Can't claim credit for the Braxburg thing. That goes to Pat Forde of Yahoo!, who coined it in this column from last night's Buckeye showcase at Virginia Tech.
Agree with every single word of this:
If there were a luxury tax in college football, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer would have to redistribute some of his ridiculous wealth to the less fortunate.
A quarterback-poor team – Texas, maybe – would get J.T. Barrett. He's a Texan, after all.
Another member of the quarterbacking lower class – LSU, perhaps? – could get Braxton Miller.
And Gridworld would be a fairer place.
But there is no luxury tax in college ball, and Urban isn't sharing. The rich get richer – like, Bill Gates rich. Thus there is no team that can remotely compare to the abundance of Buckeyes who can destroy an opponent, one way or another.
The defending champions are even more loaded than we thought they were. The arsenal is staggering, as Virginia Tech found out Monday night in a 42-24 defeat.
After that things got hairy, as Ohio State made mistakes and fell behind 17-14 at halftime. The home crowd surged, and it was time to wonder if a massive upset was in the offing.
Needing a spark, here came the forgotten man, Miller. For a quarter, he turned Blacksburg into Braxburg.
After missing all last year with a shoulder injury, Miller was the third QB in a two-quarterback race. Everyone thought he would transfer, but he didn't. Instead he changed positions for his senior year, moving to wide receiver. And in the third quarter he made the two plays that won the game.
First, Miller went deep and hauled in a Jones bomb, kept his footing as he neared the sideline, eluded a tackle and sprinted into the end zone for his first big play since the 2013 season. That was big, but it was dwarfed by what happened later in the third quarter.
At quarterback, with Jones split out in the slot, Miller took the shotgun snap, ran left and produced the individual Play of the Year to date. Miller outran linebacker Deon Clarke to the perimeter, even though Clarke had the angle on him. Then he headed upfield. As pursuing nose tackle Corey Marshall lowered his head and prepared to blast Miller, the Buckeye pirouetted to the inside with astonishing ease at full speed and ran away for six.
Spin to win. It was video-game stuff. Cartoon stuff. Nobody does that in real life.
"I set him up," Miller said.
Honestly, there was a lot of hot air earlier this summer when it was announced Miller was moving to receiver. A lot of folks wondering if the move would work.
Like, are you serious? Miller was one of the top playmakers in college football in 2012 and 2013, before Spencer Shuey and Clemson saw to it that he would sit the 2014 season.
Now you put Miller at a playmaking position outside, with all that supporting talent, with those big burly dudes on the offensive line, with Urban Meyer drawing up plays? Is there any doubt whatsoever that Miller is going to be a stud?
A few more Tuesday links:
-- Cardale Jones swears he didn't know he was the starter until seconds before the offense went out.
Really?
-- Matt Hayes of Sporting News says why mess with a good thing?
Maybe you heard of this big offseason dilemma, a difficult and deliberate decision so perplexing it left no way out.
Until the only answer was to not do a damn thing.
So that was Urban Meyer moments before his Ohio State offense ran onto the field in Monday’s season opener at Virginia Tech, waiting until the last possible second to pick his starting quarterback and end months of speculation.
Cardale Jones and JT Barrett both walked into the offensive huddle, and Jones ran out on the field.
“I started leaning toward the sideline like it wasn’t going to be me,” Jones said, “and then coach said, you’re in.”
Welcome, everyone, to choosing with your head over your heart. It took Meyer nine months, but he finally got where he should have been all along.
“It was very close,” Meyer said of the biggest story of the offseason. Then, almost on cue, he left the door open. “I thought (Jones) played OK. I expected more.”
-- Bruce Feldman says no one is going to touch Ohio State in the regular season.
Virginia Tech actually led top-ranked Ohio State at the half Monday night before the Buckeyes stepped on the gas and left the Hokies in the dust, 42-24. I suspect this will be the closest anyone will get to Urban Meyer’s team until the playoff.
Ohio State was averaging almost 10 yards a play in the first half, but was down 17-14 due primarily to two turnovers. Then Braxton Miller, OSU’s old two-time Big Ten offensive MVP, took over, turning in two long, dazzling touchdowns at his new position of receiver. Those highlights should have Big Ten defensive coordinators cringing. He’s Exhibit A for why I don’t see anyone in the Big Ten touching the Buckeyes.
A few weeks ago I ran into a couple of NFL scouts who had just been to Columbus. I asked them, who (as in which player) have you seen who you think is very overrated?
“You know who’s not overrated?” said the older NFL scout. “Ohio State. They are that good.”
And they both arched their eyebrows, as if they’d seen something that took them off guard.
The other scout talked up how quickly it seemed Miller had taken to receiver. Monday night after Miller’s first catch, a diving effort for a 24-yard gain, that scout texted me: “Told you Miller has natural ball skills.”
Indeed.
I checked back with that scout early in the fourth quarter to ask about the show Miller was putting on.
“Unreal. Versatile athlete that is excellent in the open field with natural hands. Still has to work on routes but the arrow is up.”
-- With Michael Brewer on the shelf, Virginia Tech has to recalibrate.
Offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler was visibly shaken by Brewer’s injury. Normally the definition of stoic, he battled emotions as he praised Brewer for his offseason preparation.
“I put that kid through hell, and he played his tail off today,” Loeffler said.
Indeed, Brewer completed 11-of-16 passes for 156 yards, throwbacks of 51 yards to fullback Sam Rogers and 1 yard to tight end Ryan Malleck producing second-quarter touchdowns that helped the Hokies rally from a 14-0 deficit to a 17-14 halftime lead.
Motley is exponentially more athletic and mobile than Brewer, witness his 17-yard, on-the-run scoring pass to Isaiah Ford late in the fourth quarter. But he is far less polished.
“It would have been nice to see what would have happened with Michael in that second half,” Loeffler said. “I thought we had a ridiculous game plan for the second half to take advantage of what they did. We found a way in the second quarter to exploit them and (had) some really cool stuff that we couldn’t get into.”
-- And we close with some really cool stylings from a band called Cicada Rhythm:
LW
