Eleven Warriors

It seems like only yesterday when Columbus served as the Eastern tip of the conference footprint and the Big Ten had a, you know, logo that matched its name. It's hard to believe, but it's been nearly 20 years since Big Ten presidents floated the concept of adding Penn State as the conference's 11th member. The Nittany Lions now have 15 seasons of Big Ten football under their belts and some fans won't even remember a time when the conference didn't stretch to State College.

You know what they say about guys with big hands...

When the Big Ten announced the integration of Penn State in December of 1989, it sent shockwaves through the college football landscape. The Lions were only three years removed from the magic of their 1986 championship over Miami and had seen the culmination of a decade's worth of back-channel talks between the school and the conference finally come to fruition.

Penn State would be giving up part of their bowl revenue as it would be entering into the conference's bowl revenue-sharing program, but that loss was mitigated by the revenue-sharing from men's basketball, which the Big Ten was doing pretty damn well in 1989 and access to academic resources such as grants and an integrated library system. The Big Ten, for its part, would have a shot at adding the 5.3m television households in the state of Pennsylvania to the 17.8m in its pre-expansion footprint as well as more exposure on the East Coast.

Despite Joe Paterno and every other official at Penn State saying all of the right things, the courtship did have its rocky spots. Just 17 weeks after the announcement was made, the conference started to back-track a little. Member school athletic departments had largely been blindsided by the announcement -- Bo Schembechler claimed at the time that the move "confirms the worst fear I have of presidents' getting too much control in athletics. Not one athletic director was consulted on this matter. How can they do that?" His counterpart at Ohio State, Jim Jones, found out about the invitation from the press. To his credit, he was a strong proponent of the expansion. Others, like Minnesota athletic director Rick Bay and Purdue athletic director George King were pretty vocal in their opposition to the move.

The deal was finalized in June of 1990, but not before some classic one-liners were dropped. Bob Knight went on record as saying "Penn State 's a camping trip. There's nothing for about 100 miles," while Joe Paterno, still a sprite 62 at the time, had the tenacity to say that he might postpone retirement in order to coach the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten.

Then there was the sweetheart bowl deal Penn State signed in 1992. A year before officially joining the conference, the school was left in limbo by the newly created Bowl Coalition. Six major conferences and Notre Dame had put together a plan to attempt to pit the top two poll teams in a bowl. Only the Big Ten and Pac-10 had abstained. Penn State, without a conference or any real clout due to the fact that they'd soon be in a conference, negotiated a deal to play in the 1993 Blockbuster Bowl months before the 1992 season had even begun. Fittingly, the Lions started the season 5-0 before tailspinning to losses in five of their last seven games including a 24-3 loss to Stanford in said, agreed-on months in advance, Blockbuster Bowl.

When Penn State finally did get around to playing Big Ten football, they started with a bang. In 1993, they went 10-2 and returned most of the talent on that team to post a 12-0 record in 1994, a year that sticks with me because of the 63 points hung on the Buckeyes in Happy Valley. That 1994 Penn State squad was one of the finest Big Ten teams I have ever seen -- even to this day.

The next five seasons would see Penn State notch 9, 11, 9, 9 and 10 wins. Seven seasons, 70 wins. Not a bad start at all. But the next five seasons, from 2000 to 2004, would see Joe Pa's squad post a grand total of 26 victories -- an average of a little over five a season. In 2003 and 2004, he would only lead his team to a combined total of three conference victories.

In fact, the trouble he suffered during the first handful of seasons after the turn of the century have gone a long way towards putting him almost a dozen victories behind the pace he set in the 15 years prior to Penn State joining the Big Ten. What's even more startling is that Paterno is winning at just a .608 clip in conference games. Compare that to Lloyd Carr's .779 Big Ten winning percentage (81-23 over 12 seasons). Would you believe that Northwestern (3) has more conference championships than Penn State (2) since the Lions joined the conference? If you toss out 1994, the Lions have only finished atop the conference standings once in the past 13 seasons.

