May 21, 2013

Big Ten News: Former Buckeyes OC Jim Bollman being considered at Michigan State

February 27, 2013 by 1 Comment

According to Football Scoop.com, former Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator Jim Bollman is close to accepting a job to be Michigan State’s new OC-

“Sources tell us Jim Bollman is expected to accept the Michigan State OC job”

The Detroit Free Press is also reporting the hiring-

“Michigan State has hired Purdue offensive line coach Jim Bollman to be its new offensive coordinator, according to multiple reports…. Bollman was Jim Tressel’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Ohio State and previously served as MSU’s offensive line coach under Nick Saban, in 1995-97. MSU head coach Mark Dantonio worked with Bollman at both stops.

While Bollman had the title of offensive coordinator, Tressel called the Buckeyes’ plays. Bollman took over OSU’s play calling for the 2011 season, under interim coach Luke Fickell.”

Bollman was the offensive line coach for Boston College last season. He then accepted the same position to work with Darrell Hazel at Purdue. This off-season.  Now it appears he will be leaving Purdue to be the OC and calls plays at Michigan State.

In 2011, Bollman’s  Ohio State offense ranked 107 in all of college football.

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Big Ten Basketball – The Bizarro World

February 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

Tyler GriffeyIn case you have been all football all the time and have not paid the least bit of attention to what is going on in College Basketball so far, your old friend and College Hoops Honk is here to get you up to speed with the best conference in America.

My man @ClevTA (a must-follow on Twitter) said it best last night – Big Ten Basketball is the bizarro Big Ten Football right now. We watched all fall as mediocre team after mediocre team played boring, uninspiring football. Yes, your Ohio State Buckeyes came out undefeated under Urban Meyer, but even the most ardent OSU supporter would tell you this was far from a National Title type team. The next best thing in the league was probably either a Michigan team that was throttled by Alabama, scored nine points against a Nebraska team that allowed 70 to Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game, and needed a miracle bomb with less than a minute to go to force OT with Northwestern at home. An argument could be made for four loss Penn State as well, but two of those losses were at home to Ohio (not Ohio State, Ohio) and a bad Virginia team.

The bottom line – in the glorious history of the Big Ten conference, 2012 was as bad of a season as the league has ever had. [Read more...]

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While We’re Waiting…Sparty Comes To The Shoe as Browns Prep for Hasselbeck

October 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

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.

Previewing Browns Titans, talking Defense:  ”Just how improved is the Browns defense? We may find out Sunday. Tennessee’s offense is far from a one-trick pony. Even without Britt and a struggling Johnson, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who led the Seattle Seahawks to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs last season, has paced the Titans offense.

Hasselbeck, who signed with Tennessee as a free agent in the offseason, is 78-for-112 passing for 932 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. The Browns pass defense is currently ranked third in the NFL, allowing 187.3 yards passing per game. Of course, the group of quarterbacks Cleveland has faced is not nearly as talented as the 36-year-old Hasselbeck.

“It looks like Matt’s executing extremely well and that’s important,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “I am sure that’s one of the reasons that they are off to a very good start. When your quarterback is playing well and you’re playing well on defense, I think it’s a good thing.”For Shurmur’s team, the defense is playing well, but offensively … eh … not so much.”  [OBR / Don Delco]

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WFNY Bracket Challenge – Sweet 16 Abounds

March 21, 2011 by 7 Comments

“Nobody cares about your bracket!” That has commonly been bandied about on Twitter, but it just isn’t true right here right now on this post.  This is where we absolutely care about your bracket.  We care so much that we have assigned not one, but two prizes for winners.  We still haven’t figured out something to give to the last place finisher (who also completely filled out the brackets) but we probably will.

I am happy to say that the bonus point structure is also causing a bit of chaos. The leader right now has gotten 34 of 48 picks correct, while second place has gotten 36 correct.  One of the two tied for third has 38 correct.  Picking those underdogs correctly pays!  Even I finally pulled myself out of the basement with a VCU win last night.  Make no mistake, I still have no chance at winning, but it still feels good to be in the 200s rather than the 300s.

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#1 Buckeyes Roll Through #20 Gophers

February 7, 2011 by 5 Comments

In a very long NCAA basketball season there will be games where a lot of luck is seemingly involved.  Such was the case when the Buckeyes outlasted Northwestern.  That was one of those games where the Buckeyes clearly had a target on their back and Northwestern was on a mission to try and prove that they could be more than who they are, at least for one game.  The Buckeyes found a way to get it done winning 58-57.  By comparison, yesterday’s 82-69 victory over Minnesota was a yawner, and probably a relief for the Buckeyes who never seemed to be operating on all cylinders.

