If you've been paying attention, you're likely aware that the BCS commissioners overwhelmingly voted against a playoff system in college football. The question of why has already been addressed in a lot of places, and boils down to two answers:

1. Tradition - We've had bowl games for decades now, and there's all sorts of history there. Why blow it up?
2. Money - Schools make a ton of money on the BCS. You think they'll make as much when their teams have to travel to neutral sites for several weeks to play playoff games?

Now, I'm in the minority here, but I'm with the (non-SEC) commissioners on this one. And I have Gordon Gee on my side, which means I'm right.

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee calls the issue of a college football playoff his Maginot Line -- a final, heels-in-the-dirt resistance to what he views as the ruination of the sport.

The reference is to the line of fortifications France built on its border with Germany in the 1930s.

"We will not cross that line and get onto the slippery slope -- the professional-ization of college football and a furthering of the arms race," he said. "We simply have to say no. If we don't say no to this, the horse has left the barn totally. I will vote against it under any circumstance."

A bit later in the article:

Gee has proved he's not afraid to be a maverick, to blow up a system he views as broken. Look at his radical restructuring of the athletic department when he was chancellor at Vanderbilt.

So a case can be made that Tressel and Gee might be more open than most to the playoff possibilities.

Instead, they shoot down the idea, for the following reasons:

• Adding more games is bad for the players' welfare, particularly those who plan to try their hand at pro football.
• Shortening the regular season to make room for playoff games in December won't work, because schools need all the home-game revenue they can get.
• You can't ask fans to travel to neutral-site playoff games two or three weeks in a row.
• If you have home-site playoff hosts, you crush the bowl system. And bowls are worth preserving.

 

The easy hole to poke in Gee's argument against playoffs is that the game has already been professionalized. Bob Hunter makes that very argument in the Dispatch, matter of fact. Hunter argues, essentially, that "hey, the game is already commercialized, and that's not going away. Why not at least get a playoff out of it?" But then, there are two arguments against that:

1. Just because the games is commercialized, doesn't mean it should be. True, it's somewhat hypocritical for the president of a school boasting one of the highest-revenue athletic departments in the country to argue against commercialization, but if we believe this is a game that should be played by amateurs and not run primarily for profit, then any action taken toward those goals is a step in the right direction, even if there's a long way to go. Look at it this way: if you want a PB&J sandwich, but you have no peanut butter, you don't have to say, "Screw it, then, I'm going hungry." You can hop in your car and drive to the store, even if it's a long drive. Or you could at least crush up peanuts, sprinkle them over some butter bread, and hope for the best. That doesn't represent any part of the playoff argument, I just wanted to work in the chance to warn you all: peanut butter is not peanuts + butter.
2. The rest of Gee's points remain valid: the current system places fewer demands on players and maintains at least some semblance of tradition.

It's that second point that fits better with my view of playoffs. For starters, I don't think playoffs will solve all the problems with crowning a national champ. I mean, how often can you say you're sure the team that wins the NCAA tournament in men's basketball was the best in the country that year? If they get hot at the right time and catch a few lucky breaks, a pretty mediocre team can make a run through the playoffs and win it all, while a team that crushed the competition throughout the year can fall victim to a bad call and be out in the first round. True, those are the extreme cases, but c'mon, we're all college football fans here: I have argued extensively, with a complete disregard for logic, that Archie Griffin is the best athlete ever, simply because he won two Heismans. You think the Buckeyes losing a close game in the semi-finals is going to stop me from arguing that they're the best team in the country? A playoff won't settle these arguments. It'll give the fans of the winners some pretty good evidence, but then the little crystal balls the BCS hands out are also pretty good evidence.

Of course, this assumes we can even get the best teams in the playoffs. A four-team playoff will definitely leave out a potentially deserving team from time to time. An eight-team playoff (or Brian's six-team playoff, my favorite of the playoff proposals I've read) is better, but will still leave out some deserving teams (e.g., is the #3 SEC team that barely won its last few games more deserving than the #2 ACC team that finished strong?). We'd have to expand to quite a few teams to be sure of capturing all the teams with legit shots at winning a national championship, at which point we're adding considerably to the length of the season, which is not in the best interest of the players (again, stipulating we're still buying into the myth that college football players are and should be amateur student-athletes).

