Today is National Letter of Intent Signing Day! I use initial caps, because for college football fans, it’s a Big Day. The recruiting wars are finally ended, and the fans of each school count up the number of two-star, three-star, four-star, and five-star athletes who will be joining their teams. By all accounts, Ohio State, its head coach Urban Meyer, and his hard-working assistants did pretty well this year. Ezekiel Elliott, whose announcement that he will become a Buckeye is shown here, is one of the more heralded members of the Ohio State class.
When I think of National Letter of Intent Day, however, I think of kids, and their parents. A high school student who is a stud athlete is still a high school student. They may run faster, and bench press more, and catch footballs better than your ordinary kids, but deep down they are the same mass of raging hormones that you find in every kid of that age. They are making a huge decision that could have tremendous, long-term consequences for their lives — and they and their parents are hoping that they make the right decision. It’s a huge, emotional matter for any high school student about to go away from home to college. Just imagine what it must be like for a kid who not only is leaving the cocoon of their family, but moving into new territory where their every move will be scrutinized and deconstructed by rabid college football fans.
So, on this National Letter of Intent Signing Day, I want to welcome all of the young men who have committed to come to The Ohio State University — but I especially want to welcome their parents to the family that is Buckeye Nation.
I also want to make this pledge to those parents: no matter how high the athletic stakes, how big the game, or how colossal the blunder, I will always strive to remember that we are talking about young people here. I will try to bear in mind that everyone makes mistakes, that we all have committed youthful indiscretions that we regret, and that people can mature and grow and shouldn’t be forever defined by a single, ill-advised decision. I will always seek to give your kids the benefit of the doubt, just as I would hope that other parents would do with my kids. I suspect I’m not alone in this, so please remember that, for every fan who goes over the top there are dozens, if not hundreds, who support your youngster and wish only the best for him.
Welcome to Buckeye Nation!
During most of Thad Matta’s highly successful tenure as the Ohio State coach, the Buckeyes have been at the top of the Big Ten. They’ve dominated the Wolverines and knocked them out of the Big Ten Tournament three years in a row. This year, though, the tables are turned. Michigan is unbeaten and, with Duke’s loss yesterday, will be ranked number 1 in the land if they can beat the Buckeyes today. Ohio State, on the other hand, has seen its offensive struggles continue and isn’t the overwhelming force of the past few years. The Buckeyes got crushed on the road at Illinois and will have to play their best game of the year to beat the Wolverines.
What about the Buckeyes? They are 10-2, but they’ve lost the only two games they’ve played against powerhouse teams, falling to Duke away and Kansas at home. In both cases, a big problem was shooting the ball. Ohio State plays solid defense but struggles to knock down shots in their half court offense. Deshaun Thomas can be counted on to put points on the board, but the team lacks a consistent number two scorer. Point guard Aaron Craft is a defensive whiz, but he struggles with his outside shot and the lack of Jared Sullinger in the middle has affected his opportunities to drive to the basket. Guard Lenzelle Smith, Jr. is a hustler but his offensive production is streaky. Center Evan Ravenel — the only senior on the team — has decent offensive skills but is undersized.
I give a lot of credit to Urban Meyer. He took a 6-7 team and turned it around. He got it playing with passion, and he got it to believe in itself. He had a great senior class and good coaches to help him, but Urban Meyer set the tone. Obviously, we hope that he continues to recruit and coach as well as he did this year. If he does, the future for Buckeye Nation is bright.
These teams have a very good rivalry going, in both football and basketball. In football, the teams have taken turns knocking each other off in recent years, often in dramatic fashion. Last year, Ohio State’s nail-biting win over the highly ranked Badgers was the lone bright spot in an otherwise dismal season, and the year before Wisconsin handed Ohio State its only loss. In basketball, Bo Ryan and Thad Matta have established a tremendous rivalry; each program has had excellent teams in recent years and the season series has been split in each of the last three seasons. Next to traditional rival Michigan, Wisconsin is Ohio State’s top adversary in the Big Ten and, I think, the team Buckeye Nation most wants to beat in the big-money sports.
Today’s game should be a classic. Wisconsin is a tough team that has lost three close games. It features the perennial punishing ground game that you expect from a Wisconsin football team; top running back Montee Ball has already rushed for more than 1200 yards and is mentioned as a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Badgers strap it up and run right at you, which means the Ohio State defensive line will need to come to play. The Wisconsin defense, on the other hand, has been terrific in keeping opponents off the scoreboard and is one of the best defenses in the country in that category. Add in the din that always is found in Camp Randall Stadium, and you have all the makings of a barnburner.
