Postmortem

Sigh

That's all folks. The curtain has dropped, the seas have un-parted and the fat lady has belted her last note. That last "game" against the Spartans effectively ended the 2011 campaign before it even had a chance to get going. The Miami game a couple weeks back was a tough pill to swallow but many, yours truly included thought that the Big Ten season would offer a new beginning of sorts and allow Ohio St. to play meaningful football this season. That ship sailed in my head after the first 3 offensive series last Saturday. This team is bad. Not average or mediocre... bad. It pains me more than anyone else to type those words but it's time to face reality.

There will still be some good games against inferior opponents in the coming weeks but anyone with a pulse in the Big Ten has to be smacking their chops in anticipation of their game with OSU. I guess "bad" isn't a fair term to bestow on the whole team. I thought that the defense played their collective tails off (per usual) and kept the team in the game all afternoon. They let Cousins get off some decent throws and there were some missed tackles but when the D is on the field that long, the Baltimore Ravens would've given up some yardage. With an offense that pathetic there is no room for error. For OSU to have won that game, the defense would've had to been the unit to put it in the end zone. IS there any other conclusion to be drawn from that contest? Let's take a look at the 3 most glaring problems even though one could write a book on all that is wrong with OSU these days. The quarterback play is just awful right now. Joe Bauserman should never, and I mean never, pick up a football ever again.

Posey, Hall, And Herron Suspended For Nebraska Game

This is getting old, real fast

As it was announced yesterday, we're here to bring the bad news in full summation, for your understanding and total lack of disbelief. Oh wait, that's me. 

- Five Ohio State players were under investigation for receiving more money than they were owed for part-time jobs. 

- Only 4 players were found guilty, including Melvin Fellows, Marcus Hall, Boom Herron, and DeVier Posey. 

- These 4 players are suspended indefinitely, but Fellows, Hall and Herron received the same amounts of money that have been suspended for 2 games, previous to before this whole NCAA ordeal. 

- DeVier Posey seems to be in the most trouble, and might not ever get to see the field in a Buckeye uniform again. The amount of money he has received is enough for a 4 game suspension. With the risk of a bowl ban (which, even making a bowl is looking less and less more likely) and loss of scholarships, the Buckeyes won't put Posey back on the field, because it's too dangerous to mess with the NCAA situation. 

- The NCAA ruling that was set for late October, early November, will be delayed due to the new developments. Gene Smith says this does not affect the NCAA's decision, but it's rather a necessary protocol. 

For the university release, head to the jump. 

Ohio State Vacates All Wins From 2010, Places Itself On 2 Year Probation

Taking some serious hits

According to the Columbus Dispatch, From here on, the 2010 Ohio State Football season no longer exists, at least in the record books. After going 12-1, the Buckeyes will vacate all wins from that season, as the university submitted its response to the NCAA today, addressing allegations that then-coach Jim Tressel lied and allowed ineligible players to compete by failing to report that they had sold OSU-issued memorabilia to a tattoo-parlor owner. While this certainly wasn't was OSU fans were hoping for, it seemed inevitable due to the NCAA giving it's final ruling of punishments for Ohio State. With the 2 year probation, and the vacating of wins, (along with the pushing of resignation of Jim Tressel) Ohio State hope to "please" the NCAA showing they are serious about setting the school straight. 


"Sources said the report also includes the revelation that the university had identified one additional football player who received discounts on tattoos and has declared him ineligible. The university has requested that the NCAA reinstate the unnamed player."

SI Article Shows 9 Players To Add To TatFive, Little Else

Not deep enough, obviously

The hype around the SI investigative report against and on Jim Tressel was built up to the point where it was getting monstrous, and (many people believed) is the reason for Tressel's resignation. That turned out to be very, very wrong. When the article came out last night at around 8 PM eastern time, people flocked to the site to see what all the fuss was about, and see how dirty the program really is.


What we all found was...well, nothing. The only big deal would be the fact that 9 other players were involved with the Tattoo guy, Rife. Those players were: defensive back C.J. Barnett, linebacker Dorian Bell, running back Jaamal Berry, running back Bo DeLande, defensive back Zach Domicone, linebacker Storm Klein, linebacker Etienne Sabino, defensive tackle John Simon and defensive end Nathan Williams.


