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The Buckeyes are back and they’ve clearly proven they still bleed scarlet and grey

This weekend the buckeyes finally proved that they still bleed scarlet and grey and they couldn’t have picked a better game than on their homecoming night to do so.

Though Ohio State did trail Wisconsin 7-3 at the half fans knew the game was far from over.   In the third quarter the buckeyes struck, putting two touchdowns on the board to Wisconsin’s one to take the lead 17-14.  Still too close for comfort going into the fourth quarter the buckeyes added a field goal followed by a touchdown to the score board.  But number 15 Wisconsin wasn’t going to give up that easily responding with not only a touchdown and the extra point but also yet another touchdown with their next possession, again giving themselves the lead 26-21.  But Ohio State clearly didn’t mind the pressure because sure enough freshman Braxton Miller stepped up for the team and completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith within the last 1:18 of the game.  Drew Basil finished the vital touchdown off with the extra point, and the rest is history.

The Buckeyes did it; they’ve convinced all those fans with doubts and little to no hope left, including myself, that they are still a team to be reckoned with.  My Facebook news feed literally read nothing but statuses like, “Proud to be a buckeye!” or “Buckeye Nation!” the remainder of the night.  Even on the other side of the country I could feel the excitement of all Ohio State fans; the buckeyes are finally back.

The pressure is not off the Buckeyes though, in fact, it may have simply multiplied now that they’ve demonstrated that they are indeed still a real football team.  Ohio State will take on Indiana at home this coming Saturday with big hopes and expectations to now fulfill but which are clearly within reach.

NCAA Violations List Continues to Grow

While Fickell told press he had no plans of taking it easy on the buckeyes this past week, it seems as though he may not have kept them busy enough .  Running back Jaamal Berry is allegedly a suspect in an assault that happened this past Friday on campus according to The Lantern.  The paper says,”this is the second incident involving Berry allegedly assaulting another individual in less than a month.”(thelantern)  I was born a buckeye fan and will always remain one but these players are running their programs tradition into the ground faster then I can blink.

Going into Saturday’s game against now 6-1 Wisconsin the only major change is the the back-up quarterback position now putting kenny Guiton ahead of Joe Bauserman, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering Bauserman’s recent performances.  Let’s hope the team that showed up against Illinois decides to show up this Saturday as well.

First Big Ten Win of the Season

The buckeyes walked away Saturday night with their first big ten win over number 14 Illinois, 17-7.  
While neither teams offensive game was overly impressive, the buckeyes came out on top after Basil’s 43-yard field goal in the first quarter followed by two touchdowns in both the 3rd and 4th quarters.  Miller still recovering from the previous game’s injury completed one of four passes, but at least he made that one pass count for a 17-yard touchdown. Can’t complain about that one.
The buckeyes defense held Illinois to under 300-yards, playing a key role in Saturday nights win.  I can’t say I have much to bash the buckeyes on this week, with a big ten win finally under their belts against an, at the time, undefeated team,  it was undoubtedly a much needed win.  The bucks have this weekend off and will face undefeated Wisconsin on October 29th for a true test of their progress this season.

Buckeyes Crumble Under Pressure

The buckeyes got off to a surprisingly good start Saturday going into the second half up 20-6 on number 14 Nebraska, but we all should have known this was just too good to last.
Midway through the third quarter, after ten carries for 91 rushing-yards and completing five of his eight passes for 95-yards and a touchdown, starting quarterback Braxton Miller sprained his ankle, sidelining him for the remainder of the game.  You could say things went anywhere but up from that point on.  Bauserman came in to finish out the game at QB completing one of 10 passes and throwing an interception. Way to step up as senior quarterback and lead the team Bauserman.  As if Bauserman’s performance weren’t enough the defense seemingly dissapeared, giving up 28 points in just the second half. Needless to say the buckeyes ended up losing a game they clearly could have and should have won.  The final score was 34-27.

As for OSU’s most recent controversies with NCAA violations Posey ended up being suspended for the next five games due to the offense of accepting more money then he earned while working this summer, $728 more then what he should have earned to be exact.  Hall, Fellows and Herron will all return this coming weekend after being suspended for the Nebraska game due to the same offense but of lesser severity in the amount they were over-paid.

One single piece of good news for the buckeyes is that according to recent reports Miller is expected to be back against Illinois, bringing about a huge sigh of relief for anyone who wants even a chance at winning considering Bauserman is downright awful.  The bucks are going into the Illinois game this weekend with a lousy 0-2 record in the conference, we’ll see if it’s possible for things to get even worse this Saturday.

Just Some More NCAA Violations

Ohio State had a tough weekend losing 10-7 to Michigan State in the cold and rain last Saturday afternoon.  The buckeyes’ offense was seemingly invisible, not even putting points onto the board until the last seconds of the game with a 34-yard pass from back-up quarterback Joe Bauserman to Evan Spencer.

As if the first big ten loss didn’t dampen everyone’s buckeye spirits enough, it gets better.  The buckeyes clearly had trouble getting points on the board this past weekend, however they continue to show no problems with violating NCAA rules.  Three more players are in trouble for NCAA violations and will not play in Saturday’s game against number 14 Nebraska, and possibly be suspended longer.  Wide receiver Devier Posey, running back Daniel Herron, and offensive lineman Marcus Hall were over paid for work they performed and depending on the dollar amount each player was paid they stand to be suspended past the Nebraska game.  Posey and Herron were two of the five players suspended for the first five games of the season for last season’s scandal involving memorabilia.

