Podcast: Ryan Day’s next task is getting Ohio State back on Alabama and Clemson’s level.
Colton Denning via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Getting back on Alabama and Clemson’s level means making some choices that Urban Meyer wouldn’t.

Ryan Day’s impressive start as Ohio State’s Head Coach went to the next level on Friday, as the Buckeyes officially added former Georgia (and class of 2018 five-star prospect) quarterback Justin Fields to the roster. The move sets up a smooth transition from the likely departure of Dwayne Haskins, but Day’s work on getting Ohio State back to the College Football Playoff — and where Alabama and Clemson will be on Monday — is still to come.


On this episode of the Hangout in the Holy Land, Patrick Mayhorn and I discuss what Fields brings to the table (a lot), and go in-depth on the decisions Day needs to make — namely on the coaching staff — that Urban Meyer wouldn’t to get the Buckeyes back to the playoff, and in the conversation with the Tide and Tigers.

Show notes


3:32- Fields is a massive get for Day. How much of a QB competition is this really going to be?

7:50- Fields brings a dynamic element that’s going to make the offense much more vertical.

13:20- Ohio State’s QB lineage the past 20 years is sick.

15:15- It’s hard to blame Alex Grinch for jumping to OU, but what’s next for Ohio State’s defense?

19:57- Michael Jordan declaring for the NFL Draft leaves the offensive line with some tenuous depth.

24:51- But Jordan Fuller returning for his senior season is just as big for the secondary.

27:30- Why Colton thinks Ryan Day’s first season is going to be defined by whether he makes some decisions that Urban Meyer was unwilling to make, with shoutout to Ari Wasserman’s article about the ruthlessness of bringing Fields in. (Subscription required, but highly recommended)

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No. 14 Ohio State men’s basketball comes up short against No. 8 Michigan State, 86-77
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


The Buckeyes drop their first Big Ten game of the season.

After leading by as many as nine, the No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2, 2-1) could not hang on as they fell 86-77 to the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans (13-2, 4-0). A back-and-forth game from start to finish, the Spartans were able to escape with a victory on the Buckeyes’ home floor.

Kaleb Wesson had a monster performance in the loss, dropping 25 points in what was a Big Ten career-high for the sophomore. He shot 9-of-15 from the floor and added 8 rebounds, but fouled out late in the second period as the Buckeyes tried to battle back.

The Spartans were lead by Nick Ward and Cassius Winston, who scored 21 and 25, respectively. Ward also added seven rebounds, while Winston added a team-high five assists. 18 of Winston’s 25 points came in the second half as MSU shot over 54 percent from the floor as a team.

Ohio State’s defense let them down big time in the second half, allowing the Spartans to shoot over 76 percent from the floor in the period. As a result, the Bucks got outscored 50-34 in the half after outscoring MSU 43-36 in the first.

The defeat gave the Buckeyes their first Big Ten loss of the season, now sitting at 2-1. They will continue to play conference opponents the remainder of the season, their next game coming against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Wednesday, Jan. 9. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.


Ohio State won the tip as things got under way at Value City Arena. It took a while for anyone to get the lid off the basket, but when they did it was Nick Ward with an and-one layup at the 17:30 mark to open up the scoring for the Spartans.

The Buckeyes answered on the other end with an alley top layup from C.J. Jackson to Kyle Young. After a Cassius Winston three-ball, Jackson followed with a three of his own. The teams traded a few empty possessions before Matt McQuaid hit a triple. Kaleb Wesson responded with a layup as Michigan State held a 8-7 lead at the first media timeout.


Ward knocked down two free throws out of the timeout, and Kaleb Wesson again answered with a layup as the two teams battled back and forth. After a nifty spin move from McQuaid gave Sparty another inside basket, Jackson nailed a three to put OSU back within two. A backdoor layup from Young on the ensuing possession had the game all tied up at 16 heading into the second media timeout.

Both teams went cold for a stretch before Ward and Jackson matched interior buckets. McQuaid knocked down another three to put Sparty back on top with 8:22 remaining in the first period. Luther Muhammad hit a pair of free throws before another Ward layup had MSU up three just out of the third media timeout.

Kaleb Wesson would hit a layup and Jackson got a steal and a fast break score that put the Buckeyes back on top at the 6:40 mark. Winston got a floater to go on the other end as the two teams traded leads late in the first period. After Wesson and Ward each got close range shots to fall, Ward hit a pair of free throws to put Sparty back up 29-26 with 4:24 to go.

