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If you're a Buckeye fan with any sort of regular internet connectivity, then you're by now no doubt aware that this past weekend saw another Homer Simpson "D'oh!" moment for an Ohio State football player. This time, early enrollee Bri'onte Dunn, a running back who appeared to be destined for significant playing time combined with an early arrival on campus, was charged with four misdemeanors in connection with a Saturday night traffic stop. It was the second traffic-related incident for Dunn in the past two months.

The most serious of those charges, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, means that Dunn will likely see a golden opportunity to seize an advantage on what was once a logjam at running back for the Buckeyes. Dunn's fate has yet-to-be-determined, but it's a safe bet he'll be suspended for a handful of games. No player charged with a marijuana offense at Florida avoided suspension, but none missed more than three games, so barring some unforeseen additional charges that would be a good "safe" number to place wagers upon. Of course, with Meyer's documented history of law-breaking players (31 players over his tenure in Gainesville) there is a chance that he could use this relatively minor offense as a teaching tool for future players, and I hope that he does. I hope that despite Jordan Hall's foot injury, despite the inconsistency that plagued Rod Smith last year, and despite how good Dunn has looked in the spring and throughout the summer; that he is suspended for a significant portion of the season. Red-shirt him, suspend him and blow his eligibility for a year, whatever: send the message.

You are in a position that many people in this country and throughout the world would die to be in. You are expected to treat it with a measure of respect commensurate with the level of opportunity it will provide you. You are not entitled to anything and you will not be given any breaks because you possess above-average pass catching skills for a 6-foot-1, 215-pound man-child. You are special because of the chances you've received, the chances you're receiving don't make special. They don't make you above society's laws, even the most out-of-date ones.

Of course this isn't a problem only at Ohio State, it's an epidemic that hits close-to-home for every major program, and obviously it's not always about kids that like weed. It's drinking and driving, it is home invasions, it's stealing laptops from teammates, weapons, etc. If it's not one thing, it's another. It's simply out of control

When will the players, who are given chance after chance to succeed, stop making these colossal errors in personal judgment? When will talent not mean as much as character? Can you build a truly successful football program on the field while maintaining as much dedication to the development of the young men off of it?

Mark Twain once said "I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one", and I hope for Dunn's sake that this moment serves as a wake up call. You are who you associate with, and more often than not, as cliché as it sounds, birds of a feather do, in fact, flock together. I'm not suggesting that Dunn be removed from the team for good as some will no doubt call for, as I don't think his offense is, in itself, egregious.

I do however, think it's time for Urban Meyer to step up and deliver a punishment that is going to open the eyes of his team and future recruits, and it's also time for Bri'onte Dunn to find some new birds to hang out with.

Follow Noon | Givler | Birmingham

Ohio State continues to try and prove that they are more than just a "football factory", and the latest APR (academic progress reports), released today, coupled with yesterday's release about spring academics, would indicate that they are succeeding in that endeavor.

"Each of Ohio State's 36 teams continued to improve its Academic Performance Rates (i.e. APR score) over the most recent four-year average (2010-11). This indicates our student-athletes are successfully completing the academic benchmarks associated with eligibility to compete," Prof John P. Bruno, OSU faculty athletics representative, said. "Moreover, five of our teams have distinguished themselves as being recently recognized by the NCAA as having APR scores in the Top 10 percent of their sports on a national level. The sports are football (within the FBS cohort), men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's volleyball. This strong performance speaks to the commitment of our student-athletes to their academic progress and to the support they receive from coaches and our terrific academic support staff."

The APR, which is designed to help sports programs keep a focus on the "student" aspect of "student-athlete" by penalizing the program on the field for issues off it; has seen Buckeye football improve for the 6th straight year — or every year since the program was introduced. When the program was first started in 2004-2005 school years, the Buckeyes found themselves sitting on a score of 925, the minimum number before penalties begin to be assessed. Ohio State has improved by an average of 12 points per year and peaked at 985 a year ago, which was the second highest score in the Big Ten Conference, trailing only Northwestern's 993.