And who says crowning a national champion is something worth trying to do anyway? Can we really take one team from 119 and say, "Okay, we are absolutely certain this is the best team in the country"? It seems like an exercise in futility, designed to drive us all crazy. So why even try? Let's go back to the old system. Every year, the Big Ten champ plays the Pac-10 champ in the Rose Bowl, the 2nd place Big Ten team plays in the Citrus Capital One Bowl, and so on. It won't give us the best team in the country, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there's no way we can conclusively determine that. So instead, we get the tradition back, and a system that at least makes college football less of a blatant cash-grab.

Plus, one potential side-benefit: better non-conference games. Right now, losing a non-conference game seriously impacts a team's chance at a national championship shot. If OSU loses to USC this season, for example, perfection the rest of the way might not be enough to get them into the national championship game. It's a high-risk, moderate-reward situation. But if the conference championship was all that mattered, losing a non-conference game wouldn't mean near as much, just the cost of a tie-breaker or two. In that case, why not play big opponents? More exposure, higher attendance, more revenue - all good things. True, I'm not sure how often it happened in the pre-BCS days, or how changes to the college football landscape since then would impact things, but it seems that if non-conference games were relatively insignificant games designed to bring in revenue and prepare the team for the conference schedule, then a game against a quality opponent would seem to make sense.

Of course, a return to the pre-BCS system is even less likely than a playoff, so this all is probably irrelevant. But one last thing: Stewart Mandel recently remarked that most polls seem to have about 70% of the nation in favor of a playoff. He thought, though, that the split among die-hard college football fans, not sports fandom in general, would be closer to 50-50. Well, we're all die-hards, right? Which side of the debate do you come down on? Vote in the poll, leave a comment, and let me know. I'm kinda curious myself.

Poll

Where do you stand on the playoff question?

• I want any sort of playoff. Eight teams, plus-one, whatever - it's got to be better than what we have now.
• I want a real playoff, with at least eight teams. If it's only going to be a slight change, don't bother.
• I like the current system, actually. It gives us a national champ (sort of, anyways) without completely destroying the tradition.
• I dig the tradition. No playoffs, no BCS. Let's go back to the way things were pre-BCS.

  87 votes | Results

So, as you may have noticed (unless you are blind or reading this on one aggregator or another), there have been a few changes here on Around the Oval. Welcome to SportsBlogNation 2.0. There are a lot of changes, quite a few of which are described just below this post. I'm still getting familiar with the fancy new system myself, so I can't provide that much in the way of direction just yet. But know this: just about every change to the site has been made with you, the reader, in mind. The goal is to make this not just a site you read, but a place for you, in a website sort of way, to call home.

The goal here is to make this not just a site for you to stop by from time to time, but a final destination of sorts, a place where you can either see or provide just about any Ohio State information worth having. So please, play around with things, post things, try and do stuff just to see what happens. SBN 2.0 is a new experience for all of us, to one degree or another. This is a chance not just to continue on with what Around the Oval used to be, but a chance to make this site something new and exciting for Buckeye fans everywhere. So, as Beck says, get crazy with the cheez whiz, and play around with the new site. If you have questions, mail them to me and I'll see if I can't help you out. I don't have all the answers, but I know two things: 1.) there are some very smart people here that can answer just about any question you have about the new SBN and Around the Oval and I'd be happy to send your questions their way if I can't answer them, and 2.) if you all are interested, we can make this a truly special site for Ohio State fans. So play around with the newness, be patient with any flaws you find (but please point them out), and help us make this the best OSU site on the interwebs.

