Friday, November 13, 2009

Rogers Loves Ohio State

Yahoo's Kendall Rogers continues his off-season praise for Ohio State. This time, not only does Rogers bang the drum for the Buckeyes' Omaha chances, but suggests that Coach Todd's 2010 side will be better than the '08 Michigan team. Wow. Gotta give credit to Rogers for making a bold statement.

Well, Buckeye fans, does this kind of hype make you happy, nervous or both?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Indiana, Ohio State Release 2010 Schedules

We can add Indiana and Ohio State to the programs that have issued their 2010 schedule. The Hoosiers made their new schedule public on October 27, while the Buckeyes' docket for the new year was released on November 5. Although, neither IU or OSU are able to reveal everything quite yet.

While official announcements have been made, there are plenty of TBD's on both schedules. Indiana has seven dates, all during their Spring Break Trip in Winter Haven, Florida, that don't have opponents listed as of yet. The Ohio State is seeking opposition on eleven dates, by my count. While this is not uncommon, it does make it more difficult to evaluate their schedules immediately.

Here's what we do know thus far. Coach Smith's team opens the year in San Diego with three games in two days versus USD. That's followed by a lone contest against San Diego State. Other attention grabbers from the non-conference slate include the Big East/Big Ten Challenge (the West Virginia game is the highlight for me), a three-game trip to Nashville capped by a contest with Vanderbilt, a home-and-home with Louisville and a midweek visit from Kentucky.

Michigan will be the first Big Ten visitor to Bloomington in 2010. Iowa, Purdue and Illinois will also come calling. The Hoosiers will pack their bags for conference dates at Ohio State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Michigan State.

For the Buckeyes, the non-conference highlights include a pair of games against Louisville (both in Columbus), the Big East/Big Ten Challenge dates (including an always interesting contest with Notre Dame and a game vs. a North Florida side that did some in-state damage a year ago) plus a three-game set in Knoxville topped off by a single affair with the host, Tennessee.

(As an aside, it should be noted that Ohio State has nineteen home games on the schedule in 2010. The Buckeyes also have eighteen games scheduled in Florida. 19 in Columbus. 18 in the Sunshine State. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.)

The conference slate has OSU opening the campaign at Northwestern. Other road trips include Michigan State, Michigan and Iowa. The home portion of the Big Ten schedule has Indiana, Penn State, Illinois and a season-ending series with Minnesota (that could be filled with post-season implications).

These two bring the total of Big Ten baseball schedules released to four. Michigan and Iowa had announced their 2010 schedules previously. Six more to go.