Busy week in sports — if, you know, recruiting is a sport. Big week in sports. Let's discuss.
1
Urban Meyer went on a recruiting binge and came out with what is, on paper, an amazing recruiting class. Every recruiting class lives on paper, and it will be years before we know just how this class turns out. But it is clear he's positioned Ohio State to be a better, deeper, faster football team in the coming years than it was in the last couple. He addressed specific needs, added athleticism to the defensive front and has created a buzz that's going to last through a bowl-less fall (Meyer is so good he makes writers use words like "bowl-less" that aren't even words) and into future recruiting seasons. College football has three new SEC teams from here on out: Missouri, Texas A&M and Ohio State. Brady Hoke has Michigan on the verge of being "back," too, and that rivalry is going to be a whole lot of fun.
2
Brady Hoke gets paid to not like Meyer and do things like call Ohio State "Ohio." Well, now Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio are mad at Meyer, too, for getting recruits previously committed to their schools to go to Ohio State. It happens. Of course they're angry — and they should be. But it's a rough, cut-throat business, and as long as the rules call for assistant coaches to come and go and one, singular Signing Day for all the prospects, this kind of thing is always going to happen. And the advantage is always going to belong to the truly Big Boys — the schools with the most prestige, the biggest budgets, the best recruiting and best-known coaches. As long as they're allowed to call, to visit, to helicopter in, to offer naming rights to their future children, etc., kids are always going to listen. Because they're kids. And because Urban Meyer apparently is magical.
3
I believe Meyer did not break a single rule in flipping Kyle Dodson, Noah Spence, etc., this recruiting season. And I believe that because he's the coach at Ohio State, and I know folks these days at Ohio State have to play by the rules. The NCAA is not only watching, but the NCAA knows every phone line, every email address, every car belonging to Ohio State and probably has spies at every stoplight on campus, too. Meyer is always going to walk on the line between right and wrong and NCAA-legal and NCAA-illegal, but he's going to stay on the right side — especially now. I'm not in the camp that believes Meyer is an entirely wholesome and genuine guy who just cares about the kids, but I do believe he simply out-hustled and out-sold the rest of the Big Ten and most of the rest of the country the last eight weeks and will spin this momentum forward. The others should hustle themselves rather than whine. Game on.
4
Big battle in Indianapolis this week — and I don't mean the Super Bowl. This Peyton Manning thing is kind of a mess, isn't it? Some of it is a media creation, but it has been and will continue to be a big story because Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks who ever lived, and we're all living in a time where the quarterback has never been more important in the NFL and so many teams need answers at the position. It's a shame Manning and the Colts are going to have to break up, but it's part of the deal in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately NFL. I still think San Francisco would be a great destination if he can play again. And I think every football fan hopes he can play again.
5
Big weekend in college hoops, specifically with Ohio State going to Wisconsin and Xavier playing what's essentially an NCAA Tournament play-in game at Memphis. I don't have the RPI and the selection committee criteria in front of me, but my eyes tell me Xavier is probably firmly on the bubble this very second and needs a very strong February to build a solid at-large case. Beating an athletic tournament team in its gym would be a great way to build that resume. Ohio State goes to the second-toughest place to play in the Big Ten for a game Wisconsin needs more than the Buckeyes do, but first place is at stake and Ohio State just might be peaking. Jordan Taylor of Wisconsin has battled out of a slump and now has to deal with Aaron Craft's relentless defense.
Should be a good one.
Because I'm obligated to make a pick: Giants 34, Patriots 31