Hey Around the Oval,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

1. Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
2. Once you're logged in, press your  Z  key in any thread with new comments
3. Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
4. Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
5. Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Around the Oval from YouTube or images from Flickr
6. Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
7. Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Around the Oval and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Around the Oval now has all the basic information about the Ohio St. Buckeyes and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Ohio St. Buckeyes material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Archives

It's much easier to find that post about a certain deadline trade or prospect retro feature. You can browse by year and month.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

If you've ventured around the sports blogosphere at all today, undoubtedly you've come across the "Costas Now" segment regarding online media that featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist/author Buzz Bissinger, Cleveland Browns All-Pro receiver Braylon Edwards, and Deadspin.com founder Will Leitch debating over the ethics of online sports blogging.  For those who have not seen it, be sure to check out the complete, profane clip on Deadspin to form your own opinions.

Before I delve into my opinions regarding the grumpy old man Bissinger's tirade, let me first differentiate myself from the general perception of blogs:

A) I am a prospective journalist.  I will attend the nationally accredited E.W. Scripps School of Journalism beginning in the fall of 2008, and one of my primary purposes of blogging to begin with is to practice my journalistic skills.  

B) I am also a blogger.  I can't hide from the fact that I have certain biases that may persuade my opinions one way or the other, and I have no problem dropping the occasional "Ann Arbor is a whore" when I deem it necessary.  However, I'm still a strong believer in the basic journalistic principles of honesty and accuracy, so I will not make an unwarranted claim if I have no evidence and have not researched a topic enough to make a valid judgment.

As is the common trend in today's modern society based around speed, many journalists -- especially sports journalists -- turn to blogging in order to most quickly deliver news and analysis.  The concept of "live blogging" games going on in the present is a revolutionary journalistic idea in which members of the audience can get the analysis provided by your regular play-by-play and color commentators without actually watching the game.  The simple fact is: if you're not blogging, you're behind in the game, and you're going to lose readers.  Buzz Bissinger profoundly displayed what we all suspected about the large mass of the over 50 generation: an inability to adapt to a changing world.  The bottom line is that, like it or not, more and more people are beginning to have their voice heard, and that includes the fans, who have been forced to spend the better part of the past century sitting around as their beloved teams and players make stupid decision after stupid decision.  There's nothing that says we can't do it, but there is one thing that says we can, and although it's only 45 words, it kind of sort of created the basis for the country that we live in.

Quite frankly, if Buzz Bissinger is so radically opposed to all forms of blogging, that would make him without a doubt a journalist who is founded on hypocrisy.  Beyond delivering the news, the chief function of any sort of news publication is to create an open forum for the audience's opinion to be heard by all.  All journalists and publications - whether they are in print, online, or via television -- in today's world can be contacted by anybody who has a problem with what is presented to the public audience.  By attacking amateur writers for proudly displaying their opinions and allowing all readers to do so as well goes against everything that journalism stands for, and quite frankly, I'm more than a little disappointed in Buzz for forgetting that.  The importance of the "comments" section cannot be hyperbolized, and quite frankly I secretly enjoy it every time somebody criticizes my beliefs.  I live for discussion.

And, in all honesty, everybody is well aware that we are not professionals at what we do.  That's why they come here; to hear the opinion of the average person.  Deadspin founder Will Leitch said in the video that he could probably get a press pass if he applied for one because of how popular his website has become, but he doesn't do it because it essentially dehumanizes him from his audience.  And you know what?  Bravo to that.  He doesn't sit in a press box or walk into a locker room to "keep the facts from getting in the way," as Bissinger so eloquently put it, he intentionally keeps his distance in order to maintain a sense of reality and keep him at the same level as his readers.  That's why so many people like Deadspin, The Sports Guy, and everything else founded on those principles: the authors are just like them, only better at communicating.

Any blogger will gladly tell you that there is definitely a need for sports writers who do in fact eat press box food and hold microphones to shirtless linebackers on stools.  There are certain facets of sports journalism - and all types of journalism, for that matter - that require the reporter to witness certain events firsthand in order to most accurately depict what exactly went down at that point in time, and that's why true journalism - the mainstream media, if you will - is in no threat of being overtaken by trillions of bloggers like me.  I'm probably a rarity in the sense that I plan on pursuing a journalism degree while writing on this site.  It's my dream to be able to do what guys like Ken Gordon and Jay Mariotti do on a daily basis.  Yet, the vast majority of quality blogs are run by normal people like who carry on 9-5 jobs and just so happen to write on the side, and those are the blogs that are read the most.

