In what has been nothing short of an amazing signing day for Ohio State, the newly formed Buckeye Bloggers Network got together to take a look at Urban Meyers first Buckeye recruiting class. Together, we throw our perspective at the three questions below. Be sure to check out the other recruiting posts at The Buckeye Battle Cry, Buckeye House Call, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, Our Honor Defend and The Silver Bullet.

Who are you most excited to see in the Scarlet and Gray?
Although this may seem like a cop out, Urban Meyer. Flash back to October and a struggling Buckeye football team with unknown NCAA penalties lingering over their head. Who in their wildest dreams would have predicted a recruiting class like this? By keeping two of his top recruiters in Coach Fickell and Coach Vrabel he’s put together a dream team of college recruiters (and apparently Coach Stan Drayton is pretty good at recruiting also).

I can only imagine the impact on a 17-year-old kid like Noah Spence when Coach Fickell, Coach Vrabel and Meyer all showing up together at your high school football game. I mean really, does Coach Vrabel even need to wear his necklace full of Super Bowl rings on that trip? Meyer puts the crowning jewel on a great recruiting staff. Let Fickell and Vrabel pepper him up and send Meyer in for the knockout.

And although I haven’t had the chance to really go over the recruiting records of the new coaches Meyer has brought in, I can’t believe that the dream team has no where to go but up.

The best part about this is that TSUN has proven themselves worthy of some recruiting themselves this season. I can only hope that this leads to great recruiting battles like we had back in the days of Woody and Bo. As much as I hate TSUN, beating the crap out of them season after season is getting a little old. Yes, let’s continue to beat the crap out of them but I’d much rather they be a team that means something when we do.

Who makes an immediate impact from the 2012 class?
Kyle Dodson. This kid is huge and has the ability to blow massive holes in the line. Braxton Miller has proven himself in the speed department. Give him some solid pass protection and room to run and he will be a very serious threat. You can see Myer’s grand scheme coming together with this kid on board.

Although they may not have the immediate impact, you’ve got to be excited about the defensive recruits. Give them a year to grow and develop and they will be ready to do some serious damage just in time for a National Championship season.

Who do you wish that OSU hadn’t “missed” on?
Why get greedy. As I said, this recruiting class is so far beyond expectations from this fall. Meyer says he’s still looking for offensive speed at the skill positions. He still has receiver Stefon Diggs in his sites and despite rumors, the door is still open for Devonte’ Neal . Yep. A couple of tall, quick targets for Miller will look really nice in a year or two.

Be sure to check out these other perspectives from the Buckeye Bloggers Network:

Buckeye House Call: National Signing Day – The New Beginning
Men of the Scarlet and Gray: National Signing Day: The Aftermath
Our Honor Defend: National Signing Day Thoughts
Buckeye Battlecry: Three Questions From Ohio State’s 2012 Signing Day
The Silver Bullet

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The University of Akron announced last night that Coach Tressel has returned to Akron to serve in a newly formed position as Vice President of Strategic Engagement. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Tressel will be working to raise funds for a new basketball arena along with student programs such as the “Akron Experience,” a service learning program for Akron students.

While it was great fun to speculate on the rumors of Coach Tressel heading to Indianapolis, this is a much more fitting position for the former Ohio State coach. Coach Tressel has always been a teacher as much as a coach and it appears that this will allow him to directly work with students.

It may also pave the way for a future back at Ohio State once the smoke clears. Besides, has their ever been an Ohio State coach who hasn’t finished their career at Ohio State (at least not since Woody)?

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Once again, Jimmy Fallon gives us a reason to stay up late. Here’s his take on Tim Tebow during his Ziggy Stardust phase. “TeBowie”

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It’s a new day Buckeye fans. The start of a new era. Today is the day that we put the dark times behind us and once again rise, stand proud and proclaim “I am a Buckeye.”  
I write this morning from the Hyatt Regency in Jacksonville. Let me just say this, Buckeye Nation is here in force. After all we’ve been through this past year, an outsider might think that Ohio State fans would have given up on their team. That this might be a year to sit back and watch the bowls from the sidelines. I assure you that this is not the case. Although it may be that the locality of the Gator fans means many will be arriving today, at this point, the Buckeyes have them seriously outnumbered — not only in numbers but in spirit. 
 
