Entries Tagged 'Football' ↓

Many Penn State fans consider the 2005 17-10 win over Ohio State the greatest game they have ever been to. The same fans consider it the most intense football game in recent memory.

The Buckeyes got their revenge last year. The final score was really misleading. The Buckeyes struggled to score against Penn State.

I honestly don’t think Akron will pull off the upset this Saturday, but I was just looking for reason to put this video on here.

Check out The Hawkeye Compulsion. The site, which is critically acclaimed by Robert Goulet has earned my praise for Big Ten Blog of the Week.

By Adam Kiefaber

Normally, I only blog during the week, but I had to just say that Michigan lost to D-AA Appalachian State (right) 34-32.

We have three Michigan blogs in our group (Big Ten Bloggers)

Very interested in their responses-

Maize N Brew

MGOBLOG

Michigan Sports Center

I will be back on Monday to breakdown this game, the Ohio State game (don’t worry OSU won 38-6) and the rest of the Big Ten- back to the TVs.

I came across this music video on youtube and I had to share it. It should pump you up and get you ready for Saturday.

By Adam Kiefaber

I could go over the whole roster of Youngstown State. I might be able to find some player like quarterback Tom Zetts and throw some stats at you, but I won’t. It doesn’t matter. Ohio State should have no problem with these Penguins because they stink.

Ok, they might have won 11 games last year and lost in semifinals of the playoffs. However, let me remind you that this team plays in the Gateway Conference and not the Big Ten. Also the BCS doesn’t have a playoff system yet, so I’ll let you figure that one out.

What you should be concern with is the play of the quarterbacks. Todd Boeckman (left), Rob Schoenhoft and Antonio Henton will all play. Personally, I have a favorite at the moment and it is Schoenhoft. However, that could change on Saturday. If Boeckman can’t make any big plays against Youngstown State, then you would have to pull him in favor of Schoenhoft and Henton in the game against Akron, right? Wait, Boeckman has to make some plays, everyone should make plays, they are called players not penguins.

The only reason that Ohio State is playing the Penguins is because Jim Tressel used to be YSU’s head coach from ’86 through ’00. There he had a record of 137-57-2 and won four D1AA National Championships. Last year, YSU finished 11-3 and lost to Penn State 37-3. OSU should have no trouble with the Penguins. On August 10th, I predicted Final Score: Ohio State 28-7

Now I say Final Score: 42-3

The previous prediction was based on the thought that Jim Tressel wouldn’t dare run up the score against the school where he and his wife donate all their money to, but now I think it may just happen no matter how hard the Buckeyes try.

Oh, also the game is going to be televised on the Big Ten Network. Call your local bars and make sure they have a dish

There is only a week until the Buckeyes kickoff the 2007 season against Youngstown State.

The key offensive core of the 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes is gone in 2007. Troy Smith (Baltimore Ravens), Antonio Pittman (New Orleans Saints), Ted Ginn Jr. (Miami Dolphins) and Anthony Gonzalez (Indianapolis Colts) all leave.

Offensive lineman Doug Datish (Atlanta Falcons) and T.J. Downing (Arizona Cardinals) leave the Buckeyes depleted in the interior. Throw in wide receiver Roy Hall (Indianapolis Colts) and that leaves the whole offense is in question.

Obviously, fans are worried about the ‘07 offense.

Last year, the question mark was the defense, which returned only two starters and lost stars OLB A.J. Hawk, SS Donte Whitner, OLB Bobby Carpenter, CB Aston Youboty, ILB Anthony Schlegel and FS Nate Salley to the NFL draft.

The Buckeyes still opened the season #1 in rankings. This year they are ranked more in the middle of the Top 25.

Phil Steele’s College Football Preview has the Buckeyes ranked #15 in top 25.

The Buckeyes are not topping the list in the Big Ten either. My two favorite sources (Phil Steele and Sporting News) have the Buckeyes ranked third and fourth in the preseason Big Ten standings. Phil Steele has the Buckeyes behind Michigan and Penn State. Sporting News has OSU behind Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State. During Big Ten Media Day someone asked Jim Tressel what he thought about being ranked third in the Big Ten.

“I think it shows great respected for our program, Tressel said. “We lost a bunch of guys and we still get picked at that level.”

Tressel also expressed that he thought that Big Ten would be much tougher this year.

Also, another topic was brought up on media day. It is a fan favorite in Buckeye country. This past January, every fan had to come up with a reason for losing the National Championship. The best one we could come up with, was that we had too long of a break in between our last game and the BCS title game.

“We had 44 days for a bowl game one year and 43 days to prepare for a championship game a couple years ago. Nothing was said about that being a disadvantage,” Tressel said. “And then, this one being 50 or so, it really isn’t a reason why we lost.”

