Eleven Warriors

Laurinaitis, Jenkins, Robiskie and Boeckman were named captains for the 2008 season. I can't imagine anyone having too many beefs with those four.

Laurinaitis becomes the first two-time captain in seven years (and we're not printing the name of the last person to do that for fear of jinxing this season.)

I think it's safe to say that most of us consider Beanie Wells the preeminent running back in college football. His combination of size, speed and vision is rarely seen in running backs. Guys aren't compared to Jim Brown lightly but when Archie made the comparison last month, Buckeye fans didn't even flinch. He's just that good (and even SEC fans will admit that).

Striking a pose

After breaking Griffin's own Buckeye sophomore rushing record with 1,609 yards last season, he's a leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy this season, which is fitting when you consider the pose represented on the hardware. The web's quintessential Heisman expert is all-aboard the Beanie wagon, so you have to figure he has a great shot to win it, right?

Wells rushed the ball 274 times last season, good enough for 5th all-time at Ohio State. Assuming he gets more carries his junior year and being free of injuries and with a better line, it's not out of the question to think he wouldn't be able to improve his 5.9 yards per carry to somewhere in the 6.5 range. With 300 rushes*, that's a 1,950 yard season -- certainly good enough to win the award, especially if the Buckeyes take care of business on the field.

But that boost in carries is not a given considering how many weapons this team has on offense. The Buckeyes will probably trot out more formations and personnel than at any other time during the Tressel era. Pony, pistol, 5-wides, Pryor -- regardless of how great Wells is, it's hard to envision him getting the ball as often as he did last season.

That and there certainly will be some Saturdays that Beanie won't even see the field in the second half due to blowouts. Sure, his 39 rushes against Michigan were the 4th-most in school history, but the 16 touches he got against Youngstown State and 12 he saw against Northwestern figure to be more common this season. Tressel is too much of a gentleman to pound teams with Wells when the Buckeyes are up 30.

The USC game does present a golden opportunity to make an early impression with voters, however. If he manages to put up 100 or more against this Trojan defense, that will go a long way towards boosting his candidacy, regardless of whether the Buckeyes win or lose. The Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan games should also provide heavy workloads for him. Breaking 200 in a few of those key conference games does wonders for a campaign.

Ultimately, though, the Buckeyes will probably have to finish with 1 loss or less and Beanie will have to put up north of 1,900 yards (and hope Tebow doesn't match his soph numbers and Moreno doesn't top 2,000) to bring home the trophy and in doing so, he can both deny Tebow from matching Archie and also earn the school's 8th award, putting Ohio State alone in front of Notre Dame and USC.

Get the Picture does a nice job of wrapping up the various articles sprouting up about how to stop the spread. I'm reminded of the "Why The Option is All the Rage" callout on the cover of the Katzenmoyer '98 SI college football preview issue as I watch this arms race unfold.

Dennis Dodd makes a lot of sense when he points out that top talent will come home to pro-style schools when they see the approach not translating to prosperous NFL careers, but the quote from Dennis Erickson about getting guys that can run but aren't heavily recruited rings true as well.

What do you think? Will the spread eventually go the way of the option?

I was interviewed on the CFB Weekly blog radio show (my segment starts at the 40:50 mark) and though I think I'm coming off a little less d-baggy each time, I still can't run from that country grammar.

Quick reminder that you still have until 9PM tonight to enter the 2-year birthday contest. The feedback has been awesome, but we'd love to hear more about what we can do to get better.

* If he gets into '84 Byars (336 rushes) or '95 George (328) territory, it's over.

I know throwback jerseys are the preferred way for Buckeye fans to show love for legends of the past but feast your eyes on this baby.

You gotta admire a sweatshirt that maximizes every inch of frontal space with mad screen printing. A simple upper left chest emblem is for suckas.

Of course, to get the full effect, you better have a stout midsection to properly display the team picture and "National Champions" announcement along the bottom.

There's only one available. It's a Large, with a small stain ("half the size of a dime") and it's slightly used so expect it to fit like an Isotoner if you're over 170 lbs. Be the envy of your grandpa and snatch this puppy up before it's too late.

Joe clenches to hold in some liquid heat

We're counting down the weeks until kickoff by profiling a different Big Ten team each week. With Corey on his honeymoon, he handed me the keys to the weekly Sneak Peek. Today, we take a look at Great Grandpa Joe's Nittany Lions.

