Guest Panel-Bowl Games

The Guest Panel starts a new competition with a clean slate. Check back on December 21 for the picks/comments for all 35 bowl games.

NOTE-Panelists, please number your picks in the order in this post. Please delete the game date and time from your picks.

TIEBREAKER-Please list the total number of combined points scored for the Orange Bowl (Clemson vs. Ohio State) In the event of a tie for first place, I will look to the tiebreaker and the panelist closest to the total number of points, above or below, will break the tie and win. I will only use the tiebreaker for first place.

1. Gildan New Mexico
Colorado State vs. Washington State
Dec. 21 / 2 p.m. ESPN

2. Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl
Fresno State vs. USC
Dec. 21 / 3:30 p.m. ABC

3. Famous Idaho Potato
Buffalo vs. San Diego State
Dec. 21 / 5:30 p.m. ESPN

4. R+L Carriers New Orleans
Tulane vs. UL Lafayette
Dec. 21 / 9 p.m. ESPN

5. Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg
East Carolina vs. Ohio
Dec. 23 / 2 p.m. ESPN

6. Sheraton Hawaii
Boise State vs. Oregon State
Dec. 24 / 8 p.m. ESPN

7. Little Caesars Pizza
Bowling Green vs. Pittsburgh
Dec. 26 / 6 p.m. ESPN

8. San Diego County CU Poinsettia
Northern Illinois vs. Utah State
Dec. 26 / 9:30 p.m. ESPN

9. Military
Marshall vs. Maryland
Dec. 27 / 2:30 p.m. ESPN

10. Texas
Minnesota vs. Syracuse
Dec. 27 / 6 p.m. ESPN

11. Fight Hunger
BYU vs. Washington
Dec. 27 / 9:30 p.m. ESPN

12. New Era Pinstripe
Notre Dame vs. Rutgers
Dec. 28 / 12 p.m. ESPN

13. Belk
Cincinnati vs. North Carolina
Dec. 28 / 3:20 p.m. ESPN

14. Russell Athletic
Louisville vs. Miami, FL
Dec. 28 / 6:45 p.m. ESPN

15. Buffalo Wild Wings
Kansas State vs. Michigan
Dec. 28 / 10:15 p.m. ESPN

16. Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
Middle Tennessee vs. Navy
Dec. 30 / 11:45 a.m. ESPN

17. Franklin Amer. Mort. Music City
Georgia Tech vs. Ole Miss
Dec. 30 / 3:15 p.m. ESPN

18. Valero Alamo
Oregon vs. Texas
Dec. 30 / 6:45 p.m. ESPN

19. National University Holiday
Arizona State vs. Texas Tech
Dec. 30 / 10:15 p.m. ESPN

20. AdvoCare V100
Arizona vs. Boston College
Dec. 31 / 12:30 p.m. ESPN

21. Hyundai Sun
UCLA vs. Virginia Tech
Dec. 31 / 2 p.m. CBS

22. AutoZone Liberty
Mississippi State vs. Rice
Dec. 31 / 4 p.m. ESPN

23. Chick-fil-A
Duke vs. Texas A&M
Dec. 31 / 8 p.m. ESPN

24. TaxSlayer.com Gator
Georgia vs. Nebraska
Jan. 1 / 12 p.m. ESPN2

25. Heart of Dallas
North Texas vs. UNLV
Jan. 1 / 12 p.m. ESPNU

26. Capital One
South Carolina vs. Wisconsin
Jan. 1 / 1 p.m. ABC

27. Outback
Iowa vs. LSU
Jan. 1 / 1 p.m. ESPN

28. Rose Bowl Game
Michigan State vs. Stanford
Jan. 1 / 5 p.m. ESPN

29. Tostitos Fiesta
Baylor vs. UCF
Jan. 1 / 8:30 p.m. ESPN

30. Allstate Sugar
Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Jan. 2 / 8:30 p.m. ESPN

31. AT&T Cotton
Missouri vs. Oklahoma State
Jan. 3 / 8 p.m. FOX

32. Discover Orange
Clemson vs. Ohio State
Jan. 3 / 8 p.m. ESPN

33. BBVA Compass
Houston vs. Vanderbilt
Jan. 4 / 1 p.m. ESPN

34. GoDaddy
Arkansas State vs. Ball State
Jan. 5 / 9 p.m. ESPN

35. BCS National Championship
Florida State vs. Auburn
Jan. 6 / 8:30 p.m. ESPN

Guest Panel-Regular Season Final Standings

Below are the final standings for the Guest Panel Regular Season. It was a rough week for the panel, which did not result in a change at first or second place but it did create a three-way tie at third place.

Congrats to Corso for his victory in the Buckeye Pregame Guest Panel Regular Season Competition! He will receive an OSU shirt and a certificate. Corso has held first place since week seven. Funtik the Hog joined Corso at first place in week eleven, but Corso expanded his lead to two games in week thirteen and three games in the final week of the season. Funtik finished in second place while there was a tie at third place with Philly Cheese, Mel Kiper, and Old Bag of Man.

