A big factor in the Heisman Trophy chase is the p.r. and hype that can be developed around a potential candidate. At some point in the process, a decision is made (often within a school’s athletic department) to start promoting a player with Heisman potential. If the March 4 cover of Sport’s Illustrated is any indicator, it appears that the Braxton Miller Heisman hype machine is well underway.

As the college basketball season gears up for it’s biggest event of the year (and possibly the biggest event in college sports), Sports Illustrated has decided that it’s never too early to talk Heisman Trophy. Aside from the insult to college basketball, Braxton Miller bursting out of the cover with the headline “Ohio State’s Braxton Miller Ready to Burst Onto the Heisman Scene” does make sense.

More than any year I can remember, the expectations on Ohio State this coming season are huge. After going undefeated in 2012 with a team that demonstrated it’s share of weaknesses, Urban Meyer went to town on the recruiting trail landing what some have called the top recruiting class in the country. Add the fact that we are hearing almost daily reports out of Columbus regarding the continued development of Braxton Miller and the early pre-season hype is understandable.

Good or bad, if the 2013 Buckeyes don’t make it to the National Championship game and Miller isn’t a Heisman finalists, many Buckeye fans will look at 2013 a “bad” season.

Preseason betting odds favor Braxton Miller for the Heisman second only to last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Johnny “Imnotgointocallhimthat” Manziel at 7-1. Manziel leads the odds at 4-1.

What do you think? Too much early season hype? Expectations too high or is it all going exactly as it should.

You can see the complete Heisman Trophy odds below curtosy of www.Bovada.lv.

Odds to win the 2013-2014 Heisman Trophy

Johnny Manziel (QB Texas A&M) 4/1

Braxton Miller (QB Ohio State) 7/1

Marquis Lee (WR USC) 9/1

Aaron Murray (QB Georgia) 10/1

De’Anthony Thomas (RB Oregon) 10/1

A.J. McCarron (QB Alabama) 12/1

Duke Johnson (RB Miami) 12/1

Jadeveon Clowney (DE South Carolina) 12/1

Tajh Boyd (QB Clemson) 15/1

Taylor Martinez (QB Nebraska) 15/1

Ameer Abdullah (RB Nebraska) 18/1

Marcus Mariota (QB Oregon) 18/1

T.J. Yeldon (RB Alabama) 18/1

Brett Hundley (QB UCLA) 20/1

Lache Seastrunk (RB Baylor) 20/1

Everett Golson (QB Notre Dame) 22/1

Stephen Morris (QB Miami) 25/1

Blake Bell (QB Oklahoma) 30/1

Jeff Driskel (QB Florida) 30/1

Ka’Deem Carey (RB Arizona) 33/1

Devin Gardner (QB Michigan) 40/1

Stefon Diggs (WR Maryland) 40/1

With only eight days left until national signing day, the annual frenzy that is college football recruiting is in full stride. Although Meyer currently holds the No. 4 ranked recruiting class according to Rivals.com, there are still a couple of spots to fill. Running back Dontre Wilson, currently an Oregon commit, made a visit to Columbus this past weekend along with wide receiver James Clark out of Florida. No word yet on either at this time.

Although Oregon coaches didn’t speak out (that I know of), an article on Oregon Live had a number of Duck fans doing their best Bret Bielema impersonations as they realized that not only was Wilson considering defecting, Ohio State assistant coach Tom “Quick Cals” Herman was jumping on Oregon commits. Hoping to convince a few other Ducks to follow the footsteps of the coach they had hoped to play for, Herman met with 4 Star wide receiver Darren Carrington Jr. and offered scholarships to Tryee and Tyrell Robinson.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, about half the team are now Meyer recruits and there may be only one spot left to fill.

While it’s great to see Meyer bringing in all this offensive talent, it’s the defense that I’m most concerned about. Rivals.com does show a number of 4-5 star recruits committed to the defense.

So what do you think? Who are you most excited to see in a Buckeye uniform? Who would you most like us to see round out the roster and why? Does Oregon or anyone else for that matter have any reason to complain? I mean this is college football right?

