Eleven Warriors

WHO CARES! Beat them on the field and win a title then they will have to kiss our butts. ESPN does not have it out for OSU sports and the more some of you drags this out the more we look like a bunch of cry babies.

I don't think it's an OSU/Big Ten thing as much as it is a trend of putting too much value in southern players. I'm not a big conspiracy theorist.

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE ESPN HATES OSU RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE

And you wonder why we as OSU fans have a reputation of being whiny...jesus man, half our class is top 150 and all but one of the other commits are HIGH 4 stars. Give the conspiracy crap a break.

^^^^^^^This guy knows nothing about Michigan football. At first I thought your post was sarcasm by the first two sentences. Only I read on and learned you actually believe that conspiracy theory. And you actually don't think Michigan doesn't know what their identity is yet? Where or what have you read to make you believe that Michigan is going back to a spread offense once Denard is gone? I understand if you want to slam Michigan but a least make sense and try not to make obvious false statements. Also McShay doesn't rank high school kids, FYI.

@ItsMichigan  You Walmart Wolverines are always the quickest to respond.

I know michigan is going to take more players but it is pretty crazy they have 11 players in the ESPN top 150 at that rate considering last years rankings Michigan could very possibly have the #1 class on ESPN. ESPN's rankings are a bit different then most other sites almost every year tho. Penn State is doing pretty well also. The big ten usually only has OSU,Michigan and Penn State crack the top 25 recruiting classes anyway not sure ESPN is really biased but I think they are a little biased towards kids in the south.

Completely agree that its a south biased thing and not OSU specific. Any bias against OSU specifically I think only goes as far as ESPN favors the schools that have affiliated ESPN recruiting sites. Lots of people have pointed to other sites and have said they are better for recruiting, and I in general agree. However, I was pretty impressed with ESPN's rankings this year. Its just their first Top150 list so things could change closer to NSD, and the southern player promotion may come back. But for now I think they are ok.

It's not an exact science so each site at times will over value or under value certain prospects, but I think each does the best it can. In the end its just a judgement call of which some guys may value certain traits more, and with literally thousands of these kids to evaluate it cant be easy to narrow down a list. That said this year 247 has a number of OSU prospects ranked lower than ESPN and vice versa which just goes to show there is no perfect way to do it. 

Site comparing aside, big picture all that matters is how the kid plays on Saturday. I would take 3* Aj Hawk, 2* Malcolm Jenkins, and 2-3* Troy Smith any day over some over hyped 5* who never lives up to that 5* billing (Cough Cough Pryor Cough Cough). 

The other thing to keep in mind is that none of these kids have played a senior season.  ESPN may not pay enough attention to notice what some guys do their senior years to update their rankings in any meaningful way, but at this point so much can happen in terms of getting to start finally (see Southward) or just maturing physically.

Fun fact: Pryor actually started that Texas game at wide reciever with Boeckman at QB. Pryor was technically 2-0 in bowl games, 2-0 in BCS games, and 3-0 against Michigan. Hard to argue with those numbers. Definitely a 5* caliber player

Probably could have done a better job illustrating my point because Pryor is not the best example, just the first name that came to mind. On the field numbers were obviously great, but there was tatgate. While I think theres a lot of blame all the way around in that and don't specifically blame Pryor or the other kids involved. When you land a 5* recruit you don't expect some of their actions to help lead to 6-7 season, scholarship reductions, and a bowl ban. So looking at numbers alone sure he lived up to the rating, but IMO theres more than just numbers and given what happened I would say he didn't live up to the hype, but again just my opinion. 

A guy like Jaamal Berry would have been a much better example. But I still stand by my point that prospect rankings are insignificant in the big picture. Because I would rather have a guy who was underrated by ESPN or other sites and ends up being a stud, than a guy who is 5* and busts. 

Eh, I think the whole thing is blown way out of proportion.  Talk to every program and they think ESPN hates them.  Hell I kept hearing UK fans complain that ESPN had a bias against their basketball team this year.  Yes, ESPN has a major contract with that league which means because of all the extra games that league has on their networks, ESPN will put a bunch of programming out there that makes those fans tune in.  

That's the same reason ESPN will have the Yankees and RedSox on or talk about the Giants or Pats more than other NFL teams, or will cover ACC or Big East basketball and hype it so much.  It draws more viewers to do so.  

Yes they have Big 10 games on their Networks but with the BTN, ESPN doesn't get as many opportunities to broadcast the Buckeyes and therefor they don't have as large of a stake in the Big 10 schools. 

ESPN hates Ohio State, Hitler is on the moon, Tupac is still alive, and I live a rational and logical life.

FOLLOW THE MONEY!  If ESPN has a huge contract with the SEC, is it in their best fiscal interests to exagerrate their exploits and hide their mistakes?  If the answer is yes, then YES, they do not report on college football news, but rather serve as an advertisement for their own programming.  It is akin to Fox News calling themselves "fair and balanced".  ESPN is not news, and since they own a small portion of all college football teams, it is in their interest to support and promote them.  When you follow the money, the truth is revealed.  I do not think that they have a particular beef with the Buckeyes, it is just that the Big 10 represents competition, and if they can hurt the other brand, they will.  The Bucks are the Big 10's most visible resource and hurting the Buckeyes can lead to more money for the SEC.  This is not conjecture, it is fact not because I said it or any one on here says it, it is fact because the money says so.

