Ohio State Football Afternoon Notes: ESPN GameDay, Michigan and Connor Crowell

It's been slow here at The Silver Bullet this weekend as both of us were crazy busy. We're ready to get back at it though, and there is a ton going on as the Buckeyes look ahead to playing Penn State this Saturday.

 

1. ESPN College GameDay

Speaking of Penn State, GameDay will be on campus this weekend for the game. While it's always fun to see them in front of Ohio Stadium adding to one of the best scenes in college football, it seems a bit odd that they picked this game to show up in Columbus.

It is a poor weekend in terms of overall matchups, with the best two games arguably being No. 19 Mississippi State at No. 12 Alabama and No. 24 Kansas State at No. 17 Missouri. There are some other decent games, but nothing that really is any more exciting than PSU vs. OSU.

My guess is that the producers will want to head down to Tuscaloosa for the Auburn-Alabama game instead of this weekend's contest with MSU, and there is no way that they are going back to Columbia to watch an average Missouri team. So I guess they are stuck coming to Ohio State. I wonder if Northwestern would have pulled through against Penn State if they had seen GameDay coming to Evanston to watch them face Iowa?

 

2. QB Matt McGloin Is the Player to Watch This Week

After replacing Robert Bolden against Northwestern this last week, he led the Nittany Lions to an offensive explosion as he threw for 225 yards and four touchdowns. He appears to be exactly what the doctor ordered.

After looking just plain anemic offensively against Iowa and Illinois, they have won three straight games on the shoulders of their new-found offensive identity. A few weeks back I worried very little about this game, but PSU comes in with tons of momentum and confidence. Combine that with Tressel's poor record coming off the bye week, and the Buckeyes may have a tougher test this Saturday than we ever dreamed.

 

3. I Love How Far Michigan Football Has Fallen

I sat and endured the 67-65 offensive buffet between Illinois and Michigan this last Saturday, and I never dreamed we would see a team like this in Ann Arbor.

Not only has Rodriguez helped them to probation and to playing walk-ons on defense, but has the place celebrating a win over a middle-of-the-road Big Ten team like they had just won the national title. Not just any win, but one where they gave up 65 points.

Sad days for the Wolverine faithful. Maybe the best part of the whole thing is seeing the Buckeye players mock Michigan on Twitter.

 

4. Linebacker Connor Crowell Committed Last Friday

While it was important for the staff to grab a linebacker in this class for depth purposes, you may not want to sell Crowell short. While his rating may not jump out at you by the national recruiting services, the staff may have found a diamond in the rough.

Besides being impressed by his film, while I was doing some more research on him I found this article on ESPN from back in April. Despite being injured and running a much slower 40 time than the year before, he had one of the top 20 overall ratings at all the Nike combines. Had he not been injured, he was expected to break the SPARQ Rating record. I can't wait to see this kid in scarlet and gray.

 

5. Buckeyes Move Up to No. 9 in BCS Rankings Despite Bye Week

You aren't going to hear me complain about this ranking at any point this season. OSU doesn't have a quality win to hang its hat on, and have a ton to prove over the last three games.

 

6. OSU Behind Wisconsin and Michigan State in Big Ten Power Rankings

In Adam Rittenberg's latest Big Ten Power Rankings, the Buckeyes are ranked third behind the Badgers and the Spartans. While the whole Wisconsin-Michigan State-Iowa mess has really muddied up any idea of who is the strongest team in the conference, there is no way I would put MSU ahead of Iowa after how the Hawkeyes dismantled them.