Braxton Miller | WaitingForNextYear

WFNY Top 10 Cleveland Sports Stories of 2012: #8 Meyer’s Buckeyes run the table

December 26, 2012 by Rick Grayshock 5 Comments

2012 was one crazy year in the wild wacky world of Cleveland Sports. Some would tell you 2012 was as bad as it has ever been here. As the year comes to a close, like we have done the last four years, WFNY will take a look at what we view to be the 10 biggest sports stories affecting our local sports scene. Each day through the rest of the year, we will be counting down from ten to one. We started earlier today with the Buckeyes Final Four trip . Number nine was the trade of Shin-Soo Choo.

Twelve months ago the Buckeyes were a hot mess. They were on their way to losing the Gator Bowl and finishing 6-7. The offense was abysmal. The defense not a lot better. We knew Urban Meyer would be taking over as head coach, but what kind of turn around could he really do with this group?

It turns out he could do quite a bit.

The first thing Meyer did on his way to an undefeated first season at Ohio State was surround himself with quality assistant coaches and then hit the recruiting trail. Meyer started flipping recruits at a pace that alarmed other Big Ten coaches. Without the luxury of SEC over-signing, Meyer had to make his recruits count. And my were there holes to fill. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, Top 10 Cleveland Sports Moments of 2012 Tagged With: Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde, John Simon, Ohio State Buckeyes, Urban Meyer

While We’re Waiting…Kevin Love and the Cavs, and Nick Swisher is a character (literally)

December 24, 2012 by Ryan Jones 11 Comments

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

“Braxton Miller’s 2012 was more than nice as he led the Buckeyes to a perfect 12-0 season on the way to capturing the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year award and the Chicago Tribune’s Silver Football as the league’s MVP.

But the franchise isn’t resting on his laurels. Via Twitter comes news that he’s currently working with renowned quarterback guru George Whitfield Jr. in San Diego.

The Massillon native, through his training programWhitfield Football, has worked with some of the best quarterbacks in the game today, a list that includes Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, Ben Roethlisberger, Landry Jones, and Tajh Boyd.” [Priestas/Eleven Warriors] [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: Anderson Varejao, Braxton Miller, Derrick Williams, Dion Waiters, How I Met Your Mother, Indians, Joanna Garcia, Kevin Love, NBA Trade Rumors, Nick Swisher, Nick swisher acting, ohio state football, Ricky Rubio

Braxton Miller finishes 5th in Heisman voting

December 8, 2012 by Ryan Jones Leave a Comment

Ohio State sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller finished 5th in the voting for this year’s Heisman Trophy. The star of Ohio State’s undefeated team received three first place votes.

Texas A&M redshirt freshman quartback Johnny Manzel won the award, collecting 456 first place votes. Manzel is the first “freshman” to win the award.

Filed Under: Headlines Tagged With: Braxton Miller, Buckeyes, Heisman, Johnny Football, Johnny Manzel, results, Voting

Buckeye Learnings

December 5, 2012 by Rini 1 Comment

Well, the undefeated season for the Ohio State Buckeyes is officially over. All we are left to deal with are articles about what could have been, what should have been and what the NCAA or Ohio State could have done differently to avoid this debacle. Somewhere along the line you will find articles tying all of those pieces together in an effort to claim to know what would have been best for each situation. Put me in the camp where I think the Buckeyes got what they deserved. It is extremely unfortunate considering what came out later for other schools, but it is the bed they made regardless of the seasons’ outcome.

Given all of that, somehow the season does not really feel like it’s over to me. I get that there are no more games to be played by the Buckeyes this year, but finishing the season the way they did with two huge wins, it feels as though the ending was more of a springboard for this team than a true conclusion. The Buckeyes were not supposed to go undefeated this soon. Urban Meyer was supposed to come into this season to assess players that he largely had no hand in recruiting prior to, realize the talent and start building a winning program with his guys that fit his system under his coaching style.

Instead, he came right in and led this team to an undefeated, 12-0 season in his very first year. What the heck? How do you build on that?!

With confidence and an influx of top tier recruits, that’s how. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes, General Tagged With: Bradley Roby, Braxton Miller, Buckeyes, Carlos Hyde, Johnathan Hankins, ohio state football, Urban Meyer

The Buckeye Leaves

November 28, 2012 by Rick Grayshock 14 Comments

The Big Ten has been busy the last two days handing out conference awards. Keep something in mind as we talk about which Buckeyes did and didn’t make these all conference teams and individual honors: Ohio State finished 8-0 in Big Ten play. Nebraska finished 7-1, Michigan 6-2 and Penn State 6-2. I mention those next three teams because they were the second, third and fourth best records in the conference.

