I seriously doubt the NCA would have done anything about helping with travel expenses for families, without Meyer and Gene Smith doing some public politicking!
KP, Agreed. I also agree with our resident Buckeyes that Urban deserves credit where it's due for using his bully pulpit for good. There's not a lot of people who'd do that, so hats off to him. I think it had to be someone of his stature to take the stance. Mark Helfrich appears to be content pissing off the media and pretty much not caring about anything that's not Oregon related. That's not to say he's a bad guy. He just doesn't seem to like to play 'the game' the way some of these other guys do.
One thing Urban did at Florida was to have players have dinner with coaches and their families so that the players could see there was a reason behind the hard work everyone was putting in and that lives were impacted by their performance.
Hard to say how much this will impact the game, but the Ducks start classes this week and are thus limited to 20 hours practice time. Ohio State starts class next week and so the Buckeyes will have unlimited practice time leading up to the big game. Buckeyes have a similar advantage to start seasons due to their system. They don't start their fall semester (quarter? ) till mid Sept and so they get again to practice unlimited hours in the first couple of weeks of the year while their opponents mostly have standard semesters and have limited practice time after labor day. Edit: I've since learned that OSU went to the semester system in 2012 and no longer have that advantage! It seems to me that they need to tie practice time to the football schedule not to the academic schedule.
Looks like Dontre Wilson, halfback speedster will be ready for action Monday night per Coach Meyer. He broke his foot mid-season and has not played since. He will give us another option than Jalin Marshall, who has performed admirably in the interim. Both players are good receivers as well as shifty rushing backs with speed. Something tells me if we can keep our rushing game going, we may not throw as many passes to keep possession time. If Oregon is kept at bay on the sidelines, their potent offense may not be able to score as often as they would like. Should be an interesting game all way around. GO BUCKS!
I read that thing about practice yesterday. I think it has to do with when the semester starts. I can't believe they didn't know this could be an issue. Either way, I hope they change the rule so this won't be an issue going forward. http://espn.go.com/college-football...ollege-football-playoff-national-championship http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...ont-let-oregon-practice-as-much-as-ohio-state
Ohio State 2nd semester does not start until Monday, thus allowing us to be exempt from the 20-hour rule.
Yup. Don't get me wrong Don. I'm not suggesting some grand conspiracy. It's just another oversight by the NCAA rules folks.
No problem here Corey, just anxious to see what Cardayle 12 Gauge can do in the way of damage to the Ducks! :wink:
In the category of you'll deal with it later. But it will be interesting to watch the Buckeye QB situation if Jones has an excellent game and wins the Nat'l Championship for the Buckeyes. Braxton Miller...if he's 100% and Meyer makes him the starter and J.T. Barett the backup what will Cardale Jones do? If things go to form and both Jones and Barrett will have 3 years left next year. Jones would be essentially waiting for an injury or Barrett to fail inorder to get on the field. Quite a logjam.
You really have to get a QB in every classs or you end up in QB hell like Texas is right now with only 2 scholarship QB's on the team and one of them has now proven he can't play QB, the other one has never thrown a pass in college. Say Jones transfers after the Spring, and Miller graduates...suddenly it's a thin position again. Feast or famine.
Dave, we have a five star in Gibson and a home grow QB who is a fantastic by the name of Burrows. ((The Plains)
Good luck keeping all of those guys Don. Maybe Muschamp's mancrush on Driskel was so obvious he couldn't BS enough but Muschamp could not keep Qbs on the roster. BC and NC State both had starting Qbs last season that were UF exiles. Would be nice for depth to have one of those guys now.
Ducks lost another WR, this time to weed which by all reports is plentiful in Oregon. There have been rumors for a long time about a weed culture in Oregon and that older players help younger players learn how to beat the testing. Anyway kid is a freshman and will miss the biggest game of his life, I hope the weed was really good. :roll:
I'm fairly sure even the older players would tell him he's a jackass for even risking it. Either way, what will be will be in this game. Both of these teams have shown a tremendous amount of character (and depth) over the course of the year overcoming injuries. This certainly won't help Oregon, but they are usually in no short supply of super fast guys who want Marcus to give them the ball.
Looks like the Ducks are also without Devon Allen, who was injured in the Florida State game. Looks like the source that reported Dontre Wilson would be ready for the Buckeyes was incorrect. He is still wearing a boot on the injured foot. Still should be a great game with a lot of offense. As predicted earlier, I think the best defense will win this game!
oh ****, that kid didn't fail a school test. He failed an NCAA test. Forget the title game, that kid is gone for a year.
Anyone familiar with the process of who and how and when these kids are randomly selected for an NCAA drug test? Just curious if the doc in charge isn't Dr. Mario Gambini from NJ..... :wink: