Why This Year is Different

Every member of Buckeye Nation wants to replace this picture with a new one of Tressel holding the same trophy (mostly because the FedEx logo will be on there instead of bush-league Circuit City).

But another thing us Buckeyes should be thinking about is: why is this year different? As CFN most recently points out, lately the SEC, not Michigan, is our biggest weakness. Funny, but only because it's true. So why won't Ohio State go to the BCS Championship for the third straight year and get pummeled by Georgia or Florida?

I'm going to do my best to make an argument, either to convince myself, or to convince the masses. Ohio State football has less credibility than Brett Favre or Elliot Spitzer at this point -- but at least Favre could probably hang with the SEC. So, college football fans, why should you not fill your calendar with karoke on January 8, 2009? I'm not sure. But, here goes:

1. Returning starters

This year's Ohio State squad has 20 starters returning to play one more year of football. For those of you not good with math, numbers, or football, that's 91% of last year's starting team. In 2006, the first year OSU revisited the BCS Championship, there were 10 returning starters. Last year, there were 11. This should be good enough to get a perennial Big Ten powerhouse through most of the big games.

2. Beanie

If Beanie Wells leaves after this season, which would still be a year early, there's a decent chance he'd be the #1 pick. There's also a decent chance that he'll be OSU's 2nd Heisman winner in the past 3 years. Not only does he have an inhuman combination of size and speed, it allows Tressel to build an offensive gameplan around the running game -- which makes everyone sad except for Big Ten fans.

3. Tressel

There's just something about the guy. From his no-nonsense (and no smiling) interviews, to his recent revelation that if he didn't have to take a vacation, he wouldn't, you have to believe he knows what he's doing and that he's committed to helping this team win. The era has started in Columbus when people go to Ohio State to play for Tressel, as Terrelle Pryor showed when he committed to playing for the Buckeyes: "When I called Coach Tress he welcomed me to the Ohio State family."

There are plenty of other things the Buckeyes have going for them, but for now, I just hope even a couple people will avoid prematurely trashing the Buckeyes, at least until after the game under the lights in L.A. on September 13 .

But I realize this is a long shot.

Downloadable 2008 College Football Schedule

The College Football Excel love-fest is far from over! Behold AND DOWNLOAD the 2008 College Football Helmet Schedule. Tabbed by 1-A Conference and 'Game of the Week' it will be a handy reference for planning your fall. 

As in years past, I must disclaim any actual credit for this glorious resource and will once again put it out to the collective awesomeness of the Internet and ask that this hero of College Football Fans everywhere step forward to be recognized.

Word.

Son of College Football Helmet Quiz

This Tracy Nishibun is prolific with Excel-based quizzes and apparently lives somewhere in Hawai'i (where College Football was also taking off last we checked, sometime early in the 1st Quarter of the 2008 Sugar Bowl.) Not to pre-suppose he's a Hawai'i fan, but let's hope the program survives its Hundred-Year whooping by Georgia, and the departure of June Jones, and that Mr. Nishibun is still motivated to take advantage of his new-found viral College Football fame and keep pumping out quizzes. (NCAA, Historical, etc.)

In College Football Helmet Quiz Part II we see the same familiar, comfortable format with different helmets and, IMO, slightly more challenge than the first quiz.

Download Here.

College Football Helmet Quiz

I'm unapologetic about my quest for the kitsch in college football. Whatever helps me better connect to the game is all good with me: trivia, blogs, coloring books and other bullshit, but particularly home-grown Excel quizzes by Tracy Nishibun with an assist from The Helmet Project.

Download Here

Big Ten: The Next Coaching Powerhouse?

What we're witnessing (if Stewart Mandel's postulate comes to fruition) is the migration of coaching talent to the Big Ten and there following the ascendancy of the conference back to elite (read: SEC) levels.

Truth be told, with Ohio State the only truly elite program in the Big Ten, and repeatedly coming up short when it counted most, the SEC is better top to bottom right now. But the difference isn't the mythical 'Southern Speed,' it's coaching.

Look at number of household name coaches in the SEC last year: Phil Fulmer, Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Mark Richt, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Tommy Tuberville (and, some might argue Houston Nutt).

