By Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Updates from Ohio State's Gator Bowl preparation in Jacksonville, Fla. * There's some hope for the OSU offense to come together for this game and build off what was a better offensive performance against Michigan in the last regular-season game of the year. Asked if the Buckeyes would put two quarterbacks on the field together at the same time, as they did in the Fiesta Bowl during Terrelle ... Read More

By Garry Smits (Jacksonville.com) -- Urban Meyer has coached some fine college quarterbacks and two of them are currently starting for playoff-bound NFL teams. He’s already comparing Ohio State freshman Braxton Miller to the likes of Alex Smith, Chris Leak and Tim Tebow, quarterbacks who led Meyer’s teams at Utah and Florida to BCS bowl victories and in the case of Leak and Tebow, two national championships. “I’m putting a lot of pressure on [Miller] already but he’s special,” Meyer ... Read More

By: Chad Hobbs (Examiner.com) -- To go along with a terrible economy and unemployment rates, fans of Ohio sports pretty much would like to forget 2011. From a sports perspective, with the exception of the Columbus Clippers, there wasn't a whole lot to cheer about. However, when it is all said and done, the majority of Ohio sports fans will see light at the end of the tunnel. It all started at the tail end of 2010 and snowballed ... Read More

By: Bob Fisher (MansfieldNewsJournal.com) -- To say we Michigan fans are enjoying the current problems at Ohio State would be an understatement. Some OSU fans are surprised the Buckeyes got hit with a one-year bowl ban among other sanctions. Michigan fans are surprised it wasn't longer. The University of Southern California received a two-year bowl ban in 2010 because of one football player -- Reggie Bush. Ohio State had multiple players committing violations, plus a coach who knowingly played ineligible players and knowingly ... Read More

From: ToledoBlade.com -- Don't shed any tears for Ohio State University's football program or its athletic director, Gene Smith. The sanctions handed down by the NCAA are lighter than deserved -- and Mr. Smith is lucky he still has a job. Last week, the governing body of college sports put Ohio State's football program on probation for three years. It banned the Buckeyes from participating in a bowl game next season and took away nine football scholarships over ... Read More

By Brian Kollars (SpringfrieldNewsSun.com) -- The in-laws came up huge with an amazing gift. If you drive past our house, you’ll see a small leg lamp in the window, a replica of the cussing dad’s big prize in “A Christmas Story.” Our teenager is appalled that I would display this fine piece of craftsmanship in such a prominent space but, hey, she doesn’t pay the mortgage. Ohio State football fans got a big lump of coal last week ... Read More

By: Kyle Vassalo (BleacherReport.com) -- Michigan fans who are buying into the notion that Ohio State losing nine scholarships over the course of the next three years and sustaining a one-year bowl ban will cause Ohio State to lose recruits are kidding themselves. Urban Meyer's effect was felt immediately at Ohio State. Five-star recruit Noah Spence signing with the Buckeyes proves that not only does Ohio State have a chance to match the level of recruiting they saw against ... Read More

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 Kyle Meinke (annarbor.com) --Remember when Brady Hoke was last summer's recruiting darling? That is fading into a distant memory, thanks to the Big Ten's newest coach. Urban Meyer was hired at Ohio State three weeks ago, and began his tenure with such a recruiting flurry that the Buckeyes' class shot up to No. 5 in the nation this week, according to Scout. Texas remains No. 1 overall and Michigan is holding steady at No. 2 on the strength of Hoke's hot summer, which ... Read More

By: Adam Wells (BleacherReport.com) -- When Urban Meyer signed on to become Ohio State's head coach, I can't imagine that he was aware of the NCAA slapping more sanctions on the program that include a one-year bowl ban and the loss of more scholarships. But even with that setback, the Buckeyes will still rule the roost in the Big Ten. High school football players want national exposure and an opportunity to play in BCS games because it will ... Read More