Category Archives: College Football

A mere few hours after I posted my Ohio State football 2011 season preview, at least two sections of the post were rendered moot as news broke that in addition to the five players who are already suspended for this weekend’s season-opener against Akron, three more Buckeyes have been ruled ineligible to play the Zips.

OSU announced today that it found that running back Jordan Hall, and defensive backs Travis Howard and Corey “Pittsburgh” Brown received impermissable benefits that were valued under $300 at a charity event earlier this year.

Both Hall and Howard were scheduled to start this weekend, while Brown is a reserve. The loss of Hall leaves the Buckeyes with two scholarship running backs in Carlos Hyde and Rod Smith- neither of which have very much in-game experience at the college level, while Howard will be replaced in the lineup by sophomore Dominic Clarke.

But while the loss of three players will have a minimal on-field effect for the Buckeyes, as their opponent still is indeed Akron, the effect the suspensions have off-the-field could be greater. It had been a relatively long time since the Buckeyes had been in the news for negative reasons and with the NCAA still reviewing the OSU case before handing down its punishment, the last thing the program needed was anything to help legitimize claims that OSU has lacked institutional control, a claim which is appearing to be harder and harder to disprove.