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Dave Thurman (2:45 pm)

On paper it looks great.  Ohio State versus Florida.  Two of the premier programs in the nation.  One is Urban Meyer's previous team and the other one his next gig.  Sounds like a made for television matchup.  But like most of Buckeye Nation, I am anything but enthused by this contest, and it's not just because both schools are 6-6.  Truth is the NCAA sanctions that were handed down this week, adding a bowl ban for the 2012 season, have taken any excitement away from this game.  At this point there seems to be little good that OSU can glean from the Gator Bowl, other than managing a winning season. 

I have already gone on record as saying that I don't think 6-6 teams belong in bowl games, so I have never embraced this contest.  I also felt it would be advantageous to turn it down and tell the NCAA it was a self-imposed bowl ban.  That way the team would have been free and clear in 2012.  But Gene Smith didn't see it that way and now has egg on his face...again!

However there are a few compelling questions to consider as we move toward this January 2nd contest:

1.  Will the senior class play with pride and try and end their careers on a positive note?  Obviously the "Block O" class of 2008 has enjoyed some success during their stay in Columbus, although they never achieved all that was anticipated.  So how will Brewster, Adams, Posey, Shugarts, Sweat and the boys end their playing days in scarlet and gray?  Add in the 5th year seniors like Boom Herron and Tyler Moeller and there are quite a few guys who have something to prove.  Hopefully they won't merely go through the motions but will play with pride and purpose. 
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Dave Thurman (8:06 pm)

Noah Spence, considered by most every recruiting services to be the top weakside defensive end in the class of 2012, gave a verbal commitment to Ohio State this evening following his weekend visit.  Spence, a 6'3" 240 pound specimen from Harrisburg, Pennslyvania (Bishop McDevitt), is a pass rush specialist who has started since his freshman season.  As a junior in 2010 he registered 22 sacks, and is a five-star prospect who will play in the Under Armour All-American game in Orlando on January 5th.

Spence chose Ohio State over scholarship offers from LSU, Florida, Maryland, Penn State, USC, Notre Dame, Michigan, and many others.  Combined with the verbals from Adolphus Washington and Se'van Pittman it is safe to say that the Buckeyes will bolster their pass rush in a big way in the next few years. 

Welcome aboard Noah!
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Dave Thurman (6:43 pm)

Gimme back my bullets,
Put 'em back where they belong.
-Lynard Skynard, 1976

As a long, painful year comes to a close and we look ahead to 2012, most fans are talking about offense.  Not me.  I think the Buckeye offense is in good hands.  Urban Meyer and boy wonder, Tom Herman, will employ the spread and move the ball up and down the field in a fashion few of us will recongnize.  Sure, I'm concerned about the offensive line which may need to be held together with duct tape.  But Braxton Miller and a young stable of talented skill players have the potential to light up the scoreboard.  Just watch how many catches Jake Stoneburner winds up with, and how much the backs , like Jordan Hall, are employed swinging out of the backfield.  It should be fun.

No, I am more concerned with the Buckeye defense which was gashed far too often in 2011.  Truth is, The Silver Bullets had become a source of pride for me the past decade. Whenever idiot fans of teams that played "basketball on grass" would taunt me and make fun of Tressel's conservative ways I would answer, "Yeah, but have you seen our D?"  When they took the field I saw swagger, bone-rattling tackling, and firece pride.  Year after year they were ranked among the elite defensive units in America.  Then came 2011, and there were games when it appeared the only way to keep a team from moving right down the field was to force a turnover.  I began praying for inerceptions and fumbles each time an opponent had the ball.  Even third and long brought no comfort or confidence as teams converted as if they were facing a Mountain West defense. And so my plea going into 2012 is simple:Gimme back my Bullets! 

Is there any credible reason for optimism?  Let's take a brief look at our prospects.
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Newest Buckeye Se'Von Pitman
Dave Thurman (8:20 am)

Urban Meyer might be better with flips than the cook at IHOP.  A few hours after receiving a verbal from Tommy Shutt (who flipped to the Buckeyes from Penn State), the new head coach at OSU received another commitment from defensive end Se'von Pittman (flipping to Ohio State from MSU).  The 6'5", 245-pound Pittman hails from Canton McKinley and was a high school teammate of current Buckeye Steve Miller.  During a fine senior season he made 102 tackles including 20 tackles for loss and 8 sacks, forcing two fumbles and recovering one.

