Quick Hitters

For the most part, Auburn shut down LMJ

MNC- The college football season wrapped up last Monday when Auburn escaped Glendale with a 22-19 victory and another notch on the belt for the SEC. I was pulling hard for the ducks to end the reign of terror by gods’ conference but it was not to be as the Oregon defense could not contain the final push by the Tigers with 2 minutes remaining. While there is no real argument to be made that the SEC isn’t the top conference in the nation, in no way was I impressed by this victory (or the whole game for that matter). Sure, it ended in a field goal with time expiring but did anybody in Buckeye nation think that our silver bullets couldn’t hang with either one of these teams on Monday night?

Did anyone think this was a “game for the ages” that the four letter network would have you believe? We were supposed to watch these teams run up and down the field all night with their explosive offensive attacks but instead were treated to lots of punts, tentative play calling and a bunch of misdirection plays that went nowhere. There were a couple big plays by either side but nobody could string any together and give us the game that was hyped for 2 months. Oh well, at least OSU still possesses the greatest MNC game in the long and illustrious history of the BCS (don’t give me Texas-USC either… I don’t want to hear it).



You hired who?- Brady Hoke was hired by Michigan as its’ new head football coach this week. ITS and several other buckeye blogs had some great perspective on the hire but I wanted to throw by hat into the ring as well. This guy doesn’t scare me whatsoever and any Michigan fan that tries to tell you otherwise is joking themselves. I guess the biggest issue I had with this coaching search was the fact that Michigan limited itself to “Michigan men” and greatly reduced the pool of potential candidates. I understand the wound that DickRod left on the program is still fresh but putting the prerequisite of “Michigan man” on the job listing is insane. There were rumblings that Gary Pinkel and others with way more success were sniffing around the Michigan job but none were considered because they had no prior history with the program. I guess running a Pizza empire isn’t quite the same as being in charge of the athletic department at one of the most proud institutions in America is it Mr. Brandon?

Side note: I now feel the pain of the swing and miss hire of a favorite football team as my Cleveland Browns hired one Pat Shurmur…. Ugh.

Is he ready to lead Ohio State?

Players coming back- I was very skeptical at the notion that any of the Tat Five would return for their abbreviated senior season and went as far as to write a column about how they wouldn’t be missed that much. Apparently, the agreement that Tressel drug out of these guys in exchange for Sugar Bowl privileges is holding true as none have declared for the draft. The more I think about it the happier I am that these guys will be returning to Columbus in the fall. It will do wonders in repairing their image with some that still feel slighted by the sale of those precious trinkets. It would also be great to have that infusion of talent to the team midway through the year.

My only fear is that if Braxton or another one of the Buckeye quarterbacks is humming along, how would you be able to bench them in favor of a cold Terrelle Pryor? I guess that is a worry for another day. I am glad to see these guys sticking to their word and am looking forward to their presence on the sideline next year.