That was the peak, until today's latest numbers showed the Buckeyes once again moving up the list. Now with a football team APR of 988, (again, second in the conference behind Northwestern's 995) the academic chest-thumping can continue for an athletic department that has been regularly ridiculed and lamented as disinterested in the success of its athletes in the class room.

Thad Matta's basketball team; which has been among the lowest-scoring programs (due to early entrants into the NBA as well as transfers to other programs) in the athletic department has seen steady improvement as well. In the 2008-2009 scoring period, Ohio State scored a 929, but they saw that number jump to 952 in 2009-2010 and again to 962 in the new results.

Inside of the Big Ten (not including Nebraska), the Buckeyes stack up very favorably as well. Only the aforementioned Wildcats have a better combined football APR for the previous three years with an average score of 984 to Ohio State's 976. Michigan's score in that same stretch averages 937, which places them tied with Michigan State for third worst in the conference, ahead of only Purdue and Minnesota (931 and 928, respectively).

The football team's APR, as mentioned, grew every year under the tutelage of Jim Tressel, and that shouldn't come as a surprise. His commitment to academic excellence from his players is one area of his legacy at Ohio State that has (at least to this point) gone un-impugned. For Buckeye fans that take pride in the grade-room greatness of their gridiron gladiators, the transition to Urban Meyer should provide similar satisfaction.

Meyer had a chance to talk about the emphasis that he and his staff put on academics, and how pleased they are with the efforts of the team up to this point.

"Our players and staff really attacked the spring quarter academically, especially the second half of it, like we would the second half of a game," the Buckeyes first year head coach said. "I was impressed with everyone's effort to finish strong. Overall, the team performed very well in the classroom."

It's not unsual that a Meyer-led team succeeds in the classroom. His teams hold an average APR score of 966, which is significantly better than the NCAA average of 936 between 2003 and 2010. Overall, Coach Meyer has had 187 players placed on "All-Academic" teams in the MAC, Mountain West and SEC in his career prior to his arrival at Ohio State. In 2008, Meyer's Florida team had an SEC record 37 players named to the conference's Academic Honor Roll.

It speaks volumes about not just the Ohio State administraton that this has become a bigger issue, but it also says much about the job that Luke Fickell and his coaches did a year ago to keep players focused on football and academics instead of all the off-field distractions that surrounded the program. You may have heard about some of them.

Over all, more than half of the school's student athletes have a cumulative GPA over 3.0, a record number for a school with the country's largest athletic department. In early June, Ohio State seniors Andrew Elliot (swimming), Sean Duddy (hockey) and Ulrike Denker were all named to the 2012 Capital One All-American At-Large teams. Denker, an Essen, Germany native, became the first rower from Ohio State to be named an academic All-American.

As Ohio State continues to try and change it's perception as a band of rule-breaking, football playing miscreants, it's impossible for anyone without a hefty axe to grind to see them with the same tired and retread stereotype. Yes, Ohio State is still, and for the foreseeable future, going to be defined more by the successes and failures of its student-athletes on the field of play than in the classroom. Yes, Ohio State is still a "football school", but it's becoming more and more evident that it's a school first.

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Follow us: Chris | Jeremy | UnScriptedOhio

There is an old adage that states it is "better to remain silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." I am sure that most of you have no doubt heard the quote in some shape or fashion, and could easily pinpoint one or two people to whom it accurately applied.

We live in a society that hangs its hat on the principle of free speech, the right to say what you like, when you like, and about whom you like. I am an ardent defender of this very ethos, but it's important to recognize that what we say, has ramifications  and reach much further than just the four walls that surround us. We're all aware that freedom of speech does not include the right to incite panic, cause hysteria, etc — yet it happens — and those who do such things can be persecuted for it.

