Jenkins to stay, Gholston to leave

Malcolm Jenkins surprised many by deciding to stay for his senior season at Ohio State.

Malcolm Jenkins decided he hadn’t accomplished all he could in college, and so he is returning for another year. The Buckeye corner back was projected by many to go in the first round of this year’s draft had he decided to declare. Consider Halftime Adjustments pleasantly surprised by the decision. Jenkins will surely be named a defensive captain next season, and should be a pre-season All-American.

Pictured with Jenkins above is of course junior linebacker James Laurinaitis. The Buckeye All-American has until Tuesday to decided whether of not to pursue the NFL, or continue playing for the Scarlett and Gray. Laurinaitis has said all season that he intends to return for his senior year, but nobody could blame the guy for moving on. He has won the major line-backer awards, twice been an All-American, and was even named a captain of this year’s team, which is quite rare for a junior under Tressel. Perhaps Malcolm’s decision to stay might motivate the Buckeye’s leading tackler to stay for one more year.

Unlike Jenkins, Vernon Gholston will be declaring for the NFL draft. This comes as no surprise, and certainly Gholston has a chance to be a first round pick as well. Gholston was one of the few Buckeyes to have a decent BCS game this year. His incredible strength and speed should serve him well at the next level. The Browns could sure use Vernon Gholston, but without trading into the first round there is no chance of that happening.

Making Headlines…at least small ones

 

Let me be pretty clear about this, the only circumstances under which Halftime Adjustments will refer to the ballpark in which the Indians play as ‘Progressive Field’, would be in some sort of sarcastic harsh tone. Since 1994 the Indians have, and until it is knocked down, will always play at the Jake.

Cavalier Shannon Brown requested to be sent to the developmental league. The Cavs granted his wish yesterday. My guess is that barring injury or trade that will be the last we see of Shannon Brown in Cleveland. It is obvious that the Cavs have no interest in Shannon past this season, and he wasn’t getting playing time lately. Shannon had an opportunity to play when LeBron was injured, but really wasn’t ready to shoulder that much of the load. Perhaps a couple weeks of solid games for the Vipers will increase Shannon’s trade value. I’m sure that was his intention, plus the opportunity to play every day.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part…

Can’t embed this one, but here’s the link.

Here are some of my favorite stories and articles about the game tonight.

Bob Hunter of the Dispatch does a great job summarizing the impact tonight’s game has on the perception of the program. Perception is Reality, Until the Buckeyes Change it.

EDSBS paints a positive picture of Buckeye fans in New Orleans. Wish I could be there with you! Ohio State, LSU fans are Polar Opposites.

Men of the Scarlett and Gray posted the 5 things the Buckeyes must do to win on both sides of the ball. Offense and Defense

I was reviewing the 100 Things that had me excited about the Buckeyes this year, and oddly enough I didn’t even mention the possibility of playing the National Title game. Check out some of the other pseudo-predictions I made, and of course see the videos again. Part 1. Part 2.

Tressel did what???

Here’s the first line of an article I came across…

Jim Tressel encouraged 13 of his juniors to ask the NFL where they might be selected in the next draft.

Of course my first thought was along the lines of, “What are you thinking? Have you gone mad?” But as I continued to read through the article, which is an AP article available after the jump, I realized Tressel was simply trying to control the situation. There is no doubt that some of these young men would be entertaining notions of leaving early, and Tressel wants them to understand where they would stand if they decided to enter the upcoming draft. It also seems like he is trying to avoid a repeat of what happened last year, when players might have been distracted by talk of the NFL before the big game. It seems the players themselves realized this could have been a problem last year, and are taking steps to correct it. They have decided as a group not to talk about it until after the game against LSU. Let’s hope that’s true.

As for Tressel, it makes a lot of sense for him to help his players make this difficult decision. He has invested a lot into their lives for the last three years, and he is always trying to make them better men, not just better football players. Despite what Mo Clarrett said, Jim Tressel does have his players’ best interest at heart. I suppose I am more comfortable with our young players getting coached through this process by the Vest than Ted Ginn’s dad, like what happened last year. Perhaps Antonio Pittman would have come back for his senior year, instead of bolting for the NFL. He could have been a Heisman finalist this year. Instead, he sits on the Rams’ bench. Full Article follows…

They fear the vest!

Seriously…does anyone want to coach Michigan?