Pittman is rated as a top 100 national player by Rivals who has assigned him four stars.  Scout and 247 Sports also list Se'von as a four-star player, Like Adolphus Washington, Pittman is considered a weakside end and is being brought in to bring more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.  In addition to OSU and Michigan State he had received offers from Michigan, Florida, Alabama, Nebraska and others. He brings the number of verbal commitments in the class of 2012 to eighteen.

With two big commitments to begin the week, the question on everyone's mind is who's next?

Welcome home Se'von! 
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Dave Thurman (8:11 pm)

Let the Urban Meyer recruiting era officially begin.  Since his hire two weeks ago, Meyer has been hard at work, and it began to pay off today when defensive tackle Tommy Schutt verbaled to the Buckeyes.  Schutt had committed to Penn State this summer, but the combination of the controversy swirling around Happy Valley, combined with the recent announcement of Meyer as the new head coach at OSU, caused him to flip to the Buckeyes. 

Schutt, who prepped at Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois,  is listed at 6'3", 285 pounds, although some say he is now up to 300.  Scout ranks him as the 5th best defensive tackle in the land, assigning him five stars.  Rivals and 247 Sports both have him as a four star player, although both list Schutt as one of the top 100 players in the nation.  

This past season Schutt registered 73 tackles including 27 tackles for loss and 14 sacks as Glenbard West finished with a 10-1 record. He also batted down 11 passes, had an interception and recovered three fumbes.

In addition to Ohio Sate and Penn State, Schutt had scholarship offers from Oregon, USC, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Duke, Boston College and others.

Combined with the recent verbal of five-star defensive end Adolphus Washington, Ohio State has bolstered what should be a deep and talented line, and Meyer may not be finished yet.  Welcome aboard Tommy Schutt!
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Dave Thurman (8:58 pm)

Happy days are here again!  The worst kept secret in college football became reality early this evening as Urban Meyer was introduced officially as the new head coach of The Ohio State University  football team.  The 47-year-old Meyer is an Ohio native, born in Toledo but raised in Ashtabula, and grew up as a fan of the Buckeyes and legendary head coach Woody Hayes. After playing defensive back at the University of Cincinnati, he began his coaching career at St Xavier High School in Cincinnati, before serving two years as a graduate assistant at OSU under Earle Bruce.  Overall, as a head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida, Meyer compiled a 104-23 record, including being 7-1 in bowl games with two national championships.  His resume is extremely impressive, and like most fans I was anxious to see his first press conference in Columbus.  I was not disappointed.  Very quickly, here are a few things that jumped out at me:

-It seemed surreal as the moment we had all anticipated finally became reality, and things seemed to get of to a bit off a slow start.  Gene Smith is far from my favorite person, and he underwhelmed again, droning on for over five minutes in a monotone voice, explaining the process of hiring Meyer, repeating himself in the process.  After about four minutes of listening to his drivel I sent Drew a text that said, "For the love of all that is good, Gene, shut up, sit down, and let Urban talk."  Drew's response: "I was just tweeting the same thing!"

-When Urban first approached the podium he looked nervous, read a prepared statement, and even dropped his notes at one point.  But as soon as he finished reading the brief speech and started fielding questions, he quickly relaxed and did a great job with his responses. 
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Drew Thurman (10:27 pm)

It's been 2,926 days since Buckeye Nation has felt this feeling. While we all knew the streak would come to the end, possibly even this year, it still is awful to watch it come to fruition. 

In many ways this game embodied what we have seen this team be all season. A mix of poor coaching moments and failed execution in critical situations plagued the Buckeyes yet again, who have not really been able to put a complete game together this season. In fact, that was the reason many saw the Buckeyes falling short going into Saturday.

The 40-34 loss isn't how most people saw this one playing out though. This game saw 816 total yards of offense and 74 points in an effort that looked like something you would see in the Pac-12 or Big 12, not in this heralded rivalry. In fact, it was the Buckeye defense that was the biggest storyline in the game. They struggled all afternoon to stop Denard Robinson, who amassed 167 yards on 14/17 passing and three touchdowns to go with 170 yards on the ground with 2 touchdowns. Some of the issues can be chalked up to the mounting injuries on that side of the ball, more even happening during the game, but at the end of the day this defense is just plain bad. Not since the Tim Biakabutuka debacle have the Buckeyes looked so sorry on defense in this game.

