Form: TheBigLead.com -- In September, when Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes lost at home to USC, Ohio State fell to a troubling 0-6 in recent years against Top 5 opponents. Tressel’s conservative play-calling and the regression of star quarterback Terrelle Pryor roiled Buckeyes fans. Some of the fears were assuaged with a Rose Bowl victory over Oregon, but it didn’t take a month before a new problem enveloped Columbus: Not only is Ohio State’s recruiting class this year down a bit – 18th ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- WEST CHESTER, Ohio -- As soon as he decided to become a Buckeye, Christian Bryant went to work. On Tuesday, the Glenville defensive back gave his oral commitment to Ohio State and started calling Cincinnati-area linebacker Jordan Hicks, the next major in-state recruit he wanted to see join him in Columbus. Bryant said Hicks never called him back. As anticipated, Hicks announced at a news conference at West Chester Lakota West High School on Friday that ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- WEST CHESTER, Ohio - Jordan Hicks moved to Ohio from South Carolina in sixth grade, and the fact that he didn't grow up rooting for the Buckeyes was one of the reasons he didn't choose to become a Buckeye today. The top-rated football recruit in the state of Ohio, the West Chester Lakota West linebacker today announced that he plans to play at Texas, picking the Longhorns over Ohio State and Florida. Asked during ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Linebacker Jordan Hicks, rated as the No. 1 football recruit in Ohio, will announce his college choice on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at Lakota West High School outside Cincinnati. Hicks has narrowed his choices to Ohio State, Texas and Florida and the general feeling among recruiting analysts is that Hicks is headed for Texas, a school he has followed as a fan. But he would be a big get for the Buckeyes, who have a 2010 class that ... Read More

By: Erik Yost (TheLantern.com) -- “And the winner of the National College Player of the Year is…” Evan Turner? “That’s a privilege and I’m blessed to be considered amongst the top players      in the country but I’m not really thinking about it,” Turner said. While Turner may not be thinking about it, the college basketball world has been thinking about it. Many college basketball fans and media consider Ohio State’s junior guard a Player of the Year candidate along with Kentucky freshman John Wall, Texas senior Damion ... Read More

From: BleacherReport.com -- With the 2009 season The Ohio State Buckeyes are looking to continue their success into 2010. The key to a potential National Championship run lies in the hands of the most controversial Buckeye to date. The controversy doesn't lie in his abilities, or in off field behavior, but rather with each fan's personal opinion. Pryor has, in my opinion, the most pressure of any recruit in the modern era. He is compared in every way to Vince Young. Every pass, every ... Read More

By: Jim Naveau (RecoredPub.com)-- COLUMBUS — The standards have been set so high in Ohio State football that it seems like there are only two kinds of off-seasons anymore. There are the off-seasons where people talk about winning a national championship. And then there are off-seasons where people really, seriously talk about winning a national championship. Call them a Category One off-season and a Category Two off-season. With the possibility of as many as 16 starters returning from the OSU team that beat Oregon 26-17 in ... Read More

From: Cleveland Plain Dealer -- Head Coach Jim Tressel On playing in the Rose Bowl Game…“I think they are anxious to play in the Rose Bowl. They have heard about the Rose Bowl their entire lives, or at least certainly their entire playing lives. Here at Ohio State is one of the goals that you have and now they are here and they have worked extremely hard. They know they have a very, very good opponent that they are being matched up with ... Read More

By: Molly Gray (TheLantern.com) -- For the three Ohio State captains and defensive leaders, anticipation for Friday’s game is four years in the making. For Austin Spitler, Doug Worthington and Kurt Coleman, the Rose Bowl will be their last game as Buckeyes and they are ready to leave their legacy behind with a victory in one of the most historic and traditional games in all of football. “You wouldn’t want any other surroundings as your last game than the Rose Bowl and the tradition and ... Read More

From: Vindy.com -- Three conference teams are ranked, including Ohio State. Mcclatchey-tribune Big Ten basketball is back — conference games start Tuesday night with Purdue at Iowa and Penn State at Minnesota — and that leads to the annual holiday season question: How good is the Big Ten? “I think our league has done a good job, but not a great one,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “There are some games a couple teams would like to have back. There were a couple of games we surprised ... Read More

By: John Kampf (News-Herald.com) -- COLUMBUS — It's been a while since members of Ohio State's football team ended a season with smiles on their faces. With practices ramping back up this week in preparation for a Rose Bowl matchup with Oregon on New Year's Day, that is the goal — to end the season on a winning note for the first time since a 34-20 win over Notre Dame in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. "Just to go out on top and be in ... Read More

By: Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com) -- Jim Tressel doesn't mind if you point out Ohio State's recent BCS failures. Just be accurate about them. "I get more weary when they talk about what we have done and pat us on the back than I do anyone saying something that we haven't done because it's the truth," Tressel said during Ohio State's Rose Bowl media session Monday in Columbus. "No, I don't get tired of hearing it. If someone said something that wasn't true, I ... Read More

By: Tim Bielik (BleacherReport.com) -- New Years' Day in 2006 was the last day that Ohio State has won a BCS bowl game, a 34-20 blowout over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Since then, Ohio State has been blown out in shocking fashion one year, over-matched and overrun the next, and fell one minute short of pulling a huge upset on the national bowl spotlight. But Buckeye Nation has high hopes that the tide will finally turn and 2009 can be the start of ... Read More