Willyville Guy

I hope this young man finds what he's looking for. His commitment during the national championship game last year added another fun wrinkle to that magical night. Rumors have been swirling for a while now, and he recently called himself "solid" for Ohio State. So it goes in recruiting teenagers. Looking forward to seeing Antonio Williams carry the rock in a couple of years!

I'm told he'll have an opportunity to earn back the scholarship. EDIT: An OSU spokesperson confirmed that Barrett will lose his "summer aid" money for 2016, not scholarship money for a term. I don't know what that means or how much is involved.

I see. The policy specifically refers to a DUI being treated as a second offense with a two-week suspension, and since this was an OVI citation rather than a DUI arrest, Gene Smith is saying that the policy doesn't apply and any suspension is at the discretion of the head coach. It will be interesting to see what the players do about the captaincy, assuming Urban leaves it up to the team -- if the reactions I saw on Twitter yesterday are any indication then I do not think they will take it away.

My understanding is that the policy calls for a two-week suspension, not a two-game suspension, and the two-week suspension will only cover one game because of the bye week. Now, *should* the university assess a tougher penalty than the policy calls for here? Different question. A 20-yr old student athlete with no priors went to a party during the bye week, caught a mild buzz, drove home on a route that included a campus sobriety checkpoint, and was issued a citation. Not good, but not that bad either. That said, JT is a captain and Urban says he holds his leaders to a higher standard -- so I'd expect to see something more. Maybe Barrett will lose his C. Or maybe he will ride the bench for a while even after the formal suspension is over, similar to the way Marcus Hall was benched during the B1G championship game even though his formal punishment had ended for flipping off the Big House. Or maybe Barrett will simply serve his two-week suspension and jump right back into the swing of things. The key is to watch program's actions -- official and unofficial -- to see the real consequences of this incident. EDIT: I just went and looked at the policy (it's here in case anyone is interested) because the explanation I described in the first paragraph above seems slippery. An underage alcohol-related offense is considered a second offense, which calls for "a two-week suspension from all competition at the earliest available time." (Emphasis added.) I read that to mean a two game suspension, which would include Minnesota and Illinois. Ugh.

Brutal.

Urban can finally say that JT straight up won the job back. Couldn't say that before the Penn. St. game. This should get good pretty quickly with JT, Miller, and EZE coming out of the backfield.

He has to be. JT running the zone read brought back all of the warm and fuzzies. That is how this offense is supposed to work -- sick athletes running in every different direction and whomever makes an LB or DB panic first gets the ball. Jones in a pro style set was an experiment that might have worked if they continued to fine tune it over the course of the rest of the season, but there is no need. The swagger is back with JT in there. The defense on the other hand.... Barkley is good, but 200 yards? Ugh. Something is wrong with Lee -- he must be hurt. Invisible for several games in a row now. But Joey Bosa is coming on strong so that helps. As for Michigan, well, that is what I call "Blue Balls."

Just give him the damn ball.

I'm fine with this under the circumstances.

Really surprising and upsetting that this kid may have thrown away his playing career. I saw the Gators as a potential playoff team. I could be missing something obvious, I don't recall many high-profile programs running into PED problems. Nothing comes to mind other than BYU years ago. That's not to say football players don't use them in the college game--I can't speak to that but looking at some of these kids I can draw my own conclusions--it's just that busts like this seem pretty rare to me. Anyway, bad news for Grier and the Gators.

"Yes, sir."

I like to personalize my anger and outrage, so this thread is very helpful. Thanks.

Man, I hope you're right and that the player quotes in the Carucci article are isolated and out of context. Definitely possible as I've seen nothing similar from these or other players anywhere else. I'm on board the Rex train and I hope the defense is too.

I generally agree that the process of adapting to a new system takes time, and this particular system has proven to be effective, so Bills fans should be comfortable that it’s only a matter of time before the line gets comfortable and starts playing the fast kind of ball they want to play. BUT, I do not like to read quotes from Kyle and Dareus saying that they are not playing in ways that favor their natural talents and instincts. That sounds dangerously close to what I’m reading about Suh in Miami. The quotes in Vic’s article are troubling.

While I'm sitting here stressing every game and wringing my hands over how and why the offense isn't farther along, Urban has been saying all week that he feels the team is making substantial progress and is on the brink of an offensive breakthrough. Normally I'd write that off as coachspeak, but Urban has never been one to sugarcoat his assessment of where one of his teams is at a particular point in time. He sees something he likes. Last year from the Michigan game forward every single player was super motivated to do his part to support the third-string QB -- practicing and playing hard to support Jones was a rallying point that helped bring the entire team even closer than it had been following the big conference games against Penn St. and MSU. That bond kept everyone loose as the lights became brighter and brighter. My guess is that the Miller-Barrett-Jones situation over the summer and earlier this season shifted the QB position from a rallying point to a distraction. They need to get back to the point where the team is rallying around Jones and not looking to see what he will do next or wondering if JT will be rotated back in. Easier said than done, but again Urban is seeing something that he likes.

