Welcome back Under the Fedora. It’s dark in here.
Programming Note
I’m considering moving Under the Fedora to earlier in the week. It just feels like Friday is too late to discuss the previous week’s game, and I often have thoughts on the prior Saturday’s contest that I want to share before the collective mindset of the commentariat shifts completely to the next opponent. This week the Maryland game seems particularly stale. I’m Blackout not Blackout sure Blackout why Blackout. I’m thinking Wednesday in order to avoid conflicts with YTown’s and 3M’s regular offerings. What think you, esteemed commenters?
Crabby Patsies
Not a lot to say about the game against Maryland except that the Buckeyes (eventually) took care of business in a game that should never have been close. Unlike the fable, fortunately, the Buckeyes awoke from their nap (Yay, noon bangers!!) soon enough to easily beat the Terps to the finish line. The offense finally seemed to come alive under the direction of Urban Meyer’s two-headed QB monster (more on that below), and but for yet another (previously) backup quarterback running through the Buckeye defense like Jameis Winston through a Publix, the defense had a decent day. Bottom line: 6-0 is 6-0, and to quote Joe Walsh, I can’t complain, but sometimes I still do. The season’s been good to us so far.
If You Have Two Quarterbacks…
…then well, I guess you have two quarterbacks. It’s hard to argue with results. Both guys played very well, and I was glad to see J.T. get some meaningful playing time that wasn’t the result of Cardale struggling. Having lived through the Germaine/Jackson debacle experience, I’m leery of having multiple quarterbacks playing when the game is still on the line, but I guess if any coach knows how to make a 2 QB system work, it’s Urban Meyer (even if I can’t quite remember exactly why). I’ll watch how this develops with some trepidation. A divided locker room is always a concern, but I think it helps that both QBs seem to be great guys and really well liked by their teammates.
Banger Up North
Saturday will be a day of reckoning for the Fighting Personality Disorders as they play host to Michigan state and its perpetually annoyed coach and former Buckeye D-Coordinator Mark Dantonio (who may have a bit of a personality deficit himself). This is a rivalry game that almost always turns nasty, so I’m looking forward to Dino and his boys having a little extra bile come up against That Team, in light of their abhorrent defacing of Michigan State’s statue of the revered Andre the Giant Magic Johnson (fedora tip to whoever pointed out that resemblance in the now sadly deleted thread). Let’s hope that despite Sparty being banged up, Dantonio still has a little of that Tressel sorcery left to put on the wolverines. I don’t want to believe that Michigan is back.
Browns are Back, Baby!!
Well, not really, but hey, that was a nice win on Sunday. It always feels good to beat the Ratbirds, and any Harbaugh loss is a good Harbaugh loss in my book, especially when it comes at the hands of an Ohio team. And how about Josh McCown etching his name in the Browns record book next to Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar, and the immortal Kelly Holcomb? I always knew he was going to be the next great Browns QB, didn’t you?
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
Finally, I’m excited to see the Blackout. Yes, I said it. As you may have noticed, I’m not a huge fan of the all-black kits the Buckeyes will roll out on Saturday night. After all my comments this week about the impending blackness, I feel obligated to tell everyone that I actually don’t hate the alternates, and I’m not opposed to utilizing black a little more in the color scheme occasionally. I just wish that gray was featured a little more prominently in these alts. I really liked the mock-up of the black jerseys with the traditional helmets and pants, but hey, nobody asked me (though that never stopped me from giving my opinion before). As ambivalent as I am about the black unis, I’ve found the fan reaction on this site absolutely fascinating. I’m trying hard to recall another issue that was so polarizing. Oh, yeah. QBgeddon--glad we got that one figured out. But I really do hope that the crowd in the Shoe successfully pulls off the Blackout. I remember thinking what a great environment the white out at Penn State was, and would like to think that there would be a similar electricity in the stadium Saturday night. I know it might be harder to crank it up for a team that is #NotOurRival, but I would hate to see Ohio State fans’ execution of a stale imitation really cool and completely original idea be eclipsed by what happened in Happy Valley last year. Bring on the darkness, Buckeye fans.
TL;DR: Fade to Black