And Ohio State beat all of them. (And Wisconsin for good measure.)

There were two sets of all-conference team. The coaches voted for one team, and a media panel voted on the other. You would have to wonder if some of the hurt feelings surrounding Urban’s recruiting didn’t spill over onto a ballot or two.

The Buckeyes named to the coaches All-Big Ten Conference team: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes Tagged With: Braxton Miller, Buckeyes, Carlos Hyde, John Simon, Johnathan Hankins, Ryan Shazier, Urban Meyer, Zach Boren

Buckeye Six Pack: The Game

November 27, 2012 by Rick Grayshock 6 Comments

It feels so strange that there will be no more Ohio State football games. Especially after the team finished undefeated. Let’s get to it…

1) Stepping Up. In big games, nobody has been bigger for Ohio State in the last three years than John Simon. Seeing him in street clothes to start the game made me nervous. Extremely nervous about this defense. The first half didn’t do much to calm my nerves.

But give them all the credit in the world. They stepped up in the second half and took care of business. They held Michigan to 61 yards in the second half and 9 for the fourth quarter. Outstanding performance.

Does it help that Michigan abandoned the most efficient and explosive part of their offense for the last three drives? Of course. But Ohio State had bottled up Robinson and the Michigan running game in the third quarter and Hoke was desperate to try something. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes Tagged With: Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde, John Simon, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes, Ryan Shazier, Urban Meyer, Zach Boren

Box Score: Buckeyes 26, Wolverines 21

November 24, 2012 by Jacob Rosen Leave a Comment

In a tale of two halves, the Ohio State defense held down the fort against the explosive Michigan Wolverines in the final 30 minutes. The Buckeyes held on in yet another close rivalry duel, winning 26-21 to finish a perfect 12-0 for the regular season.

Carlos Hyde was the star offensive player for the Bucks, as he gained 146 yards, many of them in the final two drives, to secure the victory. Michigan gained -14 rushing yards outside of Denard Robinson as they couldn’t get anything going in the final two quarters.

Although Ohio State is ineligible for the BCS standings and a bowl game this year, this victory now means the controversy and theorizing won’t end until next season begins in August. Stay tuned for lots more analysis and debates in the coming days. But for now, savor this special victory, this special season and the sixth undefeated season in OSU history.

(19) MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
8-4 (Lost last 1)

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
12-0 (Won last 12)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
	7	14	0	0	21
	10	10	3	3	26

Scoring Summary

1st QuarterMICH – OHST

13:15	OHST	TD	Carlos Hyde rushed to the left for 3 yard gain (Drew Basil made PAT)	0 – 7
8:04	MICH	TD	Devin Gardner passed to Roy Roundtree to the right for 75 yard gain (Brendan Gibbons made PAT)	7 – 7
1:00	OHST	FG	Drew Basil kicked a 41-yard field goal	7 – 10

2nd QuarterMICH – OHST

11:20	MICH	TD	Devin Gardner rushed up the middle for 1 yard gain (Brendan Gibbons made PAT)	14 – 10
1:52	OHST	TD	Braxton Miller passed to Corey (Philly) Brown to the right for 14 yard gain (Drew Basil made PAT)	14 – 17
1:30	MICH	TD	Denard Robinson rushed to the right for 67 yard gain (Brendan Gibbons made PAT)	21 – 17
0:05	OHST	FG	Drew Basil kicked a 52-yard field goal	21 – 20

3rd QuarterMICH – OHST

9:25

OHST

Drew Basil kicked a 28-yard field goal

21 – 23

4th QuarterMICH – OHST

7:35

OHST

Drew Basil kicked a 25-yard field goal

21 – 26

Passing

Michigan Wolverines	Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int	Rating
Devin Gardner	11	20	171	55.0	8.6	4	40	1	1	133.3

Ohio State Buckeyes	Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int	Rating
Braxton Miller	14	18	189	77.8	10.5	5	47	1	0	184.3

