Jaamal Berry Suspended

Berry is now suspended

According to the Dispatch, Ohio State has suspended running back Jaamal Berry as of yesterday, the same day he was charged with a misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct following an incident on Oct. 21 near the North Market. Berry, a redshirt sophomore, will remain suspended until the charges have been resolved. It is doubtful that Berry will make it back onto the field any time this season.

Coach Luke Fickell allowed Berry to be in uniform for Saturday's game against Wisconsin, but Berry, who had been the 4th string running back and usually on the kickoff return team, did not play. Berry, if convicted, could receive up to six months in jail, and/or a $250 fine.

While this is horrible news for Berry, with Jordan Hall's recent high ankle sprain (suffered against Wisconsin on the kick return to set up the Hail Mary) the door now becomes wide open for running back Carlos Hyde, who had been buried to 3rd on the depth chart behind Boom Herron and the aforementioned Hall. Hyde leaded the team in rushing yards, and the last game that he played meaningful minutes, he had over 100 yards on 13 carries. That was against Nebraska, and now moving up to second on the depth chart, ensures more playing time in relief of Boom Herron.

Dominic Clarke Suspended For Illinois Game

According to Bill Rabinowitz, cornerback Dominc Clarke is suspended for this weekend's game against the Fighting Illini. The suspension is coming after a reported "violation of team rules". Rumor has it that Clarke was causing some sort of disturbance at an on-campus restaurant. 

While Clarke wasn't a starter, he did get in on many snaps in relief of Bradley Roby or Travis Howard, and provided much needed depth at the corner position. He was also expected to help control the Illini passing game this Saturday, so they could minimize the offensive production of Nathan Scheelhaase and the rest of Illinois offense. Clarke is expected to return to the team next week when the Buckeyes host the Badgers. 

This is just more awful news in a never ending train of sadness and disappointment for Ohio State this year. 

Recap: Ohio State 27, Toledo 22

Fields returned a 69 yard punt for a TD

It all came down to the last half minute for the Toledo Rockets. They trailed 27-22 with about 45 seconds left in the game when quarterback Terrance Owens started to roll out and look for his go-to receiver, Eric Page. Page, of course, the unsung hero of the day for the Toledo Rockets had been making plays all over the field against the Silver Bullet's, and OSU's defense had yet to really contain him.

As John Simon gave chase and put some real pressure on Owens, the ball fell to the turf on 4th down, and #13 Ohio State lived to see another game in the world of the undefeated. How long that will last, will be up to on how much we can improve from now until the Miami game on the 24th. The fact that OSU had to rely on the Rocket's mistakes to win the game says enough in itself. 14 penalties, a missed field goal, and a punt return for a touchdown all killed Toledo's momentum when they would start to build it up.

Despite all these struggles, Toledo still led for most of this game, including late in the third quarter. They had led 15-7 after the first quarter and were leading 22-21 very late in the third. Ohio State still managed to take the lead, and started to look like they could finally put the nail in the coffin and head into Week 3 with a little momentum, when the unthinkable happened: Rod Smith fumbled with less than 2 minutes in the game. Luckily John Simon was there, and more plays from OSU's defense and special teams saved the day as the offense had trouble scoring and even driving down the field.

Chris Fields had a really nice day returning the ball and got his first punt return for a touchdown, that went for 69 yards. Carlos Hyde had 2 scores for the Buckeyes, who are still recovering and trying to figure out how long Travis Howard, Jordan Hall and Corey Brown will be out due to suspensions. Joe Bauserman was the starter and went 16/30 (53% completion percentage) for 189 yards and 1 touchdown. Braxton Miller did not see any playing time at all yesterday, and that left Buckeye Nation a little deceived by the coaching staff.

Terrelle Pryor Appeals 5 Game Suspension In NFL

Pryor is appealing the 5 game suspension

Former Buckeye and current Oakland Raider QB Terrelle Pryor is now deciding to appeal his 5 game NFL suspension after he was taken in the 3rd round of the 2011 NFL supplemental draft. Pryor well before the draft had said that he would not appeal the 5 game suspension.

An interesting note is that Tressel was hired Saturday by the Indianapolis Colts as a consultant in the video replay, otherwise telling them when they should challenge, and when they shouldn't challenge a call on the field.

To complicate Pryor's situation, a couple days before the supplemental draft, he had come out and said that he wouldn't appeal once more, but on the day of the actual draft taking place, Terrelle mentioned he would appeal the suspension only if Raiders owner Al Davis asked him to do so. Pryor would end up signing a 4-year, 2.7 million dollar contract with the Raiders, but with the suspension in place, he's not allowed to practice with the team. 

Pryor could have played in the Raider's two preseason games but oddly did not. As it stands, Pryor is sitting 3rd on the depth chart, behind QB's Jason Campbell and Kyle Boller.

There have been rumors since he got drafted that the Raiders might try him out a WR, with Pryor's frame at 6'5'', 232 pounds and was clocked at running a 4.3 40, which for his size is very rare. Raiders head coach Hue Jackson says he likes Pryor as a QB, but hasn't said if Pryor will start this season. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, with hope that nothing comes back and haunts OSU to help worsen the NCAA situation.