So please, by all means, have your voice be heard.  There's nothing worse than a valid opinion that is being self-censored because some old guy won't read it.

Since last posting about three weeks ago (apologies), the Buckeyes have hauled in perhaps the most high profile recruits in such a short time period since recruiting became a major point of interest to fans.  Including the exodus of one-time Wolverine Justin Boren to Columbus, Jim Tressel has brought in six total future Buckeyes, only one of whom (RB Jordan Hall) is ranked outside of the top 10 nationally at his position.  Here's a quick look at the newest Buckeyes, and an outlook for the rest of the 2009 recruiting class which is sure to rival last year's as the best in the Tressel era:

Darrell Givens, #9 CB Nationally
* * * *
The stunner of all the Spring game commitments, Givens actually pulled the trigger shortly before the kickoff.  As it stands now, this may be the biggest upset that the Buckeyes pull all year in terms of recruiting, as it appeared that Miami (FL) held a tight lead over the Maryland product, and just about every program in the country sought after his attention.  He has good size and speed for the likely cornerstone of the secondary in years to come, standing at 6'1" with a sub-4.5 40 time.  It may have been his close friendship to 2008 signee and fellow Maryland native Lamaar Thomas that sealed the deal for Givens, and his commitment very well may have opened up a new pipeline for Jim Tressel in the Old Line State.

Jordan Hall, #18 RB
* * * *
Although Hall is lowest ranked recruit of the newest bunch of Buckeyes-to-be, his verbal to Ohio State may prove to be invaluable considering the glaring need at the running back position.  Hall, a Jeannette, PA native, played his high school ball with Terrelle Pryor, so it's hardly a surprise that he followed his teammate to Columbus.  At 5'9" and 185 lbs., Hall's build is very similar to that of a young Antonio Pittman.  His stature, speed, and chemistry with Pryor all make Hall a perfect fit for the spread offense that should hopefully find its way to central Ohio pretty soon, but he will likely be one of at least two running backs in this recruiting class.

Dorian Bell, #1 SLB
* * * * *
Dorian Bell was the bona fide blue chip stud that the 2009 recruiting class lacked prior to his verbal.  Sure, watching John Simon's film screams "sure thing" along the defensive line, but many recruiting services have offered mixed reviews toward the Youngstown product.  Bell, on the other hand, is a consensus 5-star player that will be viewed as the cornerstone prospect of the class.  Everywhere you look, Bell's name is followed by five shiny stars and either a "1" or "2" (as in, his position ranking).  Bell seemed to be a heavy Buckeye lean for quite some time, and his commitment really came as no surprise.  He will be a linebacker at the next level, but he's as athletic as a safety and as aggressive as a pass rushing defensive end.  No matter how you slice it, Bell is the star of this class.

Melvin Fellows, #10 Defensive End
* * * *
It can be argued that Fellows was the "must-get" prospect in this class.  He has been considered by many to be the top prospect in the state of Ohio, and after his early commitment to the Illini, many Buckeye fans were panicking and beginning to believe that Illinois could get any kid out of Ohio at will.  Shortly after the commitment, though, Tressel extended a scholarship offer to Fellows (Gentlemen's agreement, you say?), and he reopened his recruitment, despite remaining committed to the Zooker.  A couple of visits to Columbus later spelled the end of the Illinois chapter of Fellows' recruitment, as he officially switched over to his original love.  Fellows is the second defensive line prospect in 2009 (John Simon being the other), but is the first true rush  end in the class.

Corey Linsley, #4 OG
* * * *
The most recent of the commitments, Linsley gave Tressel a call just this morning to officially become a Buckeye.  Although only given three stars by Scout.com, Linsley is likely to skyrocket in the rankings after racking up scholarship offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, and Miami Florida in recent weeks.  Also, it's hard to imagine that any recruiting service's #4 player at a given position being ranked anything lower than four stars.  Instead of getting caught up in rankings, though, it's important to see the type of player that Ohio State is getting in Linsley.  For starters, he projects as a guard at the next level, but his 6'4" frame could allow him to move to the outside if need be.  He is incredibly quick off the line, and adds impressive strength to that quickness to create some nasty explosion.

