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LGHL Ohio State women’s volleyball set to make history Sunday

Ohio State women’s volleyball set to make history Sunday
ThomasCostello
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


osuwvb.0.jpg

The Ohio State University Athletic Department

When the Buckeyes hit the floor this weekend against Michigan, it’ll be in front of the largest home crowd in program history.

The Schottenstein Center is the home of Ohio State women’s basketball, men’s basketball, men’s hockey, concerts, monster truck events, and anything your mind can imagine. Until Sunday, that didn’t include Ohio State women’s volleyball.

Sunday, when bitter rivals from Michigan head to town, it’ll be in front of the largest supporting crowd in program history when the Buckeyes play its first volleyball match in the Schottenstein Center. That record also has the potential to be completely shattered.

Since announcing the game on Oct. 8, Ohio State has 7,000 tickets confirmed. That already breaks the 5,402 in attendance against Purdue on Nov. 15, 1991, when the two sides played at St. John Arena.

To usher in history are a slate of giveaways, meet-and-greets, and more.

Fans are asked to wear scarlet for a Scarlet Out of the Maize and Blue. If you don’t have scarlet when you walk in, you’ll have something when you walk out with a scarlet towel giveaway for fans in attendance.

For students, they’ll also receive a shirt featuring the face of volleyball head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg, the former Buckeye star turned coach in January of 2020.

In terms of stadium experience, there will be a live anthem singer on top of pyrotechnics for player introductions. A similar experience to the men’s basketball team introductions, who will also be in attendance.

Also in the building on Sunday will be members of the 1994 women’s volleyball team that won the Big Ten championship on its way to the NCAA Final Four.

If that’s not enough, fans can meet the volleyball team after the match, complete with opportunities for autographs and pictures.

Tickets for the event start at $10 for the upper deck 300 level, and the ends of the 200 level. Lower deck corners start at $16 for individual tickets and sidelines go for $41. All Ohio State students get in free with their Buck-ID.

Playing at a larger arena is the first step in what’s a surge of support for women’s volleyball over the past few years. Even the famed St. John Arena couldn’t hold the excitement that surrounds the sport,

With the rapid growth of fandom in women’s sports in general, playing in front of a crowd double the size of the volleyball team’s current record isn’t out of the question.

The 2023 NCAA final between Texas and Nebraska, in Tampa, Florida, had 19,727 people in attendance. That’s a small crowd for the Cornhuskers too, after playing in front of a world record crowd for any women’s sports event with 92,003 in attendance at Memorial Stadium on Aug 30, 2023.

While the world record won’t be within reach in an arena that doesn’t hold more than 19,000 people, a program record is a big start.

On the court, Ohio State’s struggled of late. After making the Sweet Sixteen two years in a row, and a trip to the Elite Eight in 2022, the Buckeyes missed NCAA Tournament play last season with a 10-14 record (7-8 in Big Ten play).

So far this year, the Scarlet and Gray sits at 7-7, with no wins in conference play in four attempts but are keeping matches close. Only once this season has Ohio State failed to win a set against an opponent.

On Sunday, against the Indiana Hoosiers, the Buckeyes lost 1-3, but two of the sets ended with Ohio State within three points.

Ohio State lost its lone matchup against the Wolverines in 2023 but beat Michigan twice during the 2022 season.

Sunday will be the second time a women’s team broke an attendance record in the Schottenstein Center in 2024. On Jan 21, 2024, the Buckeyes women’s basketball team beat the Iowa Hawkeyes in front of 18,660 people.

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LGHL You’re Nuts: Which upset from college football on Saturday was your favorite?

You’re Nuts: Which upset from college football on Saturday was your favorite?
Brett Ludwiczak
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Michigan v Washington

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.

On Saturday, Ohio State never trailed Iowa, beating the Hawkeyes 35-7 in Columbus. A number of other ranked teams around the country weren’t as successful on the first Saturday in October. Top 10 SEC teams Alabama, Tennessee, and Missouri lost, while the Big Ten saw Michigan and USC fall. Had it not been for a comeback while most of the country was sleeping, Miami would have been knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten by Cal.

