Tosu Tatgate

UPDATE: Five Buckeyes - including Terrelle Pryor - must sit out first 5 games of 2011 season for accepting improper benefits.

Forget the tats. Didn't the whole Live Strong-
esque bracelet craze end a few years ago?

Now this is just the sort of story that would stop even Santa from his pre-Christmas to-do list and bring him back to the keyboard (assuming he ran a Michigan-centric college football blog on the side).

Reports are coming out of C-bus that Tosu officials are looking into compliance issues which could potentially affect the playing status of several Buckeye players for their Sugar Bowl showdown with the Arkansas "Sign 'em all" Razorbacks. As-yet-unproven rumors are swirling that the Ohio State players took cash from boosters, got free cars, got laid by hookers, were working as hookers took drugs, sold drugs admitted they really loved Michigan and Columbus is a shithole might have traded autographs for tattoos at a local ink shop.

The player names mentioned in the story reported on SportsbyBrooks are Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Chris Fields, Nate Oliver, Travis Howard, Mike Adams, Jonathan Newsome, Michael Brewster and Jordan Hall.

Some of the players, such as Pryor, have denied the charge yet most Vegas sports books have pulled the OSU-Arkansas game.

Surprisingly, this brewing story was not broken by a Wolverine trapped behind enemy lines in Ohio, but by Dave Biddle of Bucknuts.com.  Or, as he'll be known around Columbus if Pryor et al. are forced to miss the Sugar Bowl and Tosu again gets spanked by an SEC team: @#$% Dave Biddle. 

Frankly, I'm torn as to whether or not I hope it's true.  Sure, anything that would cause Buckeye fans to rip their commemorative Dale Earnhardt plates off their mobile home walls in anger and throw them across the room at their framed Superman pictures makes me chuckle.

But wouldn't that be some shit if, say, Terrelle Pryor got banished from the Buckeye bowl game for a tattoo while Cam Newton is still allowed to play?

These are: a) two members of Motley Crue or
b) a couple dudes in Ohio State's secondary

(HT: SG)

Vote for your Favorite Buckeye Tattoo

ED. NOTE:  I had no idea Andy was working on the post below and vice versa re: my post above.  But when I put mine up - voila! - there they both were.  Like minds.

It's pretty slow around here, so I thought, just for fun, it might be the appropriate time to have a vote to determine which Ohio State Buckeye has the best tattoo.

1) Mike Adams

2) Chris Fields

3) Nathan Williams

4) DeVier Posey

5) Michael Brewster

6) Terrelle Pryor

Ohio State Buckeyes: Best Tatoo

Which Buckeye has the best tattoo? Michael Adams Chris Fields Nathan Williams DeVier Posey Michael Brewster Terrelle Pryor Current Results

Season's Greetings from the M Zone!

Thanks for reading! We sincerely appreciate folks coming back and checking out MZone 2.0.

SEC = Sign Everyone Conference

If there is any question in your mind as to why the SEC has developed into the top conference in college football over the last 10 years, this should give you a good answer. Dirtbags.



That sound you hear is Les Mile's chance of ever becoming the Michigan football coach going down the toilet.

EDIT: I posted this after a friend (a Florida alum and fan) sent it to me.
His comments were pretty funny:
Two things:
1) At Florida, we're accustomed to at least 10-20 players being incarcerated on felony charges and thus being ineligible putting them under the 25 limit.
2) When did Terry Bowden start preparing for his reprisal of the role as Jabba the Hut? He's huge.

After I posted it, Yost informed me that MGoBlog also had it up. So, HT to Brian. I hope that every college football blog in the country puts this up, the NCAA starts caring and the SEC is forced to change their ways.

D3 Season Ends University of Wisconsin-WhitewaterNational Champions

For the sixth consecutive year, the Mount Union Purple Raiders and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks squared off in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Salem Virginia to determine the National Champion of Division III football. For the second year in a row, the Warhawks came out on top, this year by a score of 31-21. These two teams have proven to be the standard bearer for D3 football.

