By Garry Smits (Jacksonville.com) --As it turns out, an Ohio State coach will once again guide the Buckeyes in his final game in Jacksonville. But interim coach Luke Fickell won’t be leaving under the same circumstances that marked the end of Woody Hayes’ career when a punch he threw at Clemson linebacker Charlie Baumann late in the 1978 Gator Bowl resulted in Hayes’ firing the next day. “We’re going to write a new history of Ohio State in the Gator Bowl,” ... Read More

By: Pat McManamon (FOXSportsOhio.com) --  A wise man once explained that while poverty is an injustice, the NCAA is simply inexplicable. It wasn’t Confucius who said it, but it was Confucian in its simple logic. Because the NCAA makes a habit of baffling, incoherent, near-absurd rulings, and it makes them with all the pomposity of a British know-it-all traipsing through Australia in the penal colony days. It’s even easy to imagine NCAA suits making the decisions with the same Derby ... Read More

By Terry Pluto (Cleveland.com) -- If you are an Ohio State fan, you should be angry today -- not at the NCAA, but at athletic director Gene Smith and the school's athletic administration. The NCAA finally issued its penalties for eight players taking thousands of dollars worth of tattoos and cash along with former coach Jim Tressel misleading the NCAA about using ineligible players. The mortal sin belonged to Tressel, who failed to report the NCAA violations to his ... Read More

By Brian Bennett  (ESPN.com) -- Big changes are coming to Ohio State football. But for now, the players are trying to focus on just one thing: playing another game. The Buckeyes are in the midst of bowl practices for the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl matchup against Florida. They're working under the coaching staff that led them this season, while knowing that Urban Meyer will be taking over after the bowl game. Meyer has been concentrating on recruiting, so the ... Read More

By: AP via newsok.com --  WASHINGTON — Proponents of a college football playoff are launching a new national campaign aimed at taking down the BCS. The "We Want a Playoff Now" campaign was introduced Thursday on Capitol Hill. It includes the lobbying firm The Moffett Group, headed up by former Rep. Toby Moffett, D-Conn., and the communications firm, New Partners. Along with that effort, two congressmen are forming the Congressional Collegiate Sports Caucus. The congressmen, Texas Republican Joe Barton and Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, ... Read More

From: TheLedger.com --  GAINESVILLE | Other than the much-anticipated (and debated) SEC rematch in college football's national championship game in New Orleans, the Gator Bowl has perhaps the most intriguing story line of the bowl season. Ohio State vs. Florida. Coach Urban Meyer's future team against his former team in a rematch of the 2006 BCS Championship Game. Because of the Meyer factor, this game will generate a great deal of national attention between now and the Jan. 2 game ... Read More

By: Roger Groves (Forbes.com) -- Your name is Urban Meyer. You are only 47 years old and already more successful as a big-time college coach than 99% of college coaches will ever be. You have won two national championships at Florida, twice as many as most coaches. You have one of the best records over a decade of coaching, with 104 wins (because of you), 23 losses (because of the players). You have never lost on the ... Read More

From: OrlandoSentinel.com --Florida seemed most likely to end up in the Gator Bowl despite the outcome of Saturday’s game vs. FSU. But after the loss, the Gators seem like a virtual lock to go to Jacksonville. Tennessee was the only other team on the board from the SEC that would have been attractive to the selection committee. But the Vols lost to Kentucky on Saturday, ending a 26-game win streak, and did not qualify for a bowl. That leaves Vanderbilt ... Read More

By: Thomas Hanlon (BleacherReport.com) --Today, the Ohio State Buckeyes' six-game winning streak against the rival Michigan Wolverines came to an end with a 40-34 loss in the Big House. This loss dropped the Buckeyes to a record of 6-6, the six wins being enough to make them eligible for a bowl game if they were to choose to accept a bid to one. And in my honest opinion, they should turn down any bowl bid that they receive. They ... Read More

By Mark Schlabach (ESPN.com) --ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It took Michigan 2,926 days to beat Ohio State again. The Buckeyes might not wait a week to try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Former Buckeyes running back Eddie George, one of the school's six Heisman Trophy winners, said Saturday that he believes former Florida coach Urban Meyer will be introduced as Ohio State's coach sometime early next week. George said he also thought Luke Fickell, who was named the ... Read More