Fourteenth! The playoff committee moved Ohio State up two slots! There's only one song ripe for this occasion:
Yessir! The best part about being 14th? The chance to move to 13th. Here's The Fake Lantern with Ohio State's path to the playoffs:
UPDATE: Ohio State's Playoff Path pic.twitter.com/gYXYUy6ZjX
— The Fake Lantern (@TheFakeLantern) November 5, 2014
Sparta must fall this weekend, y'all. Ain't no other way around it.
URBAN ADMITS '13 B1G TITLE GAME "TORE HIM UP." How long did Urban Meyer cherish that 55-14 drubbing of Illinois? Apparently, for three quarters and some change.
From Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports:
So, yes, Meyer admits to thinking ahead. The fourth-quarter clock was still running when he summoned his program's longtime strength coach and right hand man, Mickey Mariotti, to discuss preparation for this week, where an opponent more than capable of matching the Buckeyes awaits up in East Lansing.
"The focus has to be at 8 o'clock [Saturday]," Meyer said he told Mariotti, reiterating the program's commitment to preparation, in this case using the early week for a slow build, via nutrition and physical therapy. "That's when our job is to have them ready. Not Monday at 2 o'clock. Not Tuesday at 3:30."
So that's where we are in the Big Ten: Illinois can't even keep Urban Meyers attention for four quarters. That's remarkably B1G.
But, there's a reason why Urban turned his attention to Michigan State in the fourth quarter against Illinois: last year cut him deep.
"I'd lie to you if I said there's not frustration [about OSU's failure to win a big game]," Meyer told Yahoo Sports on Monday morning. "We're here to compete for championships … that's one of our jobs. We didn't seal the job last year.
"Got close," he continued. "We were down 17-nothing. Took that darn lead 24-17 and we gave that up."
[...]
"To not say it ripped you apart would be not true," Meyer said. "I don't want to experience it again."
I don't want to experience it again either, Urban.
OHIO STATE NEEDS THIS W. I wrote about Urban Meyer's Ohio State being in desperate need of a statement win yesterday, but Columbus Dispatch columnist Rob Oller dug up some numbers of his own... and yeah, Ohio State needs this W against Michigan State in the worst way.
Buckeyes' last regular-season game against top-10 team was Sept. 8, 2009 vs. USC in 'Shoe. Last reg-season win vs. top 10 team? UM in '06.
— Rob Oller (@rollerCD) November 4, 2014
RT @rdubs007: @rollerCD how many have they played? // PSU '08, USC '08, USC '09. All losses. Shows true weakness of B1G.
— Rob Oller (@rollerCD) November 4, 2014
I accepted the Big Ten wasn't good about four years ago, but it's amazing the conference's mediocrity finds new ways to stupefy me all these years later. But what about Ohio State's last road win against a Top 10 team? Well, Marionaire Brett Gates takes us back over two decades for that one:
@rollerCD Last road Big Ten Top 10 win? 1990 against Iowa.
— Brett Gates (@BrettGates) November 4, 2014
And it appears the nostalgia for Big Game James Tressel is a bit misplaced (at least in the regular season, anyway):
Jim Tressel was 5-5 against top-10 teams during regular season.
— Rob Oller (@rollerCD) November 4, 2014
Like I said: Ohio State needs this W in the worst way.
OSU-MSU IS NOT A RIVALRY. Is Michigan State-Ohio State a rivalry? Urban Meyer made it clear the other day: Ohio State only has one rival (Michigan State's little brother). It looks like the feeling is mutual.
Connor Cook on the OSU rivalry: I wouldnt compare it to a Michigan rivalry at all."
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) November 4, 2014
Mark Dantonio: "Our rivals right here right now are Michigan and Notre Dame."
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) November 4, 2014
But he adds that number of players from Ohio makes the game "personal." Makes them want to measure up
— Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) November 4, 2014
(Conner Cook, by the way, got punked by The Fake Lantern into locking his Twitter account when TFL started RTing Cook's horrible tweets.)
It's the last point by Dantonio, however, I thought was interesting. I linked to this article in yesterday's WMDs, but it's pertinent today.
From Mike Wilson of SpartanDigest.com:
[Darian Hicks], [t]he Solon, Ohio, native will get a chance to make his first start against his homestate school Ohio State on Saturday. It was a school he was recruited by, but from which never received an offer.
[...]
”After that I left the [OSU] camp [without an offer] and said you know what that’s it they’re off my list. Don’t like them, don’t need them.”
[...]
He also saw the opportunity to go to a school and prove others wrong in the process. Now, he will look to show Ohio State the player it chose was a fallback plan and not a Plan A recruit in high school. “Can’t wait for it,” he said. “… The hype about Ohio State saying they are a powerhouse team and they have playmakers, it’s whatever.
Eli Apple, Gareon Conley, and Cam Burrows (though he's since been moved to safety) are the three cornerbacks taken in the 2013 class over the three-star Darian Hicks.
And yeah, I'm sure Dantonio finds it easy to stoke that "us against the world" mentality — his coaching calling card — in Ohioans who were passed over by Ohio State. I suppose that's the price Ohio State must pay to overlord over such a fertile recruiting ground; there will always be some talented Ohioans who slip through the cracks.
COLLIER READY TO COMPETE. If Joe Burrow and Torrance Gibson both end up in Columbus next fall, and Braxton Miller returns, Ohio State will have six(!) scholarship quarterbacks on it roster. Obviously, there aren't enough minutes (or footballs) to go around.
Some people pegged true freshman Stephen Collier, a three-star dual-threat QB out of Georgia, as a prime suspect to transfer. Those people obviously do not know Stephen Collier.
Regarding any rumors, you all must of forgotten who I am and what I'm about. I'll leave it at that.
— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) November 4, 2014
I'm no coach, but if I were, that's the kind of attitude I would love in any of my players, let alone a quarterback. That's the kind of 'tude that goes a long way in Urban Meyer's locker room too.
CARDALE JONES HAS NO NEED FOR THE IPHONE. If Cardale Jones isn't your favorite Buckeye... you're cheering for the Buckeyes all wrong.
iPhones are phones for people in corporate America, 87% of the things the phone can do I'll never use
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) November 4, 2014
I agree, Cardale: I have zero use for an iPhone (and Apple's insidious planned obsolescence) because I too have zero use for corporate America. I also don't know how people use phones without sliding keyboards without sliding a knife against their wrists, but that's neither here nor there.
I'm officially endorsing Cardale Jones for King of the World.
THOSE WMDs. OSU's Players of the Week... Not sure I buy this Jameis Winston allegation... This woman isn't cut out for the drug smuggling life... The heart surgery pioneer who never went to college... Two bros: Torrance Gibson and Joe Theismann... Alex from Target: a sick marketing ploy.
