The Braxton Miller era started with a win today. It wasn’t a great win, and it wasn’t against a great team, but it was a win. Doing something positive after last week’s ugly loss against Miami was important, and the Buckeyes accomplished that goal.
I think Braxton Miller could develop into a great college quarterback — if he doesn’t get his head taken off running for an extra yard here and there. I often thought that Terrelle Pryor would run out of bounds too easily. Miller seems to have the opposite tendency — he doesn’t know when to go down and avoid the big hit. That is something coaching can change, and Miller seems coachable. Other than that, Miller has loads of promise. Quick, elusive, with pretty good technique already, Miller’s running ability gives the Buckeyes another weapon on offense that any defensive coach has to think about. If he can get his passing down, Ohio State should be able to do a lot with passes that play off of Miller’s running ability.
The Buckeyes’ defense still is a work in progress. Today, the Buckeyes played a “bend but don’t break” style against Colorado, a team that really isn’t very good. We’ll have to see how the defense fares against the better teams coming up on the schedule, but I don’t think this is a defensive squad that is going to pitch many shutouts. That’s another reason why having Miller behind center, and maximizing the chances for offensive scores, is the only way to go.
We’ve been told that Miller will start for the Buckeyes, and I’m glad to hear it. It’s time to put the image of “Laughing Joe” Bauserman out of our minds and exorcise the demons that have haunted us since the Miami debacle. Miller is a freshman, and he will make mistakes as he did last Saturday night — but Miller, not Bauserman, is the future of Ohio State football. I’d rather see Miller get his snaps and work on improving his game, including holding onto the ball, even if it means a few turnovers and bad decisions.
Nevermind brought grunge music to the forefront of the national consciousness and drove a stake through the synthesized, increasingly formulaic music of the ’80s. Twenty years after Nevermind‘s release, the flannel shirts and disheveled haircuts favored by grunge rockers of the early ’90s are out of fashion — but the music of Nirvana unquestionably holds up. The tracks on Nevermind are as fresh and and awesome and funny and thought-provoking today as they did 20 years ago.
The emails come about once a week. Their tone is always the same — just this side of outright hysteria — and the message is the same too: John Kasich and the Republicans have just proposed something, and it is so grossly offensive, so fundamentally outrageous, and so palpably nonsensical that the Democratic Party will fight to the death to defeat it — and they need my contribution to do so. From the emails, you’d think that, under Kasich’s horribly misguided leadership, all of Ohio would be aflame right now. Of course, that hasn’t happened.