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick stepped away from the microphone too overcome with emotion to speak. When he raised his head he said, “That the single most trusting human being I’ve ever met will never be able to trust in the same way again in his life. That’s an incredible tragedy.”

Taken on it’s own the story of Manti Ta’o's fake girlfriend and the deception Swarbrick claims Ta’o endured would be a terrible tragedy–almost as tragic as the story of her death and the college football fan base she inspired. However, when framed in the light of a number of events at Notre Dame over the past few years, just how much can we trust Swarbrick or for that much anything that comes out of the Notre Dame football program?

In the past two years the Notre Dame football program has been connected with two student deaths. The first a tragic accident involving a student videographer who was killed when a lift from which he was filming toppled over in high winds.

According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, Notre Dame was anything but helpful in the Indiana OSHA investigation which resulted in six safety violations related to the student’s death. Although Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly claimed it was a “beautiful day” and that wind conditions remained normal until they were hit by a 60 mph gust, video and reports uncovered by IOSHA told a different story.

The university determined through their own investigation that “the accident was caused by a confluence of unrelated events and issues.” However, as the Tribune story points out, Notre Dame was anything but cooperative in the IOSHA investigation going so far as to edit practice video filmed on the day of the accident claiming, “highly proprietary, trade secret information related to the business of college sports” that they could not release. In other words, they felt that Coach Kelly’s latest sneak play was more important than an investigation into the safety of students in their employ.

The second tragedy as reported by Notre Dame alumn Melinda Hennenberger in her Washington Post Story, “Why I Won’t be Cheering for Old Notre Dame” is the death of St. Mary’s student Lizzy Seeberg who committed suicide after being sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player–a claim the university vehemently denies. Hennenberger reports that the intimidation aimed at Seeberg including texts messages which read “Don’t do anything you would regret” and “You don’t mess with Notre Dame football.” She goes on to tell of a second rape victim was so intimidated by threats from Notre Dame football players that she refused to file criminal charges.

Both of the accused are were on the roster for the BCS national championship game against Alabama.

In a story that rivals the abuse at Penn State, Hennenberger reporting in the National Catholic Reporter tells of sexual abuse and cover up that spans decades at Notre Dame. Her story includes a comment from a former Notre Dame administrator who referred to a rape victim in 1974 as a “a queen of the slums with a mattress tied to her back.”

And now we are expected to believe the story that Te’o is a hapless victim in an amazing case of deception. Even though the Deadspin article that broke the story outlines an ongoing series of contradictions by Te’o and quotes a source saying he is “80 percent sure” that Te’o was involved in the hoax, there is Swarbrick once again standing tall for the integrity of Ole’ Notre Dame.

Even though Swarbrick was made aware of the Te’o situation on December 26 and by December 27 had met with Te’o and realized that the girlfriend story was a hoax, he allowed the inspirational story of Te’o's perseverance in the face of overwhelming tragedy continue through the BCS National Championship game. It was a story that was told again in depth by CBS the morning of the BCS National Championship game and referred to again during the live broadcast of the game.

Instead of stopping the story a week earlier, Swarbrick allowed the story to perpetuate.

When asked during the press conference how they advised Te’o to respond if asked about his girlfriend Swarbrick said that they told Te’o, “We encouraged him to try to focus forward and focus on the game and not draw attention backward, if he could.”

Focus on the game because apparently at Notre Dame, “the game” takes priority above all else.

Te’o's statement only adds to the questioning of priorities as he ends his official statement saying, “I’m looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft.” (Granted, at this point what else is there left to do?)

Notre Dame is unlike any other college football program. Ever since Knute Rockney asked his players to “Win one for the Gipper” the storied football program has been built around tales of faith and inspiration. Like Penn State’s Joe Paterno, it is (was) a program that is supposed to rise above the others representing all that is great about college football. To many Notre Dame represents a romantic golden age in which school spirit and honor were the corner stone upon which college athletics were built.