The other popular excuse was that the Buckeyes were slower than the Gators. Actually the story was, that the whole Big Ten was slower than the SEC. Players from the SEC are much faster- blah, blah, blah. At the time, I was working in Atlanta, Ga., home of the SEC Championship Game, and I heard that reasoning all day every day.

“I think they were both pretty fast,” Tressel told ESPN.com . . “There’s no question Florida was a fast team, and Ohio State was a fast team. The first play of the game [Ginn’s 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown], it looked like we had the fastest guy in the world.”

Much of the Florida roster was made up of Ron Zook’s (Illinois current head coach) recruits.

“In my mind, there isn’t any difference,” Zook told ESPN.com . “We have every bit the speed that they do. In my mind, there is no question that this league can compete against anyone in the country.”

Sure the Big Ten wasn’t that good in ‘06 and the SEC usually fields better teams. However, here is a basic example of how the SEC isn’t that much different than the Big Ten.

Take the 10 commitments (not counting the kicker) in the 2008 recruiting class for Ohio State: According to Scout.com seven of the 10 OSU commits turned down an offer from at least one SEC school. Also, Scout.com doesn’t have the information of all the offers made to players. For example, Cameron Heyward, of the 2007 OSU recruiting class, had offers from over 40 programs. Scout.com had Heyward receiving only four (from Ohio State, Florida, Georgia and LSU).

By Adam Kiefaber

-I reached deep in the archives and picked out the fifth-ever blog that I wrote for this site. Many of you didn’t follow Buckeye Lane back then, so I figured it was time to run the story again. Pretty sad on how little things have changed-

By Adam Kiefaber

The biggest question heading into the 2007 football season has to be, who is going to be the signal caller for this team?

2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, although disappointing in the National Championship game, could have been Ohio State’s best quarterback of all time. In 2006, Smith completed 65.3% of his passes, tossed for 2,542 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 30-to-6. More importantly for Ohio State fans, Smith led the Buckeyes to three straight victories over rival Michigan. In those three games, Smith completed 68.3% of his passes, tossed for 857 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 7-to-1. Also, in those games Smith rushed for 194 yards on 33 carries and had two rushing touchdowns.

The Buckeye quarterback history isn’t pretty. Art Schlicter came up one-point shy of giving Ohio State a National Championship and was the fourth overall pick in the 1982 NFL draft. However, Schlicter, a confessed compulsive gambler, best statistics include being in more than 30 prisons and committing over 20 felonies. Rex Kern led Ohio State to a National Championship in 1968, but played a short career in the NFL as a defensive back. 1987 starting quarterback Tom Tupa had a solid 17-year-old career in the NFL, but it was as a punter and not as a quarterback. However, please remember this for the next Trivia Night at your local pub, Tupa scored the first two-point conversion in NFL history.

When he scored as a Cleveland Brown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the season’s opening weekend in 1994, he earned the nickname ‘Two-Point Tupa’.

Mike Tomczak, Joe Germaine, Bob Hoying and Kent Graham never started with regularity in the NFL. Craig Krenzel, although he is already out of the NFL, deserves credit for leading the Buckeyes to a National Championship.

Compared to every other position, a Buckeye quarterback doesn’t do well in the NFL and he usually doesn’t do that great at Ohio State.

Ohio State fans know that they don’t need another Smith, but a Krenzel will do.

So who will start in 2007 and how will they perform?

Here are the nominees ¬–

Todd Boeckman- junior (St. Henry- Ohio) 6-foot-5 235 pounds
Robbie Schoenhoft- sophomore (St. Xavier- Ohio) 6-foot-6 240 pounds
Antonio Henton- redshirt freshman (Peach County- Georgia) 6-foot-2 210 pounds

The Leader: Todd Boeckman didn’t blow anyone away in the spring game, but is expected to be the starter heading into the home opener against Youngstown State on September 1st. However, all three quarterbacks are expected to see the field in that possible blowout against Jim Tressel’s old team.

In the spring game, Boeckman completed 6 of 14 passes for 103 yards; he didn’t throw a touchdown or an interception and was sacked twice. However, he did fumble the football, which was forced and returned 80 yards for a touchdown by senior linebacker Larry Grant.

Boeckman competed in very limited action during the 2005 and the 2006 seasons. He might best be known for having the camera all over him at the 2004 Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State. Justin Zwick got the start while Troy Smith served a suspension for taking money. Zwick missed five games due to a shoulder injury that season and when he needed to be spelled during the Alamo Bowl, Ohio State decided to line-up true freshman Ted Ginn Jr. at quarterback rather than waste a year of eligibility during Boeckman’s redshirt season.