Though Penn State has had some Big Ten football success, there are many reasons why maybe it hasn't enjoyed the type of success that was anticipated (and nicely highlighted the first couple of years in conference). Obviously Paterno's age is a huge one. The fact that in 1990 he was dropping hints that he may postpone his retirement to coach in conference tells you all you really need to know about that, really. The rise of the Big East -- granted, it's no SEC, but it didn't even exist 15 years ago -- has probably had some impact on Penn State's eastern recruiting efforts. There was a time when they owned New Jersey and Maryland, but not anymore.

Overall, I think it's a no-brainer that it was a great move by the conference. The latest Director's Cup standings (PDF) certainly validate their admission. The addition also gave birth to the rise of super-conferences, which I think the game is better for. Not long after Penn State agreed to come onboard, two of the other big independents, Miami and Florida State, quickly joined conferences of their own. But what about what was best for Penn State? Did they make the right move?

I think it's safe to say Jack Greynolds Jr, Kosta Koufos' head coach at Canton GlenOak High School, is not a huge fan of Thad Matta.

In today's Canton Repository, Greynolds called Matta "clueless" based on his thoughts that Matta was to blame for the rumored poor relationship between the slow to develop big man and the OSU coach and further insinuated Matta purposely misused Koufos in an effort to keep on campus for at least one more year. The quote speaks for itself:

Listen, if you can't get along with a kid like Kosta, then you're clueless," Greynolds said. "If you're making $2 million season and can't figure out how to use a 7-foot-1 kid, you're clueless. If you can't get along with a kid who comes early, stays late and gets good grades, you're clueless, and you've got the problem.

Is someone backdoor lobbying for new Koufos-funded uniforms and ball rack or is Greynolds just a classless loose lip? I always assumed he was solid considering he's the son of a high school coaching legend in those parts. And maybe he is, but those comments are out of line if you ask me.

I can get with sticking up for your (former) players but I'd hardly recommend a high school coach verbally piss all over the head coach at a major university, specifically charging the coach with purposely holding a kid back. Are you kidding me?

Matta should drive up there and remind him all he did was try and toughen up the amazingly timid and soft seven footer Greynolds sent to Columbus with the express purpose of making the kid a better player longterm.

Tressel's not eligible, you say?

If you didn't catch it in the feed earlier, LTP has compiled the conference bloggers' picks for various awards and other things deemed important enough to be voted upon. While several of the categories were no-brainers I'm baffled that people still consider the prospect of a Utah victory at the Big House an upset.

The Wolverines have to replace the best tackle in America and a skill group that ranks among the best ever put together in Ann Arbor. The Utes, on the other hand, are a potential BCS bowl candidate. I'm not saying Utah is a lock -- the home atmosphere should be electric, but don't call it a potential upset.

Pat Fitzgerald got our vote for the coach of the year. If the Wildcats catch some breaks, a top four finish is not out of the question. Naturally, we think Tress would be an ideal selection, but he most have too much talent or something to be eligible. Despite an unbeaten championship season and four first-place finishes, the Vest has never won the league's coach of the year honor. Baffling.

Quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels is probably close to collecting rent in Pennsylvania. The point-man for Tressel's recruiting efforts in the state has scored several high-profile victories over Penn State in recent years. The Gateway tandem and Pryor are a long way from what we enjoyed during the 90s. Cooper was an incredible recruiter, but Ki-Jana Carter and Curtis PEnis clearly illustrate how different it used to be.

Always excellent Georgia blog Get the Picture raises an interesting question: why does Oklahoma get more of a pass from people these days than Ohio State? While I think any fan or blogger that actually studies the game realizes that Stoops has been pretty craptacular in big games, he's definitely correct in that the Buckeyes are the team Joe fan loves to mock.

And that’s what I don’t get. At least when Ohio State laid a postseason egg, it was against teams that won national championships. Oklahoma lost to the WAC champ and a team that dropped its previous game to a Pittsburgh squad with a losing record. Yet mention Ohio State to a typical college football fan, and there’s a visceral, negative reaction to the Buckeyes’ chances for playing in the BCS title game this year, one that I don’t sense the Sooners generate.