Most of the experts have PSU recording double digit wins this season which would be only the second time this millennium that Joe Pa reached the ten win plateau (11-1, '05). In fact, Joe Pa's program has gone just 55-42 since 2000 and that's including back to back 9-4 campaigns following the '05 run.

With the recent glut of Lions on the police blotter and the subsequent bad press, a disappointing 2008 season could force the university to finally rid themselves of their 137 year old coach and start anew. Lucky for Joe, the non-conference schedule features some serious cupcakes and they get a few key toss-up type conference games in Beaver.

COACHING: Paterno enters his 43rd year at the helm and currently trails Bobby Bowden by one W on the all-time wins list. With a soft schedule, he could regain the lead although no one should expect the Lions to pull any road upsets. According to Steele, Joe Pa's troops haven't beaten a ranked team on the road since a 2002 win over #19 Wisconsin. Further illustrating the decline is his nine straight losses to Michigan and a 13-25 road record in the last eight seasons. I know he's Joe Freaking Paterno but can you imagine if Ohio State held on to a coach with these stats?

OFFENSE: If the Lions receive decent QB play from Sr. Daryll Clark and/or So. Pat Devlin, they should put up some points with the conversion back to a spread offense. Helping the inexperienced signal callers will be an offensive line that returns five starters led by Sr. center AQ Shipley.

In the backfield, So. Evan Royster is a decent sized tailback who put up a solid 6.3 ypc in backup duties last season while redshirt frosh Stephon Green brings his 4.2 40-time and lots of hype from the spring game into fall camp. The duo gives PSU a solid power/speed combo but the real offensive strength projects to be at wide receiver.

Thus far, senior WR's Derrick Williams, Jordan Norwood, and Deon Butler have failed to live up the hype they came in with but the trio did manage to combine for 1,600+ yards and and 12 TD's last season. With the aforementioned return to the spread and inexperience at QB, I can only assume a big part of the game plan will be to get these guys the ball on short routes and look for big chunks of YAC, especially in man coverage against the lesser teams on the schedule.

DEFENSE: The defense projects to be solid but the defensive line has taken one kick to the cup after another with the loss of three defensive linemen in the last month.

First, Chris Baker and Phil Taylor were booted from the team in late July after Paterno felt the heat of an ESPN Outside the Lines piece that chronicled PSU's recent off-field troubles including on campus fights involving Baker and Taylor. More recently, Devon Still broke his ankle in practice requiring 8-10 weeks recovery time.

The good news is PSU has significant depth along the defensive line and should be able to overcome the losses in most matchups. On the outside, All Big Ten DE Maurice Evans will do his part to negatively impact opposing passing attacks.

The linebacking corps at Linebacker U#2 is a little thin on experience with the loss of Dan Conner to the NFL combined with Sean Lee's season ending knee injury suffered in spring ball. Sr. Tyrell Sales will be one starter with a pair of lesser experienced sophomores in Chris Colasanti and Bani Gbadyu expected to see plenty of action. These guys have talent but it will be up to the remaining d-lineman to free up the LB's to make plays.

In the secondary, an experienced if not overly impressive group is led by All Big Ten Sr. Anthony Scirrotto. This assumes the team captain doesn't partake in any more fights prior to opening kickoff.

KEY GAME: The conference opener at home against Illinois will be a big one. PSU should come in to the game 4-0 and will look to keep the momentum going against Zooker before back to back road games at Purdue and Wisconsin before hosting Michigan. Considering Joe Pa's road struggles, capturing the conference opener could be the key in avoiding an 0-3 (or worse) conference start.

BEST-CASE: If the Lions can hold serve against the Illini and capture one of the two first road games they could be on their way to 9-3 heading into the bowl game.

WORST-CASE: If the defense struggles to overcome the losses up front and the injury to Lee, that could put some pressure on the two QB's to outscore opponents. Road losses to Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State and potential home losses to an improved Michigan State team and Michigan (10 straight?!) and the Lions could be looking at a worst case of 7-5 heading into the bowl game.

I'm anxious to see how the season unfolds for this team and this coach. It will be a roller coaster if they stumble on or off the field. If they get off to a bad start in conference, you have to wonder if the press and fanbase will turn on the fossil running the show. It's a shame that most Buckeye fans now view Paterno the same way we did Lloyd, meaning we'd all prefer he stay forever because he's just good enough to be decent but not good enough to threaten OSU.

