Around The Block: BlockONation's Buckeye Bits, Volume 3 — June 3, 2012

Hello once again Buckeye football fans. I have a plethora of bits to share with you today — unfortunately, not all of them good — but nevertheless, the bits are the bits — and away we go.

— The biggest bit of news today involves the arrest of Ohio State senior TE, Jake Stoneburner, for obstructing official business, whatever the heck that means exactly. Details are still sketchy, but it appears Stoneburner may have been intoxicated and was arrested after briefly fleeing from police. It was later revealed that junior O-lineman Jack Mewhort and a third man were also arrested with Stoneburner. Most likely, Stoneburner and Mewhort, both of whom are facing misdemeanor charges, will each probably get slaps on the wrist barring any further-damning revelations, but surely this will not sit well with head coach Urban Meyer.

— Ohio State had hoped to land 5-star LB recruit Jaylon Smith, brother of Ohio State RB Roderick Smith, but earlier today, Smith somewhat surprisingly opted against joining his brother in Columbus, and instead gave his verbal commitment to Notre Dame. While Smith would have made a nice addition to the 2013 class, Ohio State, as always, has plenty of talent and depth at linebacker, and that may have been a factor in Smith's decision.

— Ohio State recently nixed a proposed 2020-2021 home-and-home series with the Georgia Bulldogs, purportedly because of future scheduling conflicts regarding their Pac-12/B1G scheduling deal that is in the works. Also, it can't be ignored that schools in the-now 12-team B1G may soon be playing nine conference games instead of just eight.

— ESPN B1G blogger Adam Rittenberg discussed some keys to the Buckeyes' 2012 season and what to expect from Ohio State this fall.

— 2013 Buckeye verbal and dual-sport star, Jalin Marshall became the 2012 DI Ohio high school state champion in the long jump Saturday. Marshall plays QB for Middletown HS, but early speculation points to him playing WR when he arrives in Columbus next year. With his speed and jumping ability, it certainly would make sense.

As Lee Hudnell of The Buckeye Times recently reported, Athlon Sports has released its' 2012 preseason rankings, and they have Ohio State ranked at No. 6, while college football guru Phil Steele has Ohio State ranked at No. 11. Obviously, the combination of Ohio State's talent and Urban Meyer's coaching prowess has led to some lofty expectations. For what it's worth, I think both are right — kind of. Phil Steele has the preseason ranking dead-on, and Athlon's ranking is closer to where the Buckeyes could find themselves in the final rankings at seasons end.

— And finally, if you're into recruiting and interested in keeping tabs on who the Buckeyes are targeting in 2013, look no further. And since you asked (or not, but just go with it), you can also glimpse even further into the future and track the recruits Ohio State is targeting for 2014 as well, thanks to the great work by our good friends over at ScarletBuckeye.

See you next time, around the Block — HD

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The REAL Big Ten Power Rankings, Minus the ESPN Anti-Buckeye Sentiment

By HD Handshoe — BlockONation.com Founder

Adam Rittenberg and Brian Bennett posted their Week 10 Big Ten Power Rankings yesterday, and the list makes practically no sense at all -- especially when they have one team that was crushed by another team four spots higher in their rankings than the team that crushed them.

Surely you can figure out the two teams being referenced when you look at theirs.

Here are the real power rankings as they should be, based on how each team is performing on offense, defense, and special teams at this point in the season -- not just on who has beaten who, or overall number of wins, as that doesn't reflect each team's strength of schedule -- or lack thereof.


12.

Indiana (1-8, 0-5), is still Indiana, and they just booted their best WR off the team -- not good.


11.

Minnesota (2-6, 1-3) finally got their first Big Ten win, but Iowa is not much higher in the rankings, so it's not really a big deal outside of Minneapolis.


10.

Illinois (6-3, 2-3) has lost three straight games, and web traffic to the Fire Ron Zook websites has most certainly increased steadily in the past three weeks.


9.

Iowa (5-3, 2-2) has good players and what we thought was a decent coach, although some fans in the Hawkeye Nation are beginning to question if they have a JoePa situation on their hands...


8.

Northwestern (3-5, 1-4) is a much better team than their record indicates, especially with a healthy Dan Persa, but if this program is going to ever turn the corner, they have to consistently win the games they're supposed to win.


7.

Purdue (4-4, 2-2) has been hard to figure out at times this season, but now that they have settled on QB Caleb TerBush, count on a few more wins out of the Boilers before all is said and done.


6.

Michigan State (6-2, 3-1) has shown almost no consistency -- losing to a middle of the road Notre Dame squad, beating Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, and then getting dominated by Nebraska -- talk about hard to figure out.


5.

Penn State (8-1, 5-0) managed to escape defeat last week against the Illini, but they have played exactly one good team, and lost. This week they are off, then will host Nebraska before travelling to Ohio State and Wisconsin -- all opponents who could very possibly hand PSU three losses to finish off the season.


4.