This morning’s report that Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano has decided to stay at Rutgers instead of accepting the open job at Michigan has to be disheartening for the big blue alumni and fans. Even before Lloyd Carr’s retirement presser it was a foregone conclusion that LSU’s Les Miles would jump at the chance to coach at his Alma mater. Last weekend that idea hit a serious snag. Miles decided the grass wasn’t greener in Michigan. His contract extension reported yesterday pretty much slammed the door on any return to groundhog country.

The man on the left is Iowa’s coach Kirk Ferentz. He was or wasn’t a serious candidate for the position as well. That depends who you talk to. According to the Detroit News however, he is no longer being considered. Could he be the third candidate to say thanks, but no thanks to what was called by many to be “the best coaching job in the country”? Actually, the first man to say no thank you would have been Stanford coach, and UM grad Jim Harbaugh, but let’s be real, he wasn’t going to be a candidate anyway.

How much does respect matter?

 

Interesting read over at ESPN about the Buckeyes. In this article by Bruce Hooley, Kirk Herbstreit tries to make an interesting point. Here’s the quote:

In my opinion, Ohio State could do more about [improving] the image people have of its program by playing a talented USC team that right now is as hot as any in the country … I promise you, if Ohio State goes into the Rose Bowl, everyone is going to be saying, ‘USC is going to kill Ohio State.’  Ohio State will gain more respect if it plays USC in the Rose Bowl and wins that game, than if it goes and beats West Virginia and wins the national title. From an image standpoint, Ohio State would score more points going to the Rose Bowl than by going to the national championship game. If you can believe that, that’s the truth.

Yes, but no Kirk. Truth is that the Buckeyes will have their chance to beat the Trojans next year, week 2. If the Buckeyes ‘backed in’ to the National Championship game and beat West Virginia, then turned around and beat USC week 2, they will have done everything they could to silence critics. Truth be told, the critics will still find something to exploit. There will be no silencing.

Too…much…happening…

Wow. So the Buckeyes have knocked Lloyd Carr out of a job, the Browns swept the season series against the Ravens, and I get to write a guest post on a Michigan site. Things are looking pretty good today.

So I wrote the wager post for Ghosts, we’ll send along a link when we see it up there. John is itching to write a Browns post, so we’ll defer to him. I will say this team is still quite immature. How scary will they be when they get it together?

The Buckeyes appear headed to Pasadena for only the second time in 20 years. Can that be right? It jut doesn’t seem possible that the last time we went to the Rose Bowl was Joe Germaine and the gang against Jake the Snake Plummer. I’m looking forward to it. And we’ll let Jeff from the Buckeye Battle Cry be the team cheerleader for the BCS title game. I prefer to be pleasantly surprised if they get there.

Lloyd Carr has stepped down. What will his legacy be? Well, I think it is quite simple really. Lloyd Carr > John Cooper. Jim Tressel > LLoyd Carr. That about sums it up I think. In the history of The Rivalry, Lloyd will now be linked with John Cooper. As good as Lloyd Carr looked when Cooper couldn’t get the job done, he looks that bad today. This group of seniors even came back to ensure that Carr’s legacy wasn’t tarnished. He had the more experienced group, playing at home, and he still lost. Todd Boeckman looked absolutely terrible. You can blame the weather if you want, but truth is he had that deer in the headlights look. No way he was going to make plays to win that game. He attempted 2 passes in the second half. His longest pass of the day was 15 yards! Despite that, the Wolverines couldn’t beat the Buckeyes.

Wells runs over Wolverines

Ohio State threw the ball twice in the second half. Michigan knew the run was coming, they just couldn’t stop it.

Perhaps the Big House should be renamed. How about Beanie’s house? 2 touchdowns and 220 yards rushing provided all the offense the Buckeyes would need in this one. Gholston and the Buckeye defense swarmed Henne, Hart and the Michigan offense, holding them under 100 yards for the day. Looks like a guest post for us over at Ghosts of Wayne Fontes later this week. And another Big Ten championship for Tressel and the Buckeyes. Congratulations guys, well fought win!

Seems like old times…

My dad used to tell me, “Every year a Buckeye fan wants three things. Most important is beat Michigan. Second is win the Big Ten. And finally win the Rose Bowl.”

Yeah, this one stung for a little while. But I keep thinking back to the beginning of the season. If you would have told me that we would be playing Michigan for the Big Ten title and a possible trip to the Rose Bowl, I’d have taken that grinning from ear to ear. This was supposed to be a ‘down’ year for the Buckeyes. This team is young and was supposed to be learning how to win. They had not faced adversity yet this season. Now, they have their backs to the wall a little.