Counting Bobby Petrino this year for a total of 8 elite level coaches, it is no wonder that with this embarrassment of riches, the SEC is College Football's most dominant league.

By comparison, the Big Ten had just three coaches worthy of mention in the same breath as the above: Lloyd Carr, Joe Pa and Jim Tressel. (Kirk Ferentz, Joe Tiller and Ron Zook deserve possible inclusion in the 'household names' category, but few would argue they are on par with any of the SEC bunch, save possibly Nutt.)

In this case, Joe Pa himself deserves special consideration as a coach who (almost everyone but the most shameless Penn State homers would agree) is well past his prime and in modern usage no longer 'elite.' So the prospect of swapping in Schiano for Paterno on the heels of the Rodriguez for Carr deal, in my eyes is a net win for the Big Ten in terms of coaching strength.

Some out there even think Zook has the tools to be elite, but one thing is certain, with the SEC as saturated at it currently is, young coaching talent will be looking elsewhere for opportunities and I think we'll see more of this stuff landing in fertile, Midwestern pastures.

Lee Corso Kisses His Mother With That Mouth!

It's June. College Football is some 70 days away and I just wanted to get something out there to say I'm still here and thinking about blogging College Football. I know this is lazy, but I don't have real content to provide, but think people should see this if they haven't already. Somehow it gets me fired up for College Football (which we always capitalize around here).

Pete Fiutak - Professional Journalist

Is Pete Fiutak the gold standard of good sports journalism or what? From his The Way-Early BCS Projections article on CFN from Friday:

"The early call, because of the experience, if a Buckeye win, but if USC wins, then put Jim Tressel and the boys here and Wisconsin in the Fiesta. Eventually the Badgers to break through and get to a BCS game again, right?"

Say what? After four or five readthroughs, I think I get his point. But what's amazing is that this counts as professional journalism. He gets paid (hopefully not much) to do this. And this isn't a jab at his insights or instincts, (a topic for another time, perhaps) mostly just his grammar. That and the copy editing at CFN.

Jeebus.

2007 College Football Season Post-Mortem

You think you know a thing.

But you don't know a thing.

Downloadable 2007 College Football Bowl Game Schedule

First, the Link: Downloadable 2007 College Football Bowl Game Schedule. (PDF)

Yet again, a selfless hero has emerged from the mists of the Interwebs and blessed my inbox with this beautiful schedule of all of the 2007-08 College Football Bowl Games and associated Bowl Game logos.

In the spirit of paying it forward and celebrating the graphic design achievement of our bored hero, I'm posting it on the Interwebs for mass downloading and distribution across all of College Footballdom.

One caveat, which you may also read on the PDF, but all listed game times are in Central (Central?). So we can pretty much be assured it wasn't a Pac-10, ACC, or Big East fan putting this schedule together. In any case, do the math and adjust accordingly for wherever you live since timing will be of the essence.

Rock Bottom

As a fan when you care a lot and spend a lot of time hoping for a satisfying season and then get disappointed, do you sometimes feel stupid for caring so much? Like you've wasted your time?

The Same Borst??

Don Borst of FoxSports.com today did a complete 180 on the Buckeyes from last week. Maybe he actually watched them play a game? He went from "Ohio State is going to get blown out" to "they deserve to play a team as good as them."

Last week:

"For the sake of the national championship game, let's all hope Ohio State loses to one of its weak sisters in the Big Ten in the next month. Because as things stand, it sure looks like we're destined to watch a repeat of last season's BCS championship game — top-ranked Ohio State getting blown out by a much more complete team."

This week:

"Most impressive about the 37-17 victory was that Penn State didn't play badly — OSU was simply a much better team. If Jim Tressel can get his team to continue to improve like this, then the Bucks will handle Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan... and might even beat the SEC or Pac-10 team that they face in New Orleans on Jan. 7.

With all of the scars that last year's BCS Championship Game loss to Florida did to their own psyche and their national image, it would actually be unfortunate for the Buckeyes to see Boston College win its way into the title game as Ohio State's opponent.

Beating the Eagles wouldn't be as satisfying as outplaying one of those fast, exciting teams like LSU, Oregon or even Arizona State. Because of that, OSU fans should be rooting against BC these days."