I’ve said it at least once before, when will this team learn?  I would have thought that this team has been through enough and that they would find it among their top priorities to be sure to abide by the rules and stick together as a team, this season especially, but clearly this is not the case.  Now instead of those suspended players being reinstated this upcoming game and the buckeyes getting that much closer to full strength, two won’t be returning and one more is out of the picture.  This buckeye team sure doesn’t seem to me like they care much about football or their tradition this year.

 

Big Ten; Big “uh-oh”?

It almost seemed that the Buckeyes were showing signs of improvement this past weekend against Colorado winning 37-17, but I still wonder, how much is really improvement and how much is simply the lack of competition Colorado and the teams they have played so far.  Colorado hasn’t won a road game since October 27th of 2007….just saying that should probably be taken into consideration before we get too ahead of ourselves saying the buckeyes season is already looking up.

Not that the bucks showed absolutely no improvements, Braxton Miller got his first career start completing two touch down passes to Devin Smith and Hall rushed for 84 yards and had a touchdown and a kickoff return for 90-yards.  But Miller also only completed five of 13 passes, while this is better then Bauserman’s performance the week before, it’s still not great.  So sure, Ohio state showed some signs of there being a light at the end of the tunnel, but lets not get too ahead of ourselves in the improvement category just yet.  We’ve yet to play any Big Ten teams, which will change this Saturday when the bucks face Michigan State, also 3-1.  If we win this game I’d have a little more sincere confidence in the the Buckeye’s for the rest of the season.

While I’m not yet sure how I feel about Miller at quarterback yet I was truly happy to see him listed in the starting spot again this weekend. I think thus far Bauserman has done nothing to prove he outright deserves it, and Miller having done a decent job in this position during his first go-around this weekend, why not at the very least throw him in there again and see what happens?  It’s a big weekend coming up for the buckeyes, we’ll see how big of a statement they make.

Buckeyes Take in First Loss of the Season

To few Buckeyes fans’ surprise OSU lost their first game on the road this past weekend to Miami, 24-6.  This marked the first time Ohio state football has lost to an unranked non-conference team since 1988, way to go Fickell!  Although I guess you can’t put all the blame on him considering he was simply the oh-so lucky guy thrown in to clean up the mess that was left from OSU’s controversial 2010 season and the following off-season.

If you didn’t see this weekends loss coming after the buckeyes’ last performance against Toledo then you at least realized it wasn’t going to be much of a game after the first ten minutes had pasted and the bucks were already down 14-0.  I guess the return of running back Jordan Hall, cornerback Travis Howard and defensive back Corey Brown after their suspensions were lifted the Wednesday before just wasn’t enough for the now Tressel deprived buckeyes.  Ohio State made it into the red zone twice the entire game, settling for a field goal each time, which unsurprisingly proved to be inadequate in the end.

The buckeyes clearly weren’t going to have some extraordinarily amazing season after the events of this years’s offseason unfolded, but the program as a whole still has a reputation to hold on to.  While they have suffered a loss with Pryor and especially with Tressel, there was a time when the buckeyes were a greatly respected team before they had either of the two.  I think if the buckeyes stay focused on what is attainable this season and most importantly stay out of trouble, other than the issues they are still dealing with, they can hold on to their programs well-earned reputation.

The buckeyes will return home to face Colorado this Saturday afternoon, hopefully for a more improved game then this past weekend’s.

The List Goes on; NCAA Violations

Fickell’s buckeyes had anything but an impressive game this past Saturday against the Toledo Rockets, almost throwing away an undefeated record against any ohio teams since 1921.  They amazingly came out on top but not by much, winning 27-22.

One contributing factor to Saturday’s game turning out anything but pretty may have been the inability of three players (two starters) to return from their what was suppose to be a one game suspension.  The three players, Jordan Hall, Travis Howard and Corey Brown violated NCAA rules when they received $200 at a charity banquet earlier this year.  All three players were suppose to have a one game suspension and be cleared to play in this past Saturday’s game against Toledo but after yet another hearing the three players were again ineligible.

You would have thought the Buckeyes finally learned their lesson with testing the NCAA rules this off-season after losing their head coach of 10 years and starting quarterback, but clearly if you did you were wrong.  We haven’t even heard the final ruling for OSU and Tressel’s hearing yet and the buckeyes are already suffering more consequences for more violations, it seems to be never ending.  Will this team ever learn?

The buckeyes head down to Miami this Saturday for their first away game of the season, news on the three recently suspended players eligibility for this game could be known as early as today.

A Positive Start After a Rocky Off-Season

The Ohio State Buckeyes opened their season at home this past Saturday against the Akron Zips coming out on top with a 42-0 win.  

Although it was the first time in 10 years that the buckeyes weren’t led onto the field by former coach Jim Tressel they still showed some strengths under Luke Fickell’s wing with senior quaterback Joe Bauserman’s touchdown to open the game followed by three more touchdown passes by the end of the game.  Braxton Miller, freshman quarterback also had his time to shine with his first collegiate touchdown pass in Saturday’s game.

While they’re off to a positive start it’s only the beginning.  The bucks have yet to hear a decision for the NCAA hearing and will face much more competitive teams then they did this past weekend, the season is just getting started.  The buckeyes will face Toledo at home again this Saturday.