Category: Buckeyes Wire

Ohio State officially names Corey Dennis new quarterbacks coach

Ohio State head coach has officially named Corey Dennis the new quarterbacks coach per a release from the university.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has officially announced the naming of Corey Dennis as the new quarterbacks coach. Dennis takes over for the departed Mike Yurcich after he accepted the offensive coordinator role at Texas.

Dennis has been with the Ohio State football program as the senior quality control coach, working with the quarterbacks over the last couple of years. He has been instrumental in putting together game plans and helping guide two Heisman finalists under center.

He has been on staff at Ohio State for six seasons, initially as a graduate assistant before being promoted to the role he had prior to this. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech where he met his wife Nicki Meyer Dennis, the daughter of former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.

“Corey is a talented young coach and someone I’ve worked closely alongside for three seasons,” Day said in making the announcement. “He knows our system and he knows how we teach. I think he is going to allow us to develop some continuity in the quarterback room, and that’s important. I also believe that he is going to be an excellent recruiter for us.”

It has to be an exciting day for the Dennis household, and by extension, the Ohio State football program.

Ohio State Women’s Basketball up to No. 9 seed in ESPN’s bracketology

The Ohio State Buckeyes women’s basketball team is moving up in bracketology projections, now a No. 9 seed in ESPN’s bracket.

The Ohio State women’s basketball team is having a bit of an inconsistent season. An 8-6 record might not quite be what Buckeye fans expect from this program, though it is an improvement over last year. The Buckeyes still haven’t found a replacement for star Kelsey Mitchell, but this year’s team is competitive against top programs.

Ohio State lost early disappointing games to Ohio and South Dakota, but the Buckeyes also have a huge win over Louisville. The Cardinals were No. 2 at the time of that game and currently sit at No. 7. In fact, the loss to Ohio State is still Louisville’s only loss, and that win over the Cardinals will be a huge feather in Ohio State’s cap when tournament selection rolls around.

The Buckeyes also picked up a second big win just now, defeating Michigan on Thursday evening. Even with a few bad losses, those two wins–and a very strong schedule, which includes respectable losses to both Stanford and UConn, has the Buckeyes projected as a 9-seed in ESPN’s current bracketology, updated this morning.

The Buckeyes have been in ESPN’s bracket ever since the Louisville win, usually somewhere in the “last four in” range. The Buckeyes were a 10-seed in the December 23rd iteration of the bracket, but quickly fell back to the bubble with a loss to Purdue. Now, though, after a close loss against Maryland and the win over Michigan, Ohio State is projected as a 9-seed.

The Buckeyes will face Penn State and Michigan State, two of the Big Ten’s weakest teams, next week. Wins against those two teams might not help the resume much, but it will show some much-needed consistency. Losses in either of those games, though, will move the Buckeyes right back to the bubble.

Ohio State’s season is over, but it’s still ranked No. 1 in the ESPN FPI Ratings

Despite losing to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl to end its season, Ohio State football is still ranked No. 1 in the latest ESPN FPI ratings.

If you believe Ohio State was the better team in the desert on the night of December 28, you have some company. Clemson won the game and made the plays it had to down the stretch, but the Buckeyes dominated for large portions of the game, missed out on a slew of breaks and opportunities and lost a close one.

But that didn’t stop the ESPN Football Power Index from keeping the Buckeyes at the No. 1 spot, ahead of both Clemson (who just knocked off OSU) and LSU. Both of those teams are preparing to play for a national championship in the Big Easy while Ohio State focuses on recruiting and preparations for the 2020 season.

According to ESPN’s explanation of how the FPI is calculated, The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily.

It didn’t predict the defeat at the hands of Clemson very well, so there’s that.

Here’s the rest of the top ten according to the FPI.

Note that there are five SEC teams in the top ten compared to just three Big Ten teams. The ACC (Clemson) and Pac-12 (Oregon) has one team apiece.

 

Kaleb Wesson selected to Midseason Top 25 for Wooden Award

Ohio State basketball forward Kaleb Wesson was selected to the Top 25 Midseason Wooden Award list Wednesday.

Ohio State big man Kaleb Wesson has not only transformed his body, but also his basketball game. It doesn’t take long to see the improvements in the 6-9, 270 lb. forward’s approach and skill set. His scoring average is about the same so far this year as last, but that doesn’t tell the full story.

He’s got better foot-work down low, better conditioning to stay further out of four trouble and move his feet on defense more, and his outside game is something teams have to guard against. Wesson’s steals, rebounds, assists, minutes played, and blocks per game have all improved suggesting he’s much more effective all-around.

And now, it’s not just the Big Ten or Ohio State coaching staff that has taken notice of the year he is having. Wesson was selected to the Midseason Top 25 for the Wooden Award Wednesday.

The players selected to the prestigious list are chosen by a panel of national college basketball experts. It recognizes those players that are front-runners for the Wooden Award — the sports most prestigious honor that goes to the best college basketball player annually.