Unlike past years when Alabama’s loss to Vanderbilt would have knocked them out of the playoff, it is not quite the death sentence that it used to be. With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, one loss doesn’t totally eliminate a team from playoff contention, it definitely reduces the margin for error. Really the only thing to come out of Vanderbilt’s upset win will be a few days of funny jokes and an entertaining version of the Paul Finebaum Show on Monday. At least as Buckeye fans, we can thoroughly enjoy these things since Ohio State is still undefeated on the season.

With so many upsets that we saw on Saturday, we want to know which one was your favorite. There certainly will be two that will be at the top of the list, but maybe there is one that registers more for a certain reason. Who knows, somebody might really hate Missouri after the Tigers beat down Ohio State’s JV squad in the Cotton Bowl in December. There is no wrong answer to this one since other fanbases revel in the pain of Buckeye Nation, so it’s time for us to do the same.

Today’s question: Which upset from college football on Saturday was your favorite?

We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.


Brett’s answer: Michigan’s loss at Washington


Even though this was an NBC primetime game, it felt like not many people remembered this was a rematch of January’s title game since pretty much everyone important from both teams is now elsewhere. Jim Harbaugh is coaching the Los Angeles Chargers, Kalen DeBoer is at Alabama losing to Vanderbilt, and so on. Even Connor Stalions is probably back selling vacuums and figuring out how he can cheat while coaching high school football. About the only people from the title game who were in Washington were Sherrone Moore and Donovan Edwards, who is down bad now with the video game cover jinx.

I know a lot of people want Michigan at its best when they play Ohio State. I’m not one of those people after the last three years. I will laugh at every loss the Wolverines suffer this year even though I know their fans won’t care since they won their title, no matter what cost it came at. Thankfully Washington did their part to try and keep the Wolverines from going back-to-back. In all honesty, having Davis Warren and Alex Orji as your quarterbacks pretty much guarantees Michigan isn’t going to win a title this year, but who knows what could happen if the Wolverines were to make the playoff. Now Michigan has two losses on the season and still has to play Oregon and Ohio State. This feels like a season where the Wolverines lose at least four games.

I also enjoyed this upset because Washington is a fun team to root for. Maybe that’s just because I’ve switched into hate-Oregon mode with the Buckeyes and Ducks squaring off this week. Really though, Husky Stadium looks like a great place to take in a game and I really hope Washington finds success in the Big Ten. Hopefully, there is as much hype around Ohio State heading out to Seattle whenever they are scheduled to play in conference as there is for this week’s game in Eugene. The Big Ten needs Washington to be more like Oregon and less like the recent doormat additions like Maryland, Rutgers (although not this year!), and UCLA.


Matt’s answer: Alabama’s loss to Vanderbilt


Yes, anytime that Michigan loses, especially as a favorite, that is funny and makes my heart happy. But come on, even my distaste for wolverine meat can’t overcome the absolute, unmitigated hilarity of the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide losing to the Vanderbilt Commodores for the first time in 40 years. Between 1985 and 2023, the Tide was on a 23-game winning streak against the Dores, one of the perennially worst teams in the Power 4 conferences. And yet, Vandy out-toughed the formerly top-ranked team to secure a 40-35 victory.

However, it’s not like this has been a historically great season for Vanderbilt. They lost to Georgia State just two games before beating Bama. So the fact that the Tide had to come back just to make this a one-score game is awesome, in my eyes.

But what makes it even better is how the entire college football intelligencia wet itself making Bama the No. 1 team in the country, despite blowing a 30-7 halftime lead. they only won that game because a true freshman made a freaky play and two defenders decided that they were too cool to tackle. Otherwise, Alabama would have suffered a different historically hilarious loss the week before.

One of the reasons that we all love college football is because of the chaos that it creates on a weekly basis. And those try-hards who want to tell you that the expanded College Football Playoff makes the regular season mean less are absolute idiots. Do both UGA and Bama have a shot to make the CFP despite both suffering losses? Yep. Does that make either of those games less entertaining to watch? Not unless you are trying to undermine your own entertainment.