I'm old (well, I'm 39) so some of you may disagree. ESPN has gone through changes through the years. Some of us older people may have noticed it, To give you one instance that may not make any sense, here goes: The "E" in ESPN stands for "Entertainment". That word means a lot LEGALLY for the big wigs at ESPN. It makes it where ESPN can say pretty much whatever they want while avoiding prosecution. When ESPN first came around, they were informative yet funny, entertaining yet respectable, and they told the truth without purposely trying to ruin people's lives, make mockeries out of winning programs, and they had a knack for keeping their nose where it belonged. As time has gone on, they have gotten worse and worse all because of that "E" I was talking about. That "E" brings ratings, makes heroes out of writers that never had a chance, and makes millions and millions of dollars from making sure that the largest investigations known to man happen whenever the words "NCAA football infractions" are muttered. Think about it...What were the largest investigations in U.S. history?

#5 Watergate

#4 The Iran Contra Affair 

#3 The investigation into ENRON

#2 The investigation into the JFK Assassination

#1 The Ohio State University "TatGate" Scandal investigation

Now: Is that 100% true? Maybe, but probably not... I can assure you this though... If it was any other school besides The Ohio State University where the "Tat-Gate" scandal happened... and if the alleged scandal was covered totally by Fox News and all of their affiliates (and not ESPN), you can be sure that there would have been far less false allegations, the investigation wouldn't have made the top 100 of the largest investigations in U.S. history, and the NCAA still would be investigating this like they did when it took them 4 years to wrap up the Reggie Bush/USC scandal. If you don't believe me, then ask yourself what is taking so long with all of the stuff going on right now with the University of Miami and their scandal. Has that investigation started yet? Is it over and I missed it? Does ESPN even care? 

Anyone that thinks ESPN isn't using their "E" to try and ruin The Ohio State University, you are very, very lost. The New York Times recently did an article on the landscape of college football where they determined that Ohio State had the largest fanbase of any college football team in the country... even AFTER the scandal filled "breaking news" stories from ESPN's crack staff constantly showed new developments whether they were true or not. Yes, Ohio state still has the largest football fanbase AFTER the investigations... It is a natural human emotion to root for underdogs. That emotion has changed over the years. Now it is normal for ESPN to want to tear down the greatest institutions and do anything in their power to make sure there are never any sports empires as any empire takes money out of their pocket. Think about who profitted over the "Tat-Gate" scandal. ESPN is all I can think of. The funny thing too, is that ESPN is still chasing "Tat-Gate" today. What is keeping them from pushing on the University of Miami scandal? Unfortunately for ESPN, the Miami story, even though it is VERY true and much worse than the "Tat-Gate" scandal, is nothing new at all for Miami. Murders would have to be in the equation for the Miami story to equal the Ohio State story. Miami stories need that extra brutal kind of limelight. Now... I may be stupid and I may be crazy (well, I know I'm crazy), but I am definitely NOT WRONG! 

Note: Side effects from reading my BS may or may not be: shaking, headache, intermittent nosebleeds, an insatiable hate for the University of Michigan, nausea, skin discoloration at the sight of injection, and mild death. Remember too that any erection lasting longer than 4 hours is a serious condition and requires immediate medical attention.

Go Buckeyes!

grover - Actually you are wrong(at least partially). And I don't have the time, energy, or care enough to go through point by point except to say that ESPN, aside from the lawsuit, were NOT the ones spearheading all the "investigations" into OSU. Yahoo, CBS, SI, Dispatch, etc were the ones digging through the mud. ESPN, right or wrong, simply reported these stories(likely jumping the gun on several occassions, as you mentioned).

The USC story DID get A LOT of press and so will the Miami story once the investigation nears a close. You mentioned yourself the NYT article about us having the largest fanbase....well with that comes the problem of A LOT of the country hating us as well. Negativity sells papers and page hits...ESPN, and all other "news" outlets are in the business of making money. Combine the issues at OSU with our previously squeaky clean image and thats a recipe for the vultures to come out and attack. The reason this story got so much is press IS because of our large, national fanbase. The UNC, USF, USC, Miami, etc issues were all worse than OSU, BUT we have the largest fanbase so we naturally get more attention. Heck, who really cares about Miami football? They can't even sell out their stadium, why on earth would their scandal be national news...esp given the fact the ppl already know its a shady program?

IF ppl TRULY, TRULY believe that ESPN wants to "take down" OSU, then you have other issues that need addressed. Is ESPN coddling OSU like some of the SEC teams?? Hell no, but they certainly are not out to ruin the program either.

For what it's worth, that NYT article is far from definitive.  It was disparaged for being unscientific.  I would say it's a very broad surmization; nothing more, nothing less.  Ohio State has a massive fanbase, that's damned sure.  The following is part of a response to that article:

The only accurate way to post this data is polling with supporting merchandising/profitability/attendance anecdotal supporting data. This was done by ESPN and Harris polling, though slightly old, and the results were far more common sense and realistic.

Furthermore,

These are some of the results of an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive between October 20 and 25, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,114 U.S. adults of whom 789 say they follow college football. While interest in college football was on the rise in the late 1990s, this year it holds steady as 35 percent of U.S. adults report following college football - virtually the same as the last two years. Its popularity is highest among men and southerners.

 

2004 Rank
1. Notre Dame
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Texas
5. Penn State
6. LSU
7. USC
8. Wisconsin
9. Tennessee
10. Maryland

Harris polling data, as stated, was supported by an ESPN poll almost exactly.

Also USC got press because of the verdict, not the investigation.  Nobody batted an eye at Southern Cal until their draconian sanctions were brought forth.  And even then, it was mainly butthurt at the NCAA (which was then reenforced by the worldwide leader after OSU's sanctions were handed down).

In response to ESPN digging, I was referring to a filed lawsuit to procure documents from the OSU Athletic Department under FOIA, and continued reporting after most other outlets had ceased (like the piece they had in their "The Files" blog).