Rushing

Michigan Wolverines	Rush	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	FumL
Denard Robinson	10	122	12.2	67	1	1
Vincent Smith	5	12	2.4	8	0	0
Thomas Rawls	5	3	0.6	2	0	0
Devin Gardner	7	-29	-4.1	6	1	2

Ohio State Buckeyes	Rush	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	FumL
Carlos Hyde	26	146	5.6	17	1	0
Braxton Miller	20	57	2.9	42	0	1
Corey (Philly) Brown	1	21	21.0	21	0	1
Rod Smith	1	4	4.0	4	0	0

Receiving

Michigan Wolverines	Rec	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD
Roy Roundtree	3	92	30.7	75	1
Jeremy Gallon	6	67	11.2	30	0
Mike Kwiatkowski	1	6	6.0	6	0
Drew Dileo	1	6	6.0	6	0

Ohio State Buckeyes	Rec	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	FumL
Corey (Philly) Brown	8	95	11.9	19	1	1
Devin Smith	2	63	31.5	52	0	0
Evan Spencer	1	9	9.0	9	0	0
Jake Stoneburner	1	9	9.0	9	0	0
Carlos Hyde	1	8	8.0	8	0	0
Michael Thomas	1	5	5.0	5	0	0

Kicking

Michigan Wolverines	XPM	XPA	FGM	FGA	Lng	Pct	Pts
Brendan Gibbons	3	3	0	0	0	0.0	3

Ohio State Buckeyes	XPM	XPA	FGM	FGA	Lng	Pct	Pts
Drew Basil	2	2	4	5	52	80.0	14

Punting

Michigan Wolverines	Punt	Avg	Blk	In20	TB
Will Hagerup	4	55.3	0	2	0

Ohio State Buckeyes	Punt	Avg	Blk	In20	TB
Ben Buchanan	3	44.7	0	2	0

Kick/Punt Returns

Michigan Wolverines	KR	Yds	Avg	Lng	PR
Dennis Norfleet	1	27	27.0	27	0
Drew Dileo	2	34	17.0	19	0
Jeremy Gallon	0	0	0.0	0	2

Ohio State Buckeyes	KR	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	PR	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD
Bradley Roby	2	47	23.5	26	0	0	0	0.0	0	0
Corey (Philly) Brown	0	0	0.0	0	0	4	30	7.5	18	0

Filed Under: Headlines Tagged With: Big Ten, Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde, College football, Denard Robinson, Devin Gardner, Michigan Wolverines, NCAA, Ohio State Buckeyes, Urban Meyer

Ohio State’s defense clamps down to secure 26-21 victory over Michigan and 12-0 season

November 24, 2012 by Jacob Rosen 4 Comments

On a day the Ohio State Buckeyes honored the perfect national champions of 2002 and former players carried Jim Tressel on their shoulders in the end zone, the Buckeyes did it again.

For the sixth time in school history, AP No. 4 Ohio State (12-0, 8-0 Big Ten) has finished a season undefeated, but the final game certainly wasn’t pretty. It took three second-half turnovers by the defense, and a heaping dose of junior Carlos Hyde on the last drive, but the Buckeyes held on for a gritty 26-21 victory over their archrivals AP No. 20 Michigan (8-4, 6-2 Big Ten).

The first half was sloppy, high-scoring and filled with big plays. The second half was again sloppy, yet dominated by defenses and missed opportunities by the Buckeyes. In the end, all that matters is a victory and a spotless 2012 for OSU.

Yet, somehow, the day started off with somber news: senior leader John Simon would not play because of an bursa injury in his right knee he suffered against Wisconsin. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buckeyes Tagged With: BCS, Big Ten, Brady Hoke, Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde, College football, Denard Robinson, Devin Gardner, Devin Smith, Jim Tressel, Michigan Wolverines, NCAA, Ohio State Buckeyes, Urban Meyer

If eligible, would Ohio State be on the verge of a BCS Championship appearance?

November 24, 2012 by Jacob Rosen 19 Comments

This year has been a strange one for Ohio State fans. Unlike the thrill of the recent undefeated 2002 or 2006 regular seasons, the 11-0 start to 2012 has had a peculiar aura because of the NCAA-sanctioned bowl ban.

As a result of the bowl ban, the Buckeyes are ineligible for the BCS standings, thus, they’re not included in the weekly updates, the USA Today Coaches Poll or the Harris Interactive Poll. But in a relatively weak college football field this year, because of only one other undefeated team, where would Ohio State rank in the current landscape?