But regardless of what it does or doesn’t mean to Alabama’s SEC or CFP chances, there is no way that you can call yourself a college football fan and utter a single word of criticism for Vandy’s upset. If you do, then you are just looking for reasons to be a contrarian, and it’s obnoxious. Stop it!

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LGHL What will be the biggest factor in Ohio State beating Oregon on Saturday?

What will be the biggest factor in Ohio State beating Oregon on Saturday?
Matt Tamanini
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


2015 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T


You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.

Throughout the
Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.



Before the season started, this Saturday was circled on the calendar of every Buckeye and college football fan, because we knew that it would be a battle between not only Big Ten title contenders but national championship contenders, as well. Now, six weeks into the season, the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes will travel across the country to take on the No. 3 Oregon Ducks in a primetime matchup at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.

As we look forward to this weekend’s marquee matchup, we wanted to take the pulse of Buckeye Nation to see where your collective heads are when it comes to the game. So, in our weekly fan survey, we have a couple of questions to see how you are feeling about OSU’s chances in Eugene on Saturday night.

So, check out the questions below and head down to the bottom of the article to make sure that your voice is heard. If you want to add any context to your response, or throw in an option that isn’t available, feel free to do so in the comments at the bottom of the page.


Question 1: What will be the biggest factor in Ohio State beating Oregon on Saturday?


I know that there are a number of Buckeye fans who have found faults along the way in Ryan Day’s team, but for the most part, I have been thoroughly impressed with the team so far this season. However, I know that they are not infallible and that Saturday night’s game is going to present a significant challenge.

From allowing opponents to convert way too many third downs to a developing bad habit of turning the ball over on offense, there are issues that still need to be resolved in order for the Buckeyes to reach their full potential. However, I’m still not convinced that any of them are tragic flaws that will cause OSU to lose this — or any — game on their own.

I usually hesitate to share my answer to these questions before the results come out because I don’t want to influence the respondents, but I think that the linebacker play will be the most important factor in the Oregon game.

Because of how many weapons the Ducks have on offense and the fact that quarterback Dillon Gabriel is a threat to run, the LBs need to play fundamentally sound football and not get caught up in any motion or misdirection pulling them out of position. Sonny Styles played a really good game against a much different Iowa offense, but if the Ducks pick on the first-time linebacker and exploit his lack of experience at the position and over-eagerness to make an athletic play, that could prove to be devastating for OSU.


Question 2: What will the margin of victory be in Saturday’s game against Oregon?


When FanDuel released its opening line, the Buckeyes were 3.5-point road favorites. The gold-standard college football analytics model SP+ projects OSU to go into Autzen Stadium and win 29-26.

All of the metrics point to it being a close game, but honestly... I don’t think it will be that close. Don’t get me wrong, when I make my official prediction on Saturday, I’m not calling on OSU to hang 100 on ‘em, but I guarantee that I won’t be picking a three-point victory either. What are you going with?


Share your thoughts here:


Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

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LGHL Hangout in the Holy Land: It is officially Oregon week, and we are deep-diving into the matchup

Hangout in the Holy Land: It is officially Oregon week, and we are deep-diving into the matchup
justingolba
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We give a full preview of Oregon, including keys to victory and breakout players.

The latest episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s flagship podcast is here! Join LGHL’s Josh Dooley and Justin Golba as they discuss Ohio State football, basketball, recruiting, and much more! Come for the hot takes. Stay for the warm ones.



Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio



We are back with another mid-week preview for Hangout in the Holy Land, and it is officially Oregon week! This was the game that everyone circled when the season started, and now it is on the doorstep.

To start the episode, we preview the national slate, which looked like an all-time day before the season started and now has lost some of its luste with some teams losing recently. However, it is still a great Saturday for football.

Then, we jump into our deep-dive Oregon preview. We talk about both sides of the ball, the Ducks' strengths and weaknesses, playing in Autzen Stadium, and our player and game predictions.

Make sure to like and subscribe to the podcast. As always, Go Bucks!



Connect with the pod:

Twitter:
@HolyLandPod

Connect with Josh Dooley:

Twitter:
@jdooleybuckeye

Connect with Justin Golba:

Twitter:
@justin_golba

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