But no matter what our friends in Michigan say, the streak is still alive. The vacated games don’t count as wins or losses — they just disappear.
Posts Tagged ‘uncle crappy
11
Jul
11
didn’t actually happen.
05
Jul
11
good advice.
Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples has some thoughts about the correct ways to break NCAA rules. It’s a funny column, but Ohio State fans will also notice some advice that Jim Tressel apparently forgot (see rules 2 and 5).
10
Jun
11
exodus.
There’s been a lot about this off-season that’s bothered me, but the departure of the head coach and the starting quarterback honestly aren’t among them.
Sure the resignation of Tressel and the announcement a day ago by his attorney — it’s not a good sign when college football players need attorneys — that Pryor would skip his senior season are short-term setbacks. And, more importantly, they’re symptoms of a larger problem that the NCAA will make sure is hanging over Ohio State football for at least a couple of years.
This is the start. This is how Ohio State gets its football program back. There will be a new coach. There will be a new quarterback. Because of the Tat Five suspensions, there will be a bunch of new faces on the field this fall.
And no matter what the NCAA does, no matter if the 2010 season is wiped from memory and Ohio State has sanctions hanging over its head for a couple years, this season is going to be a fun one.
23
Apr
11
spring forward.
I am happily watching the replay of Ohio State’s spring game, happy because I finally have some actual football to sink my teeth into.
Of course, it’s impossible to separate this afternoon’s game from the shitstorm my football team has been involved with for the past few months, and much of the discussion during the broadcast — and many of the thoughts I have about what transpired today — touch on the suspensions and how the Buckeyes deal with them in September.
- I’m kind of digging the camo helmets.
- Announced attendance was around 45,000. Product of the weather forecast or are people still irritate about the Tressel situation?
- (To answer my own question — I think I’m pretty much the only one who’s still irritated about the Tressel situation.)
- I wish Joe Bauserman had stepped up to lead the race to replace Pryor in the season’s first five games; he’s put in the time, he;s a senior, he’s been the backup for two seasons. But I didn’t see it today.
- I’m not willing to anoint him yet, but Braxton Miller, pictured above, show flashes of why we should be excited having him in Columbus. He throws a good ball — although he needs to learn a little touch — and once he has a better sense of being in the pocket, he’s going to run as well as Troy Smith or Terrelle Pryor.
- Like Bauserman, I was hoping to see more from an experienced quarterback like Kenny Guiton. He had one excellent touch pass for a touchdown, and a bunch of clunkers.
- The Graham kid? Terrific arm, but just about zero sense in the pocket. Think he got sacked 38 times during the game.
- The quarterbacks struggled early, in part, because the offensive line was shaky, especially against the defensive ones. For me, that underscores what I think will be the biggest loss of the Tat Five suspendees — left tackle Mike Adams. How Ohio State does in September will depend on finding a replacement.
- Boom Herron’s out for the first five games too, but running back is the least of my concerns. Jordan Hall looked exceptional running and catching the ball, and Rod Smith looks like a keeper.
- Wide receiver: who are these guys? They look young, but I think we’ll see a couple develop into clear-cut starters by the fall. I hope T.Y. Williams is one of them, because his size will be a challenge for opposing corners; I hope Philly Brown is the other, because how can you not root for a guy named Philly Brown?
- Defense is tough to judge, especially if we’re talking about the DBs and all the injuries that unit has dealt with this spring. Front seven? No worries, at least not for me.
As I’ve stopped dwelling on the whys of the suspensions and started thinking about actual football, and I’m feeling better about September. The road game at Miami isn’t as scary as it might sound — new coach, and a half-full stadium — which means we may not see a really tough test until the fifth game, against Michigan State. I think Miller’s going to be starting at quarterback by the second game, and if the O-line is OK, the team will be OK as well.
21
Jan
11
winter.
* One of Ohio State’s Tatgate guys made the play that won us the Sugar Bowl.
* All of the Tatgate guys made good on their promise to come back next season. And for some reason, I’m feeling oddly optimistic about 2011.
* At the moment, anyway.
* We will start paying attention to basketball; you may have noticed that Matta’s team is off to a decent start.
* When they beat Iowa the other night wearing the gray unis, I swear I could hear my father grumbling about them from 200 miles away.