The winner of the 2020 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy’s during the ESPN College Basketball Awards on Friday, April 10, 2020. And yes, there’s still plenty of work to do.

Ohio State women’s basketball upsets No. 24 Michigan

The Ohio State women’s basketball team upset No. 24 Michigan on Thursday night behind a career night from freshman Madison Greene.

It’s always noteworthy when Ohio State beats Michigan in anything. So … consider the following news item. The Buckeye women’s basketball team disposed of a nationally ranked Michigan team Thursday night.

It was a nip and tuck affair all the way through, with the Buckeyes making plays at the end and from the free-throw line to seal the deal with a final score of 78-69. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate.

Ohio State used a career night from freshman Madison Greene. The 5-8 Pickerington product scored a game-high 23 points on 8 of 10 shooting for the night, and it wasn’t just scattered and folded into the game. Eight of Greene’s points came in the decisive fourth quarter when Ohio State went on a run to take control at the very end.

Greene went 2 for 3 from beyond the arc, made all three buckets she attempted in the last quarter, and also had a game-high three steals to round out a solid box score.

With the win, the Ohio State women improve to 9-6 overall, and 2-2 in the Big Ten, but now have three upsets over ranked squads in 2019. If it can continue to get nights like this from Greene, and the other youngsters continue to develop, the Buckeyes could have a say in what happens the rest of the way in the league.

For now though, Buckeye Nation will once again revel in another win over That Team Up North. The lady Bucks are back in action against Penn State at home on Sunday.

 

Ohio State football well-represented in ESPN’s top 150 college players of all-time

Ohio State had six players appearing in the first 125 players unveiled in ESPN’s Top 150 College Football Players of all-time.

The Ohio State football program is well-represented in ESPN’s top 150 college football players of all-time. The worldwide leader in sports programming crafted the series as a nod towards the 150th year anniversary of college football.

It started with naming 125 players and will be unveiling the top 25 this coming Monday at halftime of the national championship game. That means more OSU players could be named — ahem, cough, cough — Archie Griffin.

So what Buckeyes made the cut in the top 125? Eddie George leads all OSU players at No. 38. Behind him is Jack Tatum (No. 44), Howard “Hopalong” Cassady (No. 47), Orlando Pace (No. 51), Jim Parker (No. 141), and Chris Spielman (No. 143).

So how many more Ohio State players might be in the top 25? Tune in at halftime of the big one in New Orleans to find out.

Ohio State 2020 spring practice to begin March 2, Spring Game on April 11

Ohio State released information Thursday about the upcoming spring, including the date of the annual Spring Game.

Ohio State has announced some a couple of key dates for the upcoming spring. According to a release from the university Thursday, the football team will begin practice on the week of March 2, with the annual Spring Game set for Saturday, April 11.

This comes on the heels of a program-record fourteen members of the 2020 recruiting class already arriving on campus to start college classes and their football careers as early enrollees.

The Buckeyes should field one whale of a team again in 2020. Justin Fields and a lot of weapons return on the offensive side of the ball. The defense loses some key personnel including three of four starters in the defensive backfield, but there’s talent abounding as always.

For now, it’s all about winter conditioning, but spring will be here before you know it.

Michigan recruiting “not the same” as Ohio State says 247Sports’ Director of Recruiting

Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, compared Michigan football recruiting efforts unfavorably against Ohio State.

There are guys that know college football recruiting, and then there are guys that live it. As the Director of Recruiting for 247Sports, Steve Wiltfong would be the latter. So, when he says something about the state of recruiting efforts, folks should perk up and take note.

It’s interesting then that he had some criticism of Michigan recruiting efforts under Jim Harbaugh. According to Allen Trieu’s Notorious B1G Podcast on 247Sports, the recruiting guru believes Michigan is behind Ohio State and Penn State in the way that it goes about identifying and selling players to the program.

He was first concerned with the loss of a key recruiter on staff, assistant coach Chris Partridge.

“They haven’t filled (Patridge’s) role, and we’ll see who they fill it with because Michigan is one of those schools where assistant coach recruiters are incredibly important because they don’t recruit in the same traditional way that almost every other program that we cover does,” Wiltfong said. “There’s not recruiting meetings. There’s just a lot on the assistant coaches’ plates to go out in their territories or in their position rooms and find guys they think are good enough to help Michigan win championships.”

“Chris Partridge was a guy that wasn’t afraid to go into SEC country with his winged helmet logo on his golf shirt and go toe-to-toe for big-time guys and try to get them to come to Michigan. He had some big wins. He also had some close losses. I mean, Willie Gay was a guy who had Michigan in his top two. Otis Reese is a guy who had Michigan in his top two. He really got after it and worked.”

Wiltfong then gave his opinion on where the Wolverine program is in terms of recruiting compared to a couple of other teams he believes are doing it the right way.

