Folks, it's Wolverine slaying time.
Look, I'm not going to pretend Ohio State basketball he's been anything close to spectacular the past few weeks, but they're playing a team that lost to Wisconsin and beat Minnesota by two on its home court. Let's not make Michigan the '96 Bulls.
And the best part is, there's no stress, at least on our end. If Michigan wins, they won a home game as a favorite against a inferior opponent as "revenge" for one of the most embarrassing football losses in program history.
But if the Buckeyes win, I'm gonna be drawing noise complaints for my "just like football" chants from my King Ave. attic.
ICYMI
- Jake McQuaide thought the NFL was a "far-fetched idea." Now he's playing in the Super Bowl.
- Everything started clicking for Josh Myers around the bye week this year.
- Ohio State makes five-star wide receiver Johnny Wilson's top-five list.
- Could D'Angelo Russell be Ohio State's first All-Star since Michael Redd?
- How Ohio State's units need to step up this offseason.
- The basketball Buckeyes add walk-on Harrison Hookfin.
Word of the Day: Fecund.
THE SHOW WILL GO ON. I'm pleased to inform you that today's Michigan dumping will go on as planned, despite the Hoth-like weather.
For anyone wondering, U-M spokesperson confirms that tomorrows game will happen regardless of weather.
— Ethan Sears (@ethan_sears) January 28, 2019
The delightful Colin Hass-Hill will be riding his Tauntaun to Ann Arbor to deliver you folks with the finest coverage possible. Toss him a Twitter follow and say a prayer for any exposed skin, cause this weather is borderline apocalyptic.
Me, I ain't stepping outside for the next 72 hours. I've got Georgia blood in me. I'm not built for this.
INSIDE AND OUT. If you thought a Buckeye was always in the backfield this season, it's because they probably were.
Ohio State had the best pass rusher in the Big Ten on both the interior and the edge, thanks to Dre'Mont Jones and Chase Young.
Chase Young led all B1G Edge defenders with 76 quarterback pressures. pic.twitter.com/nTKpXE90fw
— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 28, 2019
The most QB pressures in the B1G belongs to Dre'Mont Jones...and it wasn't even a close race. pic.twitter.com/tk6u6MOtqj
— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 25, 2019
The most hilarious part about this is they Buckeyes lost the most talented pass rusher in the country in just the third game.
Related: We've now been cheated of a Noah Spence/Joey Bosa combination and a Nick Bosa/Chase Young combination, and that just ain't fair.
FIELDS' ELIGIBILITY CHANCES. We're all waiting to see if Justin Fields will be able to play next year. There's no formal decision yet, but there's reason to be optimistic.
From Austin Ward of Lettermen Row:
Exact odds can be tough to be pin down. But thanks to the recent updates to the waiver policy and statistics compiled by the Associated Press, football players who requested immediate eligibility since the change last year won their appeals 79 percent of the time. So, even without necessarily factoring in the strength of the case specifically for Fields, that’s an encouraging success rate for the gifted passer and the Buckeyes.
But given what appears to be rock-solid, documented evidence of an incident involving racist language directed at Fields while he was at Georgia, it would be safe to assume that his actual probability of being cleared is even higher. That explains why Ohio State has been so privately confident that Fields would be able to play next season, and why there wasn’t all that much concern raised about Tate Martell’s departure. Assuming Fields was given the green light as expected, the next starting quarterback for the Buckeyes was almost certainly going to come down to a battle between him and Matthew Baldwin anyway.
I honestly had no idea the successful appeal rate was so high, but it aligns with my general belief that the NCAA is getting much more lenient in these cases.
Here's another reason for optimism: The NCAA is an entity that notoriously makes decisions to preserve its own self-interest. Nothing about ruling Fields ineligible would be working in its own self-interest.
THE RACE FOR MILTON. Kendall Milton, the nation's No. 2 running back and No. 11 overall player in the 2020 class, Tweeted some cryptic Tweets to current Buckeye commit Paris Johnson Jr. that included some particular emojis (emojii?) that carry notorious Ohio State connotations.
Obviously, teens gonna teen, and that's far from any sort of commitment, but the Buckeyes are on his mind, and the feeling is mutual.
Running backs coach Tony Alford is expected to visit five-star running back Kendall Milton of Clovis (Calif.) Buchanan tomorrow. Milton is one of Ohio States top targets in the 2020 class.
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) January 28, 2019
It goes without saying that this would be a monstrous get for the Buckeyes, but I think we have to take a moment to admire Tony Alford's genius. Dude's dipping out on the coldest day in like 30 years to go to Clovis, California, where it will be a brisk 67 degrees.
LEGENDARY KICKS. Former Buckeye walk-on receiver Kato Mitchell hooked up Noah Brown with one of the coldest pairs of cleats I've ever seen.
Color changing Cleats for my brotha @Nb_Eight5 just cuz its the off-season dont mean we off now #OhioState #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/rk8YhDXQqs
— uh-uh im married (@worktoon) January 28, 2019
It's a shame we're going to have to wait till next year to see them in action.
Regardless, these are extremely good and my mind is spinning about how I can get him to concoct me a pair of regular people shoes.
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