Justin Boren, #7 OL Nationally, Honorable Mention All-Conference
* * * * * (2006 rankings)
Although Boren was actually a high school senior three years ago, he will not be able to suit up in Scarlet and Gray until the fall of 2009, so I'm considering him a member of this recruiting class.  After controversially defecting from Michigan to archrival Ohio State after Lloyd Carr departed Ann Arbor, Boren has (and will continue to have) a bullseye on him with every step he takes.  Michigan fans no longer want anything to do with him, Ohio State fans aren't sure what to think of him, and you can't help but wonder: if he left Michigan because the spread offense was too difficult to work, then how effective will he really be when Pryor and Saine are the primary weapons in '09? Fortunately, Boren did not redshirt at Michigan, so this season will not be considered one of lost eligibility, and he will begin his Ohio State career as a fourth year junior.  Other than that, Boren will have to make a name for himself before we hand him a starting spot.  He was, after all, a Wolverine for quite some time.

_____

With 13 total commitments to date, the 2009 recruiting class is shaping up to be perhaps the deepest in memory.  Currently, there are 9 scholarships remaining, but when Beanie jets off for greener pastures at the end of the season, that will open up a tenth spot.  Right now, the word on BuckeyePlanet is that at least three Florida-based studs are on the verge of committing after visiting Columbus for the spring game: DB Vladimir Emilien, RB Jaamal Berry, and DB Brandon McGee.  Additionally, WR Duron Carter -- Cris Carter's son -- could also commit in the near future.  All four seem to posses that ever sought after "Southern Speed," which of course means Jim Tressel will lose two BCS Championships over the next four years, instead of just one.  If all four commit, which appears to be a legitimate possibility at the moment, that leaves six spots for the rest of the class.  You have to imagine that Zach Boren (Justin's younger brother) and Marcus Hall (One of the premier OT prospects in the country) will almost certainly nab two of those slots, with the remaining four up for grabs.  Of course, this is all speculation, but considering the information all comes from reliable sources, it's worth speculating about.

The first half of the Men's NCAA National Championship game isn't even complete yet, and I've already managed to bore myself watching players that I don't really care about and have forced myself to blog a second time this evening.

"I talk, you listen.  Got it?

Perhaps the most pertinent Buckeye news this Spring is anything that comes out of the mouth of Heisman hopeful Beanie Wells.  The 1,600+ yard back has become "the" guy on a team featuring a guy who has won both the Nagurski and Butkus awards, and is about to bring in the most highly touted prep player in the Jim Tressel era.  Last week, in separate, stories, Beanie had a couple of interesting tidbits of information.  We'll begin at the top, which has already been addressed by a couple of Buckeye blogs.  In a recent article (previously linked), Beanie had a comment that surely created a castle in the air to many a Buckeye fan in stating that he planned on staying in Columbus for four years.  

"No, it's not going to be my last year," Wells said. "I plan on being here for four years."

Sorry, Buckeyes, there is absolutely no way that this happens.  It doesn't matter that Wells himself is saying it, because if Antonio Pittman, Gonzo, Vince Young, and Big Vern taught us anything, it's that any announcement of a return or departure before the actual announcement cannot be taken seriously.  Beanie Wells is the surefire Adrian Peterson/Darren McFadden stud running back in the 2009 NFL Draft that will be taken by the first team without any other glaring need and a halfway decent group of scouts.  Not many running backs get compared to Jim Brown, Eddie George,AND  Eric Dickerson, and those who do are smart to take the money while they still can.  Enjoy this year with Beanie, folks, because it will be our last.  You can count on it.

In other Beanie news, when asked about the play of the quarterbacks this Spring (sans LiC, mind you), Wells was particularly adamant with his analysis of current second stringer Antonio Henton.

"Henton, his passing ability is incredible," Wells said. "He is just so much more efficient and accurate."