Every true sports fan know that, even though you don’t suit up for games, and your athletic ability could be fully measured in a thimble, your behavior has a real, immediate impact on the outcome of contests. Perhaps it is because you don’t wear your lucky shirt. Perhaps it is because you didn’t drink your Budweiser in precisely the right way. Or perhaps — as in my case — you wrote or said something that was just a thumb in the eye to the unforgiving Fates.
2011 was a year of embarrassments unparalleled in the history of OSU football. From the abrupt “retirement” of Jim Tressel in the face of an NCAA investigation, to the forfeiting of games, to the suspension of players for rules violations, to poor play, galling losses, and a crappy on-the-field record, and finally to the announcement of serious sanctions that include a one-year bowl ban, the Buckeyes and Buckeye Nation had to absorb a series of body blows throughout the year.
It’s not just because Coach Meyer has been an extremely successful coach, although that is certainly part of it. He’s won everywhere he’s been, from Bowling Green to Utah to Florida. He knows how to build a program and how to recruit and then coach talented athletes. But for Ohio State fans, it is more than that. We want someone who understands what Ohio State means. We want someone who grew up in Ohio, who lived and died with the Buckeyes, who got their first coaching job at Ohio State. Urban Meyer has all of those qualities.
We’ll see how Coach Meyer performs as Ohio State’s coach; you never know how things will go. But I was encouraged by what he said at his news conference this afternoon, about wanting to make the state proud of its flagship university and its football team. And, more importantly, I was encouraged because Coach Meyer’s very decision to come back to Ohio State, when he could have had any job in the country, shows he feels the importance of Ohio State football in his gut, just like everyone else in Buckeye Nation does. This won’t be a job for him, it will be a passion and a crusade. He won’t rest until Ohio State football is as good as he can possibly make it.
To be sure, this year The Game has a different feel. For one thing, it’s coming after Thanksgiving, rather than the weekend before. For another, Michigan is the favorite for the first time in years. But so what? This is a game where the records get thrown out the window. And if the Buckeyes can somehow beat the Wolverines, a dismal season will be salvaged.
A labor economist would tell you that, in making a hiring decision, you need to consider the knowledges, skills, attributes, and other characteristics that are required to do the job well. The head football coach at one of the nation’s premier college programs obviously must know about football, but there’s a lot more that also is required. Can he recruit talented players? Can he run a clean program that avoids the NCAA embarrassment that has bedeviled the Buckeyes for the past year? Can he motivate his players, coach them up to higher levels of performance, and figure out how they can best help the team? Can he impress and inspire when he speaks to the news media, the boosters, and the small-town touchdown clubs?
This was a game where Ohio State’s defense, led by John Simon and Johnathan Hankins, was dominant for three quarters. In the meantime, the Buckeye offense was playing the ball control game, running the ball, and hoping that Boom Herron and Braxton Miller could break big runs. And they did — but then Wisconsin came back. Behind their cool senior quarterback, Wisconsin sliced up the Buckeyes defense for two quick scores in the fourth quarter and looked to have the game in hand.
The dark times are back, my friend! Make no mistake about it. Every day seems to bring a humiliatingly inept offensive performance, or another drip in the water torture that is an ongoing NCAA investigation. Conversations that begin calmly, with protestations that there really isn’t anything to talk about, quickly morph into neck-vein-bulging diatribes at ever-increasing decibel levels until the worked-up Buckeyes fan suddenly realizes that he has coated the listener’s face with a fine coating of righteously spewed Buckeye spittle.
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.
This is a young, inexperienced Ohio State team, and for young players going on the road is always a challenge. In such games you start to learn about how players will perform in pressure situations, away from the encouraging crowds at Ohio Stadium. When the key third-down play needs to be made, how will Joe Bauserman respond? Can the defense rise to the occasion on a crucial series with the game on the line? Miami’s Sun Life Stadium, with its warm temperatures and a crowd that is likely to include more than a few members of Buckeye Nation, is not going to be as intimidating as the trips to Nebraska or the Big House that the Buckeyes must make later this season — but tonight’s game may begin to give us a sense of the Buckeyes’ inner grit and fortitude.
