Posts from the Columbus Category at FanHouse

When Antonio Henton is an old man, he'll have a lot of memories of his time in Columbus, Ohio as a member of the Ohio State football team. He'll be able to tell his grandchildren about the time he offered that undercover police officer $20 for sex, and about those six passes he got to throw in Ohio Stadium, one of which was for a touchdown.

Then he'll get to tell them about how the Buckeyes recruited freshman phenom quarterback Terrelle Pryor, basically ending any chance Antonio ever had of becoming a starter, and he decided to transfer to Georgia Southern.

Several sources close to the team said that Antonio Henton is expected to transfer to Georgia Southern. Coach Jim Tressel refused to confirm the move, saying only that Henton "is a good kid." As of last night, sources said Henton had not told team officials he was leaving.

It's hard to blame Henton for the decision because he didn't leave his home state of Georgia for Ohio State to sit on the bench for five years. Plus, going to a new school will help him get a fresh start after the legal troubles and suspension he had to deal with in Columbus. Not to mention that he'll be reunited with his high school coach, Rance Gillespie, who is now the offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern.

As for the Buckeyes, while Antonio's departure is not the end of the world, it doesn't leave much experience behind starter Todd Boeckman. Henton was the QB #2 on the roster, and will now be replaced by two freshman in Joe Bauserman and the aforementioned Pryor, neither of which have thrown a pass as a Buckeye.

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in the history of Big Ten football.

Could a coach at Ohio State go 1-11 and still stay in the fans' good graces as long as the one win was against Michigan? Unless both programs take a ride on the porcelain Tilt-A-Whirl, we'll never know. Can a Buckeye coach go 11-1 (or at least only have one loss) and still find himself in the doghouse because the one loss was against the Wolverines? Ask John Cooper. He did that twice.

Cooper coached the Buckeyes from 1988 to 2000. He replaced Earle Bruce, who had the onerous task of following Woody Hayes. Bruce decamped to the University of Northern Iowa following a 6-4-1 season in 1987. His final game was a 23-20 win over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Bruce had already been fired before the game was played.

Enter Cooper, brought in from Arizona State to turn things around. Which he did. In 1988 his Buckeyes were 4-6-1 and lost to Michigan, 34-31. Things got a little better from there, as Coop made the Buckeyes a consistent eight-win team. That's pretty good in most places other than Columbus. The Michigan thing became a problem, though, as Coop went winless in his first five games against That School Up North. 1993, however, would prove to be a breakthrough season for Cooper.

Everyone knows the Columbus Blue Jackets have been a disappointment since entering the NHL. No playoff appearances, and few measurable signs of progress, despite a slew of high draft picks (because of all their poor finishes).

In the wave of expansion that brought us the franchise in Columbus, we also got the Predators, Thrashers, and Wild. Of that group, only the Jackets have failed to make the playoffs even once.

Since bringing Ken Hitchcock on board during the 2006-2007 season, there has been some life displayed by Columbus. Their star, Rick Nash, had a nice season, tallying 38 goals, and they may have found a goalie in Pascal Leclaire.

Now, if you believe rumors, they are on the prowl for a number-one center to pair with Nash. In doing so, the Blue Jackets may be on the verge of paying a price that is too high for said center.

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

Yes, here's another moment you just knew was coming.

Anything I can possibly say about how awful it is that Ohio State lost back-to-back BCS Title Games must, of course, be tempered by the mandatory statement about how unbelievably hard it is to make it to one such game, let alone making it to two in a row. Thus if we're going to hail on the Buckeyes for giving a new layer of meaning to the term "epic fail," we owe them ... well, we owe them 50% of the respect we give to the early-90s Buffalo Bills. Or the same amount of respect we give to Bob Stoops' Oklahoma Sooners, who have the same resume (one title, back-to-back title game losses).

So you can't say the Buckeyes are bad, not even if you're an SEC fan, and you can't say that Jim Tressel isn't a very good coach. You can, however, wonder what went wrong. The answer: Lots. In both 2007 and 2008, the Buckeyes were undone by a combination of bad execution (which was within their control) and an imploding hype machine (which wasn't).

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in the history of Big Ten football.

With the ten best moments accounted for, it's time to move on to the ten worst. There will be some silly moments on this list, and some moments which can best be described as "stupid," but there's only one moment which qualifies as senseless, and it's the closing moments of the 1978 Gator Bowl.