So in a WFNY study and analysis, I looked at where the Buckeyes rank under the same BCS computer polls plus the Associated Press poll and another national ranking. I break down OSU’s perceived “weak” strength of schedule, the storylines that this formula might be missing, what would be up for grabs in today’s Michigan game and what other oddities I see in this new BCS. Hope you enjoy.

While We’re Waiting… The 109th edition of The Game

November 24, 2012 by Jacob Rosen Leave a Comment

“When Brady Hoke was hired at Michigan a year ago and defeated Ohio State in his first opportunity, there was talk about how the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry was back. When OSU hired Urban Meyer, the talk intensified. While this season hasn’t developed the way Michigan had hoped, there is plenty of reason to believe another golden era of The Game is on the way. Both coaches are from Ohio and understand the rivalry, and Hoke has an appreciation for what Ohio State brings the table as they prepare to meet Saturday.” [Jeff Svoboda/Buckeye Sports Bulletin] [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Big Ten, Brady Hoke, Braxton Miller, cavaliers, College football, Darrell Hazell, Dion Waiters, Kent State Golden Flashes, Kyrie Irving, MAC, Michigan Wolverines, MLB, MLB Playoffs, NBA, Ohio State Buckeyes, the game, Urban Meyer

Black Friday Fun With Numbers

November 23, 2012 by Jacob Rosen 1 Comment

For your Black Friday enjoyment, I bring to you a special edition of Rick’s usual numbers post. Some of these might be scarier than normal, so hopefully this is not read with a heaping pile of leftover turkey in your mouth.

Cleveland Browns

12.7-24.6 – Average score of the 27 Steelers-Browns games since the 1999 season. Cleveland is just 4-23 in those games, after starting 2-2 in their first two years back.

20-63 (.241) – Overall record by the Browns in all division games, including playoffs, since returning in 1999. The team is 50-85 (.370) in all other games.

25.61 and 0.504– The Browns rank 30th in the NFL with just 25.61 yards per drive and 31st with 0.504 punts per drive this season. The league averages, respectively, are about 31 yards and 0.4 punts per drive, according to Football Outsiders. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Alonzo Gee, Anderson Varejao, Big Ten, Braxton Miller, browns, Carlos Hyde, cavaliers, College football, Fun with Numbers, J.J. Hickson, Joe Haden, Kyrie Irving, Michigan Wolverines, NBA, nfl, Ohio State Buckeyes, Pittsburgh Steelers, Portland Trailblazers, Tristan Thompson

While We’re Waiting… Thankful for Jeremy Pargo

November 22, 2012 by Jacob Rosen 2 Comments

Today, as a special version of While We’re Waiting, I wanted to go team-by-team as I share what I’m thankful for here in November 2012. For more WFNY thanks, stay tuned at 10 a.m.

Cleveland Cavaliers

I’m thankful for a very pleasant Thanksgiving Eve surprise in new Cavs point guard Jeremy Pargo: “Pargo’s 28 points was surprising enough, but it was doubly impressive considering that he was matched up against Jrue Holiday, who is one of the better point guard defenders in the NBA. Pargo had no trouble getting his shot, though, as he shot 11-19 from the field and 4-8 from three. He also added four assists and five rebounds.” [Jordan Sargent/SB Nation Cleveland] [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Alonzo Gee, Big Ten, Brad Childress, Braxton Miller, browns, cavaliers, College football, jeremy pargo, Kyrie Irving, Michigan Wolverines, NBA, NCAA, nfl, Ohio State Buckeyes, Pat Shurmur, Pittsburgh Steelers, the game, Trent Richardson, Tristan Thompson

Box Score: No. 6 Ohio State 21, Wisconsin 14

November 17, 2012 by Jacob Rosen 3 Comments

Ryan Shazier was going to be the hero, but the Buckeyes gave Wisconsin one more chance to tie and force overtime. So they did, but then Ohio State won fair and square in the extra period by scoring first and then finally stopping the Badgers on fourth down.

In yet another close-fought game between these two emerging rivals, Ohio State improved to 11-0 on the season despite one of its most disappointing offensive performances of the season. Braxton Miller looked average at best and Carlos Hyde only had 15 carries (yet 87 yards), but the defense led by Shazier, Ryan Boren and Christian Bryant (who made the final play in OT) saved the day.

Next up: “The Game” on Saturday against Michigan in Columbus.