What they are saying about Ohio State vs Illinois

Your weekly round-up of national media and their opinions/predictions for the game this Saturday.

Scout’s Inc. gives the match-up edge to the Buckeyes in all phases of the game except RB. Rashard Mendenhall has over 1300 yards for the season, averaging nearly 7 yards a carry. Seriously, if the guy averages 7 yards how do you ever lose a game? Here’s the final analysis-

Ohio State can’t afford to overlook Illinois with Michigan on the horizon but the chances of that happening are unlikely. After all, the season has been riddled by upsets and there are enough leaders on both sides of the ball to prevent the inexperienced players on the team from getting too caught up in the BCS hype. With that in mind, expect a run defense anchored by ILB Laurinaitis to lead the Buckeyes to another important Big Ten win. Laurinaitis and Co. will slow the potent and dynamic Fighting Illini ground game enough to force QBs Williams and/or McGee to make more plays with their arms than they would most weeks. And Illinois just doesn’t have enough weapons or the consistency at quarterback to consistently convert when this happens. In addition, the chances of Ohio State generating turnovers greatly increase the more the Fighting Illini put the ball in the air.  Buckeyes 31, Illini 10

Much more after the jump.

Wells romps, defense sacks Wisconsin

Chris Wells put the Buckeyes on his back and carried them to a 38-17 win over the Badgers. Wells ran for three scores and 169 yards on 21 carries. This game was much closer than the final score indicates, as Wisconsin had a 17-10 lead in the third quarter. That was when Wells took over. He had 90+ yards in the third quarter. His first TD covered 31 yards, his second a mere 30. He showed a great burst of speed, as well as the trademark power that we have come to expect from Wells.

On the defensive side of the ball Ohio State recorded 10 sacks, including 4 from Vernon Gholston. Officially the Badgers had 12 yards rushing on 37 carries. However, freshman Zach Brown was effective running for 63 yards. (Yards lost on sacks count against the rushing totals, and they lost nearly 50 yards on sacks.) Tight End Travis Beckum killed the Buckeyes today, catching 9 passes for 140 yards and a score.

What they are saying about Ohio State vs Wisconsin

It appears many of you appreciated the round-up from last week’s match-up, so I figured I’d give it another go. Certainly there are fewer detractors this week, as many were convinced the Buckeyes are at least worthy of a top 5 spot if not #1.

Todd McShay wrote a quite favorable piece on Todd Boeckman and the O-line, but I see that it is an insider piece, so linking to it won’t help. I’ll give you a snippet of the piece here-

“Size can be an overrated characteristic, but it definitely plays a role in Boeckman’s success. He has no trouble seeing over his massive offensive linemen, and his passing windows often are unobstructed. Boeckman shows no fear of taking a hit while his body is exposed during delivery, and he is sturdy enough to throw while defenders dangle from his legs.”

And about the line-

“The lesson learned is that Ohio State has very little trouble dealing with perimeter pass-rushers. First off, OTs Alex Boone and Kirk Barton are borderline impenetrable — just ask Penn State DE Maurice Evans.”

Bruce Hooley breaks down the Badgers and what they will have to do to beat the Bucks. When asked what the plan was to stop Ohio State, head coach Bret Bielema offered this-

“We’re going to try to play with 12 guys”

That might work coach.

Carmen Ohio, a capella

Buckeye Commentary brought to our attention that the Ohio State band did not travel to Penn State on Saturday. According to Buckeye lineman Kirk Barton the reason is because the last time the band went to Happy Valley, they were pelted with all types of objects, some that may have included human waste. Whether it is true or not, the band did not accompany the team, which led to an a capella version of the Alma Mater after this week’s big win.

“Overrated” Buckeyes down right offensive

Now that was quite a performance from the Buckeye offense. Touchdown drives of 80, 87 and 91 yards in that noisy stadium sure impressed me. 200 rushing yards, 253 passing yards against Conner and “Linebacker U”. Still not impressed? How about 0 punts? How about 12 for 16 on third down? Wow. Great game Buckeyes. I’ll have more analysis tomorrow, not to mention a guest spot over at My Jersey has no Name. Go Browns!

Tick…tick…tick…

Here’s hoping Tressel and the Buckeyes have to bust out Carmen Ohio after tonight’s game against Penn State! Go Buckeyes!!