The whole game felt pretty uneven in terms of pacing and sloppiness, but the second half was particularly bad.  The referees in this Big Ten contest were pretty horrendous both ways.  Offensive fouls where there shouldn’t have been any.  Aaron Craft, particularly couldn’t seem to get a break.  He fouled out on at least three foul calls that left most watching pretty perplexed.  As I said, the refereeing was bad both ways.  Not Butler vs. Cleveland State bad, but noticeable nonetheless. [Read more...]

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Buckeye Hoops Report: Ohio State is No. 1

January 19, 2011 by 3 Comments

As the college sports season turns from bowls to basketball, I am going to write a weekly report on the Ohio State Basketball team.  Conference play is starting to kick into high gear as the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes begin a 3 month run on a march to the Final Four.

This week, the Ohio State men’s basketball team ascended to a number one ranking in the polls for just the third stretch in the history of the program. 

OSU was ranked number one during a dominant stretch in the early 1960′s behind John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas.  This is the second time, however, that they have reached the top spot under Thad Matta, who led the Buckeyes to a 3 week stint atop the poll in 2006-07 during Greg Oden and Mike Conley’s brief stay in Columbus.  It’s highly unlikely that they will maintain this position during conference play in what is an elite Big Ten conference this season.  But let’s take a look at the week that was and will be for OSU and the Big Ten.

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Breaking Down the Big Ten

October 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment

For most of the Big Ten it is the half-way mark of the conference season. Michigan State is the only undefeated team, while four others (Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Purdue) have just one conference loss. Let’s just skip Purdue as a contender, if for no other reason than they still play Wisconsin and Michigan State, and nobody who watched last Saturday’s game would take them seriously as a conference threat. That leaves us with four legit contenders for the Big Ten title.

The Remaining Schedules:

Michigan State 8-0 (4-0)- @Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, @Penn State

Ohio State 7-1 (3-1)- @Minnesota, Penn State, @Iowa, Michigan

Wisconsin 7-1 (3-1)- @Purdue, Indiana, @Michigan, Northwestern

Iowa 5-2 (2-1)- Michigan State, @Indiana, @Northwestern, Ohio State, @Minnesota [Read more...]

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Buckeyes beat Boilers by lots of points…while Sparty looks like team of “destiny”

October 23, 2010 by 4 Comments

Last week was obviously a tough one for OSU.  While it doesn’t completely numb the sting of getting knocked off the number one spot by Wisconsin, it was nevertheless good to see the Buckeyes bounce back today against Purdue (4-3, 2-1). 

The Buckeyes (7-1, 3-1) led 42-0 at the half, gained over five football fields worth of yardage, scored three TD’s by air, three on the ground, and won 49-0.  In doing so, they also avenged last season’s lone conference loss which came at the hands of Purdue.

A good day overall to be sure for the guy who’s made sleeveless sweaters fashionable, but a day almost made better by the Northwestern Wildcats.   [Read more...]

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While We’re Waiting… Izzo Says No, Conference Championships and Santana

June 16, 2010 by 61 Comments

While We’re Waiting serves up an daily breakfast buffet of WFNY-esque goodies for your reading pleasure. Have something else you think we should see and write about tomorrow? Send it to all of us at our fancy tips email address at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

The ultimate beat writer talks about the Izzo failure: “When the Cavaliers fired Mike Brown three weeks ago, team owner Dan Gilbert knew he was taking a risk with LeBron James’ free agency clouding the franchise’s future. It is an unprecedented situation and it required unprecedented measures, which Gilbert took by aggressively going after Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. He offered a massive amount of money and the sort of support Gilbert’s become known for in his five years running the team.” [Brian Windhorst/Plain Dealer]

And from the college basketball world, what the no-change means for Michigan State: “When the puff of smoke came out of the chimneys in East Lansing and Tom Izzo ended his tap dance with NBA riches, telling the Cleveland Cavaliers that LeBron James or no LeBron James, he was staying with Michigan State, it was another reason for college athletics to sigh a breath of relief.” [Dana O'Neil/ESPN.com]
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Mathematical Proof of Tom Izzo’s NBA Success