Thanks to the entire guest panel for another great season of picks and funny and insightful commentary.

The bowl games are around the corner, and the games will soon be posted. Everyone will have a clean slate for the bowl game competition, which will have its own champion.

Standings:

1. Corso (65-25) (3-3 last week)
2. Funtik the Hog (62-28) (2-4 last week)
3. Philly Cheese (60-30) (2-4 last week)
3. Mel Kiper's Hair (60-30) (3-3 last week)
3. Old Bag of Man (60-30) (3-3 last week)
6. SPAM (59-31) (2-4 last week)

7. Cliff Diving Raoul (57-33) (2-4 last week)
8. Ballz to the Wallz-Big Dog (56-34) (3-3 last week)
9. Hudy (55-35) (2-4 last week)
10. Batman (51-39) (1-5 last week)
10. ChadsOSU (51-39) (3-3 last week)
12. W.T. (48-42) (2-4 last week)

What to Expect

Michigan State has not had a close conference game, in fact it has won all the conference games by at least 11 points with the closest being a 14-3 victory over Minnesota last weekend.  Michigan State will not have a balanced offense this weekend, as the running game will struggle to run for more than 100 yards while the passing game will have 225 yards. Michigan State has defended the run well this season, but it also has not faced many run oriented offenses. Nebraska was able to run for 182 yards while passing for 210 yards against Michigan State in November. Braxton Miller will finally have success again in the passing game, with favorable conditions in the dome. Ohio State will pass for 275 yards and run for 275 yards. Ohio State will win 38-24.

Things to Watch

OSU at Night

Ohio State is 39-20 in night games starting after 5PM, including a record of 28-17 in neutral and away night games. Ohio State has won seven consecutive night games. This is the first night game between Ohio State and Michigan State.

OSU Big Ten Championships

Ohio State has 34 Big Ten Conference Championships, second to Michigan's 42. Ohio State last won the conference in 2009, with the 2010 championship vacated.

Run Offense vs. Run Defense

Michigan State ranks first the nation in limiting teams to 64 rushing yards/game while Ohio State ranks second in the nation with an average of 321 rushing yards on offense. Lost in the comparison is the fact that Ohio State is fifth in the nation with a rush defense limiting teams to 100 yards/game.

Scouting the Spartans

This Season

Michigan State has victories against Western Michigan, South Florida, Youngstown State, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Minnesota. The Spartan's sole loss was to Notre Dame. Michigan State's offense averages 186 rushing yards/game,194 passing yards/game, and 29 points/game. The Spartans defense limits teams to 64 rushing yards/game, 172 passing yards/game, and 11 points/game.

Offense

At quarterback is Connor Cook who has completed 58% of his passes for 2,119 yards, 17 touchdowns, and four interceptions. Cook took over as the starter in the second week of the season. Jeremy Langford has rushed for 1210 yards and 16 touchdowns. Langford has had seven straight 100+ yard games. The leading receiver is Tony Lippett with 454 yards, however he does not have any touchdowns.

Defense

The leading tackler is senior linebacker Denicos Allen with 83 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. Also at linebacker is senior Max Bullough who had nine tackles last week against Minnesota. Bullough led the Spartans in tackles in 2011 and 2012. Senior cornerback Darqueze Dennard is a finalist for the Thorpe Award and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, and he leads the team with 8 pass breakups and four interceptions.

OSU Last Game

Ohio State won an exciting game with a final score of 42-41. The game was closer than expected as Michigan was able to move the ball with ease and had 603 yards of offense, which includes 451 yards passing. Michigan had struggled on offense in the previous five games. Michigan struck first with a drive capped off by a running touchdown by QB Devin Gardner. The  two teams continued to trade touchdowns in the first quarter with a 53-yard touchdown pass between Braxton Miller and Devin Smith, a four yard touchdown run by Michigan, and a 53-yard touchdown run by Braxton Miller. Michigan scored early in the second quarter with a touchdown pass between Gardner and Jeremy Gallon. As has been the case many times this season, Ohio State scored in the closing minutes of the first half. The score was tied 21-21 at halftime. The Ohio State defense kept Michigan out of the endzone and scored two additional touchdowns with a run by Miller and a touchdown catch by Jeff Heuerman. Going into the fourth quarter Ohio State led 35-21. That lead was erased halfway through the fourth quarter after two touchdown passes by Michigan. Ohio State scored with two minutes remaining in the game, but Michigan had sufficient time to score a touchdown, with a score of 42-41. Michigan made the decision to attempt a two-point conversion, which failed when Tyvis Powell intercepted the pass. Ohio State secured the win with the recovery of the onside kick. Despite the trouble with the Ohio State defense it was a big day for the OSU running game with Carlos Hyde who had a 226 rushing yards and Miller who had 153 rushing yards. It was the first time both teams scored at least 41 points in the history of the rivalry.

