When Antonio Henton is an old man, he'll have a lot of memories of his time in Columbus, Ohio as a member of the Ohio State football team. He'll be able to tell his grandchildren about the time he offered that undercover police officer $20 for sex, and about those six passes he got to throw in Ohio Stadium, one of which was for a touchdown.
Then he'll get to tell them about how the Buckeyes recruited freshman phenom quarterback Terrelle Pryor, basically ending any chance Antonio ever had of becoming a starter, and he decided to transfer to Georgia Southern.
Several sources close to the team said that Antonio Henton is expected to transfer to Georgia Southern. Coach Jim Tressel refused to confirm the move, saying only that Henton "is a good kid." As of last night, sources said Henton had not told team officials he was leaving.
It's hard to blame Henton for the decision because he didn't leave his home state of Georgia for Ohio State to sit on the bench for five years. Plus, going to a new school will help him get a fresh start after the legal troubles and suspension he had to deal with in Columbus. Not to mention that he'll be reunited with his high school coach, Rance Gillespie, who is now the offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern.
As for the Buckeyes, while Antonio's departure is not the end of the world, it doesn't leave much experience behind starter Todd Boeckman. Henton was the QB #2 on the roster, and will now be replaced by two freshman in Joe Bauserman and the aforementioned Pryor, neither of which have thrown a pass as a Buckeye.
FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in the history of Big Ten football.
Could a coach at Ohio State go 1-11 and still stay in the fans' good graces as long as the one win was against Michigan? Unless both programs take a ride on the porcelain Tilt-A-Whirl, we'll never know. Can a Buckeye coach go 11-1 (or at least only have one loss) and still find himself in the doghouse because the one loss was against the Wolverines? Ask John Cooper. He did that twice.
Cooper coached the Buckeyes from 1988 to 2000. He replaced Earle Bruce, who had the onerous task of following Woody Hayes. Bruce decamped to the University of Northern Iowa following a 6-4-1 season in 1987. His final game was a 23-20 win over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Bruce had already been fired before the game was played.
Enter Cooper, brought in from Arizona State to turn things around. Which he did. In 1988 his Buckeyes were 4-6-1 and lost to Michigan, 34-31. Things got a little better from there, as Coop made the Buckeyes a consistent eight-win team. That's pretty good in most places other than Columbus. The Michigan thing became a problem, though, as Coop went winless in his first five games against That School Up North. 1993, however, would prove to be a breakthrough season for Cooper.
FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.
Yes, here's another moment you just knew was coming.
Anything I can possibly say about how awful it is that Ohio State lost back-to-back BCS Title Games must, of course, be tempered by the mandatory statement about how unbelievably hard it is to make it to one such game, let alone making it to two in a row. Thus if we're going to hail on the Buckeyes for giving a new layer of meaning to the term "epic fail," we owe them ... well, we owe them 50% of the respect we give to the early-90s Buffalo Bills. Or the same amount of respect we give to Bob Stoops' Oklahoma Sooners, who have the same resume (one title, back-to-back title game losses).
So you can't say the Buckeyes are bad, not even if you're an SEC fan, and you can't say that Jim Tressel isn't a very good coach. You can, however, wonder what went wrong. The answer: Lots. In both 2007 and 2008, the Buckeyes were undone by a combination of bad execution (which was within their control) and an imploding hype machine (which wasn't).
FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in the history of Big Ten football.
With the ten best moments accounted for, it's time to move on to the ten worst. There will be some silly moments on this list, and some moments which can best be described as "stupid," but there's only one moment which qualifies as senseless, and it's the closing moments of the 1978 Gator Bowl.
To set the stage: The Clemson Tigers were facing off against Woody Hayes' Ohio State Buckeyes. Late in the fourth quarter, OSU was trailing, 17-15. Quarterback Art Schlichter had to know the famous axiom attributed to Hayes, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the football, and two of them are bad." But the situation called for a pass, and Schlichter (a true freshman) tossed it where Clemson defender Charlie Bauman could catch it. Which he did. Bauman ran towards the near sideline, knowing that the Tigers just needed to run out the clock to lock up the victory. Unfortunately for Bauman, the near sideline was not his own.
FanHouse is counting down the 10 best, 10 worst, and 10 weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.
As with yesterday's "best moment," here's another accomplishment you'd think somebody would have duplicated at some point. But no. Archie Griffin won the Heisman Trophy in 1974 and 1975. He's the only person (so far) to win it more than once.
It might be difficult to overstate just how good Archie Griffin was. He started for four years, and, not surprisingly, his freshman year was his least productive. He ran for only 1,428 yards that year on 159 attempts.
While Griffin would never again get close to averaging 8.9 yards a carry, that was only because Woody Hayes realized #45 needed to get the ball a lot more often. In 1973 the Buckeyes changed from a T-formation offense to an I-formation, and Griffin carried the ball 100 more times than he had in 1972. He was fifth in the Heisman voting that season.
1974 and 1975 brought more of the same for Griffin and OSU. His numbers were too great for Heisman voters to overlook. Both years he won the award by more than 1,000 points. Those weren't the most lopsided wins in Heisman history but they weren't far from it. Yet, as amazing as it may sound, winning two Heismans might not be Griffin's most unimaginable accomplishment.
Ohio State holds a slim 7-3 lead entering the second half. Given the weather, it's not surprising that neither offense has accomplished that much so far.
In the first half, tOSU outgained Michigan 110-77. The Buckeyes had 60 rushing yards on 28 attempts, led by Chris Wells' 67 yards on 20 carries. Todd Boeckman was 7 for 11 passing in the first half for 50 yards and one interception.