Nebraska (7-1, 3-1) has played pretty well nearly every week, other than their trip to Madison, and before Braxton went down and Black-Death-Bauserman came into the game for the Buckeyes. With games remaining against Northwestern, Penn State, Michigan, and Iowa, 10-2 or 11-1 and a Legends Division title seems a very likely probability.


3.

Wisconsin (6-2, 2-2) hasn't dropped far in the rankings as far as I am concerned despite losing back to back games in heartbreaking fashion -- one on a Hail Mary to Michigan State, and the other to Ohio State on a veteran-like touchdown pass by freshman-phenom Braxton Miller with less than 30 seconds left. Unfortunately however, their dream season may be over as they look to be the odd man out should a three-way tie occur between themselves, Ohio State, and Penn State in the Leaders Division.


2.

Ohio State (5-3, 2-2) is playing as well as anyone in the conference in all facets of the game -- not to mention, the Buckeyes have won 10 November games in a row and have lost just two games in the month of November since 2003. It just really sucks that several great defensive efforts were wasted before the coaches finally realized that Braxton Miller needs to be on the field, every possible second of every game. Maybe it's not too late though as the Buckeyes have a real chance at yet another Big Ten title.


1.

Michigan (7-1, 3-1) is improved on defense (although there was really nowhere to go but up) and has one of the most dynamic and athletic players college football has seen recently in Denard Robinson. Too bad he's not a very good QB, and he still has at least two strong defensive units to face in Nebraska and Ohio State. 9-3 would be a great season in AA after what that program has endured recently -- but it won't mean as much if coach Brady Hoke can't lead his team to their first victory over "Ohio" since 2003...

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An Oklahoma Fan on Debunking the Oklahoma-Ohio State "Double Standard"

By Allen Kenney -- www.BlatantHomerism.com

As an Oklahoma fan, it's tough to think of the Sooners as one of the national media's golden boys. For every article out there praising OU's recent dominance of the Big 12, you're just as likely to find another biting "Big Game Bob" story about the Sooners' struggles on the big stage.

In a way, you would think that would make Sooner Nation and Ohio State fans something of kindred spirits in the college football landscape.

If rabble rouser and Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com is to be believed, however, the media handles OU with kid gloves relative to Ohio State, creating an egregious double standard. "It's ridiculous. And it needs to stop," according to Rittenberg.

The latest outrage, which apparently pushed Rittenberg over the edge, occurred on Monday. After crushing Tulsa, Oklahoma moved up two spots to No. 10 in the latest AP Poll; meanwhile, the Buckeyes whipped Toledo and fell two slots to No. 13.

Rittenberg surmises that Buckeye beater USC's loss over the weekend precipitated OSU's drop in the poll. He notes, however, that Brigham Young was spanked by Florida State, but OU moved up.

Add this new slap in the face to the long string of pro-OU, anti-OSU actions by the national media that Rittenberg sees no need to detail. (By the way, agree with him or not, Rittenberg should be commended for bringing the injustice of a completely meaningless poll to light.)

But to put an end to this discrimination, don't we need to understand the "why" behind all the hate for the Buckeyes and not the Sooners? Rittenberg himself is silent on this matter.

EDSBS poses one theory: geography; to which the folks at Burnt Orange Nation offer a compelling rebuttal, but no alternative theory.

If we are to assume that this phenomenon does, in fact, exist, I'd say the reason lies in an extension of the ESDBS argument. It's not that OSU is located in closer proximity to more people and larger media markets. It's that more people care about Ohio State than OU.

OSU is one of the largest schools in the country. It draws more media coverage than OU, because there's a higher level of interest in the Buckeyes. With greater media coverage, the Buckeyes' struggles appear to be magnified relative to those of OU.

Allow me to offer a more straightforward explanation, though: this supposed double standard doesn't exist.

Regarding Rittenberg's AP Poll travesty, in his mind there appears to be no way to legitimate the voters' decisions. Yet, I could offer up a number of possible reasons why a voter would be inclined to rank OU ahead of OSU, as well as to move the Sooners up and the Buckeyes down this week.

Maybe some voters think OU is a better team than OSU.

Maybe some voters think OU is improving, while the Buckeyes have hit a ceiling.

Maybe some voters are penalizing OSU for losing in Columbus to a USC team they no longer consider to be the juggernaut it once was.

Maybe some voters are cutting OU some slack for losing on a neutral field after Sam Bradford went down in the Sooners' first game of the year.

Maybe some voters are projecting how they think the season will play out.

Take your pick of potential justifications, all of which seem reasonable, even if you don't agree with them.

(For the record, I wouldn't have Oklahoma or Ohio State anywhere near the top 25 at this point. Neither has compiled a good enough body of work to merit inclusion.)

From a more "meta" standpoint, I have no idea how to even begin addressing Rittenberg's issues with the alleged discrepancies in national perception.

Outside of this one supposed instance of bias in favor of OU, what are some other examples? So far as I can tell, this week's poll is it.

If that's it, let's save the outrage.

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For the record, I agree with Rittenberg, but in the interest of objectivity, I decided to post this article and see what my fellow Buckeye fans have to say, if anything--HD

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