Efficiency and accuracy out of a mobile quarterback?  Hm, that sounds kind of familiar.  I don't know, I guess that guy was alright.  I mean, it's not like he has his number retired or ever beat Rich Rodriguez, so he couldn't have been that great.  Of course, with all comparisons come the disclaimer that Antonio Henton is in fact NOT Troy Smith, and instead his own person who will forge his own path, good or bad.  If Henton really is slowly morphing himself into a Troy Smith-like player, then the quarterback situation come this fall will only become much more intriguing, and maybe Henton won't be so ready to yield his backup slot to Pryor so quickly after all.

Additionally, both Wells and Tressel have had good things to say about Joe Bauserman, the 22 year old redshirt freshman who tried his hand in baseball before returning to the Buckeyes as a quarterback.  Personally, I don't view him as a threat in the quarterback battle this season.  He has rocks for legs, has been out of the game for too long, and his arm isn't significantly better than what Boeckman, Henton, or Pryor have to offer.

As a result of Beanie's comments, Todd Boeckman has been moved a notch to the left on the Boeckman watch.  He's still smiling and in the green, but the more positive comments we continue to hear about the backups, and the less people talk about the actual starter does not sit well.

The final piece of Beanie-related news really shouldn't be news in the least bit.  As it turns out, Beanie has goals beyond a championship that he would like to accomplish this season, which includes winning the Heisman trophy.

"I didn't come here just to be a part of the team and just to say I played for Ohio State," Wells said. "I want to leave a mark, and that's something I work hard every day for."

Some may view Wells' words as questionable, and that they hint that Beanie is in fact only playing  for his own glory, but I look at it just the opposite.  He's well aware that he's probably right behind Tim Tebow on everybody's preseason Heisman ballots after blowing up in the National Championship game, and the fact that he is striving for a personal plateau only means that he's trying to become a better player.  As Massey points out, football is the ultimate team sport, but personal goals and individual competition is what makes players better.  Since Beanie has so few people to compete with at his position around the country, he can really only look to make himself better than the likes of Tebow.  Beanie isn't content with being just one of the best, he wants to be the best, and if he wants to make that public, I have no problem with it.

The season better get here quick, because talking about somebody talking is going to get real old, real quick.  Even when it is Beanie.

Orlando 2.0 is bound to play early and often...or so we thought

You know, for comparison purposes, the 2008 class wasn't half bad.  The commitment of Vince Young's estranged step brother, better known as LiC, sent visions of fallen USC defenders dancing in the heads of Buckeye fans, and Orlando Pace and Korey Stringer's lovechild seems poised to bring the pancake back to Columbus.  The only problem is that the former is buried on the depth chart and the latter has a bum shoulder.  Yep, that's right: Mike Adams, ranked as high as #3 in the nation by some recruiting services and an early enrollee that was expected to compete for the right tackle job will now miss all of Spring practice and a chunk of the regular season because of shoulder surgery.

Fortunately, the injury appears to be minor for the talented freshman that would have certainly seen the field early on.  According to offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, had Adams suffered the injury midseason, he likely would have played through it.  Since this is April of his freshman year however, the coaching staff will likely take the most cautious route possible in order to ensure a full recovery.

Although Adams is certainly out of the running for the right tackle spot vacated by Kirk Barton, there may be a silver lining to this otherwise dark cloud.  Adams' absence will give fellow stud prospect JB Shugarts an opportunity to either beat out Bryant Browning for the position, or (much more likely) work into a rotation with the Glenville product.  Then, if Adams must return with the right tackle position already solidified, he will be put in a perfect opportunity to move to the other side of the line and become groomed as Alex Boone's replacement at left tackle.  With an influx of right handed quarterbacks suiting up in scarlet and gray, I don't think anybody would argue that the blind side tackle is the most important position on the offensive line, and having Adams start from his sophomore year on (in addition to Shugarts lining up directly opposite him, and speculatively Justin Boren somewhere in between) would make the offensive line the group most likely to put through a thorough effort on a week to week basis.