Ohio State Suspends Hall, Howard, And Brown For Opener

Hall was the starter going into Akron

Ohio State has suspended starting running back Jordan Hall, starting cornerback Travis Howard, and 2nd team defensive back Corey Brown for the opening game of the season against Akron. The 3 combined had received a total of $300 in benefits, but as a part of the promise from the compliance office to better themselves and make them more aware of situations such as these, they have already suspended the 3 for this game.

Athletic director Gene Smith said, "We take this matter seriously. Our commitment to institutional integrity is steadfast, and we must hold everyone associated with our athletics programs accountable for lapses in judgment. We believe in transparency with the NCAA, all regulatory bodies and all of Buckeye Nation." 

We also have word that Ohio State plans to make an immediate appeal to the NCAA for reinstatement after the opener. 

My Views of the Tressel Situation

First of all, I am a fan and an alumnus of The Ohio State University. My fall Saturdays are spent watching, cheering, and screaming over Buckeye football. Luckily, I have a very understanding wife and daughter. Because of this love of the Buckeyes, the news regarding the “violations” committed by the players and coach have been disheartening, to say the least. At this point, though, I have, for the most part forgiven the players. They broke a rule and, no matter how bad we the fans think the rule itself is, they should and will pay the price by missing the first five games of the season. However, I am having a more difficult time forgiving Coach Tressel. 

I remember when I first heard the Buckeyes hired a Division 1-AA coach, albeit an extremely successful coach, I wasn’t thrilled. I wanted a big name, an established big time coach. However, my feelings quickly changed. When Tress went to the OSU v Michigan basketball game and announced that we would be proud of the team in the classroom, in the community and in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I was sold! He would bring the pride back to the football team; we WOULD beat Michigan!! He did what he promised and once again made the Buckeyes football royalty. Since Coach Tressel took over, we have dominated Michigan and the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are “beasts.” Outside of a few small infractions - most notably Troy Smith accepting $500 from boosters - our Buckeyes have been a clean program, led by a great and honest coach. Well, at least those are the rosy feelings I used to have. These feelings started to crumble this past winter, when Tattoo-Gate appeared. Players, most notably “superstars” Pryor, Posey, and Herron, traded items for tattoos, resulting in their suspensions. Tressel claimed to know nothing, and we as Buckeye faithfuls believed him. Actually, we believed in him. How wrong we were. 

NCAA Sends Ohio State Notice of Allegations

Ohio State President Gordon Gee was formally presented with a notice of allegations Friday concerning the actions of Coach Jim Tressel’s failure to properly notify the appropriate channels of potential player ineligibility and the ensuing playing of those individuals in the season that followed.


The Buckeyes dodged a bullet as the vaunted “failure to maintain institutional control” and “failure to monitor” weren’t amongst the charges levied against the program. However, Ohio State isn’t out of the water just quite yet with an August 12th hearing in front of the NCAA to come. Ohio State’s 2010 wins (sans the season ending Sugar Bowl, of which the players in question were cleared formally by the NCAA) are all but sure to be vacated, but the chance for scholarship reductions, and a potential Big Ten Championship/Bowl ban for 2011 lingers. This spells some serious trouble not only for Jim Tressel, but the Buckeyes as a whole. The NCAA also warned that they could count Ohio State as a repeat offender because of the Troy Smith situation back in 2004 and Jim O'Brien who gave 6,000 dollars to a recruit. In my opinion, the Troy Smith situation will not end up coming into play, but because Tressel failed to let the NCAA know, he might be in the same sort of mess that Jim O'Brien was, and that's not good. A PDF of the NCAA's notification of allegations is here.

What To Do With Braxton Miller And The QB Situation

Miller led his team to a Championship

Braxton Miller. Get used to this name, Buckeye fans. You’ll be hearing it a lot in the near future. A five-star recruit, according to Scout, Braxton Miller is one of the top quarterbacks in the 2011 class. He is rated as one of the top two quarterbacks by Scout, Rivals and ESPN.



If you haven’t heard a lot about this kid before, Miller is a 6’2”, 185 pound quarterback from Huber Heights (Oh.) Wayne. A dual-threat QB, Miller will bring back memories of the Troy Smith era.

Miller is a more polished passer and possibly a more explosive running threat than Terrelle Pryor was when he came in as a freshman.  According to ESPN, Miller “has a big arm and can make every single throw.”

Tat Five To Return For Senior Year

The Columbus Dispatch is now reporting that the Tat Five, which includes Terrelle Pryor, Boom Herron, Mike Adams, DeVier Posey, and Solomon Thomas are all returning next year for Ohio State.

"Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said this morning that the five junior players who are scheduled to serve a five-game suspension at the start of next season, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, had to pledge they would return for their senior season before being included on this Sugar Bowl trip to play Arkansas on Tuesday night."

Also, it seems that Tressel will, in fact, not suspend these players for a quarter, or the Sugar Bowl:

"The Buckeyes thus will begin practice in the Superdome this afternoon with all hands on deck. And all hands will be at their assigned positions, Tressel said, indicating there will be no sanctions against the affected five in terms of starting spot or playing time."

I wonder if these players got word that the appeal might work, and the suspension be reduced to something like 3 games. We shall see.

This gives great hope to Buckeye Nation, as our chances without these players were slim. Now that they are back, and are returning for their senior season, there will be no distractions whatsoever.  Bring on the Hogs.