacing media get the upper hand.  They also found the snake in the woodpile and made it disappear.  That's something even Paterno and co. didn't; that probably cost them a recruit or two.

Whoever Arkansas' AD is, he's obviously smarter than Gene Smith.  I bet $10 he doesn't spend 4 months bragging that the NCAA won't give them a big punishment.

That's all I really have to say, nothing profound.  Oh, completely unrelated, here's the most amazing card trick you will ever see in your life.

Ohio state is a #2 seed.  History says #2 seeds only have a 96.2% chance of victory.  Tasting victory a mere 104 times out of 108 opportunities.  Ok, you can smell the sarcasm... but #15 seeds have won 4 times.

#15 Seeds are never feared, they are the unwanted, the untalented, and the overmatched.  But it has happened. 

OSU's chances of losing are slim to none... BUT IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.

It's so rare that we can take a stroll down memory lane and see what actually went right for the four lucky number 15's.  You'll learn more about the lucky #15 seeds than you ever needed to know.

Enjoy :)

The Pioneer:

Until something is accomplished, it is thought to be a mere impossibility.  For years radio was considered a wireless morse code transmitter and nothing more.  Yeah, it let the Titanic tell the Carpathia it struck a 'berg, but there were no 9th callers.  Then a little unknown, Edwin Armstrong, came along and showed RCA what is now modern FM radio.  He never made any money off the idea (RCA made a crapload) and Armstrong, much like the second round fate of all #15 seeds, plunged to his death a penniless pathetic has-been.  Here is the Edwin Armstrong version of the #15 seeds.

1991: (15) Richmond 73, (2) Syracuse 69

Dick Tarrant's Richmond Spiders were famous giant killers: in 1984, Richmond downed Charles Barkley and Auburn; four years later, defending champ Indiana got caught up in their web. The '91 upset of Syracuse, however, was Richmond's greatest hit. The Spiders became the first 15-seed to down a number two seed. More importantly, it was the first year that CBS had the rights to the opening round of the tournament. Richmond shocked the world, in prime time, on network television, and CBS has paid the NCAA billions to keep every game on its airwaves since.

The CopyCats:

Richmond set the tone for the nobodies, it was only a matter of time before other unrecognizable craps refused to go down without a fight (until the 2nd round).  Speaking of crap, since when did/does Santa Clara have a basketball team?

And here's a nice Jeopardy question: This state contains the campus of Coppin State.  What is Maryland?  Coppin State not only won, but by a baker's dozen.  A feat so amazing, you get to see their picture... ehh

1993: (15) Santa Clara 64, (2) Arizona 61

In one of the biggest upsets since the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament began seeding its teams in 1979, unranked and unheralded Santa Clara stunned Arizona, 64-61, tonight in the first round of the West Regional.

The Broncos (19-11), champions of the West Coast Conference and seeded 15th among the regional's 16 teams, fell behind by 13 points in the second half before mounting an improbable comeback. It was only the second time that a 15th-seeded team had won a game since the tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

1997: (15) Coppin State 78, (2) South Carolina 65

No tradition, no chance. Coppin State never had won a game in the NCAA tournament
and, with a first-round pairing against mighty South Carolina, it didn't look like that was about to change.

Do you believe in miracles?

This game wasn't expected to be close, and it wasn't.

``We didn't even know it was South Carolina out there,'' said Reggie Welch, who had 15 rebounds as the Eagles held a 41-30 rebounding edge. ``We kept on getting confidence, and before you knew it, we were up. We took it five minutes at a time — there's five minutes, there's five more.''  Before they knew it, the Gamecocks' time was up, eliminated by a team whose last previous game against a big-name Division I team was a 36-point loss at Illinois.

Last in the Lineage:

It's been a while since a #2 seed looked like a number two.  I was a freshman at tOSU getting free drinks at Quarters because my 6'4" floormate Omar was the bouncer.  Wait, was that really 11 years ago?  Now I'm living in L.A., married to a beach blonde, addicted to rogaine, Quarters is now the site of Buffalo Wild Wings, and Steve Belasari is probably their head chef.  Anyway, the last time this happened, kids still knew what 'Please be kind, rewind' meant.