For those of you holding out for a Time Warner/Big Ten Network deal before the opener, you may want to look into changing your cable provider. At least that's the advice of Buckeye AD Gene Smith, who published a letter to fans today:

The letter opens:

Dear Buckeye Fans:
I am writing to update you on the status of negotiations between the Big Ten Network and Time Warner Cable. Today -- just 10 days from our kickoff against Youngstown State on the network -- there is no deal in place with Time Warner. This is especially disheartening because in addition to the Youngstown State game, the network also will televise our game with Troy University on Sept. 20 and very possibly the conference opener against Minnesota. That means three of the Buckeyes' first five games will be on the network, with the possibility of an additional conference tilt later in the year.

While negotiations are ongoing with Time Warner, it appears very unlikely that an agreement will be reached before the first game of the year, and anything beyond that is problematic.

Therefore, we feel compelled to let Buckeye fans know that there is only one way you would be guaranteed to get the Big Ten Network in time to see us take the field against Youngstown State. And that is to call one of the providers now carrying the network in the state: DirectTV, DISH Network, AT&T, Insight, WOW, Buckeye Cablevision and Massillon Cable TV, to name some of the largest

To stress his fierce urgency of now, he even invoked the rivalry:

It is a shame that due to Time Warner's decision, nearly all Michigan fans have the network, but Buckeye fans do not.

Are you still holding out or have you moved on to another carrier? I know Time Warner owns central Ohio, so to speak, but I'd love to see their market share numbers over the past two years.

The team held their annual kick scrimmage earlier and if the season goes how the scrimmage did, we could be in for some more heartburn when the team lines up for field goals. Pretorius was 5/8, including a miss from 35, Pettrey missed his first three before finishing just 4 of 8, while Buchanon was 1 for 4. He's young, but the numbers out of the other two are a bit disconcerting.

Backup punter Jon Thoma seemed to get the best of A.J. Soprano Trapasso. Oh, and the defense had three blocks -- two out of Coleman.

If USC has to look to Mitch Mustain to fill-in for Mark Sanchez, they may be vulnerable. A former beat reporter for the Trojans is saying that Mustain has lost his groove and may be supplanted by redshirt frosh Aaron Corp in the 2 spot.

Today, August 20th, marks the 2nd birthday of Eleven Warriors. Closing in on 1000 posts later, it's still a blast and the thought of people actually stopping by to see what we have tossed up against the hypertext flypaper that is the internet is gratifying on so many levels.

Mmm... incentive.

So, thank you readers. It's been an awesome two years and we're looking forward to 365 days of terrible two-edness.

For three guys that are always trying to better our writing, we're still looking to improve. And that's where we have to ask you one small favor. We'd love to hear from you, the readers, about what we can do better, what you want to see more of, less of, and what we completely stink at. Maybe it's an idea for the site -- whatever will make 11W a more solid Buckeye destination.

To enter the contest simply leave a comment in this post (or if you prefer, email us directly at contact@elevenwarriors.com).

We'll pick two winners and each will receive a copy of the Buckeye Battle Cry 2008 along with one of the Woody DVDs we were giving out the other day. The book is 112 pages of ad-free scarlet and gray porn that features the three of us along with Bruce Hooley, Jack Park, Matt Hinton (SMQB, now Dr. Saturday at Yahoo!), the O-Zone's John Porentas and Tony Gerdeman, Doug Lesmerises of the Plain Dealer and several of your other favorite Buckeye bloggers. The DVD, is about Woody and that's all that needs to really be said about that.

Thanks again and good luck!

The fine print:

• Must be 18 years-old or older.
• One entry per person.
• If entering via comment, you must provide a valid email address.
• Deadline for entries is Friday, August 22nd @ 9PM ET.

Like us, but better dressed

Now that we have your attention, would you be so kind as to promise us that you'll forever avoid zone defenses against top-tier competition? Much appreciated.

We kid of course, but the big news coming out of the open scrimmage Monday night is that the Ohio State coaching staff, particularly the member fond of the sweater vests is aware of us little blog sites:

Speaking before practice Monday night, Tressel admitted he wants to keep information from leaking to opponents and was disappointed that news of Saturday's closed scrimmage had been relayed on Internet message boards by donors and other guests allowed to attend.

"Some of our people brought in little blog sites [that said] 'We saw this' and 'We saw that' and 'We saw this,' " Tressel said. "I guess you're just trying to lower the percentage of that going on. Our coaches work hard on what we're trying to prepare and would rather not have their thoughts and ideas and game plans out there kicked around until they get to showcase them."

