Another Reason to Dislike Holbrook

Sorry, I thought I would not have to talk about past OSU President Karen Holbrook this season, but I couldn't avoid putting up this post. Holbrook left OSU with a $250,000 severance check and she retired down to Florida. Her replacement, Gordon Gee, will come to campus in October. Holbrook interviewed for the President spot at Florida Gulf Coast. The Dispatch published some of her comments from the videotaped interview. She said the following about OSU football, "absolute drunken orgy." She said OSU was a "culture of rioting," when she became President. "When you win a game, you riot. When you lose a game, you riot. When spring comes, you riot. African-American Heritage Festival weekend, you riot," which is not correct, and possibly racist. When asked if she ever witnessed any of the gameday activities she said no, she would "go to a lovely brunch with a wonderful group of people, and walk over to the stadium and sit in the box." She discussed the Michigan game from 2002, "Seven thousand people flipped nine cars, burned them, kicked in windows of things.," which is a number I never heard. With such a professional interview on video tape, Karen you should have an easy time getting a new job!

Scouting the Penguins

Coach
YSU Head Coach Jon Heacock is 43-27 in six seasons. He took over after Jim Tressel left in 2001. He is the younger brother of OSU defensive coach Jim Heacock.

Last Season
Last season the team was 11-3, with loses to Appalachian State, UNI and Penn State. In the Penn State game, they were only able to score a field-goal in the third quarter, while Penn State was able to rack up 30 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, with seven in the 4th quarter. QB Tom Zetts was 12 of 20 with 1 interception and 95 yards. The team was limited to 47 yards on 28 carries.

Offense and Defense
QB Tom Zetts returns as the starter, for his senior year. In his career Zetts is first in the YSU records with 58.9 career passing percentage. He has 5,798 career yards with 44 touchdowns. Gone is I-AA All American running back Marcus Mason. In his place is sophomore Jabari Scott, who has 31 touches for 134 yards and three touchdowns in his career. The top two returning receivers are Rory Berry and tight-end Louis Irizarry. Irizarry's name may ring a bell, because he was at OSU. He was kicked off the team after two incidents. The first incident involved him beating up a student in their dorm and then he robbed a student walking home in the early morning. He spent six months in prison. In 2005 he joined YSU and has had some success on the field.
The top returning tackler is Jeremiah Wright at Will Linebacker with 232 career tackles.

Big Ten Network-Insight Cable Agreement

The Dispatch has reported that Insight Cable has reached an agreement to carry the Big Ten Network. The channel will be available on the basic extended package, which includes ESPN. That should cover some people in Columbus. There is still no deal with Time Warner, WOW, Comcast or DishNetwork. DirecTV will carry the network on channel 218.

Beanie Wells 100%

Second-year sophomore Chris "Beanie" Wells is 100% after suffering an ankle injury in preseason. He will be the starter. OSU is stocked at running back with junior Maurice Wells backing up Beanie. In fact Tressel has nicknamed the two, "The Law Firm of Wells and Wells." Beanie is described as a power runner, bouncing off tackles, while Maurice is described as shifty, avoiding tackles. Behind the two Wells, are freshman Daniel Herron and Brandon Saine. Those two have been nicknamed "Boom and Zoom," respectively. Brandon Saine is a star track runner, that is clocked at faster times than Tedd Ginn. The team has been practicing the "Shot-Ginn" formation, where the ball is snapped directly to Saine. There has been some talk of Saine going in as a receiver for some plays. Look for the team to rotate 3-4 running backs, especially early in the season, as Boeckman gets comfortable. Also, look for the I-formation, with two running backs behind the quarterback.

Boeckman to Start

Yesterday, Coach Tressel confirmed that Fourth-Year Junior Todd Boeckman will be the starting quarterback. It had been almost a sure bet that Boeckman would start, but there was some concern over a few practices in the Spring. Back in Spring Tressel had said that he would play multiple quarterbacks in the first game. This week he said that Rob Schoenhoft will get quality minutes early in the game, but Antonio Henton may not play.

Todd Boeckman has been in the OSU system for a while, so he knows the plays, but he has not started a game since high school in 2002 at St. Henry. He has great size, 6'5", 235 lb. and he comes from a high school that has produced such OSU football players as Jim Lachey and Bobby Hoying.

Big Ten Network

If you don't have DirecTV, or one of a few small cable operators, you will not be able to see the season opener this Saturday against YSU or the following game against Akron. The Big Ten Network has exclusive rights to these games, as well as one conference game that has not been determined. I discussed this network on a previous post. The channel will also have almost half of the OSU Basketball games. Major providers like Time Warner, Comcast and Insight have not reached agreements over the price asked by the channel, and the fact that the network insists that it be carried on extended cable along with channels like ESPN, not on an extra charge sports tier. Don't be surprised if the providers make a last minute deal, but it may not take effect until later in the season. If you are wondering why DirecTV agreed to the terms so quickly, they have partial ownership of the channel....

Guest Panel Introduction-Dr. Funkenstein

Dr. Funkenstein grew up in the Music City, but he realized at a young age that the homegrown country music was in need of a blast from the Bop Gun and has been doing the Aquaboogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop) ever since. His first job was asking Do Fries Go with that Shake? In 2000 he made the Mothership Connection and thus began his roovallegiance to One Buckeye Nation Under a Groove. After completing his Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication, he is now Tearin' the Roof off the Mother Sucker with the Party People in Chocolate City, but he will always bleed Scarlet and Gray. Dr. Funkenstein says, "If Anybody Gets Funked up, It's Gonna Be You."