June 8, 2010 by 14 Comments

As the free agency rumor season continues, the Cavaliers coaching rumor season is also relatedly running full force.  After Danny Ferry’s resignation it appears that Dan Gilbert might just be intent on hiring a college coach, namely Tom Izzo.  Now a lot of people are especially wary of college coaches making the jump from the college ranks to the NBA.  The thinking being, how do you take a process that includes recruiting like crazy to guarantee some sort of success and then just rely on your X’s and O’s expertise to get the job done?  All the while, you have to make it happen with players who are no longer working for free, but make much much (much) more money than you do.  All practical theories aside, I set out to prove once and for all with mathematics why Tom Izzo will definitely be a success in the NBA.  The Shannon Brown Principle does this perfectly.

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NBA Rumor Mill: Tom Izzo to the Cavs

June 7, 2010 by 42 Comments

The internet is abuzz with NBA rumors these days, and the latest one involving the Cavs has some serious legs. We told you yesterday (in advance of most media outlets I might add) that the Cavs’ interest in Michigan State head man Tom Izzo had reached a new high, which apparently has led to a contract offer by the Cavaliers.

Izzo, has said before that he isn’t interested in taking taking an NBA position “until he wins another title at Michigan State”. All that could change of course if his $3 million dollar MSU salary is doubled. Let’s face it- if Dan Gilbert is willing to pay Shaq’s $20 million dollar contract, with luxury tax stretching that to over $30 million, he would certainly pay his coach $6 million a season.

Since news of this contract offer broke, I’ve heard a lot of negatives about Izzo coming to coach the Cavaliers. The overwhelming majority have nothing to do with Izzo himself, but with the success level of  previous college coaches making the jump to the NBA. While that record is far from stellar, I fail to see how giving the job to Izzo would be any worse than giving it to an NBA coaching retread. The names associated with Cleveland’s vacancy thus far are the likes of Jeff Van Gundy (who said he is going to spend one more season at the announcing table) Byron Scott and Avery Johnson. Between them they have won a grand total of 0 NBA championships. [Read more...]

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Big Ten Basketball: Buckeyes Survive Spartan Comeback Bid

February 22, 2010 by 3 Comments

Ohio State choked away a large lead in the second half when Michigan State knocked down a jumper to go up 62-61 after a scrambling exchange where the Buckeyes couldn’t grab a defensive rebound.  The Michigan State crowd exploded and the Buckeyes easily could have folded under the pressure.  This team wouldn’t let it happen though.  Buford hit two free throws to restore the lead 63-62.  Evan Turner juked his way into a mid-range jumper and then Jon Diebler caught and shot the way he can and drained a three to give the Buckeyes a 68-62 lead with under two minutes to go in the game.  Diebler’s three took the wind out of the crowd, forced Michigan State to take a timeout and ultimately became the nail in the coffin as Ohio State beat Michigan State 74-67.

I know a lot of people don’t read the Ohio State basketball recaps, but for those who do, I apologize for missing the recap on the Purdue game.  No, I don’t only recap games that the Buckeyes win.  After that loss to Purdue, Ohio State needed to beat Michigan State to be tied (11-4) for 2nd place with MSU in the Big Ten standings behind Purdue (11-3.) The Buckeyes now have three games left on the Big Ten schedule at Penn State, before closing out at home against Michigan and Illinois. [Read more...]

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Evan Turner’s Stats Translate into a Productive NBA Career

February 20, 2010 by 2 Comments

Evan-TurnerNo player has affected the fortunes of a college basketball team much like Evan Turner of the Ohio State Buckeyes this season. We linked to an article yesterday about the validity of Turner’s Player of the Year candidacy this season courtesy of The Sporting Blog. Now, we are back to look at what makes the junior out of Chicago so successful on the court and how that will determine his future NBA playing style.

First of all, one thing that has truly impressed me as well as the Ohio State faithful has been the resiliency of Turner this. The 6’7″ guard/forward fractured his spine in a horrible fall to the court back on December 5th, where it was proclaimed he would miss up to eight weeks. Lo and behold then, Turner returned to the court on January 6th and two games after that, played all 40 minutes while scoring a season-high 32 points to lead the Buckeyes to a huge road upset victory over the #6 ranked Purdue Boilermakers.
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Paterno: Add a 12th team to the Big Ten

May 1, 2009 by 44 Comments

Big Ten NetworkFresh off of a successful 2008 campaign with the Nittany Lions, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is back in the news with his recent thoughts on the Big Ten. 