I will go into a much deeper analysis of the differences between these two schools at a later date but let me just say this, there is much more to a great university than a football program.
 
But that is for another time for today is the day that our young men reclaim what is our and and show the world once again that we are Buckeyes. That we are The Ohio State University.
 
Follow for @Gator_Bowl for live updates
For those of you whow don’t know, I’m the voice behind the Gator Bowl twitter feed. Although I will be assuming a role of neutrality, I will be posting throughout the day on Twitter @Gator_Bowl. I’ll also be helping with the Gator Bowl Face Book page so be sure to “like” us over there also. 
 
Here’s to a great game and GO BUCKEYES!!

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Zack Boren talks about offensive improvement (via Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Throughout the better part of this season, I’ve been pushing the notion that our defense was our only saving grace. Coming into the Gator Bowl however, it is the offense that is going to win or lose this game.

Passing Improvement vs. Passing Struggles
When you look at these two offenses over the course of the season, they both pretty much sucked. However, when you look at the improvement of these two offenses over the course of the season a much different picture emerges. Most of the commentary and Gator Bowl predictions seem to focus on Ohio State’s offensive stats taken at their entirety. Florida blog “Alligator Army” is a perfect example. Although they provide a great analysis of a number of Miller’s touchdown passes, they conclude by saying, “It’s pretty safe to say that the Buckeyes aren’t very good at passing the football” and provide a link to season long stats as support.

However, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Doug Lesmerises points out, when we look to the end of the season and particularly the Michigan game, a different picture begins to emerge. By the second half of the season and the Michigan game in particular, Joe Bauserman is out of the picture and only in the Michigan game do we see the Buckeye offense at full strength. By Michigan, DeVier Posey back with a game under his belt and Miller is starting to find his passing form. He threw for a total 235 yards against Michigan and the Buckeyes put up 34 points. By the time the Michigan game rolled around we saw a confidence in the passing game that we had not seen all season. As Michigan managed to slow the run, the Buckeyes were able to adjust by throwing the ball.

Unlike the Buckeyes, the Florida offense has nothing to support the potential for improvement. Florida finished the season 0-5 against ranked opponents and Florida quarterback John Brantley threw three interceptions in his final showing against Florida State. Unlike Miller, who went through a huge learning curve this season, Brantley is a senior who will be playing in his last game as a Gator. He has two freshmen backups in Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel who may also see time.

Other than November wins against Venderbilt and Furhman (really, Furhman?!) the Gators need to go back to September to find a victory. Not a lot for Gator fans to hang their hat on.

So Turn to the Run
Up until the last few games of the season, the Buckeyes relied almost exclusively on the running game. Meanwhile Florida has struggled against the same. Add a mobile quarterback and Florida could be in for trouble. Vanderbilt’s Jordan Rogers exposed Florida’s weakness against a scrambling quarterback putting up 297 yards through the air and two touchdowns. If it wasn’t for Vanderbilt’s inability to stop the run, the Gators probably wouldn’t have squeaked past.

Now throw Boom Herron into the mix. Yes, Florida has seen some big backs and again, they have struggled. Alabama’s Trent Richardson managed 181 yards in 29 carries while LSU’s Spencer Ware and Alfred Blue combined for a total 179 yards against the Gators. That said, like the Buckeye offense the Gator defense is young and has shown some improvement through the season. If the Buckeyes can get their offensive line firing on all cylinders and get the push off the line, they could open some big opportunities for Herron, Miller and Jordan Hall.

With Florida’s struggles on offense, expect them to try to establish the run early. With inconsistency at the quarterback position, look for Chris Rainey and Jeffery Demps to do the majority of the offensive work for the Gators. Although again, they struggled against the likes of LSU and Alabama (understandably so), they have put up 1,300+ yards between the two of them this season.

By the time the Ohio State defense got to the Michigan game, it was looking more like a war of attrition. Andrew Sweat was out and Denard Robinson ran straight at injured freshman Ryan Shizier for most of the second half. The Ohio State defense should look much different come the Gator Bowl as both Sweat and Shizier are expected to be healthy and ready to play. The combination could give Buckeye fans one of the best defensive looks they’ve seen all season. A healthy Ohio State defense brings not only the potential to put some serious pressure on whoever steps in at quarterback for the Gators but also shut down a must have Gator running game.

