WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M STILL HIGH 48 HOURS LATER OFF THAT VICTORY.
SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO THE CLOWNS THAT TWEETED THINGS LIKE "GARBAGE TEAM" AND HOPPED OFF THE SWAGWAGON IN THE FIRST QUARTER. SECONDARY SHOUTOUT TO SMARMY WRITERS WHO GET PAID TO KNOW FOOTBALL THINGS:
I HOPE OHIO STATE SUPER DONOR BIG NUT GAVE WOLKEN A SWIRLEY FOR THIS DELETED TWEET. pic.twitter.com/474Cy9VdsU
— WOLF ULTRA (@marion_ohio) October 29, 2017
HOW DARE Y'ALL DISRESPECT THE FERAL HEART OF A WOLF. HOW DARE Y'ALL THINK PUMPKIN JAMES FRANKLIN WAS ABOUT TO DO IT IN THE SHOE. HOW DARE Y'ALL TALK ABOUT A FUCKING OUTBACK BOWL BID IN THE ERA OF URBAN MEYER.
I NEVER WAVERED. I NEVER QUIT. AFTERWARDS, I LOOKED LIKE ISAIAH PRINCE AND BLOGGED THROUGH THE TEARS OF JOY:
Isaiah Prince, who had a nightmare of a game against PSU last year, celebrates the win with Jamarco Jones. pic.twitter.com/xJWKJFBZqC
— Ozone Communications (@theOzonedotnet) October 28, 2017
FUN FACT: "PRINCE" IS ACTUALLY YIDDISH FOR "HEART OF A DAMN WOLF." THE DISRESPECT WAS REAL LAST YEAR, AND THE BIG FELLA BATTLED BACK TO PUSH A GANG OF NITTANY LIONS INTO THE OLENTANGY.
BUT WHAT'S WILD IS THAT WASN'T EVEN THE BEST PICTURE OF THE NIGHT. THE PULITZER WENT TO THIS PHOTOGRAPHER:
Victory formation pic.twitter.com/vWtgA80G9f
— Buckeye Videos+ (@BuckeyeVideos) October 29, 2017
ONLY WAY THAT PICTURE GETS BETTER IS IF PUMPKIN FRANKLIN WERE IN THE BACKGROUND STUFFING HIS ARROGANT FACE WITH MOLDY DIGIORNO PIZZA.
WOOOOO!!! SOMEBODY PASS THE METH. I WANT TO KEEP THIS TRAIN ROLLING UNTIL WEDNESDAY.
ICYMI:
- Debriefing
- Five Things
- Quotebook
- Notebook
- Social Reactions
- Buckeye Fan Takes (Travis da Don Dada gave us our new motto: "We're not pretty. We're gritty. That's just who we are. We're Ohio.")
- Full Penn State coverage hub
- Buckeyes open as 17-point favorites over Iowa, who will wear alternate jerseys.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Erudite.
APOLOGIES TO THE IMMACULATE J.T. BARRETT. After the debacle, I backed benching J.T. Barrett in favor of Dwayne "Train" Haskins.
While lot of folks suddenly want to pretend they never doubted Barrett, I have no problem admitting I was wrong. Hell, I'm glad I was wrong.
But in my defense, had Barrett played like that against Clemson and Oklahoma, we never would have had this discussion. Not that he lost those games by himself—he didn't—but he looked like a different quarterback against Penn State. It's amazing what confidence can do for a man.
The offensive line played better. Urban Meyer, Kevin Wilson, and Ryan Day called plays better. And Barrett finally threw receivers opened and took chances. Outside of a couple under-throws, a few bad read-options reads, and a fumble, he put the team on his back Saturday night.
The Dwayne Train will be an electric quarterback at Ohio State. But Barrett showed every reason why Meyer stuck with him through the storm. They clown-suited critics like me, and frankly I've never been happier to wear makeup and neon colors.
817 Y-SEAM LOOKBACK. You know what? Let's run that dagger back one more time.
Not going to lie, when Barrett launched that strike I thought we were on a one-way express train to interception city. But Barrett painted a picture.
And it was all set up by the horizontal passes fans spent all game complaining about.
From espn.com:
Wilson said the call was set up by the quick, horizontal passes the Buckeyes had thrown through much of the game. Wide receiver Terry McLaurin, split out wide near the Ohio State sideline, took one step after the snap and turned to look for the ball. That, combined with a play-action fake, was a decoy to pull the linebackers and safeties closer to the line of scrimmage.
Baugh and receiver K.J. Hill were packed tightly between McLaurin and the offensive line. They ran routes to either side of the safety responsible for covering a deep half of the field on that side of the ball.
"I'm looking at the safety to see which one he picks, because whatever he does, he's wrong," Barrett said.
So just remember, folks: We're out here playing checkers while Kevin Wilson plays 3D Chess.
Props to Baugh, too, for recovering from an early drop to make the biggest play of the game.