I personally think BC deserves to be in the game if they win out, and would enjoy seeing OSU play BC in the title game. But Don Borst again proves that sportswriters love to change with the winds of fortune. Thanks Don!

Don Borst -- Need Some Prozac?

In an article today on FoxSports.com, writer Don Borst goes on an angry anti-Big Ten tirade. It can be best summed up by this paragraph:

"[I]t sure looks like we're destined to watch a repeat of last season's BCS championship game — top-ranked Ohio State getting blown out by a much more complete team."

I will not argue that the Big Ten is having a down year (or three), but Borst goes on to utilize the unoriginal, yet still popular "soft schedule" argument to support why Ohio State would get beaten in the National Championship by "a second-ranked team like LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, or USC," at which point "we'd have another ugly title tilt along the lines of last year's 41-14 drubbing of the Buckeyes by Florida."

January 8 was a huge embarrassment. There's no doubt about that. And I could point out that Borst's main thesis is flawed by his assumption that this OSU team is the same as last year's, which is completely untrue. The OSU defense is better, faster, and more cohesive than last year's unit. And as everyone knows, "Defense Wins Championships."

But on to the real issue, how LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon and USC would all spank the Buckeyes. Because the schedule is cited as the reason OSU is where they are, let's look at the strength of schedule of these teams:

Ohio State - 40
LSU - 8
Oklahoma - 60
Oregon - 14
USC - 113

I'll admit that LSU and OSU would be a great matchup. But this doesn't make much sense:

"Those teams, as well as USC — this would be the increasingly healthy USC team, with offensive linemen returning to the lineup and the speed that created the 60-minute mismatch with Notre Dame on Saturday — are just too fast for the Buckeyes."

Too fast for the buckeyes? With one of the 6 weakest schedules in the country and a loss to STANFORD? Okay.........

As far as Oregon goes, they are a "last-play-fumble-at-the-goal line from being unbeaten," according to Borst. If only football was measured by almosts. Also, Oregon's loss to Cal looks even worse now that Cal dropped two in a row and is out of contention.

No discussion of why Oklahoma is a better team, or mention of Oklahoma's loss to unranked Colorado.

Like I said before, OSU vs. LSU would be a great matchup. The others, I'm not so sure. There is also that whole "winning every game you play" issue.

Borst's argument seems flawed to me, and I'm not sure how he arrives at his conclusions. But if Fox Sports was paying me to write about college football, I'd at least try to write columns that made sense.

Ty Willingham: Back in the Game

A strange thing is happening in college football this week. People are showing genuine admiration for Ty Willingham. After at first criticizing Willingham's lack of progress at Notre Dame, the media then shifted to deploring Willingham's firing from Notre Dame and resurgence at Washington as a racist move by the Irish. Today, as it turns out, it's completely different. Ty Willingham was just waiting for his chance to do something better. As one headline reads, "Turns out Notre Dame wasn’t good enough for Willingham."

Look, I have no problem with Notre Dame bashing, but we are now classifying Washington's 2-0 start and new, fast QB Jake Locker (Bruce Feldman calls him "a fast version of Tebow") as the second coming. Here is what I will give to U Dub: TW's recruits are coming of age, they're coming off a good win against Boise State, and it looks like the program is back in order. And it's a feel good story, for sure.

But today I'm wondering if some of the praise is the media is trying to make up for the fact that they all screwed up in the first place and blamed his firing at Notre Dame on him? Columnists are now having a field day with the Weis vs. Willingham stories, because the contrast is striking (although there are some Willingham players still on Weis' squad). But this week's game against Ohio State is providing columnists across the nation to talk about the coaching prowess that Washington has heading into this big game.

In fact, Scouts (which does game breakdowns for ESPN.com) gave the Coaching advantage to Willingham in this game. As far as coaching in Division 1 football games, Willingham is 72-67 as a head coach and Tressel is 64–14.

Tressel has one National Championship and Willingham has none.

I'm not saying Willingham is not a quality coach, and the capriciousness of the media is not at all surprising, but let's at least let him win ONE big game. That's all I'm asking.

The Michigan Line on Oregon

Right now on the InterWeb's best sports betting site, SportsBetting.com (and they only pay me in gambling earnings that I actually win to say this), Michigan, despite all their evident foibles, is an 8 point favorite going into the game against Oregon.