And although I have become frustrated with Notre Dame in recent years, I appreciate what they represented. Enough so that I choose not to write about about the story of sexual assault when I first read the report in December. At some point though the bubble bursts. Like Penn State, it is time for Notre Dame to stop covering for the football team at all costs and focus on rebuilding a much damaged reputation.

And another

About the only thing better than seeing the Buckeyes beat Michigan is seeing the Buckeyes beat an undefeated Michigan and in the process keeping them from moving to the No. 1 spot in the polls. Going into this game I described the Ohio State men’s basketball team as roller coaster. Sunday’s game against Michigan only reinforced the metaphor as the Buckeyes nearly missed taking down the last undefeated team in the country.

After opening with an early 16 point run and building a 29-9 lead, the Buckeyes let Michigan back into the game bringing back memories of Duke in the process. Apparently though Aaron Craft wasn’t going to let that happen again. After putting up seven of the 16 points in the opening run and completely shutting down Trey Burke in the first half it was in the final moments of the game that Craft truly proved (again) his abilities as a defender.

In what was truly a head on head, you-and-me-in-a-cage matchup, Craft locked down Burke holding him to the final tics of the shot clock forcing the three point shot. Although it was a three point shot that seemed to take about 20 minutes to get to the net, somehow the ball stopped about half-way in, danced around the inside of the rim a few times and bounced back up and out of the net.

While Craft’s play is getting most of the attention this morning, Sam Thompson’s one-handed, alley-oop, slammer-jammer, downtown followed by another dunk on the next trip to turn the momentum was just another clip for the ever growing Thompson highlight reel.

No question the early second-half slump was about as frustrating as it comes, hopefully they will be able to keep up the intensity through an entire game come February when they take on Michigan and Indiana back to back.

The Buckeyes have the week off before traveling to Michigan State on Saturday.

While most gambling types are looking for the best way to bet on Super Bowl Sunday, apparently it’s not too early to place your bets on the 2013 BCS Championship game. The odds makers at Bovda.lv have released early odds for the winner of next year’s BCS Championship placing Alabama on top with 5/1 odds followed by Oregon at 8/1 and Ohio State at 17/2.

LSU and Texas A&M round out the top five with odds of 12/1 and 14/1 respectively. Florida fills the sixth spot at 14/1 giving four of the top six favored teams to the SEC. From both the odds makers and a betting perspective going with an SEC team makes sense. As No. 1 ranked preseason LSU and later Florida proved this year (and I continue to harp about) although there may only be two-three high level teams in the SEC, by the time the preseason rankings come around it is highly likely that the majority of the top ten teams will hail from the SEC. As such even if all SEC teams suffer at least two losses, the losses will come to highly ranked teams (deserving of the ranking or not) and chances are they will still get their BCS spot. Pick the right SEC team and you’ve got a 50 percent chance of picking the winner.

If you’re more of the “Beatlebomb” type and want to throw your money at a long shot you can get odds on Michigan at 33/1 or play it safe in the SEC with Arkansas at 100/1 or Auburn at 200/1.

Basketball Roller Coaster
The roller coaster that is the Ohio State men’s basketball team continues as they face No. 2 ranked Michigan Sunday. It appears as though the loss to Illinois was at least enough of a wake up call to get past Purdue (who did beat Illinois). The question remains as to whether the Buckeyes can compete against top ranked teams. No matter how good they look most of the time, the Buckeyes haven’t gotten past a ranked team yet.

The Buckeyes do face Michigan at home which should help. A win would provide some much needed confidence.

Even if the Buckeyes do lose, you know Sam Thompson is good for at least one of these which means it won’t be a total loss.

Just in case you somehow missed it

Although it’s much more fun to watch when an Ohio State player does it, South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney’s hit on Michigan’s Vincent Smith during the Outback Bowl was one for the record books. According to an article on Buzzfeed it appears that thanks to the wonders of the open source nature of Wikipedia for a short time Clowney’s Wikipedia page was edited to include the following:

In the Outback Bowl, Clowney obliterated the entire state of Michigan when he hit Wolverines’ running back Vincent Smith and forced a fumble. There are now only 49 states in the United States and Roger Goodell has suspended Clowney for the first game of his NFL career.