To expand on this a little, why isn't the mention of Michigan met with the same guffaws reserved for the Buckeyes? Is not losing twice in national championship games better than getting blitzed by USC, losing a home opener to Appalachian State and then suffering your worst loss in 40 years back-to-back-to-back? I realize there's the whole "OSU is the SEC's bitch" angle and that's hard to argue, but people are quick to forget that Ohio State lost to two pretty damn good teams the last two years.

After mock drafts had him going as high as 11th, Kosta Koufos fell to the 23rd pick in tonight's draft.

My first thought, which an ESPN talking head sort of alluded to, is that Jerry Sloan might eat Kosta for lunch if the big Greek doesn't step up the toughness in a hurry.

Koufos was the 9th freshman taken in the first 23 picks and the 6th center taken overall.

Many thought Koufos wouldn't fall past the Cavs at #19 but they opted for J.J. Hickson from NC State.

Loathe him or not, what do you think about his future in Salt Lake?

Think he can hang with Sloan if he just stands out on the perimeter launching jumpers?

With Kosta Koufos guaranteed to be a first round selection and Othello Hunter hoping for a late second round miracle, Ohio State is looking at back to back years with at least one player being drafted for the first time since 2000 and 2001.

The 2000 NBA Draft saw Michael Redd drafted by the Bucks and Scoonie Penn scooped up by Atlanta in the second round while Ken Johnson (Heat) was the lone Buckeye selected in 2001.

In fact, since Jim Jackson was the #4 pick in the '92 draft, OSU has produced just seven other draft picks with Oden, Conley and Cook accounting for three of those selections last season.

It's been well documented that many in Buckeye land aren't exactly enamored with Koufos after he supposedly surprised Matta by dropping out of school to prepare for the draft which could end up costing OSU a scholarship but the Buckeye in me still hopes he does well.

Chad Ford and others have commented that Koufos more than held his own in workouts against the supremely overrated Kevin Love who is projected as a top 7 pick.

It would be great to see Hunter drafted but it's pretty much a lock that both he and Jamar Butler will have to go the free agent tryout route in an effort to land in the league. Butler was named MVP of the Portsmouth camp but had to pull out of the Orlando pre-draft camp after pulling a hammy while Hunter has done nothing but show his upside in Portsmouth, Orlando and individual team workouts.

Tune in to the WWL tonight at 7pm for all the NBA action you can handle. It's fantastic.

Published reports say Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson has committed to Syracuse.

Bob Baptist spoke with Johnson last week and the indication was he would visit OSU before July 6th but that's out the window as Johnson settled on 'Cuse without visiting any of the other schools on his list.

In other Buckeye Basketball news, 1460 just reported Matta's right hand man John Groce will take over as the head coach at Ohio University.

Groce had been with Matta for eight years and the fact he's leaving should not be a surprise. Bucknuts reported yesterday that Groce was in Athens on Wednesday to discuss the vacancy.

11W says good luck to Groce. He will definitely be missed but it's time for him to run his own program.

Thigpen is still shaking off Hatline's hit in '06.

We're counting down the weeks until kickoff by profiling a different Big Ten team each week. Today, the Indiana Hoosiers are up.

There are two main questions, surrounding this Hoosier squad. One, will they have Kellen Lewis back from his spring suspension and two, will they have a field to play on?

The loss of Lewis could seriously damper this team's hopes of back-to-back bowl trips, as he lead them in passing and rushing yards last year, giving the Hoosiers their first bowl trip since 1993.

The field was damaged by the torrential rains earlier in June and replacement construction is under way, at the cool cost of $1,000,000, but school officials are confidant the new turf will be ready for opening kickoff.

COACHING: Bill Lynch enters his second year at the helm, after taking over last summer for the late Terry Hoeppner. Lynch lead the Hoosiers to their first winning season (7-6) in twelve years and IMO has a good chance to do it again. With all the focus in Bloomington on the hoops program, Lynch shouldn't feel any type of heat if the Hoosiers go back to their losing ways in 2008.