Michigan picked up 30 yards on 13 rush attempts. Mike Hart carried 11 times for 42 yards. Chad Henne was charged with 12 yards in losses on the ground, and he completed just 8 of 19 passes for 47 yards.
The star receivers are largely absent so far. Brian Robiskie has two catches for 21 yards, while Mario Manningham caught four for 26 yards in the first half. Manningham also had two costly drops on a second quarter possession.
K.C. Lopata's 33-yard field goal gave Michigan a 3-0 lead with 1:37 to play in the first quarter. Wells answered with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Buckeyes a 7-3 lead with 10:08 left in the half.
tOSU had ten first downs to Michigan's five, and they have an advantage of roughly 18-12 in time of possession. Michigan will get the ball to start the second half, and we'll break it down after the jump.
The second quarter begins. Michigan put together a nice drive on their second series, capping it with a field goal to take a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter. That is where we stand as the second quarter begins.
ABC's Lisa Salters says tOSU quarterback Todd Boeckman will be wearing gloves now. The rain looks to be coming down steadily, and now both QBs will be wearing gloves. They're not helping Michigan's Chad Henne, as a second-down pass to Mario Manningham was errant and should have been intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins.
Dexter Larrimore sacked Henne on third down, forcing a Michigan punt from their end zone. tOSU will start at the Michigan 44.
Ohio State is taking advantage of the field position, as they've moved it inside the Michigan 20. Make that inside the ten, thanks to a Chris Wells run.
Boeckman ran a quarterback draw on first down. Brent Musberger yelped "Shades of John Elway". No, Brent. More like "Shades of Peyton Manning". Don't insult Elway, who is probably faster than Boeckman even after all these years out of football.
Touchdown, Ohio State. Wells leaned in from two yards out after the Boeckman draw play. 7-3, Ohio State in the second quarter. The Buckeyes drove 44 yards for the score after Michigan was caught in poor field position for a punt.
Jump with us for more on the second quarter of this game in Ann Arbor.
Welcome to a special FanHouse liveblog. We'll be following the game today between Ohio State and Michigan, with the winner going to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
For just the second time ever, both teams enter this one coming off losses. Ohio State dropped a 28-21 decision to Illinois in Columbus last week, while Michigan lost to Wisconsin 37-21.
At this point, we expect that Michigan's Chad Henne and Mike Hart will both shake off injuries (Henne has a shoulder problem, while Hart is battling a high ankle sprain) and play today. Frankly, we wouldn't have it any other way. Even with Henne and Hart playing and fully healthy, it's likely that Ohio State would be favored. With both of them banged up, Michigan is only a bigger underdog.
The game will be carried live on ABC-HD, with Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lisa Salters serving as our announcers. Yes, the former tOSU quarterback is in the booth. No biggie, as Herbstreit has worked tOSU-Michigan games in the past, and he's no better or worse than anyone else would be, even given the perception of bias.
Join us for commentary, analysis, and whatever else after the jump. Of course, waiting until kickoff would be a good idea, too.
Yeah, so I don't know if you've heard about it, but the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes are going to be playing a game of football against each other this Saturday. Apparently, it's a pretty big game. So big, in fact, that Ohio State students aren't even allowed to use the letter "M" when ordering from Donato's pizzeria.
The old dogs may be retired, but Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is keeping them nearby this year. He's given them an office to share within the Ohio State Athletic Department. What will they do? I have no idea but it's a nice gesture and a way to connect with the recent Buckeye past.
This article's author suggests it's also a way to cover for Tressel's perceived shortcomings.
t's obvious, isn't it? Cover your weaknesses with strengths.
Against Florida in the national championship game, Ohio State played like someone spiked its Gatorade with NyQuil. The Buckeyes displayed all the emotion of a Maytag repairman.
So Tress solves the problem by hiring Bruce, the fiery former Ohio State coach who never met a topic he couldn't turn into a motivational testimony...
...Across the room, John Cooper will be watching game film. If Tress is smart, it will be high school game film.
Coop couldn't beat Michigan, but he could beat the pants off most coaches when it came to evaluating and recruiting high school talent. And after the non-top 10 recruiting class that Ohio State coaches just brought in, the Buckeyes could use a guy like Coop to win over future blue chippers.
So you have to hand it to Tress. Problem: motivation. Solution: Bruce. Problem: recruiting. Solution: Coop.
That's a little much, but obviously he's nailed the strengths of both coaches. Tressel's managed quite well on his own winning one championship and playing in another.
That said, Bruce's influence is particularly interesting given his fiery, rambunctious demeanor. As noted in the story, he shares a connection to Florida coach Urban Meyer. He also mentored a young Pete Carroll (1978-1979 at Iowa State). It's not a stretch to say Bruce had a lasting influence on Carroll given Carroll's well documented charisma and energy, meaning Bruce has had a meaningful impact on three of the last four college football championship teams.
When Antonio Henton is an old man, he'll have a lot of memories of his time in Columbus, Ohio as a member of the Ohio State football team. He'll be able to tell his grandchildren about the time he offered that undercover police officer $20 for sex, and about those six passes he got to throw in Ohio Stadium, one of which was for a touchdown.
Ohio State holds a slim 7-3 lead entering the second half. Given the weather, it's not surprising that neither offense has accomplished that much so far.
The second quarter begins. Michigan put together a nice drive on their second series, capping it with a field goal to take a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter. That is where we stand as the second quarter begins.
Welcome to a special FanHouse liveblog. We'll be following the game today between Ohio State and Michigan, with the winner going to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