SINBAD'S NEPHEW COMES THROUGH. Ohio State's comeback might not have been had Penn State had the heart to punch it on First and Goal late in the fourth quarter.
Instead the Puckering Pumpkin elected to run the ball three times up the middle. The second try, a play-action run from Sober Johnny Manziel, probably would have scored unless Jordan Fuller, the nephew of 90s comedy icon Sinbad, made what may have been the tackle of the game.
From cleveland.com:
He attacks off the snap with a run blitz that gets him into the backfield as soon as McSorley keeps the ball. First thing, timing that up isn't an automatic. You can be late on that. But Fuller, a sophomore and first-year starter, was quick off the snap.
Then, once there, he took a good angle and didn't overrun the play. Sometimes you'll see a defender flash behind a runner in that situation and you figure he was just a fraction late. But sometimes the reason you look late is your angle of attack.
Once there, against a tough, wiggly quarterback who makes his living breaking off runs, Fuller made a form tackle. How many times have you seen a defender flash into the backfield, only to see the player with the ball shed the tackle and break a run?
Praising Fuller is no disrespect to Bobby Landers, who subsequently stuffed Saquon Barkley on the next play. But I felt that play was dead from the beginning because literally everybody watching the game knew what was coming.
That's a helluva an effort from Fuller, and the kind of play that separates teams from the playoffs and the abominable Capital One Bowl. The man is starting to look like a player who will only be in Columbus for three years.
At least he'll get more tread in Scarlet and Gray than Malik Hooker did.
IMPRISON JOHN O'NEILL. Folks, now that we sent James Franklin back to his pumpkin patch (wonder if he knows who Penn State plays this week?), we can turn our anger to where it belongs: Ohio State's incompetent kickoff coverage Referee John O'Neill.
I eschew complaining about refs, because as Ramzy mentioned, they're bad people with impure thoughts.
But good lord, missing Penn State tackling Nick Bosa and Tyquan Lewis? Calling pass interference on a clean Damon Webb interception? Hating on Denzel Ward for being burly and strong?
Penn State fans said John O'Neill would fix the game for the Buckeyes. His crew tried to do the opposite. Ohio State did enough to deserve a loss, but I still am somewhat shocked the Buckeyes overcame those mistakes and incompetent refereeing.
LOOKS LIKE A LAWSUIT HAZARD TO ME? The only thing steeper than Mt. Everest is 9C in the Horseshoe, apparently:
that freaking stair.... #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Jjg3PonZW9
— abby grau (@abby_grau13) October 29, 2017
That Penn State fan resembled his team in that he kept tripping harder and harder as the game went on. Surprisingly, the video didn't end with him splitting his face open on the concrete.
WHO HAS IT WORSE THAN US? Critics don't yet recognize Ohio State as the No. 1 team in the country, which is okay since it's not coronation season and a lot of other fan bases have it worse than us.
We begin in Gainesville, where Twitter informed Gator players their coach got fired after a 35-point loss to Georgia:
Gotta love finding these things out through twitter.... a heads up wouldve been nice
— Luke Del Rio (@Ldelrio12) October 29, 2017
Volunteers fans gotta be salty their team is now behind in the race to find a replacement for Butch Jones. Their team lost by three to Kentucky, which is what they deserve:
We've got some disgruntled fans in Knoxville...@RedditCFB @Vol_Football pic.twitter.com/QpHx0Z8cDj
— Jesse Strickland (@jgstrickland7) October 29, 2017
Texas Christian got dumped by Iowa State, which isn't that shameful considering the next Paul Brown coaches the Cyclones:
Watch this. Believe it. Commit to the process. pic.twitter.com/cPXtQf3tfF
— Osage Football (@osagefb) October 29, 2017
Ole Miss fans just hoping Dan Mullen leaves their rival after losing to Bert:
Ole Miss fans, each of whom think Dan Mullen cant coach a team out of a paper bag, now insist Dan is leaving for a big school.
— Runt Pup (@hind_leg) October 30, 2017
Michigan replaced John O'Korn with somebody better than John O'Korn. Their fans now think they're headed to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately the lost their top-rated 2018 recruit yesterday:
ROLL TIDE ROLL #Committed pic.twitter.com/a583FE0wPV
— Emil Ekiyor Jr. (@bigE__18) October 29, 2017
It honestly couldn't happen to worse players.
BUY LOCAL CLOTHES. Kenton Stufflebeam, Ohio State's secret recruiting weapon, launched a clothing brand over the weekend.
If you enjoy his work at Ohio State (and if you're a fan of Ohio State's recruiting rankings, you do) and in need of new threads, check out wrenburybrand.com.
DISCLAIMER: The beautiful model in that silky Baby 'Los shirt is the kitten that showed up at my back door in Piqua. Kenton adopted her, and now she's a world-renowed model.
I'm ordering that t-shirt tonight.
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