Kaleb and Andre Wesson each nailed a pair of free throws to put OSU back on top by one. An and-one layup from Kaleb Wesson followed by a three-pointer by Duane Washington Jr. put Ohio State up 38-31 with 1:41 remaining in the period as the team found themselves on a 10-0 run.


Kyle Ahrens got MSU back on the board with a deep ball, but Wesson matched it with a three on the other end as the Buckeyes would head into halftime holding a 43-36 lead. OSU hit four of their last four shots to close out the period strong.

Kaleb Wesson had an absolutely dominant opening period, scoring a game-high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds. Jackson added 10 of his own with six boards and five assists despite some questionable shooting decisions. The Buckeyes went 9-of-9 from the charity stripe. Most impressively, they had just one turnover in the half.

Wesson opened the second half scoring with a pair of free throws as Ohio State extended their lead. Ward hit two free throws and McQuaid got a basket inside before Andre Wesson answered with a three-ball in the corner. Winston hit another layup as the Buckeyes led 48-42 with 17:44 remaining.

The Spartans started to heat up a bit, and after free throws from McQuaid and yet another layup from Winston the Buckeyes lead was cut to just 50-46 going into the first media timeout of the second half. Winston would score again out of the timeout, and the OSU lead was cut to two on MSU’s 6-0 run.

Michigan State regained the lead on a three-ball from Aaron Henry, but the Buckeyes got it back on a bank shot from Muhammad. Washington Jr. knocked down a jumper to give OSU a three-point cushion with 14:20 remaining.


Winston continued to give the Buckeyes fits as another inside basket tied the game up at 55 apiece. After Kaleb Wesson got a layup to go, a three from Winston would give Sparty their first lead since the opening period. The lead would change hands on the other end as Wesson would score his fifth straight point, OSU clinging to a 59-58 lead with 11:13 to go.

The Ohio State defense began to crumble a bit, as an open dunk for Ahrens and Winston getting two more at the line had Michigan State up three. Things went from bad to worse as Kaleb Wesson picked up his fourth foul with over nine minutes remaining in the game. Two free throws from Xavier Tillman had MSU up 64-59.

Washington Jr. put a stop to the run with a clutch three-ball as the Buckeyes looked to get back into the swing of things. After a jump ball on Sparty’s next possession, a layup from Andre Wesson had things all tied up again at 64 apiece with 7:41 remaining.

After McQuaid free throws put MSU on top, a flashy put-back dunk by Kyle Young got the crowd into it. However, Ward would convert an and-one layup at the other end to give the Spartans a three-point lead. Andre Wesson answered with a three-pointer, and the game was all tied up with under six minutes to go.


The two teams continued to battle back and forth, with Michigan State taking a three-point lead on a layup by Kenny Goins with 3:32 remaining. After an offensive board and score inside by McQuaid, Ohio State trailed 77-72 as the game began to slip away.

After Kaleb Wesson fouled out with around two minutes to go, the Buckeyes went cold on offense. Unable to get anything to go on that end of the floor, the Spartans pulled away to win 86-77.

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Power Rankings: No change to top 3 on Jon Crispin’s list
Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor via Big Ten Network

The return of Big Ten play saw three teams suffer their first conference defeat. That leaves two unbeatens: Michigan and Michigan State, both 4-0. Get Jon Crispin's latest Big Ten Power Rankings, presented by ArcelorMittal, inside.

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OhioState001 said:

I don't know how a physical center can only finish with 2 fouls in the Big Ten but somehow Nick Ward did that.

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Very easy to do when Tom Izzo is the coach of the team..

OL coach Detroit lions

I am a Buckeye fan, and Ohio State lost a game this year. One game. They are the third best team in the country for this season, as the polls will probably confirm later this week. But that's not important, not really.

We all remember Tyler Trent, the guy, the ultimate Boilermaker fan, who was dying of cancer. The Purdue football team, before the Boilermaker vs Buckeye game, promised Tyler the game ball. When that was announced, it seemed awkward, as the game ball is awarded by the winning team to the person they choose. They hadn't played the game yet, and with their own mediocre record, and with Ohio State's solid record, it seemed highly unlikely Purdue would be awarding the game ball to anyone.

So not only did the Purdue Boilermakers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, they beat them bad. Mr. Tyler Trent got the game ball, the impossible game ball. Through the rest of the season I thought about that game, and those moments, and how important it was for that young man.

Tyler Trent, as the season went on, he was named honorary team captain for the Old Oaken Bucket game, he received the Sagamore of the Wabash (the highest honor for Indiana civilians.) Mr. Trent received Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award, given to college football's most inspirational individual or team.