2001: (15) Hampton 58, (2) Iowa State 57

Some homecoming for Larry Eustachy. His team came out flat, the fans cheered for his opponent and Iowa State became another first-round upset victim.

Tarvis Williams flipped in a 4-footer in the lane with 6.9 seconds remaining as 15th-seeded Hampton stunned second-seeded Iowa State 58-57 in the NCAA West Region on Thursday night.

Williams took a feed from Marseilles Brown and moved the Pirates (25-6) into tournament history as the fourth 15th seed to beat a No. 2 seed since the tournament expanded to 16 seeds per region in 1985.

So, I'm a displaced Buckeye living in Los Angeles... Weather nice, beach view is nice, but damn do I miss CFB.

Anyway, heard on local Los Angeles sports radio that the same Yahoo! sports investigators that brought down Tressel are going public tomorrow with a story to bring down UCLA basketball.  It involves violations and drug abuse.

This may start a new standard for Ahtletic Directors everywhere: if Yahoo! Sports is on your campus... start shreddin' those file cabinets (or deletin' them emails)

Maybe, it's all wrong.  Maybe you all knew and I'm the last one to know.  Maybe I'm right...  Remember, before these things make the press, they make the rumor mill

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/headlinin-bret-bielema-takes-anti-urban-crusade-higher-125223138.html

No need to read the story, here's a recap.

The B1G coaches were snacking at TGIFridays as they reminisced on the coaches of yesteryore.  Tressel and Carr and Tiller and that loveable Zooker. And a big sigh for JoePa.  Then a man from parts unwanted moseyed in unpreterbed by the stroll through memory lane.  He took a seat in solitude, it was time to celebrate two months of hard work.  But there was man who didn't take too kindly.

"I say, I say, that there was my recruit!" Uttered Bret as beads of sweat formed on his angry brow.  Urban just sat there, said not a word.  He didn't fear what was foaming at the mouth.  This was the same brave soul that once recruited toe to toe with savage beasts as Sir Bulldog, The Displaced Northerner, & Senor Fun & Gun.   He chewed up The Hog, and, rumor has it, emerged unscathed from the mortiferous Sabanacolypse.

Maybe it wasn't losing the recruit that sparked Bret's ire, but the feeling of hopelessness.  Jealousy was the culprit.  You see, Bret's conference had only two titles in 43 years while Urban came from a land that wins each and every one.  Both hands of Urban were anchored down by a massive championship ring.  They were a melodic symphony of precious metals that made the B1G coaches feel somewhat less.  Many shied away, but not Bret.

By now the decibels were increasing, "I say hey you, them there was my recruit!" The shriek was deafening to the ears.  The bartender ducked for cover.  Urban smirked, just a smirk.

Bret hoisted a barstool, it had no weight in his angry hand.  "Urban, I say you give him back or..."  Bret stumbled for words, before dADdy Alverez came in between.  Bret's pride was now replaced by hubris as there was nothing he could do.  The recruit was gone and never coming back.  Urban was being Urban, nothing more.

The B1G's good ol' days are decaying; the antidote...  May I present the new sheriff in town, Urban Meyer.  In his two month tenure he constructed a highway; if the whimpering continues, that's exactly where you can go.  This man gets it, as for the other 10 souls... it may be time to take the offramp.

And, if Bret thought this recruiting season was brutal, wait until next year when the sheriff has 6 times as many bowless months to woo the five star prizes.

OSU and their one true rivalrly will live happily ever after.  Everyone else, enjoy being fodder.

(ps, if you like this, forward it to a friend... this cost me an hour of sleep :) )

Urban Meyer's response, “Sometimes they say, ‘How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?’ You ask a question, ‘Are you interested?’ If they say no, you move on.