Unfortunately if all it takes to obliterate the entire state of Michigan is to make a Michigan football team look bad, the Buckeyes would have extended Toledo’s lakefront property years ago.

As for Wikipedia, I know of someone who once changed the Keanu Reeves Wikipedia entry to state that Reeves returned to his Alma Matter Ohio State to dot the i. Somebody else had already edited the entry to state that Reeves went to Ohio State. The amazing thing is that it stayed like that for a couple of months.

True Wikipedia fact: Larry Sanger, one of the creators of Wikipeda is an Ohio State alumni. I saw him speak on the topic. Safe to say he wasn’t happy about his experience with Wikipedia

At first glance a 2-5 Big Ten bowl record looks pretty bad but if there is anything to be said about the rankings (and the quality of regular season schedule), the Big Ten has nothing to be ashamed of. In almost every Big Ten bowl game game Big Ten teams played well above their ranking and even Minnesota, who finished the regular season with a losing record, held Texas Tech to the final second before giving up the win.

Here are seven good things about the 2012 B1G bowl season

Northwestern Speed
Although it’s great to see Northwestern shake the purple monkey from their back it was even better to see a mid-level Big Ten team put a mid-level SEC team properly in their place. By doing so they proved for the second time this season that just because you play in the SEC, you are not a top college football team.

Even though Northwestern had already dispensed of fellow SEC conference Vanderbilt, Mississippi State’s Corey Brumfield still didn’t get the fact that Mississippi State is nothing more than an SEC coat-tail rider when he said,

“When a guy’s fast in the Big Ten, he stands out. If he’s in the SEC, he’d be [just] another player.”

Northwestern completely humiliated Mississippi State in a game that included four interceptions against a quarterback who had only thrown two previous interceptions his entire career.

That purple beat down you just received Cory? It’s called Northwestern Speed.

Michigan State By 1?
Rarely does a 3-5 Big Ten team can make it to a bowl game but Michigan State did just that. After losing most of their 2012 games by less than a touchdown, Michigan State ended their season on a high note with a last second field goal to beat TCU.

58 Minutes of Minnesota Football
If a 3-5 record will get you to a bowl game, why not throw a 2-6 Big Ten team in there also. For all but the last minute of so of the Meinke Car Care Bowl it looked like Minnesota was going be able to proudly apply the medicore label the 2012 season. Unfortunately, they lost it in the last seconds of the game. Even though, a bottom wrung Big Ten team gave mid-level Big 12 TCU a run for their money.

Nebraska Offense
If the SEC really is as good as we keep hearing, the Capital One Bowl should have been a complete blowout for No. 8 ranked Georgia. I mean really, this is the team that lost the SEC championship to national championship designee Alabama by a mere four points. Nebraska gave up 70 points in a blowout Big Ten Championship to Wisconsin who finished third in their division.

And yet for three quarters, it looked like Nebraska was going to pull a Northwestern on another SEC team. Although Rex Burkehead did everything he could moving the ball 140 yards on only 24 carries and pulling down four passes for 39 yards and a touchdown, the Nebraska defense once again failed to show up.

If this is the best the SEC has to offer, put your money on Notre Dame.

Wisconsin Didn’t Get Blown Out
Again, if you go by the rankings a No. 6 Stanford should have blown out an unranked Wisconsin but that was not the case. Wisconsin turned their early game difficulties into a defensive struggle. It would have been nice to see the B1G default champion win the Rose Bowl but when an 8-1 Pac 12 team has to work this hard to get past a 4-4 Big Ten team, I’m not complaining.

