Now that I think about it, Auriemma bitching about waiting for a handshake after his team got outtoughed and beaten soundly is, short of looking the other way at child rape, the most Joe Paterno thing ever.

Ummm

Thump said:

Fire McGuff.

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In all seriousness, I don't know what the expectations are for the womens's program versus the men's program or what the resource allocation is relative to elite and other second (on a good day) and third (on a bad day) tier programs. (I'd slot our women's program well below elite but above most programs), and because of that it's hard for me to know what to do with McGuff. On the positive side, they have an identity and a pretty good plan A, recruit pretty well, if perhaps not ideally to what they are trying to do, and win a lot of games. On the negative side, they get bullied by physical teams, typically don't have a great plan B if plan A doesn't work, haven't been able to recruit and develop bigs although I'm hoping Elsa can be the exception (she's on her way IMO but needs to be pushed in the weight room, required to get meaner and rewarded more with the ball if possible) if she doesn't get poached by an elite program.

I think we need: a GM for both the men's program (pending) and the women's program; for the women's program to recruit rangier, stronger girls for the 2-4 slots and the bench if the pressing style is something they plan to stick with; for the strength program to be looked at hard and held accountable (If Elsa gets stronger, especially in her hands, she'll be a monster); for there to be greater urgency to play as hard and as physically as the top teams do; and, frankly, for there to be greater accountability, like benching, for stupid, sloppy play. Honestly, when they don't play stupidly or sloppily, they're clearly just one level below the elite teams even with the physicality issue.

I think McGuff is comfortable, and I don't know how much better he can be if the program is fully supported but he's also made uncomfortable with clear, high expectations. There's definitely significant downside risk to getting rid of him, but I suspect that he doesn't have what it takes to take them to the next level and would love to be wrong.

buckeyemania11 said:

Ohio State wins game 1 10-8 after flirting with blowing a 10-3 lead entering the 8th

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buckeyemania11 said:

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This is fun

MPhillips said:

Kade Brown the first portal kid. Joins his brother at OSU...

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Love it. Really good portal pickups that should be great additions to the squad.

THANK THE LORD! I don't know what I would do without this site and all you knuckleheads. I have been on here since I just survived puberty, to my time as a recruit in HS, through my time at Ohio State and well beyond. When I had my medical issues, I had horrible memory problems and some hallucinations...one of which I thought was that BP may come to an end. I hope that hallucination is now over.

Cheers to many more years of BP, lets see to it.

What ended up being the game winning at bat.

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Christian Alliegro Lining Up Mostly on the Edge This Spring As He Prepares to Play Similar Role to Arvell Reese in Ohio State’s Defense​

Christian Alliegro’s usage in practice through the first half of his first spring as a Buckeye suggests he could be the Arvell Reese of Ohio State’s 2026 defense – at least in terms of the role he’ll play.

Viewed as a presumptive starter at linebacker alongside Payton Pierce since he transferred to Ohio State from Wisconsin in January, Alliegro said he’s lined up primarily as an edge rusher and Sam linebacker in his first seven practices as a Buckeye.

“We've been doing a lot of edge stuff right now, so I'm kind of playing like that Sam position to the field,” Alliegro told reporters in his first interview session as a Buckeye following Ohio State’s seventh practice of the spring on Thursday. “I think next week we'll go more down to like a (four down linemen, two linebacker scheme), but right now we're kind of like a one-backer Sam, so I've been working a lot on the edge right now.”

As one of Ohio State’s top two linebackers last season alongside Sonny Styles, Reese lined up on the edge for just over half of his snaps (327 of 651), according to Pro Football Focus. Now expected to primarily play edge rusher in the NFL as a projected top-five draft pick, Reese was a dynamic force for Ohio State’s defense in his hybrid linebacker/edge role last season, earning consensus All-American honors as he recorded 69 total tackles with 10 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two pass breakups.

Alliegro said Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and linebackers coach James Laurinaitis have talked to him about playing a similar role as Reese since they were recruiting him out of the transfer portal. Alliegro didn’t line up on the edge frequently at Wisconsin, playing just 32 snaps there last season according to PFF, but he believes it’s a role that fits his game well.

“My length, my ability to set the edge, my ability to pass rush in different ways,” Alliegro said when asked why he thinks playing on the edge suits him well.

That said, Patricia has been intentional about having him focus on playing on the edge first before taking on other roles, recognizing that Alliegro is still acclimating to playing in Ohio State’s defense.

“If they're just getting into the program where maybe they're an older player and things are going to go fast, what you try to really do is like, ‘Hey, let me just teach you this one thing first. Let me see how you handle that. Let you get a little bit of confidence with that first.’ Then ‘Let me teach you this next thing,’ and then you build it that way,” Patricia said last week when asked about Alliegro. “I think if you throw all of it at them at once, sometimes you're kind of like just doing a bunch of different things, but you're not real confident in one thing. I think the key is to get them confident in one thing first, so they know that like, ‘Hey, I know I can do this.’ And then build from there. And certainly the linebacker position, you have to do that because there is so much that kind of goes on there.”
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Better Know a Buckeye: Blaine Bradford’s Do-It-All Ability At Safety Could Allow Him to Become a Swiss Army Knife for Ohio State’s Defense​

Scouting Report​

With quickness and speed to make plays in an opponent's backfield and the range and versatility to defend the secondary as a safety, Bradford can truly do it all while spearheading the defensive backfield.

While he is at his best going downhill, the 6-1, 209-pound safety has the awareness to be a big-time playmaker wherever he is on the field. With already elite size, Bradford could line up wherever Matt Patricia feels he could utilize him on any given play, whether it's at either deep safety position or in the box.

His combination of quickness and his powerful, truck-stick ability makes him an intimidating defender in the secondary. Bradford can both shed blocks near the line of scrimmage and make tackles in space when needed.

