Buckeyes begin season of hope against Thundering Herd
NCAA Football Betting Lines
09/01/2010 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes enter the 2010 season with tangible chance of winning the national title, and the first step of the process will be knocking off Marshall in Thursday's opener.
The Thundering Herd welcome Doc Holliday as the program's 29th head coach, and he brings with him 31 years of collegiate coaching experience. Holliday, an accomplished recruiter, inherits a Thundering Herd squad that finished 7-6 a year ago, including 4-4 versus Conference USA competition. A total of 45 letterwinners and 13 starters are back in place, including six players that earned post-season recognition from the C-USA coaches in 2009.
"My ultimate goal has always been to be a Division I head football coach at a major university and to have this opportunity at Marshall, a school rich in tradition and full of potential, is a dream come true," said Holliday upon being hired.
Ohio State is 9-0 in season openers under Jim Tressel, and it would be a complete shock to the college football world if that record wasn't pushed to 10-0 on Thursday. The Buckeyes have won 54 consecutive regular-season non- conference home games against unranked teams and are one of just three teams to post 10 or more wins in five consecutive seasons. Ohio State has an all- time opening day record of 104-12-4, and this year's group is absolutely loaded with talent.
The only previous meeting between Ohio State and Marshall occurred in 2004, a narrow 24-21 triumph by the Buckeyes.
Brian Anderson will be the man under center to start this game for Marshall. Anderson, who made 13 starts last season and threw for 2,646 yards and 14 touchdowns, had to win his job during fall camp, but that is understandable considering the new coaching staff and the fact that the signal caller tossed 13 INTs a year ago. There is a talented group of receivers to work with, and Antavious Wilson is the best of the bunch. The 6-0, 191-pound Wilson made an immediate impact as a freshman last season, leading the team with 60 catches for 724 yards and three touchdowns. The sophomore tandem of Martin Ward and Andre Booker step in to a void at tailback. Booker got less touches than Ward last season but is listed atop the depth chart and has better breakaway speed.
The strength of the Marshall defensive unit figures to be the line, and that was the case a year ago as well. Vinny Curry is a 6-4, 252-pound end who is ready to become a star after posting 59 stops and 3.5 sacks as a sophomore last season. Mario Harvey, a thumper at linebacker, is a big-time talent who came up with 117 tackles and seven sacks last season. He will be asked to help contain the Ohio State ground attack in this opener. As for the Marshall secondary, this group was dealt a big blow when corner DeQuan Bembry, who made 53 stops and three picks last season, was kicked off the team after being charged with assault on a police officer and underage consumption. That leaves Ahmed Shakoor as the most experienced corner, as he had 36 stops and a team- high 11 PBUs in 2009. Omar Brown is another returning starter in the defensive backfield, and both players will be under attack early and often on Thursday.
Throughout much of last season, no player was more heavily criticized than Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Then, in his final game as a sophomore, the gifted signal caller showed his true ability, throwing for a career-high 266 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 72 yards in a Rose Bowl victory over Oregon.
"I thought he learned a great deal throughout the regular season his sophomore year," said Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel said at Big Ten Media Day. "And I thought it really started to crystallize in his mind during bowl practice."
Pryor posted 25 total touchdowns a year ago and is a legitimate Heisman candidate as a junior. The backfield tandem of Brandon Saine (739 yds, 5.1 ypc, four TDs) and Daniel "Boom" Herron (600 yds, 3.9 ypc, seven TDs) returns, and while Pryor did lead the Buckeyes in rushing a year ago, the hope is that he can do less with his legs in 2010 without sacrificing team success. At wideout, top targets DeVier Posey (60 rec, 828 yds, eight TDs) and Dane Sanzenbacher (36 rec, 570 yds, six TDs) are back. And along the offensive line, four starters return from a unit that dominated the trenches on a weekly basis last year. Put simply, this offense is loaded and figures to overwhelm Marshall and most other opponents.
The Buckeyes also return a wealth of talent from a defense that ranked fifth in the nation in both total defense (262.3 ypg) and scoring defense (12.5 ppg) last year. Cameron Heyward is a star in the making at defensive end, as he led the team with 6.5 sacks last year as a junior and opted to return to OSU instead of entering the NFL Draft. At linebacker, the Buckeyes return their top two tacklers in Ross Homan (108) and Brian Rolle (95), and both were recently named team captains. Homan also excels in coverage, as evidenced by his team-leading five interceptions and 10 passes defended. Moving to the secondary, both starting cornerbacks return in Chimdi Chekwa and Devon Torrence. There are some fresh faces at safety, one of the lone questionable positions on the team.
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Top-25 foes LSU and UNC clash in Atlanta >>
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11th-ranked Ducks open season at home against Lobos >>
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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