McCoy because we have less depth at RB than WR, and as far as I know this is still a run-first offense. We have enough of talent at WR to cause confusion and mismatches for a game or two.

So today Meyer said that Jones is the starting QB. Jones has started every game this season, so I'm not 100% sure why this is big news. Maybe it means Jones will be allowed more time to work through early-game issues - instead of getting benched for Barrett if he has two poor series. I'm more concerned about Ed Warinner trying to juggle OC responsibilities (especially play calling) and also coach the oline. That might be too much for one guy to handle. I heard something about the QB coach calling plays from up in the booth this week. We'll see how it goes....

Here's to hoping that Herman will be the next coach of the Buckeyes. He has Houston undefeated and looking inspired. As for the game, ugh. At least it's great to see a dominant defense in Cbus again.

Don't you dare apologize for going to the VC!

I'm not sure I get the "Whaley got fleeced" crowd either. Didn't we only give up a fourth rounder?

I'd be surprised if they cut BB based solely on a pretty good first game by Williams. Maybe it was a personality thing? I could see Rex -- to a greater extent that almost any other coach -- sending guys packing if he doesn't get the right "vibe." And isn't blue cheese dressing everyone's favorite condiment?

I'm not the biggest Oregon fan but this is hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOEgDbdjj2s

I had a great time at the game, too. It was a beautiful day and I love all the game day rituals -- especially when the alumni band is there to do four script Ohios. As for the game, well, it feels so wrong to feel so bad about a 38-0 win, but the oline and penalties definitely need to be addressed. I love Darron Lee but there was absolutely no reason or excuse for leveling the punter in the end zone like that. Jones was clearly out of rhythm, and I don’t know whom to blame for the mishandled snaps, but for now I’m still okay with switching out the QBs depending on the situation. Gotta trust Urban on that one. On the bright side, good to see Bosa and Marshall out there again. There were plenty of good plays, and the defense delivered a shutout. 38-0 is a friggin’ fantastic result. If the team and coaches make themselves miserable about a win like that, then I’m concerned that Urban will dive himself crazy with anxiety again and bad things will start to happen. One of the best and most likeable parts about this team is how loose they remain when the lights are brightest. I hope it stays that way, for everyone’s sake.

I agree with that. Several people got through only to bounce off Jones, and other times Jones moved well enough when the pocket broke down. Jacoby Boren had a rough outing at center.

I feel pretty good about the win. Surprised to see Jones get the nod as starter; my view is that Barrett is better suited for Urban’s read-option system, which emphasizes recognizing mismatches and designed QB runs. That view was only strengthened when Barrett came in, immediately scrambled for a long gain, and then threw a perfect spiral for a long TD. But it’s tough to argue with Cardale’s results and how hard it is to bring him down. If the Bucks go the distance this season, my guess is that they’ll need both to step up at different times. Happy about the light workload for EZE – if he gets 15 touches per game through November I’ll be happy because come December/January it will be 35 per game. Incredibly happy for Braxton Miller. He has been through so much as a Buckeye – watching Tressel leave, living through Fickell, the Holy Buckeye play against Wisconsin, the undefeated season, obviously the shoulder, graduating, sticking with the program…. just a tough, tough kid with a huge heart. Darron Lee and Raekwon McMillan were just monsters at LB – right on schedule. I also liked Shutt’s game. Washington of course has a huge role to play this year. Brewer looked good and I feel horrible for the kid. He might have been able to score more points, but the two big offensive plays for VT were on misdirection throwbacks, and I doubt they would have hit anymore of those. I’d be surprised if the D bites on anymore of those for the rest of the year after last night. Nice playcalls. The turnovers…. eh. The pick was off a tip drill so I discount that. The muffed punt by EZE was an unusual position for him; once Maclin or Wilson is back that will get cleaned up. I was most disappointed in Dunn, even though the game was over when he fumbled, because I’m concerned that he is already on the outside looking in at RB. Now I think Weber will see action sooner. (Just goes to show that blue chip recruits don’t always work out.) So while I hate to see the turnovers, I didn’t see anything that makes me concerned about anyone major having a bad tendency. The stutter/shake/shimmy move Michael Thomas put on Fuller to burn him for a TD was magnificent – reminded me of our boy Stevie Johnson! And how about his uncle Keyshawn Johnson participating in the post-game Carmen Ohio wearing a No. 3 jersey? Pretty cool. It’s a good thing the OSU athletes ended up with so many highlights, because otherwise the entire country would have spent the day laughing at Eli Apple for getting his ankles broke by a fullback! I’m heading to Cbus next week with the wife and kids to help welcome the team back to the Shoe for the first time since the Michigan game last year. Hard to believe that so much has happened since their last home game. Go Bucks!