OFFENSE: The Hoosiers will have to replace 3 OL starters, James Hardy and possibly Lewis, but they return their top four running backs, including speedster Marcus Thigpen, who rushed for 586 yards a year ago. Freshman Darius Willis may push for some playing time, along with juniors Bryan Payton and Demetrius McCray, who each averaged over 4 yards a carry in their sophomore campaigns.

Lynch's squad will be hard pressed to replace Hardy's production and beyond Andrew Means and Ray Fisher, who combined for 100 catches and 1,041 yards last year, there is no experienced depth. This offense can only be helped though by the return of all-conference kicker Ausitn Starr, who connected on 11 of 12 field goals from 40+ yards in 2007.

DEFENSE: The defense will be anchored by Greg Middleton, a 6'3" 275lb. DE, who enjoyed a breakout season in '07 by leading the NCAA in sacks with 16. He will be joined by six other retuning starters, including the Hoosiers top two tacklers from last year, Austin Thomas and Will Peterson.

Thomas lead Indiana with 112 tackles from the strong safety spot and should get all-conference notice this year. Their corners are going to be green, but experienced safeties and quick line pressure may give them time to develop. Peterson is the leader of an experienced linebacker corps that held opponents to less than four yards a carry last season.

KEY GAME: The key game for Indiana is the Big Ten opener, at home against Sparty. The Hoosiers play three cupcakes at home to start the season and they are 1-15 in their last 16 conference openers. A 4-0 start to the season, could propel this team to a surprising conference finish.

BEST-CASE: Indiana plays eight home games this year, four of which are against W. Kentucky, Murray State, Ball State and Central Michigan. They also get Iowa and Northwestern at home, two winnable games. If the Hoosier can man up and win their OOC games, there is a good chance this team could finish at least 6-6 and go bowling once again.

WORST-CASE: If Kellen Lewis doesn't play and they are hit with a few injuries, this team could take a few steps back and go 3-8, potentially winless in the Big Ten.

I just don't see that happening though. The stars may be aligned for this squad, as both Ohio State and Michigan are not on the schedule and they have 6 winnable home games, with roadies at Minnesota and Purdue. I'm not saying it is going to be Iowa 2002, but these are mostly Hoeppner's recruits and playing for the honor of a fallen coach can give the team a great sense of purpose and this team could have a surprise year.

1955 Heisman Trophy winner Hopalong Cassady had his number retired November 18, 2000.

Since Ohio State began retiring numbers back in 1999, a total of seven legendary Buckeyes have had the honor bestowed upon them. The list is certainly an impressive one featuring the likes of Archie Griffin, Vic Janowicz, Hopalong Cassady, Les Horvath, Eddie George, Chic Harley and most recently, Bill Willis.

All that group did was combine to collect six Heisman Trophy's, 13 First Team All-American selections, six inductions into the College Football Hall of Fame (Eddie's will come) and one Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement, setting the bar for any future honorees.

So, that begs the question...Who's next?

Personally speaking, here's my short list of potential candidates. Do you think one of them is worthy of being next or are you going off the board?

Jack Tatum The Assassin was my Pop's favorite Buckeye growing up and between that and his incredible resume, I think Tatum's at the top of my list of Who's Next. The headhunter was recruited as a running back but switched to safety where he became a two time All-American and National Defensive POY known for laying wood with even more tenacity than Peter North.

Ohio State went 27-2 and won a national title with Tatum patrolling the secondary and his legendary status is cemented by the fact he was named a captain on the OSU All-Century Team.

Chris Spielman If not Jack Tatum, then my next choice is Chris Spielman. Others LB's like CFB HOF'er Randy Gradishar probably have a more impressive resume but this is my list and I have to put him in my top three.

Spielman did rack up two All-American selections and captured the '87 Lombardi Award while creating the template for what every true Buckeye should be. The maniac from Massillon still serves as a great ambassador for the university and no player before or since can say they love the program any more than Spielman. Plus, dude used to play tackle Smear the Queer on blacktop as a kid.