While the other conferences are playing long after Thanksgiving, Ohio State and their intraconference rivals are all on break, awaiting the BCS season – possibly to their detriment as seen in a few National Championship games. 

This has often been a criticism of the league, and Paterno thinks he has the answer: Add another team. [Read more...]

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Ohio State Upsets Michigan State, Heads to Big Ten Finals

March 14, 2009 by 9 Comments
William Buford (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

William Buford (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Wow.  After scraping past Wisconsin yesterday, not only did the Buckeyes upset the Michigan State Spartans today, but they handily defeated them.  Going in nearly a double-digit underdog, Evan Turner’s second half provided the 12-point win for the Scarlet and Gray as they head into the conference finals to play the winner of Purdue/Illinois.

As I mentioned in a response to the guys at Eleven Warriors (via Twitter), I think Ohio State would be able to win the rubber match against the Boilermakers.

Illinois guard and assists/steals leader Chester Frazier is slated to miss the rest of the tournament with a hand injury.  Perhaps both Purdue and Ohio State could capitalize on this one.

Some numbers to mention:

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Open Thread: Ohio State at Michigan State

October 18, 2008 by 12 Comments

Time: 3:30 PM, EDT
TV/Radio: WEWS Ch. 5, WKNR AM/850.
Kickoff Weather: 55 degrees (at kickoff), Winds 4 MPH (SE)
Line: OSU (-4)

The defensive line was abused by Wisconsin.  The defense in general held their own against Purdue.  But neither team we have played in the last two weeks have Javon Ringer in their backfield.  I know that statistics only tell part of the game, but when a guy has over 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns at this point in the season, it cannot be ignored.  The trick will be which defensive line shows up?  The one that let the Badgers march down the field at ease in the fourth quarter, or the one that bottles up the run game and forces errant passes?  The Spartans Brian Hoyer hasn’t thrown that many more passes than Terrell Pryor, so obviously the ladder would be more beneficial for the Scarlet and Gray.

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Buckeyes Should be Wary of Spartans

October 13, 2008 by 5 Comments

At least in the circles I have, no Buckeyes fans have really been talking about the Michigan State Spartans.  Everyone I know seems to jump straight ahead to the chance Ohio State has to make a name for themselves against Penn State on October 25th.  This is a big mistake.  Let’s hope Jim Tressel hasn’t overlooked the Michigan State Spartans in any way shape or form.  Plus, a team that beats Purdue without actually scoring an offensive touchdown shouldn’t be allowed to overlook anyone on the schedule.

Michigan State is a good football team.  They haven’t really played anyone of note since losing by a touchdown to Cal in week one.  They also beat Notre Dame 23-7 and you can consider that win however you like.  The bottom line is this.  The Spartans have a good record 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten.  Michigan State also has Javon Ringer, senior running back.  Already this season Ringer has over 1000 yards and 14 touchdowns. [Read more...]

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It’s OSU. It’s Dayton! LIVE!!

March 25, 2008 by 1 Comment

While Michigan State and Wisconsin continue to represent the Big Ten in the NCAA Tourney, and fellow-bubble team Villanova marches on the path of upset wins, the Ohio State Buckeyes are alive and well in the NIT.

After topping Cal by 17, the Buckeyes will play host to the also-snubbed University of Dayton – a team that should not be overlooked – where the winner can only sit back and say “what if.” What if either one of these schools was given the slot that was taken by Villanova? Surely, either of the Ohio-based squads could have given Clemson a run for their money. And Siena? Please.

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GAMBLOG Picks Of The Week

March 9, 2008 by 1 Comment

GAMBLOG LogoPicks Of The Week – March 9, 2008

Back again with Matt’s GAMBLOG for this week. In a down year for OSU hoops, and a year in which thanks to the formation of the Big Ten Network and Time Warner’s refusal to pick it up I have seen only a quarter of the games tops (and I won’t be able to watch this game….thanks Big Ten and Time Warner), we’ve not really covered OSU basketball here at WFNY much. But, as far as big games go, this one is about as big as they get. With a win Sunday and at least one win the Big Ten Tournament, OSU is looking to back their way into the Dance. With a loss on Sunday, though, you can probably count OSU out of the tournament short of a Big Ten Tournament title. Since this game is so big, Matt decided to weigh in with his hopeful wishing, er, I mean, thoughts about the game. I sure hope he’s right about this one.  [Read more...]

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