Category: Buckeyes Wire

Ohio State football officially headed to the Rose Bowl to face Utah

Get your travel plans ready! Ohio State is headed to the Rose Bowl as a pretty cool consolation prize. #GoBucks

We all felt pretty good about it, but now it’s official. The Ohio State football team will be headed to Pasadena to take on Pac-12 champion Utah on January 1, as announced Sunday afternoon.

Michigan’s win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game, coupled with Utah’s second win over Oregon made the matchup a reality, one that will be just the two program’s second-ever meeting. Ohio State won that matchup in 1986 via blowout fashion.

It will be the 16th time the Buckeyes have played in the Rose Bowl, the second most of any program. Ohio State has an 8-7 all-time record in the “Grandaddy of them all.” That includes a 28-23 victory over the Washington Huskies the last time OSU headed to Pasadena in 2019.

So, set your travel plans and do yourself a favor. Get out to southern California in the dead of winter and take in the San Gabriel Gabriel Mountains, In ‘n’ Out Burger, Hollywood, and more.

Gametime is set for 5:00 pm EST with ABC on the call. This is at least something to get excited about after losing out on the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff.

It’ll be Utah’s first-ever appearance in the Rose Bowl.

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Ohio State vs. Penn State basketball preview, prediction, and odds

Basketball tips tomorrow for the first time at Ohio State and we’re rolling out our first preview and prediction for the season.

Records

Ohio State 5-2 (0-0), Penn State 4-3 (0-0)

Broadcast, TV, Game Time

Date | Sunday, Dec. 5
Game Time | 7:30 p.m. EST
Venue | Bryce Jordan Center, State College, PA
Network | Big Ten Network

Ohio State vs. Penn State is usually quite the matchup on the gridiron, but it’s also had some pretty significant ramifications on the hardwood. This year, the two aren’t expected to be at the top of the league, but OSU has the potential to be in the upper division as long as it can continue to develop and round into the form we think it can. Look no further than the win against Duke as proof that this team can compete.

Penn State, on the other hand, is just looking to lay a foundation toward turning a program back around with a new head coach. Many players transferred out of the program last season (OSU has one in Jamari Wheeler), so breaking the seal on the Big Ten season in winning fashion would be a great start towards all that the Nittany Lions want to do.

It’s a primetime matchup to tip-off the Big Ten season, and it would be well worth your time to watch Ohio State hopefully get things started on the right note on the road.

Next … The Ohio State game plan

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Ohio State finishes No. 6 in College Football Playoff Rankings

Do you agree with where Ohio State landed in the final release of the CFP Rankings? #GoBucks

Ohio State football finished the season just outside the top four of the College Football Playoff Rankings at No. 6. This year was a bit different though in the fact that there wasn’t a lot of drama as in years past when there was a chance for the Buckeyes to vault into the top four.

Ahead of Ohio State was largely what we believed it would be with Alabama reclaiming No. 1, followed by Michigan (2), Georgia (3), Cincinnati (4), and Notre Dame (5). That means the Wolverines and Bearcats get into the College Football Playoff for the first time and the Irish join the Buckeyes in just missing out.

This of course means Ohio State will wait for its postseason fate later in the day, but you can almost lock it in that the Buckeyes will be headed to Pasadena to play in the Rose Bowl opposite of the Pac-12 champ Utah.

With the ranking reveal, Ohio State continues the trend of never finishing worse than No. 7 in the final rankings reveal prior to the College Football Playoff matchups.

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Predicting the top ten of the final release of the College Football Playoff Rankings

One last look at what the top ten of the final release of the CFP Rankings will be.

All the dust has finally settled on the 2021 regular-season and conference championship games, and that means we are on the doorstep of the final College Football Rankings that will determine the four teams that will play for it all.

Those rankings are coming out Saturday, but we’re projecting the top ten based on what’s happened through the season and the championship games this past weekend.

For all the hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing, we feel pretty good about the four teams that are going to get it. That means the process and procedures dodged a big, controversial bullet once again, despite it not looking that way heading into the weekend. That will likely do little to accelerate the calls for an expanded playoff.

But that’s for another day. Here is our prediction of the top ten in the final College Football Playoff Rankings.

Ohio State most likely headed to Rose Bowl to play Utah

Looks like it’s most likely Pasadena for Ohio State. Does this at least excite you as a consolation prize for this season? #GoBucks

The Ohio State football team may not have had the season it set out to have when things kicked off this year, but heading to southern California to play in the “Grandaddy of them all” isn’t a bad consolation prize.

It’s not official yet, but with Michigan running Iowa off the field in the Big Ten Championship game Saturday night, the Wolverines are going to get a bid to the College Football Playoff. That will most likely bump Iowa down to one of the Florida bowls, and the Rose Bowl committee is a shoo-in to select the Buckeyes over a lower-ranked Michigan State team.

Couple that with Utah blasting Oregon again in the Pac-12 Championship game Friday night, and you are probably looking at an Ohio State vs. Utah matchup in the Rose Bowl on January 1.