Boeckman was ranked as the 19th best pro-style quarterback in the nation and was the 13th best Ohio prospect in the 2003 recruiting class by Rivals.com. According to Scout.com, Boeckman had offers from Iowa, Maryland and Pittsburgh. Both sites labeled Boeckman as a three-star recruit.

The Best? : Rob Schoenhoft showed off a strong arm while quarterbacking for the Scarlet and Grey teams during the spring game. In the game, he completed 7 of 15 passes for 83 yards; he threw for one touchdown and no interceptions and was sacked once. He did fumble, but made up for it on a touchdown drive where he scrambled for a first down on 3rd and 9 and then competed a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Smith.

In 2005, Schoenhoft was a bigger recruit than Boeckman was in 2003. Which if you think about makes Boeckman a fifth-year junior. Anyways, Schoenhoft was ranked as the sixth best pro-style quarterback in the nation and was the eighth best prospect from Ohio by Rivals.com. Schoenhoft picked Ohio State over big-time programs that included Florida, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame. He thought that he would be given a great opportunity to play and now he just has to get by Boeckman. Websites Rivals and Scout had Schoenhoft labeled as a four-star recruit.

The next Troy Smith? : Antonio Henton excited fans and coaches alike in spring practice with his athleticism. However, he showed in the spring game that he is not ready to start at the quarterback position. Overall, Henton threw three interceptions, fumbled once and completed 8 of 16 passes for only 45 yards. Henton did rush for 36 yards on 9 carries while quarterbacking for both the Scarlet and the Grey.

Henton could be the quarterback of the future, but I don’t expect him to be a serious contender to start until Boeckman leaves after the 2008 season. He might be able to rotate in with Schoenhoft in the 2009 season and could possibly start in 2010.

Henton turned down offers from Illinois and Maryland. Scout.com had Henton labeled as four-star recruit while Rivals.com had him ranked at three-star status.

What to Expect:
• Once the season begins with home games against Youngstown State and Akron everybody will have their own favorite.
• Some will like Boeckman, claiming that is solid and won’t make many mistakes, a la Craig Krenzel.
• Others will favor Schoenhoft because he has the strongest arm.
• And the rest will like Henton because he won’t get the playing time that his fans think he deserves. Similar to how Troy Smith’s career started sitting behind Justin Zwick.
• No doubt in my mind, the media and the fans will begin to panic the week Ohio State travels to Washington on September 15th. However, I believe Boeckman and Schoenhoft can battle for the job until the October 6th date at Purdue.

Who do you think should start?

Who is the best for 2007?

How about 2008?

Would anyone of these quarterbacks have a chance to play if Ohio State lands top 2008 recruit Terrelle Pryor?

Also, I ran by this interesting story from The Buckeye Blog- Brutus Buckeye nominated for Mascot Hall of Fame- The story provides a link where you can vote for Brutus

By Adam Kiefaber

Recently, I broke down what an NFL offense would look like, that is if the roster was filled entirely with Ohio State players.

Overall, the offense is solid. The weaknesses include quarterback, running back and tight end.

The strengths would include the offensive line and the wide receiving core. Especially the wide receivers, imagine your favorite NFL team listing Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn, Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, Michael Jenkins, David Boston, Drew Carter and Roy Hall as their top nine receivers.

Even if Troy Smith isn’t NFL-ready, he still should put up solid numbers. I mean Jon Kitna threw for over 4,000 yards last year, how do you think he would’ve done with the Baltimore Ravens’ receiving core?

Now, I’m moving on to defense. Let’s see if this team would be good enough to make the playoffs.

DEs Will Smith (New Orleans) and Darrion Scott (Minnesota)- Both ends start and have had success at the NFL level. Rodney Bailey would be the top backup. Jay Richardson, Simon Fraser, Kenny Patterson would provide depth. OLB Mike Vrabel can line up at the end on passing downs. Also, DT David Patterson could play on the end on rushing downs.

DTs Ryan Pickett (St. Louis) and Quinn Pitcock (Indianapolis)- Pickett is a proven starter and Pitcock was a third-round pick in 2007 NFL Draft. Plus, you have to love the marketability of a duo called Pickett and Pitcock. Tim Anderson and Marcus Green would provide depth. You could always go out and sign Dan “Big Daddy” Wilkinson, who played for the Miami Dolphins in 2006.

OLBs A.J. Hawk (Green Bay) and Mike Vrabel (New England)- The Columbus Bucks might want to consider using the 3-4 with their depth at linebacker. Bobby Carpenter can play inside and outside. Na’il Diggs is a proven OLB that could be a starter on some teams.