“I just don’t think, collectively, this staff is recruiting at a level to win a national championship across the board,” Wiltfong said. “It’s a blow losing a guy in Partridge, who I feel like is one of your best recruiters when the emphasis on recruiting at Michigan isn’t the same as it is at Ohio State and Penn State right now. We’re starting to see it on the field.”

To be fair, we’ve seen it on the field for quite a while now, but we get Wiltfong’s point. The gap may be widening after two blowout losses in The Game by Michigan and all.

 

Ohio Sate goaltender Tommy Napier named HCA National Goaltender of the Month

Ohio State men’s hockey goaltender Tommy Napier has been named the HCA National Goaltender of the Month for December.

Ohio State men’s hockey goaltender Tommy Napier has been named National Goaltender of the Month for December for the Hockey Commissioner’s Association. The news was made available via a release from the university Thursday.

Napier went 4-0-1 during the month and enjoyed a goals-against-average of .97 and save percentage of .970. For the entire year, the OSU netminder has a 1.86 goals-against average and .933 save percentage. He has a record of 11-5-2 in a total of 19 games the Buckeyes have played this season.

It’s not just this year either that Napier has been a wall in the net. He has a career goals-against average of 1.80 and a career save percentage of .936. He is the reigning Big Ten goalie of the year.

Ohio State is next in action this weekend with two games on the road against Wisconsin. The Buckeyes are currently tied with Michigan State in the Big Ten, just behind Penn State.

If Clemson beats LSU, the Colley Matrix will have Ohio State at No. 1

If Clemson beats LSU in Monday’s National Championship Game, then the Colley Matrix computer ranking will have Ohio State at No. 1.

In many ways, the Colley Matrix is my favorite of the major computer rankings out there. It’s not the results per se that make it wonderful, but it is–and I’ve been saying this for years–the best pure wins-and-losses strength of schedule rankings out there. I don’t use Colley for where it ranks the teams; but I will always cite its SOS numbers, because they’re the best.

There are two main reasons why I appreciate Colley more than any other ranking. The first is that his formula is public. On his website, Colley explains the rankings in both the pure math terms, as well as the logic behind them. That way, even if you’re not fully up on the precise numbers, anyone can really understand the basic concept behind how he gets his numbers.

More importantly, Colley only cares about wins and losses. Home, road, margin of victory, etc.–none of those things matter. It’s who you’ve played, and who they’ve played. Additionally, his matrix idea behind how to properly judge just how valuable an opponent is worth is as simple as it is innovative.

So, to repeat, Colley is the best system out there, in my opinion, for strength of schedule. As for the actual rankings–since the system ignores things like margin of victory and how well teams play, the results can get a little wonky sometimes. That’s okay; it’s still the best SOS system out there.

Which brings us to this year. According to Colley, the Ohio State Buckeyes have played the toughest schedule in the country this year. The only other teams with SOS numbers particularly close to Ohio State’s are South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Auburn. LSU has a pretty strong SOS. The Bayou Bengals sit at No. 14, and that will jump into the Top 10 after playing Clemson. Clemson’s SOS, however, sits outside the Top 50–and that’s after playing Ohio State. The number will improve further after playing LSU, but will still not be anywhere close to Ohio State’s.

Just how much harder is Ohio State’s schedule than Clemson’s? Well, the final rankings will have Ohio State ahead of Clemson, even if Clemson beats LSU. that doesn’t mean that Ohio State is better than Clemson this year or deserves a national championship; it does, however, speak to the fact that Ohio State’s schedule was significantly tougher than Clemson’s. Colley’s system prioritizes wins and losses over everything. The fact that Ohio State can stay ahead of Clemson with two fewer wins and one more loss tells you just how much higher Ohio State’s SOS is.

Some people may remember that Colley had UCF at No. 1 at the end of 2017. In fact, because Colley only cares about wins and losses–the system doesn’t value the National Championship Game more than any other game–it is the major computer that most often puts a team that didn’t win the NCG at No. 1. For example, its formula also had Clemson at No. 1 in 2015 and Notre Dame at No. 1 in 2012.

I’m not saying that the Buckeyes should declare themselves national champions this year, even though the NCAA would recognize such a claim (if Clemson wins the NCG). I am saying that it’s noteworthy how much harder Ohio State’s schedule was than Clemson’s this year, and these numbers back it up.

(As a complete tangent to end this post, it is a bit of a myth that Colley is the reason that UCF claimed the 2017 National Championship. UCF Athletic Director Danny White declared his team National Champions before that season’s National Championship Game was played. Had Georgia won the NCG that year, the Colley Matrix’s final rankings would have had Georgia at No. 1 and UCF at No. 2. It was only Alabama’s major second-half comeback that put UCF at No. 1 in the Colley Matrix, but the school didn’t care; it was declaring itself 2017 National Champions regardless. Had Georgia won, no NCAA-recognized selectors would have had UCF at No. 1; since Alabama won, there was exactly one–Colley–that agreed with UCF’s claim. But UCF was making that claim no matter what.)