“If they say, ‘Yes, very interested,’ then you throw that hook out there. If they’re interested, absolutely"

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.

According to ESPN's NFL Analyst, the two greatest things in the world (in order) are Andrew Luck and Sliced Bread.  There are too few superlatives in their lexicon to describe his greatness.  There has never been a pro prospect with as much potential as Andrew Luck.  He is so good, they cannot classify his greatness... get the point?

Meanwhile, OSU is stuck with a pittance of a passing offense.  Fans are just happy if a pass is attempted once every five minutes.  Let's do the impossible and compare a non-Andrew-Luck speciman (Braxton Miller) to the scrumtrulescent Andrew Luck.

In six starts (half a season) he's thrown 74 attempts and harbors a completion rate of 51% with 6 TDs and e Ints.  Extrapolate that out to a 12 game schedule (umm, multiply by 2) and we have a projected stat line of 148 attempts with 12 TDs to 6 picks.  Definitely pathetic when compared to Andrew Luck; this explains why OSU has a running oriented offense.

How did Andrew Luck fare his true freshman year?  He didn't play.  That's right, the greatest thing in the history of all things was sentenced to the bench.  What did his second year wraught in 2009?  A paltry 56% completion rate and a Braxtonesque 13 to 4 TD to Int ratio.  All this in a conference not known for the defense.  Remember the RB Heisman candidate Tony Gerhart?  He was the core of the Stanford offense; yep, like Braxton's first year, the offense revolved around the run.  And, even with a future NFL MVP at QB, a future NFL coach (Harbaugh) and a future NFL RB, Stanford finished 2009 with a mediocre 8-5 record and 4th in the Pac-10.

Even the great QB draft picks take time to develop.  Yes, Braxton will be lucky to end up with double digit touchdowns, but so was a second year Andrew Luck.  There's only 4 teams in the nation starting True Freshman QBs, three are terrible and one is in Big Ten title contention.  OSU won the 2008 Big Ten during Pryor's true Freshman year; I challenge you readers (because I'm too lazy to look this up) to find the last time a BCS team won its conference with a true freshman at the helm.

Stop complaining about the excessive runs, Braxton is doing just fine.  Let's wish him the best of Luck.

(by the way, if anyone knows what scrumtrulescent means Will Ferrell will be proud)

Join me next week when I compare Joe Bauserman's value to Andrew Luck's.  I may need help.

Being consistently good (not great) can open more doors because, while you may never dazzle, you still produce.  Of course, if you're consistent at something, and you're always terrible... then you're probably named Jim Bollman.

Let's take a trip back to 2005 and look back at the offensive talent.

QB: Troy Smith (Future Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL Draft Pick)
WR: Anthony Gonzalez, Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes (ALL OF WHOM WERE FIRST ROUND NFL DRAFT PICKS!!!)
WR #4: Roy Hall (NFL Draft Pick)
RB: Antonio Pittman (First Day Draft Pick)
OL: Nick Mangold (First round draft pick, starts for Jets), Rob Sims & Doug Datish (NFL draft picks)
TE: Ryan Hamby

You may have noticed something.  TE is the only key position without premier NFL talent.  Boy oh boy, this offense must be remembered as one of the best of the decade (or all time). Could you imagine what RichRod would've done with that fleet of talent?  Now, keep in mind they were complimented with an elite defense.

So, how did they fare against top talent?
Texas: 22 points (lost by 3)
Penn State: 10 points (lost by 7)
Michigan: 25 points

Even when factoring in the crap teams (Miami Oh, SDSU, etc...) they were only 5th in the Big Ten in points per game.  That's it!  Five out of eleven.  They were a middle of the pack Big Ten offense.  They assembled the best offensive talent in recent memory but finished a notch above mediocre.

And their offensive coordinator: Jim Bollman.  How the hell is this guy employed????  Is anyone really shocked at this year's futility?  They have talent; however, he needs a future NFL unit just to achieve mediocrity.