The point of this short blog is not to give a refresher course on civics, but rather to rehash what has been hashed by a million hashers before: what you say impacts others. Period.

As the great Ben Parker once said, (What? He's a fictional character in a comic book and not even a recurring character but rather died in the origin story of a superhero?)  with "great power comes great responsibility." It is that thought that drives me to this session of Birminology today.

You may not think that bloggers, recruits, team writers, etc  who spout their endless opinions on twitter, message boards, blogs,  and more have any impact outside of their own ego. You however, would be wrong.

Each person represents someone else. If you're a blogger and you solicit comments and provide commentary on recruiting, games, players, etc - whether you're part of a network or just an independent fella with some spare time on his hands -  you are part of the team that you write about. People without knowledge of the intricate inner-workings and competition between blogs and websites don't see Blog A and Blog  B as "different". Blog A and Blog B are all part of Team C's blogosphere, and therefore are viewed jointly.

If Blog A decides to belittle a recruit, or his parents, then to those who read it as a fan of any other fan base will be remarkably quick to point out to said recruit how "Team C thinks you (or your parent or handler) are a piece of garbage and they don't need you." While a right-thinking adult might be able to consider such things juvenile and dismiss the insult as the irrational views of one fan, to a 16 or 17 year old kid who is being told every day how amazing he is and how talented he is, that sort of message becomes hard to swallow and does impact the way they, or their families, see Team C.

You don't need to tweet recruits, talk about recruits, mention recruits or their families. No matter how many followers you have, no matter how many people who read your blog or care about your opinion; if you're undermining the efforts of the coaching staffs who are recruiting players and their families, then you're out of line.

I am all for contentious discussion about recruiting strategy, what players are needed to complete a class, game-plans, etc — but when you're a grown man (or woman) taking shots at a 17 year old and his family about the biggest decision of THEIR lives, you cross a line.  No matter how passionate you are about Team C, and I understand that as "fans" we can sometimes have our opinions blurred by fanaticism, you are acting in a manner detrimental to the cause you claim

If you claim to represent Team C — do it with class and respect for the players, coaches and support staff  - or don't do it at all.

Follow us: Chris | Jeremy | UnScriptedOhio

Apparently, there are still people out there that just DO. NOT. GET. IT. One of the absolutely worst things that you, as a fan, can do is to contact recruits through social media. It's only slightly above giving them mountains of cash to secure their commitment. One, it's an NCAA violation. Two, it's just creepy. Three, if you send death threats to a 17-18 year old kid because he decided to visualize his commitment to another school, you need serious psychiatric help.

There is nothing good about sending a high school death threats. You are not as anonymous as you might think. All 7 of your proxies won't hide you. All it will take for you to end up as Eric Waugh's cellmate is for a recruit to take these threats seriously and contact the authorities. Then you're in a whole world of hurt. Is a jail sentence for harassment, intimidation, and quite possibly hate crimes worth it to vent your frustration that Player X didn't choose to attend your school of choice?

Read More »

The B1G Schedules for the 2015 and 2016 seasons were released yesterday and rather than just present the schedules without comment, UnScripted Ohio has reached out to a few members of The Buckeye Blogger Network to get their thoughts not only regarding the schedules, but how they might play out in the years to come.

Over the next few months, UnScripted Ohio will be bringing you our Yearly Preview, in which we handicap and predict the 2012 season. For now, the UnScripted Roundtable focuses on the years of 2013-2016. Since we are covering four complete seasons, we have broken this roundtable into four parts for the sake of our readers. No tl;dr's here.

Part 2: 2014

Part 3: 2015

Part 4: 2016

Many thanks to everyone who participated: Jeremy Birmingham, Professor of Birminology at UnScripted Ohio, Grant Edgell, Editor in Chief of BuckeyeHouseCall.com, Jeremy Schneider of OurHonorDefend.com and my good friend Chris Hunt, writer for TheBuckeyeBattleCry.com

We went through many virtual adult beverages in this conversation, had a few laughs, and generally had a Real Good Time discussing Buckeye Football in a positive manner. The questions may have been written down beforehand, but the answers are all UnScripted.