Offensive Coaching
This is one of the more interesting story lines of the game. The Gators have lost their high profile offensive coach Charlie Weis and look to Brian White to call plays. The Gator Bowl is nothing short of a job interview for White and it will be interesting to see what he can do. For Ohio State, it is the end of an era as the Jim Bohlman/John Tressel era comes to and end. One would hope that in looking to go out with a bang, these two Coach Tressel holdovers could find it in them to unleash a powerful offensive attack. That said, I’m not holding my breath in the meantime.

So with a mere two point spread favoring the Gators, I’m giving it to the Buckeyes by at least a touchdown if not more. Even with a bowless 2012 season, there is just too much excitement surrounding the Buckeyes at this moment. A commanding win at the Gator Bowl would be the perfect spring board to a middle-finger-waving 2012 undefeated season.

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Urban Meyer can steal recruits with just his stare.

Although I’ve openly confessed my feelings about Urban Meyer, what a week he’s had. Not even three weeks in as head coach at Ohio State and his presence is being felt not just in the Big Ten but throughout all of college football. After the Michigan loss, I said that Michigan gets one chance but at the rate Meyere is working, that may be a stretch.

As of this week, Michigan State commit Tommy Schutt and Penn State commit Se’Von Pittman, both defensive standouts,  have announced that they will be coming to Ohio State. Running back Brionte Dunn, who had dropped his commit to Ohio State to look at Michigan, has now reconfirmed his commit to Ohio State. Meyer still has a number of top recruites both committed and non commits in bulls eye including No. 1 ranked quarterback Jameis Winston. Although Winston has verbally committed to Florida State, he is making an official visit to tOSU and has expressed his interest in playing for Meyer.

Even before Meyer was officially announced, Miami commit Ricquan Southwind and Adolphus Washington (looking at Alabama, Michigan, others) announced their commit to OSU saying they were hoping for the chance to play for Meyer.

Meanwhile, Michigan coach Brady Hoake has had a great time running through the state of Ohio this fall talking NCAA sanctions and grabbing the talent that Michigan can’t seem to produce. In doing so he managed to obtain nine verbals from Ohio players and at the moment, one of the top five ranked recruiting classes in the country. As we can see, those verbal commits don’t amount to too much in the face of an Urban Meyer assault. If he wants to keep his Ohio boys, he’s going to have to give them all the love and care he can during the next month and a half.

Meyer hasn’t been sleeping this week on the coaching front either. Along with announcing the Coach Fickell will call defense, he has hired North Carolina coach Everit Withers as a “co” defensive coordinator or something of the sort. And in an a painfully obvious move, Meyer is bringing in Tom Herman who has seen success at both Rice and Iowa State to replace Nick Siciliano as quarterback coach. Herman should be a good fit for the Urban Meyer style offense.

It is also clear that the dark days of Jim Bohlman offense are over as Bollman and Dick Tressel will be following Siciliano out the door. No word yet on Vrable but I for one hope they keep him on board. Meyer needs both Fickell and Vrabel to keep him honest from a Buckeye street cred perspective.

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Naval Academy convoy leaving the yard this morning for the Army/Navy Game. This is one of the many great traditions of the Army/Navy game. The Mids travel to the stadium in a huge convoy that takes back roads and doesn’t stop. They are lead by police escort and traffic is held up at intersections as they pass through.

Although I have no formal affiliation with the Navy Academy, Annapolis is my adopted home town.
GO NAVY!

(Photo shared this morning on the Annapolis, Maryland Facebook Page)

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve been waiting for this game for a long time and if ever there was a year to play Duke, this is the year. Join us at 9:30p.m. EST for a live chat.

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yep. That just happened.

So it’s official. Urban Meyer is head coach of The Ohio State Buckeyes. One of these day’s I’ll go through this blog and highlight all the times I’ve complained about Meyer over the years but now is not the time. This is the time to look to the future and what will become of The Ohio State Buckeyes.

