for Heisman Hopefuls
“I honestly (think about it) all the time, I’m not (going to sit here and) tell you (I) don’t,” he said. “I thought (about) the Heisman (in) my 10th-grade year. (Honestly), Me (and my father) were sitting in the living room (and I told him) I wanted (to be) the first (freshman to win the) Heisman. (That didn’t happen), (so), you know, I just want (to get it), honestly.” Beanie Wells, mumbling about winning the Heisman Trophy back in April. His college major is not English as a Second Language.
Well, so much for the most anticipated game of the week. So much for the Heisman Hopes of a little known or cared about Ohio State Running Back named Chris "Beanie" Wells. While speculation about his health had been rampant all week as Ohio State prepared for it's game versus Southern California, at one point wavering from "on target to play" to "doubtful" within a short 15 hour span.
The long anticipated USC/OSU match up is possibly the most important game in the Jim Tressel era for the Buckeyes to win. After two consecutive BCS national championship game losses, the Buckeyes are losing all credibility with the national public. If there ever was a must-win game for the Buckeyes, this is it.
"What would Woody do?"
Monday - Beanie does not practice with the team, but does running drills the entire time. Several players are quoted after practice, all of them telling the press encouraging details about Wells’ progress
Tuesday - Ohio State releases their depth chart for the USC game. Beanie Wells is listed as the #1 running back. Beanie tells offensive coordinator that he’s ready to carry the ball 45 times
Wednesday - Beanie practices with the team, gets about 20 carries and the team lists him at 75% healthy. More positive details from fellow players
Thursday - Tressel announces that Wells is listed as “doubtful” for USC moments before the Buckeyes board the plane for California. No other players are made available to the media
Friday - Following a walk-through at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Tressel calls a press conference to announce that Wells will not play on Saturday. No players are made available to the media
Saturday - ESPN reports that Ohio State’s team doctors have cleared Beanie Wells to play. Erin Andrews also reports that when attempting to discuss it with Buckeye players in their hotel lobby, they refuse to answer, only offering “the team is focused” statements
Saturday - ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit expresses doubt about the reports and affirms his belief that Wells will play. No other members of the GameDay crew challenge his assertion. Kirk Herbstreit said he was "shocked by the announcement." Herbstreit, who watched Ohio State's walk through, said he "saw Beanie smiling and laughing, tossing a ball around" with other Ohio State players on the sidelines. Herbstreit also said, "I'm still not convinced he won't play, by the way."
Jim Tressel and the Ohio State Media Department has been over hyping Beanie Wells since last year's win over (pathetic) rival Michigan. Sportswriters all over the country put his name higher on their list than any player out of the SEC, including Tim Tebow, last year's winner and the first underclassmen to ever win the Heisman Trophy. Why?
Because it is necessary for the National Sports Media, and the school with the biggest booster coffers in the nation--Ohio (Choke) State--To maintain some sort of BCS relevance.
"I didn't come here just to be a part of the team and just to say I played for Ohio State," Wells also said in the preseason. "I want to leave a mark, and that's something I work hard every day for...We have guys like Archie (Griffin), we have Eddie George, we have Keith Byars, Antonio Pittman. And those are great guys, don’t get me wrong, but I want my name to be at the top.”
"Spread Offense" has become a sort of player-evaluation dirty word in certain parts of the country, to the tune of--"Oh, that's not a real quarterback with those numbers--he's a 'System' guy".
There goes your Heisman Hopes, buddy. You'd be better off playing today until your wheels fell off but Jim Tressel is such a monumentally sized douche bag I can barely put it into words.
Here is the reality: Ohio State is ranked #5 in both polls--why?, because they play their usual if not softer than usual Big 10 schedule, and their week 3 match-up with USC. If you get a Top 5 ranking it is because YOUR TEAM is assumed to be equal and within reach of anyone above you in the Top 5. You have a "tough" schedule and good players. But, if on the other hand, going into a Top 5 match-up your "star player" is too injured to play, and you accept a blowout, then you are not a Top 5 team. Football is a team sport, and a Top 5 team is not made by ONE PLAYER and a tough schedule.
If that was the case the Arkansas Razorbacks with Darren McFadden in 2006 and 2007 should have been pre-season Top 5 teams. They were scheduled a tough SEC schedule, played USC, and had Darren McFadden.
Ironically, Darren McFadden missed both games against USC--which is one of the reasons why he came in 2nd in Heisman balloting two years in a row.
Wells rushed for over 1600 yards last season, but suffered an injury to his right foot during the season opener against Youngstown State. Without Wells in the line-up, the Buckeyes barely defeated Ohio University in week two, needing a fourth quarter comeback to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
So all Beanie Wells Heisman Talk ends now. He is useless. I don't care if he runs up 2,500 yards this year playing against the pee-wee Big 10. He got hurt playing the massively dangerous Youngstown State Penguins, playing in the third quarter while Coach Jim "Not Woody Hayes" Tressel attempted to help him pad his Heisman stats. Well guess what doesn't pad your Heisman Stats? Not playing in the biggest game of your career.
Randy Latham, a football analyst, said, "If Beanie Wells does not play today with anything less than a broken leg then he is completely off the Heisman Radar. Essentially, Beanie Wells is an over hyped Big 10 Nobody--if he doesn't play Saturday he should be out of Heisman consideration completely, and Ohio State out of the Top 20."
"The Game of The Century" has been a dud already, before kickoff. All you will hear from this game are excuses for the next 3 months.
As for those who were making the argument late January 7 and January 8, 2008, that LSU did not even deserve to be in the BCS National Title game and that the game should have been a match up between USC and Ohio State can keep dreaming. Today is going to be a showing of why the PAC 10 owns the Big 10.
Much speculation has been made that Jim Tressel is keeping Beanie Wells out of the game to keep both the Buckeye's BCS and Beanie Wells' Heisman hopes alive. Much of this orbits the idea that OSU can lobby for a rematch against USC if the BCS National Title was on the line with the "our star player didn't even play because he was hurt" ploy.
"A bad showing, as expected, by Ohio State and Beanie Wells failing to pick up even fifty yards would essentially kill their season," Said Dinky McConnell, a football analyst, "And for the Big 10, that would be devastating if Ohio State wins the conference."
"I'm not sure he'll ever speak to me again but I think it's the right thing to do," Tressel said. Tressel said the decision to not play Wells was his alone after talking the matter over with medical personnel. The coach said he is concerned that letting Wells play might expose him to further risk of injury, limiting Ohio State against later opponents and possibly damaging Beanie Wells' NFL stock.
(Ironically, the blog titled "Beanie Wells For Heisman" has been shut down in the last 12 hours. Fitting.)