Guest Panel Introduction-Man Getting Hit by Football

In honor of the monumental Simpsons season 6 episode "A Star is Burns," (not to mention Ari the Greek's two consecutive third place Guest Panel finishes), the man behind the bronze medals has decided to mix things up a bit for the upcoming Joey Neff Guest Panel season. And what better way to change around my luck than switching my character to "Man Getting Hit by Football." This character epitomizes all that is college football and the Guest Panel: strength, will, determination, stamina, intelligence, strategy, and energy. Not to mention, he's pretty damn good lookin' as well. So when you're watching the actual episode and you hear the "ping," of the football hitting the man in the groin, that will be sound of a sweet, sweet, first place finish in the Joey Neff.

OSU Starters

Offense
LT-Alex Boone
LG-Steve Rehring
C-Jim Cordle
RG-Ben Person
RT-Kirk Barton
TE-Rory Nicol
FL-Brian Robiskie
QB-Todd Boeckman
TB-Chris Wells
FB-Dionte Johnson
SL-Brian Hartline

Defense
DE Lawrence Wilson
DT Doug Worthington
DT Todd Denlinger
DE Vernon Gholston
WLB Marcus Freeman
MLB James Laurinaitis
SLB Larry Grant
BC Malcolm Jenkins
FC Donald Washington
SS Kurt Coleman
FS Anderson Russell

Kicker Ryan Pretorius
Kickoff Aaron Pettrey
Punter AJ Trapasso
Punt Return- Brian Robiskie
Kick Return- Maurice Wells

Guest Panel-Week 1 Games

This season, the guest panelists will post their picks and comments about the games as a comment to the post listing that week's games. Click the comment link at the end of this post. The games for the panel to consider this week are the following:

1. YSU vs. OSU
2. Tennessee vs. Cal
3. Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame
4. Wake Forest vs. Boston College

and the oddball game this week is
Gardner Webb vs. Ohio

Guest Panel Introduction-Pat Head

I've been coaching women's basketball for 23 years. I have 7 Division 1 Women's Basketball Championships; 14 SEC championships; 12 SEC tournament championships and I've been voted

SEC coach of the year and NCAA coach of the year 7 times. I'm also the Naismith Coach of the 20th Century. Yeah, that's right, I'm the shit.

Oh, and did you see me in my cheerleader uniform last season?

I'm pretty hot for 54!

I'm fixin' to turn my excellent coaching skills to football. Now, I'm biased towards the SEC, but I can hate Michigan along with the rest of 'em. Ya'll better watch out!

Guest Panel Introduction-David Boston's Career

I'm sure many of you might have wondered what happened to me. The last time I saw most of you was under the bright lights in New Orleans; capping my time as a Buckeye with a Sugar Bowl victory on a team that should have been national champions. Even without finishing my degree in sports management, I still know that BCS is a four letter word. In three years at Ohio State, I rewrote most of the receiving records, and things never looked better. So what happened? It turns out that life is hard for an abstract personification when you're tied to an enormous asshole. Don't get me wrong, the times weren't all bad. There was my 2001 pro bowl season, and a few spectacular grabs along the way. But it was almost impossible to get David to act rationally. Despite my pleas to just take the $53 million and behave, David had us run out of San Diego as a clubhouse cancer. And then there were the steroids, which likely led to the torn knee ligaments. It seemed like he was doing everything in his power to keep me down. Finally I just had enough. In late August I told David I was leaving him to do sports commentary back in Columbus, the one place where we were truly happy. It was an ugly scene, and I left him passed out in a Florida parking lot. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors, but its time for me to move on. Now you'll be able to find me here on Saturdays, receiving the week's top match-ups from the coolest Joe since Germaine. Go Bucks!

Guest Panel Introduction- Nearsighted Nelly

Nearsighted Nelly has refereed countless youth community football leagues. This year, he brings his vast experience to Joe’s panel. Nelly began his football career in the 8^th grade. Through hard work and perseverance, he overcame his vision deficiencies to secure the 4^th string quarterback position for the Thomas Edison Middle School Fighting Coconuts. Nelly’s career defining moment occurred on Nov. 15^th 1989 when he recorded 2 minutes of playing time and handled 4 snaps. Nelly’s promising high school career was plagued with injury. After he had a bout with cataracts in his senior year, he decided to study the rules and officiating techniques of the game he so loved. Officiating became his passion. “Even though I can’t see many of the plays, I still make the calls,” Nelly exclaimed. In August of 1993 he began officiating youth football games. “Parents laugh at all the stupid mistakes these kids make, but I don’t laugh. Laughter doesn’t complete passes or score touchdowns,” said Nelly.

Nelly will be providing commentary on the unique and forgotten rules of college football. For example, most people don’t realize that during the coin toss, if it lands vertically on its edge, the visiting team gets 1 point. It’s the only way a 1-0 score is possible in football.

Guest Panel Introduction- Philly Cheese

Philly Cheese hails from the "City of Brotherly Love." He is used to seeing people cry when they cut the onions over at Pat's famous steak joint in Philly , so he will show no mercy for the panelists that cry when they lose each week.

Guest Panel Introduction- Batman

Background: Batman is coming off an excellent year of college football picks. While he never gambles, his selections earned him a first place finish in the 2006 contest gaining him a quality t-shirt, which Joe Neff has yet to produce. Is Batman bitter about not getting the shirt? No, he will channel all his emotions into crime fighting and picking winners in the 2007 season.

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."

Guest Panel Returns!

College Football season has arrived! The first game for OSU is this Saturday versus Youngstown State. We will have a Guest Panel again this season picking winners of 5-10 games each week. We look forward to another season of picks and their comments! I will start posting the profiles of the panelists. I will also update the links on the blog, which will allow you to view all the profiles at any time.

Delay in Posts

Sorry for the delay in posts. I moved at the end of July and classes just started. Check back for new posts regarding the upcoming season.