Everybody loves to see the stud freshmen see action right from the get-go, and this year will unquestionably be the most true from that perspective, but perhaps for Mike Adams, a guy who has been ready to play college ball since his junior year of high school, it's best if his first serious bit of action not come until 2009.  Not because of lack of talent, but rather because of circumstance.  Sure, this injury sucks, but it's hardly the end of the world to see a kid who has never played a snap of college football and would likely begin the year as a backup miss a couple of games, even if it is only out of caution.

A blast from the (recent) past:

True, that wasn't in the championship game, but still: that was almost the greatest thing ever.

In an alternate universe, Oden made that dunk. The game was called on account of awesome, and Greg Oden was awarded the national championship. He gave it to Ohio State out of the goodness of his heart. Today, in that alternate universe, there is no war, no hunger, no Wolverines. There's a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. And tonight in that alternate universe, Greg Oden, with the greatest beard ever, is preparing to lead the Buckeyes to their second consecutive national championship.

Enjoy the game tonight, but never forget what might have been.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Ohio State won the oh so prestigious NIT championship with a 92-85 shootout victory over UMass to stake their claim as the country's best team that's not actually one of the country's best teams.

Realistically, the Buckeyes are probably around the 30th or so best team in the country, but all this championship means is that the Buckeyes were the team most screwed over by San Diego's WAC Tournament Championship.  I doubt anybody thinks that the likes of Coppin State, UMBC, or Siena Oral Roberts are legitimately better teams than Ohio State, they just so happened to win when it counted, and the Buckeyes didn't.  Oh well, I guess this means that there are no excuses for missing the Big Dance next year.

Did we see a breakthrough game for Kosta Koufos?  As the game hit its stretch run, it turned into a battle of can-you-top-this between the 7'0" Greek star and the scrappy Minutemen.  The man seemed to hit his stride offensively, showing the best of both his face-up offensive style and athletic presence down low.  Assuming he stays one more year (still a tossup at this point), it's hard to imagine anybody benefiting more from the presence of a true big man than the Greek star.  Mullens' presence in the paint will allow Koufos to play much more to his strengths like we all saw tonight, and he could legitimately average 17-20 points per game assuming he progresses as expected.  A Koufos/Mullens/Lauderdale rotation in the frontcourt would almost undoubtedly create matchup nightmares for coaches throughout the Big 10 all season long.  So, consider this Around The Oval's official plea that one Konstantine Koufos hangs around for one more year.  He will benefit, the scouts will notice, and the Buckeyes will flourish.

As for the rest of the squad, I have no doubt that everybody will be able to make the necessary strides to contend for a conference title again next year.  Evan Turner is a star in the making -- given he learns to play much more under control, Dallas Lauderdale will be a defensive force that should easily replace Othello Hunter, and David Lighty will continue to improve and be a solid contributor.

Finally, no championship-related Buckeye basketball post would be complete without a special mention to Jamar Butler.  It was an up and down season for the team's captain and point guard, but he's been far and away my favorite player in the Thad Matta era.  This championship was won in typical Butler fashion: 19 points, eight assists, lots of clutch three pointers, and nobody really watching or caring all that much.  He's the school's all-time assists leader, and will perhaps go down as the most underrated feature player in school history.  

Thank you Jamar, and to the rest of the seniors as well.

Final, OSU 81 - Ole Miss 69 - Life is good now, and will be forever! Things didn't go so well in the second half, but considering how well the first half went, that wasn't unexpected. Ole Miss shot better, the defense slipped up a few times, but the team got the win. And now it's on to the (NIT) championship! Woo! Here we come, (NIT) championship game! Woo!

1:32, OSU 75 - Ole Miss 68 - Butler's limping and Ole Miss refuses to, well, miss. I am not having fun.

4:18, OSU 73 - Ole Miss 62 - This lead feels much less secure now. Full attention returned to the game.

5:09, OSU 73 - Ole Miss 58 - NBA-range three from Jamar Butler, just because he can. And yes, I'm only half paying attention to the game now. My current interest is How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight?

10:40, OSU 59 - Ole Miss 45 - Nice finger roll by Kosta Koufos. Between a bunch of fouls and a few timeouts, this game has started to drag. Can we just call this now? Is that cool with everyone?