Now we're not presumptuous enough to think he was referring to us, per say, especially considering the fact that we have yet to post any reports from Saturday's closed scrimmage (yet anyway, see below), but it is kind of neat to see how the internet is colliding with the world of college football. Especially for such an information-tight ship that's run in Columbus.

Points to Tressel for at least nailing the terminology, unlike those that listen to the eBays, but this cat and mouse game is altogether interesting. Though we've reported on several practices thus far, I don't believe we've exposed any vital information. As I mentioned a couple of days ago in the comments, we even sat on the Robo injury story for three days because our spy, Clarence B. Largedonor asked us to do so. All you'll get out of us is who's looking good and who's buried on the 3rd team. No tactics, trick play tip-offs, or crazy formations that aren't already out there. We love to break good information, but we're also Buckeye fans first and foremost.

We get the staff's desire to keep things under wraps, but at the same time, doesn't USC have open practices? You can walk into the Coliseum and watch them for three hours a day and you'd still be advised to buckle up if you planned to stop what they are going to try to do. What's the right mix? Have we or other Buckeye sites broken any code or unwritten rules?

Our spy had some things to wrap up before he could pass along what he saw at the closed scrimmage on Saturday. Here's what he had to say:

• The scrimmage was conducted with the first team playing the first team, seconds playing seconds and thirds playing thirds, with little movement between the teams.
• Many of you have heard about Boom Herron's weekend exploits, but he's got our guy thinking of an Eric Metcalf/Percy Harvin hybrid. He hit for a terrific 60-yard run and popped a couple of 20+ yarders off for good measure. With Beanie resting up, he embraced the chance to show the staff what he could do.
• Part of the reason Boom was so successful on the day was because the offensive line really had their way with the defensive tackles and were able to get to the linebackers. The defense has dominated much of camp, but not on Saturday.
• We're told that Pryor has a pretty fresh stiff-arm of his own, but despite what Herbstreit stated on the radio when he compared Pryor favorably to Smith as freshman throwers, his pitcher-like throwing motion is leading to some ground balls. Small mechanical stuff that will definitely get ironed-out. He's definitely Vince 2.0 on his feet, however.
• There's been some confusion with the major papers reporting that Devon Torrence and Shaun Lane were moving into the pole position on that nickel spot for the first two games, but Andre Amos received more snaps than either Torrence or Lane during Saturday's scrimmage. Is Amos a secret weapon? What's up with the head-fake on Monday night when Lane and Torrence were showcased more?
• Hartline supposedly put a triple-juke on Jenkins after a 12-yard out that lead to a long run before getting hounded out of bounds at the two.
• Ray Small turned some heads with a "fabulous scrimmage". Tress is still all-aboard the Sanzenbacher wagon, but the Ghost will not go out quietly into the night.
• Is it possible that Donald Washington could be an even better cover corner than Malcolm Jenkins? Our spy seems to think so. He also noticed that Chekwa is playing at a faster speed no doubt due to the year of experience under his belt.
• The linebackers are deep enough to field a team in Columbus and lend help to State College. There won't be enough snaps to get them all of the action they deserve.

For coverage of Monday night's open scrimmage, Gordon and Lesmerises have you covered. Wilson's injury on Saturday has cleared the way for Thaddeus Gibson to get some work at first team defensive end. The 2nd team linebackers are Rolle, Moeller and Spitler. Moeller, of course, figures to see the field a lot this season during passing downs. Curtis Terry now appears to be a backup defensive end. Brandon Smith has shown soft hands catching balls out of the backfield and looks to be the leader at the open fullback spot.

If you're in the need of gameday information, the University has put out a Wikipedia-esque guide to all things Ohio Stadium. Unfortunately banners, posters and signs are (still) not permitted, but you may be glad to know that every permanent concession and merchandise stand accepts plastic.

When highly-touted freshman wide receiver Josh Jarboe was run out of Oklahoma and ended up at Troy, I was initially curious as to whether he'd face the Buckeyes when the teams met in Columbus this season. After all, he technically hadn't started school yet and could be eligible to play right away, right? Wrong. The Sooners are telling Troy officials that since they didn't refuse him admission for the fall, Jarboe was now being treated as a transfer.

Jarboe has the skills and will definitely see the field right away whenever he's allowed to suit up for Troy and he would have provided a great challenge to Jenkins and or Washington.

The Beerdolier. Comes in Scarlet.

With kickoff weekend now under two weeks away, you're probably performing all necessary due diligence, such as inspecting the condition of your coolers and lawn chairs.