And Then There’s Michigan
Based on their record and just the fact that they are in the SEC, 11-2 South Carolina and should have had no trouble putting away 8-5 Michigan. These are the guys who stomped No. 5 (at the time) Georgia 35-7 while Michigan’s only outing against the SEC ended in an embarrassing 41-14 season opener. Yet there was Michigan, who until the last 11 seconds of the Outback Bowl looked like they may actually pull it out.

Of course those of us in the Big Ten gave up counting on Michigan years ago. Michigan being Michigan threw out yet another chance to knock off an over-rated SEC team.

Can We Admit that LSU Was Overrated Yet?
If ever there was a team that demonstrates SEC bias in the polls, this year’s LSU was it. Bested only by Arkansas’ No. 8 ranking, LSU opened at No. 3 and even after struggling against FCS Townson and only getting past 4-7 Arkansas by a touchdown they still finished the regular season ranked No. 8.

Yeah, a win is a win and in the SEC those wins count double. However, it looks like they were a good paring for No. 14 ranked Clemson who slipped by them in the last seconds of the game. I’m sure when the final polls come out LSU will slip no further than No. 9 or so.

Let’s face it. December has been a fairly boring month for Ohio State sports. With no bowl game to analyze, over analyze and to talk about some more, we find ourselves turning to Ohio State basketball. However, it’s hard to get excited when it takes a Google search just to decipher the school abbreviations that fill the December schedule (UMKC? NKU? LBSU?). Thankfully, the December glut is about to end as the Buckeyes face No. 9 Kansas followed by one more Google search and then it’s off to the Big Ten Season.

So Bring on Kansas!
Coming off a lackluster win over Winthrop, the Ohio State Buckeyes will test their No. 7 ranking for the first time since losing to Duke. After two losses to Kansas last season including the tournament ending semi-final game, the Buckeyes have got to be looking for revenge–especially Deshaun Thomas who was held to only 3 of 14 in the final four loss.

Since that game Thomas has turned into a scoring machine averaging 20.4 points per game. Inside, outside, doesn’t seem to matter where Thomas is coming from, he is finding the hoop. Although he’s not the only one putting double digits on the scoreboard, one look at the Duke game film and we can expect Kansas to do all they can to shut Thomas down. With the expected double, triple, whatever team facing Thomas the rest of the Buckeyes will need to be in top scoring form.

This especially rings true for Craft. Although he continues to excite and lead this team, since being held to 3 of 15 against Duke Craft has struggled in the scoring department. Craft needs to find his rhythm early in order to regain his shooting confidence. Defensively both he and Shannon Scott should be able to give the Jayhawks fits. Get both of them firing on the other side of the ball and it should be a big day for the Buckeyes.

Work the boards
The Buckeyes ability to work the offensive boards keeps even the most Google worthy games exciting. The need to control the offensive board will continue as Kansas’ Jeff Withey has been putting up insane blocking numbers stoning 54 attempts while only drawing 11 fouls. With an iron curtain like that standing in your way, do overs will be crucial.

Play Your Game
The Buckeyes play their best when the settle into their rhythm and play their game. Unlike the past two losses to Kansas last year, this game is at home and as we all know, the Buckeyes like playing at home. Let Thomas get a couple of big shots early, Craft be Craft and maybe throw in a huge Sam Thompson dunk or two and come Sunday the Buckeyes will be moving up the rankings.

Check out a the Braxton Miller montage put together by our very own Joey AkA “The People’s Buckeye.” He says it’s his first foray into video editing but I’d say it looks pretty good. Love the Michigan highlights. I’m sure we’ll see Miller in New York come Heisman time next year.

Hankins Leaves for NFL
Defensive lineman Jonathon Hankins has decided to turn in his senior season at Ohio State for a potential first-round NFL draft pick. NFLDraftScout.com ranks Hankins as the No. 2 defensive tackle and the No. 9 overall pick.

Although the loss of Hankins will be a big blow to the Ohio State defense, with the potential for a a contract in the 10s of millions, it would almost be irresponsible for him not to leave. Hankins departure leaves Ryan Shazier as the only starting linebacker to return for the 2013 season.