Depth Chart Outlook​

The top four safeties on Ohio State’s depth chart in 2026 are expected to be Jaylen McClain, Earl Little Jr., Terry Moore and Leroy Roker III, with Moore and Roker competing for a starting spot alongside McClain and Little. That said, Bradford has the skill set, star power and size to make a name for himself immediately and be McClain's backup at strong safety.

Even with four players likely ahead of him on the depth chart in his first season as a Buckeye, Bradford could still see some playing time and be a playmaker on special teams as a freshman, setting him up for a chance to compete for a starting job as a sophomore.

Past the Days of Visualizing It On a Scooter, Payton Pierce is Ready to Live Lifelong Dream As Ohio State’s Mike Linebacker in 2026​

Pierce is the heir apparent at Mike linebacker for Ohio State. He’s gone from childhood dreamer to star at Lovejoy High School to scooter to a highly effective role player to now being the focal point of the Buckeyes’ second-level defenders for a unit replacing two soon-to-be first-round NFL draft picks in Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese.

“You saw it with Payton when you recruited him,” linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said. “You knew what he was about. Tough, instinctual. I actually started recruiting him when I was at Notre Dame. That's when I had awareness of Payton, and we actually had him come up to South Bend. And then I took the job, came back home, and it was one of the first phone calls I made was just trying to get them on campus.

“And the reason being was you knew how instinctual and tough he was, and he was a throwback Mike linebacker. And the thing that's great about Peyton is he's so competitive – and he's a perfectionist and all those things as you should be as a Mike – he's been trying to nip at the heels over and over. And honestly, I think he has pushed the guys in front of him because of how hard he practices. He earned the respect of everybody right away freshman year with how physical he was in the box, and now it's fun to kind of see him find his voice even more.”

Pierce produced as Ohio State’s third linebacker in 2025. Rotating in behind Reese and Styles, he collected 43 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss in just 262 snaps. That’s one tackle every 6.1 snaps, the highest rate of any contributor to last year’s Silver Bullets. He made big plays in a few big moments, too, grabbing an interception in the Buckeyes’ win at Illinois and forcing a fumble in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against Miami to stop a long Hurricane drive.

“I feel like I was able to have a lot of production for the limited amount of snaps I had,” Pierce said. “I don't remember exactly how many tackles per play I had, but I feel like I did a good job. Obviously, there's a lot of plays I wish I could redo and do it again, but I feel like I had some good amount of production and I was seeing things pretty well out there for – it's hard running out there for a play, then having to run off for three and then come back out there, not really getting a groove. But our coaches do a great job. And Laurinaitis does a great job of making everything real simple for all the linebackers so we can play fast.”

The Mike linebacker in Ohio State’s defense also wears the green dot for in-helmet communication with coaches, relaying important calls and information to the rest of the defense. It’s one of many ways Pierce will have to embrace new leadership responsibilities in his third year of college football.

Pierce does feel he’s a natural leader, however. That’s part of the “throwback” middle linebacker style Laurinaitis spoke to, and probably something that reminds the two-time Butkus Award winner of himself when he was at Ohio State.

“I've gotten to step up a lot more, be more vocal,” Pierce said. “I mean, I've considered myself a leader since I was really young. I was a two-time captain on my high school team. And I felt like there was opportunities, even in my freshman year, I could lead the freshman guys and stuff like that. So I feel like I've done a good job of leading up until now. Obviously, my leadership role has stepped up even more with the whole team. And I've learned from the best, Sonny and Cody (Simon) and Arvell.”

Laurinaitis agreed that Pierce has always been a natural leader, but there are still elements of communication to work on through the levels of the defense.

“Payton's always had the loud voice to get guys lined up and all those things,” Laurinaitis said. “Now, the next step that I'd like to see is that Payton is getting his teammates aligned, and he's demanding calls from the back end. I think our communication is going really well so far with our group, but you just continue to push the envelope. The last thing you want as players is to get comfortable in the sense of thinking that they've arrived. None of our guys do.”
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Looking forward to pictures of the alien base on the dark side of the moon;-)

ScriptOhio said:

Ref: Currently Dusty May is getting approx. $5M a year at scUM and Tommy Lloyd is getting approx. $5.5M at Arizona. Compare that to Bill Self making $8.8M at Kansas and John Calipari making $8M at Arkansas. And in case you wondered Billy Donovan is making $10M a year with the Bulls and he doesn't have to worry about recruiting, the transfer portal, and NIL money.

Just sayin': Regardless who UNC chooses both Dusty May and Tommy Lloyd will come out financial winners. UNC is probably going to have to pay their new coach the "going rate" for a top tier basketball program which will be in excess of $8M. Even if May or Lloyd don't get the UNC offer; they will have leveraged their current school for something real close.

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Tommy Lloyd agrees to new 5-year deal with Arizona​

Coach Tommy Lloyd has agreed to a new deal with Arizona, he announced Friday.

"I'm staying at Arizona," he said at a Friday news conference.

Per ESPN sources, Arizona's new deal with Lloyd will make him one of the five highest-paid coaches in college basketball, as he'll start in 2026-27 at nearly $7.2 million and will average $7.5 million over the life of the deal.

The deal also includes significant bonuses and additional commitment to staff salary pool. The buyout is expected to remain significant both ways, as the deal is fully guaranteed, and the buyout to leave for another job, which was $9 million under the old deal, is expected to remain high.

Just sayin':



and just like that, Lloyd is not longer a candidate for the UNC position.

calibuck said:

So, am I to assume that a '5*' has transferred to tOSU? Or am I a victim (once more) of 'click-bait'?

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Anthony Thompson is an incoming 5* but he is coming from high school. There are no other 5* players projected on the roster as of now.