If you’ve ever made it out to Pasadena, then you know how special and scenic the place is. If you haven’t, then it might be time to both add it to your bucket list (if not already), and knock it off this year.

We’ll have the official word of Ohio State’s plans for the postseason Saturday afternoon. The last time the Buckeyes traveled to SoCal, it was back in January of 2019 when Dwayne Haskins led OSU to a 28-23 win over the Washington Huskies in Urban Meyer’s last game as the Ohio State head coach.

 

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Ohio State basketball vs. Penn State: How to watch and listen to the game Sunday

Ohio State takes on Penn State in State College to kick off the Big Ten season. Here’s how to find the game.

The Ohio State men’s basketball team shocked the world on Tuesday night upending newly No. 1 ranked Duke as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Buckeyes showed some resiliency after trailing by 13 at the half but kept chipping away to take the lead in the final minutes of the game to rain on the Coach K retirement parade.

Chris Holtmann’s club will now open up Big Ten play as the Bucks travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Jamari Wheeler who transferred from PSU to Ohio State.

The Buckeyes will look to build off the exciting win over the No. 1 Blue Devils and get the Big Ten season started with a conference win. Big Ten road games are never easy… even in Happy Valley.

NEXT … Television, streaming, and radio information

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Craig Young enters the transfer portal

Another player hits the transfer portal. #GoBucks

‘Tis the season when your College Football Playoff hopes are dashed I guess. Just a day after quarterback Quinn Ewers entered the transfer portal, and less than a week after Jack Miller did, linebacker Craig Young has followed suit.

Young was supposed to be a big part of the defense this fall. He looked like a prime candidate for the hybrid bullet position that is part safety, part linebacker. However, once the season got going, it became apparent that Young would not be a staple on a defense looking to retool after some struggles early on in the season. Instead, Ronnie Hickman became the mainstay at the position.

Young began to get a little more playing time at the tail end of the season, but at that point, his mind must have been made up.

It’s the brave, new world of the transfer portal and one in which OSU has been isolated this time of year because of its ability to get into the CFP. However, it’s been a different year in many ways for Ohio State in 2021.

Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker Craig Young (15) greets fans who rushed the field following a 33-24 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday’s NCAA Division I football game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Credit: USA TODAY Sports

When he does make it to a new school, Young will potentially have three years of eligibility remaining because of the extra year afforded to players because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Million Dollar Man, Quinn Ewers, enters transfer portal, transferring from Ohio State

Million Dollar Man, Quinn Ewers enters transfer portal #Buckeyes

The Quinn Ewers hype came and went in a flash. The legendary Texas high school football star who reclassified to cash in on a million dollar endorsement deal has now entered the transfer portal after seeing the field a whopping two snaps during the 2021 season.

It is hard to be shocked by this decision as C.J. Stroud showed that he is going to be the starter for at least another season, and with the emergence of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) being a major factor in the world of college football, it is understandable that a player with this type of swag would want to cash in as early and often as possible.

It is a shame that Ewers is leaving this soon, because he really could have been great, but welcome to college football in 2021.

Buckeyes Wire Big Ten Fantasy Football League Summary

Buckeyes Wire Big Ten Fantasy Football League Summary

Before the football season all three writers for Buckeyes Wire sat down and had a fantasy football draft, where we were only allowed to select players from the Big Ten. The team (and writer) with the most points total at the end of the season would be crowned champion.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but limiting the draft to just 14 teams made the draft much harder than most would think. If you have any interest in watching the draft unfold you can watch it here. Unsurprisingly our noble leader at the site, Phil Harrison, took home the championship, while Mark Russell earned second place, and I, unfortunately, ended the season last.

Even if you are not interested in college fantasy football, it is still interesting to reflect back on the statistical expectations versus the reality that occurred. We will dive into what went right and what went wrong with each team.

Homecoming? New Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will open next season in an interesting location … Columbus

Well, this should be fun to break the seal on the 2022 college football season! #GoBucks

Now that former Ohio State linebacker Marcus Freeman has officially been named the head coach at Notre Dame, we can begin dreaming of a matchup that’s going to occur next season. And not just any game next year, but the first one on the schedule for both teams involved.

We are of course talking about Notre Dame’s visit to Columbus for the first game of both teams’ 2022 season on September 3. It was already going to be made for television eye candy, but now that a former Buckeye linebacker is running the show, it won’t just be Irish eyes that are smiling.

Freeman played linebacker under Jim Tressel from 2004-2008. That means his first regular-season game, and the first hostile crowd will be on the banks of the Olentangy. It’ll unfold in the venerable stadium he used to play in as a college football player, Ohio Stadium — more affectionately known as, “The Horseshoe,” or “Shoe” for short.

Sometimes you have to stretch for storylines in sports, and sometimes they just drop right in your lap. Freeman did visit Columbus as an assistant with Cincinnati in 2019 as an assistant, but it’s a whole new ballgame as the head coach of one of the most storied programs in college football history.

The timing couldn’t be any better in this case, and you are going to be hearing about it as a major plot twist we didn’t see coming even two weeks ago as the offseason buzz starts to build towards the start of the 2022 college football season.

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Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.