Read More »

The B1G Schedules for the 2015 and 2016 seasons were released yesterday and rather than just present the schedules without comment, UnScripted Ohio has reached out to a few members of The Buckeye Blogger Network to get their thoughts not only regarding the schedules, but how they might play out in the years to come.

Over the next few months, UnScripted Ohio will be bringing you our Yearly Preview, in which we handicap and predict the 2012 season. For now, the UnScripted Roundtable focuses on the years of 2013-2016. Since we are covering four complete seasons, we have broken this roundtable into four parts for the sake of our readers. No tl;dr's here.

Part 1: 2013

Part 2: 2014

Part 3: 2015

Many thanks to everyone who participated: Jeremy Birmingham, Professor of Birminology at UnScripted Ohio, Grant Edgell, Editor in Chief of BuckeyeHouseCall.com, Jeremy Schneider of OurHonorDefend.com and my good friend Chris Hunt, writer for TheBuckeyeBattleCry.com

We went through many virtual adult beverages in this conversation, had a few laughs, and generally had a Real Good Time discussing Buckeye Football in a positive manner. The questions may have been written down beforehand, but the answers are all UnScripted.

Read More »

The B1G Schedules for the 2015 and 2016 seasons were released yesterday and rather than just present the schedules without comment, UnScripted Ohio has reached out to a few members of The Buckeye Blogger Network to get their thoughts not only regarding the schedules, but how they might play out in the years to come.

Over the next few months, UnScripted Ohio will be bringing you our Yearly Preview, in which we handicap and predict the 2012 season. For now, the UnScripted Roundtable focuses on the years of 2013-2016. Since we are covering four complete seasons, we have broken this roundtable into four parts for the sake of our readers. No tl;dr's here.

Part 1: 2013

Part 2: 2014

Part 4: 2016

Many thanks to everyone who participated: Jeremy Birmingham, Professor of Birminology at UnScripted Ohio, Grant Edgell, Editor in Chief of BuckeyeHouseCall.com, Jeremy Schneider of OurHonorDefend.com and my good friend Chris Hunt, writer for TheBuckeyeBattleCry.com

We went through many virtual adult beverages in this conversation, had a few laughs, and generally had a Real Good Time discussing Buckeye Football in a positive manner. The questions may have been written down beforehand, but the answers are all UnScripted.

Read More »

The B1G Schedules for the 2015 and 2016 seasons were released yesterday and rather than just present the schedules without comment, UnScripted Ohio has reached out to a few members of The Buckeye Blogger Network to get their thoughts not only regarding the schedules, but how they might play out in the years to come.

Over the next few months, UnScripted Ohio will be bringing you our Yearly Preview, in which we handicap and predict the 2012 season. For now, the UnScripted Roundtable focuses on the years of 2013-2016. Since we are covering four complete seasons, we have broken this roundtable into four parts for the sake of our readers. No tl;dr's here.

Part 1: 2013

Part 3: 2015

Part 4: 2016

Many thanks to everyone who participated: Jeremy Birmingham, Professor of Birminology at UnScripted Ohio, Grant Edgell, Editor in Chief of BuckeyeHouseCall.com, Jeremy Schneider of OurHonorDefend.com and my good friend Chris Hunt, writer for TheBuckeyeBattleCry.com

We went through many virtual adult beverages in this conversation, had a few laughs, and generally had a Real Good Time discussing Buckeye Football in a positive manner. The questions may have been written down beforehand, but the answers are all UnScripted.

Read More »

Check back tomorrow when UnScripted Ohio welcomes in Grant Edgell, Editor in Chief of BuckeyeHouseCall.com, to talk schedules in our first UnScripted Roundtable.