Criag’s Eggs; Midwest Values Edition

Mmmm....TJ's Barnyard Buster...

Long time readers of this blog may remember the ramblings of our beloved blogger at large, The Eggman. As I recall, the last we heard from tEggman was late in 2007. Sure, there was the occassional late night text message or incoherent voicemail. And then I opened my email yesterday to find this which arrived in my inbox at 3:22 a.m.

Just the Eggman’s luck. The one time I end up with good alumni tickets I draw the USC game at home while I’m out of town. Normally, an alumni is lucky to get a ticket and when they receive that ticket it’s usually against Youngstown State and up on C-Deck — not on either side line nor on either end, but in a pie wedge way up in the nosebleed section. You know, the place OSU sticks visiting teams — the “Spartan Corner.” Why call it that? Because I’ve been stuck there more than once — and I hate green.

To make matters worse where would my impeccable planning take me? To Southern California, of course. Nothing worse than having tickets to the Big Game when you’re visiting the opposing team’s backyard. Other than Notre Dame I can’t think of a team that dislike more than the University Spoiled Children. It’s not so much I’m jealous because they have sun when we have snow. Or, that they have surf while we have the Scioto and Olentangy. No it’s not so much a jealousy thing as much as it really is — partially.

It’s the smarminess of the whole thing. Pete Carroll is probably the best college coach in the last 10 years. Sure he couldn’t cut it in the NFL, but somehow he found a niche out West. The man is toothy handsome with a permanent George Hamilton tan. His fans and players love him and no one can argue with his record.

But, something about a team having a mascot with a theater major riding a white horse wearing a plastic helmet from a Hollywood set doesn’t sit right – at least for somebody from the Midwest, probably East, South, Gulf Coast, Mountains or Northwest for that matter. And, the band is as juvenile multiplied by 150.

Here’s something else, regardless of your school affiliation, if you’re an establishment of higher learning, then why the hell does your band need to read music while marching to their own fight song, or to other meaningful songs they’ve learned over the last seven days like love roller coaster, funky town, and beat it? Grow up and learn. You’re on national TV. (Please take note of this advice University of Michigan. But, as usual I digress.)

I guess “juvenile” is the operative word. Any kid that’s good enough to play Division I football and has a choice to go to Los Angeles or Wisconsin, the choice ain’t tough. The problem is that they normally have somebody that pays for their college that worked for it and who is concerned about it. “It” would be you and you would be my kid. It would be a problem for me to send my football player to the Tinseltown, home of O.J. Simpson and all the other glam previously mentioned.

Let’s dig deeper and paint a picture. We’re from Nebraska and are the salt of the earth. Our son, Bubba is 6 foot five weighs 300 pounds and can throw 100 hay bails a story up into a barn in one afternoon. Bubba is street smart and has decent enough grades to get into almost any Division I school other than Stanford, Michigan, Cal, and North Carolina. My bad, that’s not quite right. They have special academic dispensations if Bubba has a learning disability or something. Regardless, point is that every coach in America wants Bubba to play for them. In fact he so good that the top 10 programs in the country want him.

High school coaches usually look out for their players as if they were one of their own kids. They know in-state coaches and what each college program individually needs as far as positions — quarterback, linebacker, defensive back, kicker, line, wideouts and so on. There are a lot of factors that parents have to weigh before their kids go off to play for a big school program. And, when they narrowed down the last few, the going gets tough.

The schools call the parents, football staff calls the parent and they call the players friends, uncles, aunts, and find whatever surreptitious Avenue to infiltrate into the back door and into the noggin of so they will play for them. They are chiggers and will burrow until the end… The ultimate showdown normally timed late in the year to close the deal is for an official visit from a coach. Compare “Closing Day” between USC and OSU. Everybody knows that Pete Carroll is a good cool guy playing at a neat school with good weather with a reputation for good football in a town that’s marginally glamorous by whomever’s standards. And, we know that Jim Tressel is a nice fatherly figure calm collected cool methodical almost beyond genuine. Also at a good school with a reputation.

As a parent it’s pretty obvious to me which way to go. Although Bubba is a man child as his parent, I still know the needs to grow up at school as a person educationally and some day professionally. Who would you trust the man with a Lear and Limmo or the guy with a vest and the Buick? No brainer. Please.

Outcome:  OSU 31 / USC 28

Granted, the Navy Ohio State game was probably the best season opener in the last decade, but the midshipmen’s triple option showed that our core of three new linebackers weren’t quite up to snuff to stop a good running game. And, nowadays wide spread offenses require more nickel backs and/or DBs makes stopping the run even more difficult. The other problem having extra defensive backs means that they’re all not that good as in the past.

Having a defensive secondary is the toughest position to fill because not only do they need to be capable burners on the outside, but they have to stop Wells or whatever thug they can cram up the middle. Further, with a starting freshman quarterback, Pete Carroll will take the heat off by establishing a good running game and use play action to catch the secondary off guard as the midshipmen did last week to Ohio State.

USC racked up the yards against Fresno State last weekend and only gave us the vanilla looks for films. Anderson “Toast” Russell is going to have to be on his game because USC will see that on film and exploit it all day until Ohio State figures it out. If Ohio State can stop the run and build the turnover margin, this should be a good game. I give home-field advantage and special teams big weight. And hopefully the 12th man can help scramble their freshman’s noggin at linchpin moments.