MLB Bobby Carpenter (Dallas)- Plays inside as part of Dallas’ 3-4 defense. Anthony Schlegel, John Kerr and Matt Wilhelm are MLBs at heart, while Carpenter seems to better suited for the outside.

CBs Nate Clements (San Francisco) and Antoine Winfield (Minnesota)- Clements and Winfield provide you with a solid cornerback duo. However, Chris Gamble could win a starting job. There is great depth, Shawn Springs would be your fourth corner. Others would include Ashton Youboty, Antonio Smith and Dustin Fox.

FS Mike Doss (Minnesota) and SS Donte Whitner (Buffalo)- Whitner and Doss would make another nice duo. They would have a stellar backup in Will Allen. Also, Donnie Nickey has developed into a solid NFL player that seems ready for an opportunity to start. Nate Salley, Brandon Mitchell and Tyler Everett fill out the depth chart.

The Final Overview

Overall, I would rate the team as mediocre. Maybe a record ranging from 6-10 to 8-8 if they went out played this upcoming NFL season.

I like the offensive line, which would help out rookie running back Antonio Pittman.

The wide receivers are excellent, which would help Troy Smith look better.

The defense line is solid and the linebacking core is very good.

The secondary is excellent. Especially the cornerbacks.

Actually the defense should be in the top 10 in the NFL.

However, question marks at key positions on offense will limit the team’s chances for a Super Bowl run.

If this was a real team, you would have to like their future. Chris Wells will be on board in a couple of years. Some good quality linebackers are on the way. And two top offensive tackles will be ready very soon.

By Adam Kiefaber

In the last 11 years, there have been 74 Buckeyes selected in the NFL Draft.

Currently, I counted 61 players that are still in league. On September 1st, NFL teams will cut their rosters down to 53 players. The abundance of Buckeyes in the NFL got me thinking, what if you had a team that was all OSU Buckeyes (let’s name them the Columbus Bucks)? Would they be able to compete for a Super Bowl?

You be the judge.

Offense Starters:

QB Troy Smith (Baltimore Ravens)- Smith might struggle at first, but will have a great receiving core to throw to. You would have to sign Craig Krenzel and Joe Germaine to be the backups (both are out of the NFL right now).

RB Antonio Pittman (New Orleans Saints)- This position is thin as well, but you could go out and sign Michael Wiley or Joe Montgomery as free agents. You could always give Maurice Clarett a second chance, ok he has had more than a couple of chances. Jonathan Wells could provide more experience.

FB Kevin Houser (New Orleans Saints)- Houser has experience. Stan White could serve as the backup on the practice squad. Also, Jamar Martin is a free agent.

WRs Joey Galloway (Tampa Bay Bucs) and Terry Glenn (Dallas Cowboys)- Galloway and Glenn provide leadership and each had 1,000-yard seasons last year. The depth is impressive- Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, Michael Jenkins, David Boston, Drew Carter, Roy Hall and Brandon Childress.

TE Darnell Sanders (Detroit Lions)- Sanders will have to battle Ben Hartsock, but the NFL Buckeyes will be better off using three or four wide receiver sets.

OTs Orlando Pace (St. Louis Rams) and Shane Olivea (San Diego Chargers)- Two proven starters to say the least. Tyson Walter will provide depth.

Gs Rob Sims (Seattle Seahawks) and Adrien Clarke (New York Jets)- Both players have little experience starting, but both are young. Sims is expected to start for Seattle this year. Rookie T.J. Downing could develop into a starter. Also, centers LeCharles Bentley and Alex Stepanovich could provide depth.

C Nick Mangold (New York Jets)- If Bentley is healthy, you could move him or Mangold over to guard. That would leave you with a top-notch O-line. Rookie Doug Datish could develop as a backup center or guard.

Tomorrow I will go over the defense.

I remember getting goose bumps when I was watching this intro to the Michigan @ Ohio State game last year.

I’m sure everyone remembers OSU entered the game ranked #1 in the nation while Michigan was #2. Both teams were undefeated and the game was dubbed as the national championship.

The game was so entertaining that many argued that there should be a rematch for the BCS title game. It didn’t happen and Ohio State lost to Florida.

However, it makes you wonder if the Ohio State @ Michigan game this year could be a repeat of last year’s undefeated #1 vs. #2.

If that would happen, Michigan would be ranked #1 this time around.

Michigan will have to get through tough home games against Oregon, Notre Dame, Penn State and Purdue. The only tough road game is Wisconsin.

Ohio State has a much easier schedule with the toughest road games being Washington, Purdue and Penn State. The only challenging home game seems to be Wisconsin.

So there is a chance that the Buckeyes and the Wolverines will each be undefeated come November 17th.