Buckeye fans now await word on Bradley Roby who may also leave early for the NFL making for a total of eight defensive starters to replace if he does.

It took a good part of the season for the 2012 defense to step up. Let’s hope that the Buckeye defense can quickly fill the holes left by Hankins, departing seniors Travis Howard, John Simon, Etienne Sabino, Zack Boren (I could go on but you get the idea) and possibly Roby.

Updated: Corrected error in first publication of post.

It would seem that after securing your third Big 10 Championship and a third trip to the Rose Bowl in three years, job security wouldn’t be much of a concern. Look a little deeper though and Bret Bielema’s future at Wisconsin didn’t look so bright and a move to the head coaching position at Arkansas was a smart way to fend off the inevitable.

Hidden right behind that 70 to 31 B1G Championship win over Nebraska is an 8-5 record and a 3rd place finish in the leaders division. Add two straight Rose Bowl Losses and things aren’t looking near as good. With a steady stream of assistant coaches leaving for higher paying jobs chances are Bielema realized that this was as good as it may get for a long time. Although he was the hand-picked choice to follow Barry Alveriz into the Athletic Director’s chair as Wisconson, job security might have been on his mind when he decided to flee the Big 10 and a championship season for a sub-par SEC team.

The Urban Factor
It didn’t take long after Urban Meyer’s return to Ohio State for Bielema to start complaining about Meyer’s aggressive recruiting style. Throw Michigan’s Brady Hoke into the mix and suddenly the recruiting scene in the Big Ten is looking a lot like the days of the Woody vs. Bo recruiting wars.

In what should have been a rebuilding year for the Buckeyes, Ohio State’s undefeated season also came as something of a surprise. With only one career win over the Buckeyes as head coach at Wisconsin, the undefeated season along with a top contender spot for the BCS Championshionship in 2012, the insane bias toward SEC teams in the BCS Championship and future B1G championships not to mention BCS Games is looking bleaker and bleaker.

Eventually, Wisconsin’s bowl and B1G championship hopes are bound do diminish and as they do, the fans will not be so kind to Bielema. Sure, his future looked secure now but how many times have we said that about a coach only to see them out a few years down the road. Bielema raised the Badger fan expectations to heights he could not maintain. Better to get out now on his own terms while he’s still a hot commodity.

But Arkansas?
Compare the situation at Arkansas to that of Wisconsin. Other than the 2011 and 2010 seasons, four, five, six and even seven-loss seasons are the norm. Just getting to a BCS game would be considered a success not to mention the response if Bielema brought the Hogs their first BCS win.

Unlike Wisconsin, the entitlements of the SEC greatly increase Bielema’s odds of making it to a national championship game. If you can start a 4-8 season with a top 10 ranking it’s safe to say you’ve got an advantage in the BCS race. Texas A&M has done a good job at exposing the weaknesses of the SEC and Bielema sees it as ripe picking. It’s not like Arkansas can fall much lower. Remember folks, this is a school that looked to Bobby Petrino as a savior.

When Bielema announces to the Arkansas faithful that he wants to bring them a BCS Championship what’s to lose? That he won’t?

And Job Security
While the salary increase at Arkansas isn’t all that impressive the out clauses are. According to a report on Fox Sports, if Bielema Arkansas will pay Bielema $12.8 million if they fire him in the first three years of the contract. During the 4th year that drops to $9.6 million, $6.4 million in the fifth and $3.2 million in the sixth and final year of the contract. Considering the potential Wisconsin dilemma described above, that’s a pretty good deal.

Although it’s been a lot of fun watching Bielema’s frustrations over the last few years and he’s continued the development of Wisconsin into an effective Ohio State rivalry, as an Iowa born pig farmer you can’t blame him for returning to the hog trough.

Eddie George Comes Home
Following in the footsteps of fellow Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin, Eddie George has returned to Ohio State in an official capacity to The Ohio State University. George will serve as an assistant vice president working with a number of outreach programs for the university.

George has never been one to hide his Buckeye loyalty and it’s good to see him on back on the roster at Ohio State.