Click link below to see article from d3football.com

Grzesikowski Named to D3football.com All American Team

For the second time in his college career, Ferrum punter T. J. Grzesikowski has been named to the D3football.com All American team. This year, T.J. finished fourth in the nation in punting. Three of his four years,  he has finished in the top twelve in the nation, while winning the National Statistical Championship in 2008.
T. J. has accomplished his college football honors through dedication to his team, and his skill. Consistency has been his trademark, and his effort, work ethic, and accomplishments should be a standard for those on the 2011 Panther team to aspire to.

HONORS
USA South All-Conference honorable mention, 2007
USA South Special Teams Player of the Week, 9/22/08
USA South All-Conference 1st team, 2008
NCAA Div. III Punting Statistical Champion, 2008
D3football.com All-South Region 1st team, 2008
VaSID College Division All-State 1st team, 2008
America Football Coaches Association All-America Team, 2008
Associated Press Small College All-America second team, 2008
D3football.com All-South Region 1st team, 2008
D3football.com All-America third team, 2008
Consensus Draft Services 2009 D-III Preseason All-America Team
USA South All-Conference 1st team, 2009
D3football.com All-South Region 2nd team, 2009
D3 Senior Classic Preseason All-America First Team, 2010
2009-10 USA South Academic All-Conference TeamUSA South All-Conference 1st team, 2010
D3football.com All-South Region 1st team, 2010

D3football.com All- America second team 2010

Congratulations T.J.!!

See the entire All America selections at the link below :

http://www.d3football.com/awards/all-americans/2010

The Force

When the Force is used correctly, it can be quite constricting.

The way I really learned the concept of "The Force" was from the book, Coaching Team Defense by Fritz Shurmur.  Matthew Brophy refers to this classic as "the bible of defense," and I would have to agree with him; it really is that good.  The principles in this book are universal to all defensive coaches, no matter what scheme they run.  Coach Shurmur was and still continues to be, thanks to his books and videos, a phenomenal teacher with the ability to explain the most crucial and fundamental concepts of defensive football in the most efficient and easy-to-understand way possible.

This is how Coach Shurmur introduces the concept of Force:

"The defense has to be designed to pressure the offense in order to squeeze or compress it.  This is best accomplished by having the defense reduce the angles by attacking the offense on their side of the line of scrimmage.  For example, in forcing the run at the perimeter it is essential that the player responsible for forcing or keeping the ball inside do his job by defeating blockers on the offensive side of the line of scrimmage as close to a 45-degree angle as possible.  This forces the ball carrier to make a decision to turn up inside quicker than he wants to and also squeezes or compresses the lane available to him to run the ball."

 
Shurmur defines the Force man as, "the defender who is responsible for tackling or making sure the ballcarrier does not get outside of him.  It is his responsibility either to tackle the ballcarrier or to force him to cut back into the pursuit pattern."

Coach Shurmur states that, "assigning specific assignments on outside runs eliminates any chance of ambiguity or doubt on the part of the player," and lists the four parts of outside run defense:

1.   Force - squeezes or compresses the lane for the ballcarrier as he forces the ball back inside to the rest of the defense.

2.  Fill or Cutback - the player responsible for tackling the ballcarrier after the Force man causes him to cut back inside.

3.  Support - the defensive back to the side of the play who is assigned to serve as a backup to the Force man and cover the deep receiver on the halfback run-pass option.  He is a pass-first player with deep coverage responsibility, but he can become the Force player for the defense if the Force player loses outside leverage or if the Force player is cracked.

4.  Contain - the backside defender who is responsible for any reverses or wide cutbacks.  This will be the the player, who either by alignment or stunt, ends up as the widest defender on the line of scrimmage away from the play.

Here is the video:

I will have some new videos and articles from some great guest authors on here very soon.  Stay tuned.