Honestly, if I were to assess the whole season I would have to start with the defense. While Bollman's play calling has been like that of high school coach in 1934, the Buckeyes have been a contender for a decade now with questionable offenses. The big difference this season has been the defense, or lack thereof. They looked bad in Miami, they let Nebraska come back, the tried to let Wisconsin come back, and they made Michigan look like a top five team. They say defense wins championships, and the 6-6 record this year backs up that statement.

So let's take a deeper look into some of what I saw in this game. It's with the defense I want to start.
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Dave Thurman (12:36 pm)

The Ohio State Buckeyes head north to Ann Arbor carrying a seven game win streak in "The Game", their longest in the history of this intense rivalry.  However they are also coming off two straight losses to Purdue and Penn State in which they appeared lackadaisical, unprepared and poorly coached.  On the other hand, the 9-2 Wolverines are fresh off a 45-17 thrashing of Nebraska, and are fielding their best team in five years.  With one team playing their worst football of the year, and the other playing their best, it would seem a foregone conclusion that Michigan will prevail at home.  But this is a rivalry game when anything can happen. 

Adding to the drama is the fact that every major media outlet is reporting that Luke Fickell is coaching his last game at Ohio State, at least as a head coach, with Urban Meyer about to be announced as the new top man in Columbus.  One wonders how the players and coaching staff are dealing with this distraction, and if some have simply given up.  As if OSU needed anything more going against them consider that Michigan is 7-0 at home this season while the Buckeyes are 1-3 on the road.  It is an uphill battle for the young visitors to say the least.

When Michigan has the ball:

Everything starts with junior quarterback Denard Robinson and his shifty speed.  Although first year coach Brady Hoke has tried to make Robinson a bit more of a pocket presence and hasn't run him as often as last year, Denard still does his greatest damage with his legs (183, 993, 14).  He is very difficult to get an angle on, which could present huge problems for a Silver Bullet defense that has struggled to be in position to tackle all year.  Robinson has really not improved as a passer (1889 yds, 53.1%, 15 tds, 14 int) and is prone to turnovers.  Due to his reckless style and small stature, he has also been susceptible to injuries in his career, and if he is hurt, UM will turn to sophomore Devin Gardner, who is talented but has yet to put it all together. If Robinson runs wild, which seems highly possible, it will be a long day for the Buckeyes.
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Drew Thurman (7:55 am)

Twitter blew up yesterday thanks to Bill Greene tweeting that Urban Meyer and Ohio State had reached an agreement. Eleven Warriors got this ball rolling, and now with Greene's latest details and others jumping on board, it's pretty clear this is more than just smoke. Obviously, things could still fall apart, but it appears an announcement could be made next week.

News this big will create a few vastly different responses. For most Buckeye fans this news will be met with excitement and complete idealism. With how things have gone over the last year and the fact that Urban has two national championships under his belt, that reaction seems perfectly understandable. There will be a small sect of fans who are still completely loyal to Tressel, hate Meyer after the '06 beat down, and will take much longer to accept him. Finally, there will be rival fans who will point to things like Urban's player arrest record or how he left things at Florida, and will provide plenty of negativity and hatred towards the whole thing.

So setting aside the bias that each of those perspectives offer, how should we really feel about Urban? Maybe even more importantly, what should expect from him? Let's take a look. 
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Washington will wear Scarlet and Gray
Dave Thurman (2:22 pm)

In a classic good news/bad news scenario Ohio State received a verbal commitment from one of the two stars from Cincinnati Taft High School, but lost out on the other one.  Defensive End Adolphus Washington will continue his playing career in Columbus, while teammate Dwayne Stanford will take his receiving skills to Oregon.  The hope was that both would desire to don the Scarlet and Gray but in the end Ohio State got the more decorated of the two.

Washington is ranked by many recruiting services as the best player in the state of Ohio, with Scout and 247Sports both rating him as a 5-star player.  Considering the fact that the Buckeyes have struggled to mount any kind of pass rush this year, signing Washington is a big coup, and the staff had to consider him a must get.  In 2011 he recorded 23.5 sacks, and could jump into the two deep immediately, even though the Silver Bullets return a bevy of talented young linemen. 

Losing Stanford hurts, especially since many observers predicted he and Washington would head to the same school.  He is a big, physical wideout that would have been a nice fit in the B1G, but was not considered an instant impact player like Washington.  In addition, Ohio State already has verbal commitments from three receivers in Frank Epitropoulos. Michael Thomas and Roger Lewis.   

So while it would have been nice to land both players from Taft, clearly it is a good day, as the Buckeyes added the one they needed most.
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