I’m happy to have basketball — and, yes, the NHL — to help me cope with the realization that college football is done for a while. But that hasn’t kept me from having a minor existential crisis based on the damn Sunday football. You can read about that over here; I’d be happy to hear whatever thoughts you might have.
And in the meantime: National Signing Day is just a few weeks away.
04
Jan
11
halftime.
04
Jan
11
right now.
I need it. I want it. And tonight, I’m going to get it.
02
Jan
11
weak, part 2.
Unless, of course, it turns out that the entire Big Ten sucks. In which case, I should probably kiss my own ass.
28
Dec
10
weak.
Even after the last two seasons — when we wrapped up a home-and-home against Southern Cal and started one against Miami — I continue to hear about Ohio State’s weak football schedule.
There are two things to point out here. First, the Big Ten finished the regular season with three Top 10 teams, and the conference has eight teams playing bowl games, seven of which will play on New Year’s Day or later. Like any conference — including the SEC, which plays more than its share of 1-AA opponents every year — we have our weaknesses, but that’s a good sign that the conference schedule is becoming solid.
And then there’s this, the apparent announcement of a home-and-home series with Georgia down the road. For anyone who’s not keeping track on their own, here’s what the non-conference schedule offers for the next decade or so:
- 2012-13: Cal
- 2014-15: Virgina Tech
- 2016-17: Oklahoma
- 2018-19: Tennessee
- 2020-21: Georgia
Also consider that starting this fall, Nebraska (No. 17 in the AP, playing in the Holiday Bowl this week) is added to the conference schedule.
And then if you want to talk about weak schedules? Feel free to kiss my ass.
23
Dec
10
blame to share.
I’ve heard plenty more discussion — more than I wanted to, anyway — about the suspensions today. There seem to be a couple points people are making, both of which deflect at least some of the blame away from the players and the athletics department. Both points are worth taking a look at:
The NCAA’s rulebook is a mess. Well, yeah, I can’t argue with that. The rules are numbingly complex and enforcement is infuriatingly uneven. The NCAA had an explanation about why the suspensions weren’t starting with the Sugar Bowl, but that explanation is a beautiful example of what exactly the underlying problem is:
The decision from the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff does not include a withholding condition for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The withholding condition was suspended and the student-athletes will be eligible to play in the bowl game Jan. 4 based on several factors.
These include the acknowledgment the student-athletes did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred, (NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs Kevin) Lennon said.
NCAA policy allows suspending withholding penalties for a championship or bowl game if it was reasonable at the time the student-athletes were not aware they were committing violations, along with considering the specific circumstances of each situation. In addition, there must not be any competitive advantage related to the violations, and the student-athletes must have eligibility remaining.
The policy for suspending withholding conditions for bowl games or NCAA championship competition recognizes the unique opportunity these events provide at the end of a season, and they are evaluated differently from a withholding perspective. In this instance, the facts are consistent with the established policy, Lennon said.
Uh, yeah. That is technically an explanation, but I’m not sure it’s one that going to make the questions — the ones about television ratings and postseason money — go away.
The rules put scholarship athletes at a financial disadvantage. I don’t remember whether I’ve said this here or at Uncle Crappy, but the system that forbids players from holding jobs while their university makes bucketloads of money selling everything from tickets to jerseys with those players numbers is ridiculous.
In my mind, the solution is pretty simple — pay them. Give them a stipend. It doesn’t have to be much, but it should be enough that it helps remove some of the temptation to, I don’t know, sell championship rings or Gold Pants for pizza money.
There’s a whole sociology dissertation behind this question; it encompasses race, social and economic status, idol worship and a host of other factors. A stipend wouldn’t solve all those problems, but it would ease the disparity between the athletes and the institutions that are making all that money.
Those are both legitimate problems and without a doubt, they both contributed to the suspensions. However, I’m still having a hard time getting past the university’s admission that it did not do enough to make sure its student-athletes had a thorough understanding of NCAA compliance rules. As I said, those rules are baffling and, in many cases, stupid — but they are still the rules. And if Ohio State wasn’t doing everything in its power to provide its scholarship athletes know those rules, that’s the first place we have to point the finger.
Killer Nuts Tailgating 