If you're as crafty as we like to imagine our readers are, you're probably also thinking of a way to show up in style and impress your friends and any nearby coeds.

While the Beerdolier may not exactly be the smartest thing to wear into the open on Lane Avenue, if you're tucked away in a shaded lot, we can't think of a better tailgating accessory.

72 ounces of liquid bliss, readily accessible should you find yourself unable to walk. Mix in a Booze Belt and you're an instant legend.

(Via Uncrate)

Our spread. It's phenomenal.

I was disappointed when Comcast announced they would be flipping the switch on the Big Ten Network on 8/15, ten days too late to catch the Ohio State practice and associated footage in the network's "Buckeye Day". (What was so wrong with August 1st as a go-live date?)

After having the BTN for a couple of days now (review: decent, but the constant parade of university promos are driving me nuts) I finally get a chance to catch a televised practice and as fate would have it, the first team day I'm treated to is Michigan's.

It was the first time I'd ever seen the facilities in Ann Arbor and my first impression was that it looks like they practice near a barn by an airport. And a municipal airport at that. I think I also caught a glimpse of a Shell oil refinery tank, but I'm not 100%. Forgiving their setup, here's what else I took away from the event:

• Rodriguez kept his F-bombs and other curse words to a minimum, which was impressive considering how steamed he appeared to become at least once during the practice.
• They have tackling dummies with the Buckeye logo on them. McGuffie may or may not have been knocked out cold by one.
• When Gerry DiNardo said Michigan needed their offensive scheme to be a talent neutralizer, it put a smirk on my face for the rest of the night. I've been harping on the talent disparity for years now and it's nice to see that meme repeated in the wild (although it's pretty obvious to everyone these days).
• MGoBlog held a live blog for the practice and if the fact that they talked about everything but the practice means anything, seven wins may now be the upper bounds of expectations in Ann Arbor these days.

Interestingly, as I was composing this post, we received an email from a I Want My BTN, "A blog dedicated to pulling the plug on cable companies that won't listen to Buckeye fans." No idea if this is legit or the network getting crafty guerilla/viral on us, but anything to put the heat on Time Warner can't hurt. We're staring at 12 days and counting, gentleman.

The University finally has the Pryor profile page turned on and dude looks good in that tie.

All old news, but the symmetry from his prep days is a thing of beauty: 4,328 career rushing yards and 4,340 career passing yards. Senior season: 1,899 rushing yards and 1,889 passing yards.

We're resisting the urge to post about him non-stop because he's going to be one of those once-in-a-generation type athletes. The more we hear, the more we're convinced that his impact will be felt in the opening weeks of the season. Is series one too quick? Who knows, but we haven't heard Tress gush about a rook since, well, Dirty Mo was bustin' up Washington State.

The talk has shifted to him as a thrower, because that's what he'll have to work the most on. The natural skills take over the running attack, but you can't just jump in and begin completing passes against top-notch college defenses.

Still, you have to be encouraged when you see plays like this (the 2nd one) against the top players in the nation.

We have winners for our trick play contest. At first we had planned to only hand out one DVD, but quickly raised it to two and after combing over the entries, we've decided to bump that up to three (the quality was there for about ten winners, frankly). Without further delay, the three future owners of Woody DVDs:

• Best Use of Cindy Cooper in a Set: Morgan and his Imagination Land Scenario against the Wolverines
• Best Use of an Appendage to Beat Down Opposing Players in the BCS Championship: Harold and the Adventures of Beanie's Mighty Club
• Best Illustration of a Play that may Actually Happen: Chuck with Confused Rookie Trickery

If your name wasn't called you'll get another chance shortly. There's another contest right around the corner.

The ailments and troubles keep piling up for USC. First, starting quarterback Mark Sanchez dislocated his kneecap, then Joe McKnight had his fingers mangled in a dorm room door accident before bouncing back to hyperextend his elbow in the team's scrimmage on Saturday.

McKnight, who battled some academic issues in the spring, has had a bumpy year, to say the least. His explosiveness and playmaking ability are unquestioned, but his knack for getting injured has to be of some concern to Carroll, who still doesn't know who his starting quarterback will be for the opener or when Sanchez will even see the field again, for that matter.

All the breaks seem to be heading Ohio State's way, but I don't like seeing the most talented Buckeye team of Tressel's watch heading into a redemption-ready game where the foe has so many excuses available should things not go their way.

"No, I am not trying to be like a Michigan guy."

And damn that's a thick neck.