The Coaches

Urban Meyer
In the 12th season of his coaching career Urban Meyer's record is 128-23. Meyer is 24-0 at Ohio State, after going 12-0 in his first season. He earned his graduate degree from Ohio State and worked with the team as a graduate assistant under Earle Bruce from 1986-1987. He was an assistant coach at Illinois State under former OSU defensive coordinator Jim Heacock. He later re-joined Earle Bruce at Colorado St. In 1996 he was hired as an assistant coach under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame, and he remained with Notre Dame through 2000. In 2001 he started his head coaching career at Bowling Green and in two years he had a record of 17-6. He was hired at Utah in 2003. In his first year Utah won its bowl game, and during the second year the team was undefeated and won the Fiesta Bowl. He was 22-2 in two years at Utah. He had a record of 65-15 during his six years at Florida, including two BCS National Championships.

Mark Dantonio
In his seventh season at Michigan State he is 62-29 and he is 80-46 in his career which includes three years at Cincinnati. Dantonio was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State for three years, including the 2002 National Championship season. Dantonio moved to OSU with Jim Tressel, after spending five years as a secondary and defensive coordinator at Youngstown.

The Series

This will be the 42nd game between these two schools, with Ohio State leading the series 28-13. Ohio State has won eight of the last nine games.

Last Year
Last year in the regular season Ohio State won 17-16. Ohio State scored on the first drive, taking the ball 75 yards in eight plays. During that drive Braxton Miller ran a total of 33 yards, but he had a scary moment when he hit some equipment on the sideline and was replaced by Kenny Guiton. Guiton handled three snaps and handed it to Jordan Hall for the 1-yard touchdown. Michigan State responded in the next drive with a 34-yard field goal. Neither team scored in the second quarter as Miller threw an interception and lost a fumble, while Michigan State missed a 42-yard field goal attempt at the end of the half. Ohio State led 7-3 at halftime.

Both teams made field goals in the third quarter, a 50-yarder for Michigan State's Conroy and 26-yards for OSU's Drew Basil. Penalties came at inopportune times for the Buckeyes and Michigan State had the ball at the Ohio State 29 yard line after a personal foul. Andrew Maxwell threw a short pass to Keith Mumphery and he was able to navigate through the Ohio State defenders who tried to strip the ball, and he dragged them into the endzone to put Michigan State ahead 13-10. In Ohio State's next possession Miller lead a drive, finished off with a 63-yard pass to Devin Smith, who beat single coverage on the sideline and ran in for a touchdown, giving Ohio State the lead 17-13. Early in the fourth quarter Miller fumbled the ball again in Michigan State territory, and went down with an apparent knee injury. The defense held Michigan State, but again a costly penalty gave MSU life and Conroy made a 48-yard field goal, putting the score at 17-16. Ohio State was forced to punt the next possession and Michigan State had to punt in its next possession. With Miller back in Ohio State picked up some critical first downs behind running back Carlos Hyde and the blocking by the offensive line, and the team ran out the clock, winning the game 17-16. The OSU defense held Big Ten leading rusher Le'Veon Bell to 45 yards, while Braxton Miller ran for 136 yards and passed for 179 yards.

Guest Panel-Week 15 Games and Standings-FINAL WEEK

Here are the games for the Guest Panel to consider this week. Below are the standings as well. Corso still holds a two game lead, as he and Funtik both had 5-1 records. Philly Cheese continues to hold third place with a 5-1 record and left behind a large group at fourth place. Ballz was the only panelist go have a perfect 6-0 record, since most of the panel failed to predict the Auburn victory.

TIEBREAKER-Please list the total number of points scored for the Big Ten Championship Game. In the event of a tie for first place, I will look to the tiebreaker and the panelist closest to the total number of points, above or below, will break the tie and win. I will only use the tiebreaker for first place.

This is the last week for the regular season competition. The Guest Panel will return with a clean slate for the bowl games.
 

Standings:

1. Corso (62-22) (5-1 last week)
2. Funtik the Hog (60-24) (5-1 last week)
3. Philly Cheese (58-26) (5-1 last week)
4. SPAM (57-27) (4-2 last week)

4. Mel Kiper's Hair (57-27) (4-2 last week)
4. Old Bag of Man (57-27) (4-2 last week)
7. Cliff Diving Raoul (55-29) (5-1 last week)
8. Hudy (53-31) (5-1 last week)
8. Ballz to the Wallz-Big Dog (53-31) (6-0 last week)
10. Batman (50-34) (4-2 last week)
11. ChadsOSU (48-36) (5-1 last week)
12. W.T. (46-38) (4-2 last week)

Games for this week:

1. Ohio State vs. Michigan State (INCLUDE COMBINED SCORE)

2. Missouri vs. Auburn

3. Stanford vs. Arizona St.

4. Duke vs. Florida St.

5. Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma St.

And the oddball game this week is:

6. Memphis vs. Connecticut