- Saturday, September 15, 2012

- Ohio Stadium - Columbus, OH

- California at Ohio State

- 12:00 p.m. (ET)

- TV: ABC -


It’s a national network TV appearance for the 2-0 Ohio State Buckeyes this week as the California Golden Bears come east for a contest that will kickoff at 9:00 a.m. their time. The two head coaches are good friends...which of course has nothing to do with the two schools meeting for the first time in 40 years. This two-game series, to be concluded next year in Berkeley, was scheduled back when Urban Meyer was winning national championships at Florida. But their friendship is the kind of thing that will make for a nice feature story....for somebody else.

California is 1-5 against Ohio State in the all-time series, the last meeting coming in 1972. The Buckeyes have won five in a row, their only loss a 28-0 decision in the 1921 Rose Bowl.  The Bears have been something of a disappointment so far in 2012, but it should be said here that the PAC-12 was 3-0 against the Big Ten last week, and...well, there’s a sleeping bear joke in there somewhere.

Cal comes in at 1-1, having lost their opener to Nevada 31-24, and then rebounding with a win last week over Southern Utah by a 50-31 score. Head coach Jeff Tedford is in his 11th year at Berkeley, and he’ll arrive in Columbus with a 80-49 career record with the Bears. Cal was 7-6 a year ago, losing to Texas 21-10 in the Holiday Bowl after finishing 4th in the PAC-12 North with a 4-5 conference mark.

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“Telling Quotes” is a weekly recap of the Big Ten’s top stories using quotes from around the conference (with a moderate Ohio State lean).

If you haven’t heard already, the Big Ten had a rough week.

Colleague Dan Wismar recapped the carnege, a macabre task for even the strongest of stomachs. The Big Ten went 6-6 last week with just one victory over teams from AQ conferences. Nebraska gave up a hair under 100 million yards of offense in a 36-30 loss to UCLA, Iowa committed whatever futility is required to score only six points in a three point loss to Iowa State, and most surprisingly, Wisconsin rushed for just 35 yards in a 10-7 loss to Oregon State.

The conference only has a couple opportunities to redeem itself on a national stage this week. Michigan State plays No. 20 Notre Dame in East Lansing Saturday night, and of course, the Buckeyes will host the California Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon.

Check out the week’s top quotes after the jump.

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A win is a win, and Ohio State got a win last Saturday, 31-16 over a feisty Central Florida team. But the Buckeyes didn’t exactly look overwhelming in victory. While the offense once again was far too reliant on the running skills of Braxton Miller, the defense once again couldn’t generate pressure and showed themselves vulnerable to big plays. Even allowing for the fact that the Knights are a solid team, it was a drab, dull performance for Urban Meyer’s troops. There’s plenty for the Buckeyes to work on before a volatile California team comes to Columbus on Saturday.

Braxton’s Line: 18-of-24 for 155 yards with one touchdown and one interception; 27 carries for 141 yards and three touchdowns. Miller opened the scoring with a 37-yard run off a draw play, put the Buckeyes in the lead for good with his second score and put the game away with his third.

It’s been said before and I’ll say it again: 27 carries is way too many. Several of those were off broken plays and the Buckeyes are thin in the backfield right now, to be sure- either way, Braxton Miller has taken far too many hits in the first two games. If he keeps getting hit at this pace he’s going to get hurt, and if he gets hurt this team is screwed- because this is really not a very good football team without him.

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Back with another weekly summary of Big Ten football....and you thought last  week’s games dragged down the league's rep....

Big Ten teams went 6-6 in non-conference action last weekend, but when the two teams thought to be the worst in their respective divisions, Indiana and Minnesota, register two of the league’s six victories, the reality is even worse than the appearance. Of the day’s conference losers, only Purdue (No. 20 Notre Dame) and Nebraska (No 22 UCLA) were playing ranked opponents, and there are very few remaining non-conference contests against good teams in which to regain some respectability. So be it. To the games....

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