We are looking at the dawn of what could become a very, very powerful college football dynasty. Here are three things that will be immediately impacted by bringing on Meyer as head coach:

1) Recruiting
Meyer knows how to recruit but even more important, he knows how to recruit in Ohio and Florida. Brady Hoke had a great time this fall running around the state doing his best to capitalize on Ohio State’s NCAA problems. That came to a screeching halt at approximately 5:30 this evening. Although we are off to a late start this year, I’m sure there are a number of recruits taking a second look. The Buckeyes are young and loaded with talent. Under Meyer, they will only get stronger.

2) 2012/13 BCS Championship:
Meyer is walking into a team that well designed for his coaching style. Braxton Miller has serious talent but needs the coaching staff in place to properly develop his talent. By next fall, Miller will be a topped ranked quarterback in the midst of the Heisman trophy race. The Buckeyes will be a top ranked team in 2012 if not the BCS Champions.

3) We’ve Seen the Worst of the NCAA Penalties
We have probably seen the worst of the NCAA penalties. About the only thing that could yet come would be to hold us out of this year’s Bowl game. There are a number of Buckeye fans who wouldn’t mind that anyway. I can’t believe for a minute that Meyer doesn’t have some solid insight into the NCAA’s final ruling. He wouldn’t have taken this job if there was even the slightest chance that the penalties will continue into next year.

Does This Mean I’m Happy?
I have no doubts that the Buckeyes will do great things under Meyer and yes, I’m looking forward to cheering on the Buckeyes. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a bad taste in my mouth. Give me time. I’m sure I’ll work through it.

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.

This Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines will meet for the 114th to face off in the greatest rivalry in sports. And although there are those attempting to steal the thunder from this sacred day, there is a purity in this year’s game that we haven’t seen in some time. Unlike in years past, there is no BCS Championship on the line, no BCS Bowls, there isn’t even a Big Ten Championship waiting for the winner of Saturday’s game. It’s just two historic football programs fighting for honor. They fight not only for their own honor but the honor of those who came before and for those who are yet to come.

For the Buckeyes, a win will help salvage an otherwise difficult year proving that although we may be down, this program can rebuild and still keep their eye on the No. 1 goal. For Michigan, a win will put an end to a long and painful drought and provide some sense of justification that their 9-2 record wasn’t a fluke.

For the first time in years, the Buckeyes are a 7.5 point underdog. It’s no wonder watching the offensive struggles this season and our defensive collapse as of late. Once again, Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson comes into this game with all the hype we have come to expect from brash young Michigan players. In recent years, the Buckeyes have left that hype dashed upon the shores of the reality of Ohio State football.

If anyone knows how to shut down Robinson, it’s Coach Fickell. Under his leadership, the Buckeyes have completely stopped the Robinson led attack. Michigan Coach Brady Hoke has changed things up a bit on offense moving away from the attempted spread found under Rich Rodriguez into a more pro-style offense but it hasn’t helped Robinson’s passing stats any. He’s also prone to throwing interceptions and dropping the ball. So far this season, Robinson has successfully hit the opposition 14 times compared to to 15 touchdown passes to his own teammates.

Throughout this season, we have seen moments of impressive quarterback pressure from the Ohio State defense. If the Buckeyes can keep it up for four quarters, they will force the turnover and make it yet another long day for the Wolverines.

The X Factors
This year’s game brings a psychological factor which we haven’t seen in some time. Chances are, this is Luke Fickell’s only chance to beat Michigan as head coach. Fickell is a true Buckeye through and through and there is no question he understands the opportunity sitting in front of him. He was thrown in unprepared under bad circumstances. Given a couple more years to prepare, he may have actually become a great Ohio State head coach. Unfortunately, he was thrown to the wolves before his time. This is his one moment, his one shot at living a Buckeye’s dream.

The soon expected Urban Meyer coaching announcement may also have an impact on the players. Meyer’s presence at Ohio State could result in a recruiting bonanza and the films from the 2011 edition of “The Game” will be highly scrutinized. Like it or not, “The Game” may become a proving ground for Buckeyes looking for playing time under the new Urban Meyer system to come.

The biggest question that remains is if the Ohio State offensive coaching staff can put together a game plan to beat Michigan. The talent is there, the players will want it bad enough. Let’s just hope Bollman can remember a thing or two from Coach Tressel’s success against that school up north.

©2012 The Buckeye Blog. All Rights Reserved.