Sacre bleu, you say. How can this be? Isn't Oregon with their Dennis Dixon to Amanti Edwards something like Appalachian State on I-A 'roids? In other words, isn't Oregon the prefect weapon to take down Michigan? Kryptonite to Michigan's superman? Something like that.

That's what we're lead to believe, but the wise guys in Vegas and the beat reporters at Le Detroit News (whose hard work I've simply stolen in the above graphic) have other suspicions that I'm wont to believe. Michigan's good when they're disrespected.

Interestingly, and I can't find the link at the moment, but this line actually started closer to 6 and that tells us that the savvy gambler agrees. Typically the early movement in the line occurs as the more professional gamblers place their bets early in the week. As hard as it is to believe after last weekend, Michigan by a touchdown looks good to many gamblers.

So good that the line moved to 8 and 8 is a world different than 6 or 7. So the question is, do I believe?

One More Sign of the Apocalypse

OSU fans scoop up Mountaineers gear

As Colin Cowherd said on his radio show the other day: careful Buckeyes. If you think about it it's in your best interested to stay quiet about this fiasco in the waning hopes that Lloyd Carr gets to keep his job. After all, John Cooper's biggest supporters were always Wolverines...

Big Ten Network Comes Through

The long holiday weekend gave me plenty of time to think about my first post today (Michigan Preview 2008 was the best thing I came up with). But I have to say, the real winner this weekend was the Big Ten Network. After all of my complaining about it, and even the calling out of the BTN schill who commented on our blog, I'm going to reverse my decision.

I have officially joined the club of flip-floppers.

I turned off College Gameday at 8:59 a.m. PT and switched to channel 223 on my DirecTV HD receiver, and after a moment of Deep Purple background music and the DirecTV logo, I was in the booth with Roger Twibell and Mike Tomczak in Columbus, ready to watch my Buckeyes take on the Penguins of Youngstown State.

The BTN delivered everything that it promised: every game was carried over, and in addition to checking in on the Michigan vs. ASU game, I was able to watch Northeastern @ Northwestern, and Florida International @ Penn State. Although I couldn't take my eyes off of the train wreck on Channel 220 (Michigan vs. ASU), I got a great first-time experience watching my Buckeyes on the BTN.

But now knowing that there might be a BTN person reading this blog, I do have a few observations:

• Green Announcers For those who might not know, Mike Tomczak (one of the announcers) was the Ohio State quarterback from 1982-1984 (and led the Buckeyes to 2 Big Ten championships). I'm assuming he'll do more OSU games, which is fine with me, but he is obviously a beginner in that profession. My experience was similar with all the games.

• Ridiculous Advertising One thing is for sure: the advertising on the BTN has not yet matched ESPN's level. I saw some of the cheapest, most ridiculous advertising on the BTN...but luckily they have carried on the Big Ten commercials. Those commercials that only Big Ten fans like or care about.

• Halftime Show? For halftime of the OSU game, they went back to the janky BTN studio for an update of other BTN games in progress. First of all, I can check the other games with a switch of the remote. But secondly (and most importantly), because it's only OSU fans watching the channel anyway, why not show the halftime show? I would have tuned in to watch this week's lucky sousaphone player dot the "i." Maybe they can show some halftime shows this year, then we'll really feel like we're in Columbus, without the couch burning.
  

Week 1: Scratching My Head

With the first week under our belts it's time to take a step back on reflect on the key takeaways from an eventful weekend in College Football:

* The Michigan Loss is a Really Big Deal - Sports Illustrated says: "Appalachian State's win at Michigan Stadium marked the first time a Football Championship Subdivision team -- formerly I-AA -- beat a team ranked in The Associated Press Top 25."

True dat, the magnitude of this loss will be felt and discussed throughout this season. Whether Michigan salvages a decent season or goes on to fail completely, this game will be seen as the catalyst for whatever befalls the Wolverines from here on out. Repercussions set to amplify should things go bad.

Days later we're still talking about it and getting unique color commentary such as this tidbit also from the SI article linked above:

"Indianapolis Colts defensive back Marlin Jackson, a former Michigan standout, said he was embarrassed by the result.