It doesn't help Sports Illustrated's cause when more than half the article that was written, didn't even pertain to the fact of Tressel in his OSU era. Most of it was during his time at Youngstown State. Really? I mean, give me a break. The fact that they say they've "dug up" some pretty serious stuff is just looking plain stupid right now.

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.

Luke Fickell Named Assistant Head Coach

Great choice by Ohio State for the first 5 games

As of yesterday, Luke Fickell was named by Ohio State that he would be the head coach for the first 5 games in the 2011 season.

Here's what the school released on the decision:

"In that role, he will serve as interim head coach for the first five games of the Buckeyes’ 2011 season. He will also retain his role as linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator. 

“Luke Fickell is a Buckeye to the core. He has earned this promotion to assistant head coach through his hard work, dedication and performance,” said Smith. “ We have great trust and belief in Luke’s ability to work with our entire coaching staff to lead our young men through the first five games this fall. I have confidence our entire football family will work together to maintain our standard of excellence.”

Fickell is in his 10th year on the Ohio State coaching staff. He coaches the Buckeyes linebackers and is co-defensive coordinator, a role he assumed in April, 2005. In 2010, he was selected as the AFCA’s Assistant Coach of the Year for FBS schools, and was also named Linebacker Coach of the Year by Football Scoop.
“I am honored to be able to grow at a place and in a program that I know, love and respect. It is extremely humbling,” said Fickell."

I personally think this is the best possible choice for Ohio State as it stands, since Darrell Hazell is no longer with the program. Fickell is a good replacement for the first 5 games, and Buckeye fans are especially interested in seeing what his coaching style will be like. Many believe that when Tressel steps down (whenever that may be) that Luke will be the one standing there ready to take the job. I think it is difficult to make a jump from an assistant coach to head coach, and this will surely provide him the chance to show what he can do.

Tat Five Won't Die, Going For Tressel Now

Innocent?

According to a recent Yahoo! report, from an anonymous source, Jim Tressel apparently knew about the players fiasco way back last April.

"According to a source, a concerned party reached out to Tressel last April, alerting the coach that memorabilia transactions had taken place between Rife and a handful of Buckeyes players, including Pryor. The selling of items violates NCAA eligibility rules. The source said Tressel was troubled by the information, and the coach indicated that he would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
Whether the coach initiated an investigation of the accusation is unclear, but all five players remained on the field in the coming months, playing out the 2010 regular season."

A lot of people are saying it's just smoke, and nothing is really going on but shunning the basketball team. Thing is, there are a lot of things that are adding up. Eleven Warriors posted this, saying a major school was about to get blasted. That was a week ago today, and we thought it might have been Oregon. Now, things are looking mildly ugly as heads are turning back towards the Buckeyes way. Tressel's Twitter (although not proven to be him) said this:  "I didn't know. Seriously ;)"

We will keep you updated, because today is most likely the day we will hear something that is either going to be really bad, or not matter at all.

Update: Tressel, Gordon Gee, and Gene Smith will be holding a press conference at 7 PM.

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).

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.

Should We Thank Wisconsin?

Did Watt do us a favor?

Something came to my mind earlier today. Along with the fact that some of Ohio State's best players are going to be suspended for 5 games, and maybe the Sugar Bowl (depending on what Tressel decides), maybe Buckeye fans should be thanking, yes thanking,  Wisconsin. The tatgate has hit OSU hard, and hit the legacy of Terrelle Pryor even harder. Ohio State plays in the Sugar Bowl on January 4th, but what would have happened if they were playing on the 10th, for the National Championship? The NCAA and Ohio State would be in a pickle. Say Auburn was our opponent, would the NCAA still suspend these Buckeyes after letting Cameron Newton go free with money in his pocket, simply because he "didn't know"?

If they did, maybe it's time to be gracious we aren't in a position to win a National Title this year. If we had to stick the ball into Bauserman's or Guiton's hands without our starting left tackle, without a starting wide receiver, and without the leading rusher, could they really pull out a win? The defense might be fine, other than the mind game they would be playing while trying to tackle the best player in college football in Cam Newton. The mind game would overtake their minds simply because they have no offense backing them up. Who knows, maybe they would take that into a good way, maybe they like taking the load on their shoulders, but really, you can't win with just a defense. You can come close, don't get me wrong, but you have to have some sort of an offense.