Orlando Pace The last of my top three candidates has to be Orlando Pace. He made the tackle position sexy on his way to an Outland Trophy and back to back Lombardi's before becoming the #1 overall selection in the NFL Draft. Bucknuts says the two time All-American registered 80 pancakes his junior year and I certainly can't argue.

Pace was the most dominating lineman to ever come out of Ohio State and that's saying something considering the names Hicks, Parker and Stillwagon also suited up for the Scarlet and Gray. In fact, he might be the best college lineman of all time. Oh, and he can hoop, too.

All they do is... (InsideTheU.com photo)

In the past three days, we've seen the '09 class go from a large-for-June 17 to an astonishing 22 verbals. A little advanced camp love and all of a sudden, it's late June and OSU is running out of spots already.

If you've missed any of the details, the recruitniks at OHD and DTI have the everything covered, but just to recap, the Buckeyes added the following players:

• Duron Carter, WR
• Carlos Hyde, FB
• Justin Green, CB
• Corey Brown, ATH
• Bradley McDougald, S

With the exception of Carter, who's a mega-legacy, each of the new prospects has earned four stars from Rivals and all rank within the top dozen or so players at their position in the nation. Still, would anyone really be surprised Duron turned out to be the sleeper in this group? His dad's quote is already legendary:

"This is kind of surreal. This morning I went for a walk and thought to myself that I can’t believe how great this is. I feel like I died and went to heaven because I get to go through the Buckeye experience twice."

Emphasis mine, to match the chub I got when I first read that quote.

The Buckeyes now have far and away the largest group of '09 commitments and to paraphrase JHC, they pass the looks test. With another five or six spots to fill, we could be looking at the largest class of the Tressel era. Granted, these are all verbals and a lot can change, but it's rare that a kid changes his mind after getting to know the Vest.

What's really interesting is that Tressel is now 7-1 head-to-head against Rodriguez¹ for this class. Give the guy some time to get his bearings and all that, but doesn't a new hire usually translate to some excitement and a small boost in recruiting (see Brewster, Tim)?

However, the more I read about Michael Shaw, the more I'm hoping he doesn't come back to burn the Buckeyes. Anyone else worried about that one?

¹ Bell, Hall, Fellows, Linsley, Bellamy, Jackson and Brown against Justin Turner.

As others have noted, the irreverent run of the MZone has come to an end. At times it seemed as if the MZone's only mission was to pile on Ohio State, and us, its fans (exhibit a, exhibit b and exhibit c).

Their team was getting pummeled in the series yet they served up bomb after bomb with glee. And you know what? We loved it. Yost was as funny as they come and this space will be less for his absence, but we can understand the grind and wanting to have, you know, a life.

Here's wishing him the best and hoping he finally gets to don that 'stache he's been wanting.

And we promise, this is the only time you'll ever be subjected to that image around these parts.

The Dispatch's Bob Hunter recently wrote about the way information flows in this digital age specifically relating to the Henton transfer and how the paper has a hard time keeping up with the various newfangled forms of content distribution:

If a blog reports such-and-such, is that newspaper-worthy? Are we sure that the blogger didn't make it up? Is it being reported or talked about anywhere else?

The truth is that they're going to have an extremely difficult time competing in this realm going forward. Tressel has done a scary job of locking down the flow of information out of the program and when it comes to rumors, there's that whole sourcing thing that blogs and message boards don't have to worry about.

Would it not be wise to devote more of the paper's efforts to write historical or analytical articles? Maybe take a look at the past or break down some statistics? Perhaps an interview with a Buckeye that's removed from the program? I have no idea what the paper's summer budget for OSU football looks like, but if they write it, we will come.

Purdue blog Off the Tracks had me over for an interview and being asked to name a weakness on this team was no easy task. Is weakness contextual?

Looks like Poe has been called-up. Congrats on the move -- his wit and insight will only strengthen Buckeye Commentary.