'We lost to a I-AA program, and we were a top-five team,' he said. 'To go out and be the first team in history to lose to a I-AA team, it hurts.'

Jackson said the loss has been an almost nonstop topic of conversation for him.

'That's all I've been getting the last couple of days. Every text message I get just says `Appalachian State.' That's all it says,' he said.

'The Ohio State guys have been all right. It's everybody else around here. Even coach (Tony) Dungy said something to me about it.'"

* Notre Dame Sucks Worse Without Brady Quinn - Charlie Weis wasn't being coy (as Stewart Mandel lamely suggested) when refusing to name a starter at Notre Dame before the season opened. He just couldn't pick the lesser of three evils since they all flat out suck and so, apparently, do the Fighting Irish. God help them in the upcoming pillow fight at Michigan. Is that game like a consolation prize now that it's the two high-prestige programs who've been brought down to new, humbling lows?

* Cal Had it's 'Coming-Out' Game in the Victory over Tennessee - For a few years now in the Tedford era Cal has been flirting with greatness. I think the Saturday win over Tennessee, nevermind redemption for last year's setback, was Cal's coming-out party. As long as that offense keeps clicking this will be a great team and that date with USC is looming ever larger with National Title implications.

* Washington/Boise State Will Be a Fireworks Display - Both the Dawgs and the Broncos appear loaded with speed aplenty on offense. Washington surprised and delighted as new starting QB Jake Locker scampered all over the Carrier Dome and Syracuse D. Back in Boise, with Tyler Tharp at the helm, things were going as usual with Ian Johnson taking care of 100 yards and a couple of touchdowns before halftime. This equates to a big time match up this weekend in Seattle. Unfortunately nobody that you or I know is televising this except maybe the local Northwest affiliates or a pirate cable access feed in Seattle.

Michigan: Aftermath

It starts....

DREW SHARP: Blame Lloyd Carr; Michigan needs fresh voice soon

The discussion is heating up on SackCarr.com and UMGoBlue's Fan Forum, while MGoBlog has seemingly given up forever. Michigan's fan base is in a state of crisis and the pandemonium will not be settled until Michigan takes the field and puts together a convincing win.

I think the question of whether to fire Carr is still premature. He is skating on incredibly thin ice, but has a chance to revive his team and bring them through a successful remaining 11 (12?) games of the season. That will be the true test of his mettle as a coach.

Oregon looks like a stiff challenge this coming Saturday and it is suddenly the marquee match-up of the weekend as all eyes will want to see how Michigan responds and if Carr has any grip on this team.

Michigan

Well. It hurts to be a Michigan fan today. So much for big expectations. So much for the sacrifices of Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long. So much for the grand exit of Lloyd Carr.

This is the single most embarrassing loss in Michigan football history. It hurts Michigan's image as an 'elite' team, damages national respect for the Big Ten and officially sunsets any National Championship aspirations while simultaneously raising serious red flags on anything else Michigan hoped to do this season.

Beat Oregon next weekend? Beat Notre Dame? Ohio State? Big Ten Championship? Forget it all if this team can't handle it's home opener against a 1-AA team. None of it seems likely, or even appropriate, to think about anymore after the fact that Michigan got outclassed by Appalachian State in every facet of the game.

How quickly the tables have turned. It's officially crisis-management time at Michigan.

Now, unless Carr shows us something Phoenician in terms of resurrecting his team by next week, I'd say it's going to be a mighty long season for the Wolverines. Whether they have the talent or not, it's going to come down to the spirit of this team and whether its already broken.

Documenting My Addiction

I've quietly placed two more bets:

UW -3 at Syracuse
Notre Dame -1.5 home vs. Georgia Tech

Am I crazy? Nobody knows shit about the Dawgs and only Charlie Weis knows who the starting QB will be at Notre Dame. How could I have any confidence in these wagers?

I'm glad you asked. I do know that both of these gold-helmeted teams represent tarnished, talented traditions that need these wins very badly and I'm willing to risk it on that alone for more glory!

However, I think that'll do it for this weekend, win or lose tonight. Reason being that I've been placing too many faith-based bets and I've got to watch a few games before throwing down any more bones.