There are dozens, if not hundreds of people, of writers, who know a lot more about Tyler Trent than me. You should read up about him. He accomplished more in this last year, much of which was bedridden, than most of us will do in our 70-80-90 year lifetimes.

On New Year's Day Ohio State played in and won the Rose Bowl. But that's not important, not really. Not on that day. What mattered more on that day is that Mr. Tyler Trent died. He lost his battle with cancer as he knew, as we all knew, he soon would.

I am a Buckeye fan, and Ohio State lost a game this year. One game. It was the best, the most eye-opening loss I've ever seen.

ORD_Buckeye said:

There was no fear in this dojo

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That's really funny

charlohiottean said:

He knows. What part of a Michigan Man’s world isn’t directed by an Ohio native?

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/micdrop

Oh8ch said:

Post on the UM board suggesting they hire Rick Steves as OC. That way he could at least make travel arrangements for the spring trips.

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BayBuck said:

View attachment 20074

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Who doesnt like a good but of backdoor action?
We've had an open invitation to theirs for the better part of 2 decades.

I plan my gym days to not be there when there is a class or heavy use. I can get every other day covered like this.

Had a blast at the game. Courtside seats behind the High Point bench. I got to hang out with Brandon and catch up after the game. He's a 20 year old junior (not a senior as the PA announcer stated) and will be graduating in May. He's going to use the extra year of school to get his masters while he plays one last year of basketball. He and kids like him are why I gave up so much of my personnal and family time from April to August every year. A fantastic kid from a fantastic family who otherwise couldn't have afforded to send him to college. Now he'll walk out of college with a masters degree in finance and no debt.

For how long have you been wondering this for?

Thought Teague looked good in his limited reps.

I was happy for 10 minutes when Wisky and Minny won their bowls, and would rather have a B1G winning record than a losing record in bowls. That's about it. I sure as fuck wouldn't go on an SEC team's website and run my mouth about it. That's ludicrous. But it seems to be a thing with Tennecheat fans. Wasn't Trey a Vol?

Edit to add: I wouldn't even conceive of going on a Washington board to crow about OSU's victory. THAT'S being a dick.

Damn, reference locker

Marc Loving (6’8”-F-94) plays for Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario in the NBA G League

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/probucks-update-dec-2018/

Dallas Lauderdale (6’7”-F-88) plays for Maine Red Claws in the NBA G League


https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/probucks-update-dec-2018/

Kam Williams (6’2”-G-94) plays for Sayago in Uruguayan LUB


https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/probucks-update-dec-2018/

Daequan Cook (6’5”-G/F-87) plays for Ironi Hai Motors Nes-Ziona in Israeli Winner League


https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/probucks-update-dec-2018/

Lenzelle Smith Jr. (6’4”-G-91) plays for Hapoel Eilat in Israeli Winner League


https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/probucks-update-dec-2018/

Zisis Sarikopoulos (7’0”-C-90, graduated ’10, currently in Belarus), who plays in Belarus was not able to secure a victory for Tsmoki-Minsk (2-8) in their last game. Despite Sarikopoulos’ very good performance Tsmoki-Minsk was badly defeated 88-69 in Kazan by the much higher-ranked (#3) Unics. He had a double-double by scoring 15 points and getting 11 rebounds. Sarikopoulos also added 3 blocks in 30 minutes. This year Sarikopoulos averages 9.0ppg, 6.3rpg, 1.3apg and 1.1bpg in 10 games.

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/probucks-update-dec-2018/

BB73 said:

This contest was never awarded. Looks like these are the top 3:

37.0 - AuTX Buckeye, hitting 5 of 6 (I'll contact you soon about your vCash prize)
33.5 - HineyBuck
28.5 - gracelhink

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LOL... i didn’t realize i won it twice...

Looks like this contest was never awarded. Looks like the Top 4 are:

19.0 - osugrad21
13.5 - BUCKYLE
13.5 - Drubuck
13.5 - HineyBuck

Maybe Shaka will go to Westwood. He's got experience massively disappointing fan bases already, so he's prepared for the inevitable.

Big Ten features 84 players on 2018 NFL playoff teams
Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor via Big Ten Network

The NFL playoffs are set, and former Big Ten standouts are all over the rosters. There's 84 in all (not including Maryland, Nebraska and Rutgers players who were in school before entering B1G), paced by an even dozen for both Dallas and New Orleans.

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Yes please.