12:49, OSU 56 - Ole Miss 41 - Ole Miss keeps knocking down threes. This gets less and less funny by the second. They don't know it's a show, they think it's a damn fight!

14:55, OSU 53 - Ole Miss 35 - The burglar in that Brinks Home Security commercial kinda sucks. You'd think he'd try to pick a lock or find an unlocked window, but no, straight to the smashing. Poor form, robber dude.

18:24, OSU 49 - Ole Miss 22 - Ole Miss player dribbling off his foot for the second time this game, a couple alcohol-related jokes (which I thought we'd miss without Brent Musburger), and a series of nice passes ended with an Othello Hunter dunk. It's been a good fifteen seconds.

Halftime, OSU 44 - Ole Miss 20 - Buckeyes are rolling. They're rebounding well, they're forcing turnovers, they're knocking down shots (though not beyond the three-point line, oddly enough). Good times.

4:00, OSU 39 - Ole Miss 18 - We all assume Anthony Crater will be handed the starting point guard job next year, but the things Evan Turner does with the ball are very impressive. Nice passes, nice fakes, nice moves. If he can control his turnovers, I wouldn't have a problem with him getting time at the 1. Think of the match-up problems for other teams.

5:25, OSU 37 - Ole Miss 18 - Raftery fears carnivorous elephants. I'm with ya, Billy.

6:33, OSU 35 - Ole Miss 18 - WOW! I thought Butler just threw an alley-oop into the stands, but Othello Hunter jumped waaaaaaaaay up there, grabbed it, and slammed it down. Neat.

7:12, OSU 31 - Ole Miss 18 - Ron Franklin just called UMass "an aroused ballclub" and said he wouldn't want to meet them in the championship. When you put it like that, I wouldn't either.

11:30, OSU 22 - Ole Miss 8 - 14-0 run by the Buckeyes. Everything's going well for these guys. The defense is forcing mistakes, the offense is hitting shots, the guys are grabbing boards. Gotta be honest, it kinda feels like a "Oh, we are having fun, nothing is ever going to go wrong" montage. Someone's going to accidentally hang out with a drug dealer and get arrested before halftime. But we'll all learn a valuable lesson. So it's a toss-up.

13:26, OSU 15 - Ole Miss 8 - My roommate noticed this, and if I haven't passed it along already, you've missed out, because it's uncanny: Jamar Butler shoots so much better when he's going to his left. Coming off a screen or just dribbling that way, it makes no difference. It seems like he never misses a three when he's moving left.

14:44, OSU 8 - Ole Miss 8 - Ole Miss just turned four steals into four points. The commentators are talking about how great a shooter Diebler is. I am not enjoying this.

9:33 - Doug Gottleib picked the Buckeyes. Ominous. He also suggested Ole Miss "watch out for Diebler." I hope he's right, but that's just shoddy research.

9:12 - Nice work, Gators. They just loss to UMass. Sideline dude Allen Hopkins just mentioned the word "emotion" or a form thereof three times in one sentence. Guys, emotions are out. Stoicism is in.

And yeah, that means no Erin Andrews. On the plus side, we do get Bill Raftery. So it's not all bad. Why can't more people do the broadcaster exchanging that ESPN and CBS swing come tournament time? Couldn't we trade someone, anyone from ABC or CBS to Fox come BCS time? I'm not sure Fox has the pieces to swing that trade, though. They must be hoping to rebuild their broadcast teams through the draft.

9:05 - Here we are, ladies and gents, and we're watching Florida do their best to spoil this rematch we've all been hoping for/dreading.

The Rutgers-UConn women's game will be on ESPN opposite the Buckeyes. So, um, there's that.

Tonight, at 9:00 on ESPN2, the Buckeyes take on Ole Miss in an NIT Final Four game. True, it's just the NIT, but it's also the Final Four. That calls for a liveblog, right? No? Well too bad, we're doing it anyway, barring another power outage like last night's, which plunged most of the campus area into darkness and sent thousands of college students out onto their porches and into the bars for impromptu parties.

Anyway, swing by here around 9:00, and feel free to join in with me as we make SEC jokes and hope against hope for Erin Andrews to work the game.