Friday's Buckeye Bits

Good Friday morning, everybody! It's been a heck of a first week with Buckeye Bits, and the first week of the off-season comes to a close today as well. Football may be over, but there is still plenty of Ohio State sports to watch.

Sunday, the men's basketball team tips at 4:30 against the Hoosiers at the corner of Lane and Olentangy. Vengeance shall be the word of the day, as the Buckeyes lost in Bloomington, as well as earlier this week in Champaign. Of course, last night the Hoosiers were shocked by Minnesota, 77-74. If you aren't going to the game, watch it on CBS.

If you like your Buckeye sports a bit colder and bloodier, the Puckeyes will face off against Michigan at 7:30 Friday at the Schott, and again Sunday at 5:05. The Sunday matchup is in Cleveland, in the Frozen Diamond Faceoff in the Indians' Progressive Field. Friday's game will be shown on the Big Ten Network, and the big game Sunday will be on Fox Sports Ohio. Jeff Svoboda has an excellent writeup on Buckeye Sports Bulletin. No word if Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn will be in attendance.

'The Jim Tressel "Problem"

Coaching, beating MichigAAn and so forth.

Jim Tressel may or may not be the best coach in Ohio State Football history. He could be the brightest defensive and special teams mind in the country(suck it Beamer). His stoic nature and family values are a perfect fit in Columbus, yet there's something fundamentally wrong with the way he goes about his business. He won it all too early. Think back to a time before Coach Tressel. JHC was roaming the sidelines, doing Big Bear commercials with Jimmy Crumm, recruiting the pants off of everyone in the nation. John Cooper even was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno after a last second victory over Arizona State in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State's first in years.

Everything was great, sunshine, lollopops and unicorns except for one thing, we'll call it "2-10-1". "LLLoydd" Carr was John Cooper kryptonite. Some would say, and I would tend to agree, John Cooper had some of the most talented teams in OSU history and in the country at that time. It seemed that the 1993-1998 squads were on par with some lowly NFL teams with names like Andy Katzenmoyer, David Boston, Dee Miller, Dan Wilkinson, Eddie George and Mike "all I do is catch touch downs" Vrabel. Just like that, John Cooper was let go and fans rejoiced.(While I did/do agree with his firing, John Cooper is a great person who I have had the privilege of meeting in person. I don't believe he deserves the beating he takes. But he takes it with grace somehow.)

A look back in Buckeye History.

This will start a new thing here at INS (Inside The Shoe). Every now and then, we will look back to great moments in Ohio State history and recap what happend. Today we will be looking back at 1995 when we played Notre Dame here in the Shoe. The reason for doing this game is because it goes along with our POW. Let us know if you like this!

Ohio State - 45 Notre Dame - 26

The last time these two teams met before that day was 1935, which then, was 60 years ago. Last time the team's met, Notre Dame erased a 13-0 4th quarter deficit to win 18-13. Then, it was the the game of the century, and it seemed like it was.

 This time around, when Notre Dame was ahead 20-14 in the 3rd Quarter, Ohio State was punting, and then Notre Dame squandered three straight chances to score, because of the next three possessions resulting in 2 fumbles and an interception. After some confusion on a punt return, Ohio State quarterback Bobby Hoying took advantage of the turnover and 3 plays later, scored on a 15 yard touchdown throw to Rickey Dudley which put OSU up 21-20. After an interception, on the heels of a 56 yard throw, Ron Powlus threw an interception. Then the Buckeyes proceeded with a 4 play drive resulting in an 82 yard touchdown throw from Hoying to Terry Glenn. The play was fairly short, but in the middle of the field, Glenn's speed was to much for the Irish.

 That drive itself was enough of a statement to put fear into the Irish. Powlus's next drive resulted in him fumbling a snap, which lead to a third three play drive for the Buckeyes in which Heisman canididate Eddie George stormed into the end zone giving the Buckeyes the lead, 35-20. The Fighting Irish were inspired to keep playing, coming as close as 35-26, but the back breaker was certainly on the next drive where Eddie George broke free on a sweep to the left for 61 yards, and a Buckeye touchdown. Irish coach Lou Holtz gave credit to the Buckeyes saying that their big play ability gave them the win. Eddie George finished with 35 carries for 207 yards on the day. This was Eddie's 4th 200 yard game in his career and his second on the year. The win over Notre Dame gave John Cooper his first out of two wins that would come the following year aganist the Irish, and it would give way to a 11-0 start to the season. Michigan then proceeded to upset the Buckeyes 31-23 as Cooper's Michigan woes became more solid into his career. The Buckeyes followed up with another loss, this time to Tennesee in their bowl game that year losing to the SEC by a touchdown, 20-14. Eddie George did manage to win the Heisman despite those losses, giving the Buckeyes their 5th Heisman.