To set the stage: The Clemson Tigers were facing off against Woody Hayes' Ohio State Buckeyes. Late in the fourth quarter, OSU was trailing, 17-15. Quarterback Art Schlichter had to know the famous axiom attributed to Hayes, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the football, and two of them are bad." But the situation called for a pass, and Schlichter (a true freshman) tossed it where Clemson defender Charlie Bauman could catch it. Which he did. Bauman ran towards the near sideline, knowing that the Tigers just needed to run out the clock to lock up the victory. Unfortunately for Bauman, the near sideline was not his own.

A difficult week in the Eastern Conference presented each team with unique challenges. Week 6 shed some light on what these sides are made of, and there are certainly plenty of fans taking notice of the results. Columbus still reigns at the top of a very talented table, while New York and New England are still struggling to put it all together.

Results and recaps after the jump, including our belated breakdown of Thursday night's primetime match up.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images and MLSnet.com

FanHouse is counting down the 10 best, 10 worst, and 10 weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

As with yesterday's "best moment," here's another accomplishment you'd think somebody would have duplicated at some point. But no. Archie Griffin won the Heisman Trophy in 1974 and 1975. He's the only person (so far) to win it more than once.

It might be difficult to overstate just how good Archie Griffin was. He started for four years, and, not surprisingly, his freshman year was his least productive. He ran for only 1,428 yards that year on 159 attempts.

While Griffin would never again get close to averaging 8.9 yards a carry, that was only because Woody Hayes realized #45 needed to get the ball a lot more often. In 1973 the Buckeyes changed from a T-formation offense to an I-formation, and Griffin carried the ball 100 more times than he had in 1972. He was fifth in the Heisman voting that season.

1974 and 1975 brought more of the same for Griffin and OSU. His numbers were too great for Heisman voters to overlook. Both years he won the award by more than 1,000 points. Those weren't the most lopsided wins in Heisman history but they weren't far from it. Yet, as amazing as it may sound, winning two Heismans might not be Griffin's most unimaginable accomplishment.

Late last month, I labeled a nine-game stretch as "The Most Important 2 Weeks in the Short, Painful History of the Columbus Blue Jackets." That stretch ended with Sunday's 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Jackets went a respectable 4-3-2 during that run; here's how it happened:

• Feb. 19: Loss at Toronto, 3-1
• Feb. 21: Win at Ottawa, 3-2
• Feb. 23: Win at Montreal, 3-0
• Feb. 27: Loss vs. San Jose, 4-2
• Feb. 29: Win at Vancouver, 3-2
• March 2: OT Loss at Edmonton, 4-3
• March 4: Loss at Calgary, 1-0
• March 7: OT Loss vs. Edmonton, 2-1
• March 9: Win vs. Tampa Bay, 5-3

Columbus started the stretch three points away from the eighth seed; after Sunday's win, it's five points in back of Vancouver, and the Canucks have two games in hand. While the beginning of the run was very impressive -- there's no denying the valor in those wins in Montreal and Vancouver -- taking just two points from those games against the Alberta teams is a devastating setback this late in the season. One of the culprits was the Jackets' power-play: Jason Chimera's goal late in the third period against Tampa snapped what was an 0-for-34 drought. Since this offensive anemia could keep the Jackets out of the postseason (again), the question becomes: What if GM Scott Howson had been a buyer rather than a seller at the deadline? Or, better yet: What would their goal totals have been had the team won the Brad Richards sweepstakes? Inquiring season-ticket holders waiting to renew want to know...

I'd say Columbus survived its brutal stretch, even with the frustration heading into March. But time and the standings are not on the Jackets' side. The schedule, however, is: Two four-point-swing games against Nashville, and four (!) games against the Red Wings. And while the prospect of facing a Winged Wheel that's still trying to hold off Dallas for tops in the conference might seem daunting, Columbus is a remarkable 2-1-1 against Detroit this season. Ken Hitchcock is coaching his heart out right now; he'll need to continue to if the Jackets have a prayer for their first postseason berth.

For all the talk of how UFC is beginning to enter the mainstream, Saturday night's UFC 82 is actually a good example of how far it has to go: The main event, featuring UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva against Pride middleweight champion Dan Henderson, is a great fight as far as hard-core MMA fans are concerned. But the fight has been almost totally ignored in the mainstream sports media.

And that means a lot of casual sports fans are missing out on what could be this weekend's best sporting event. Here are the details:

What: UFC 82: Pride of a Champion

Who: In addition to the Silva-Henderson main event, the televised undercard includes Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo, Evan Tanner vs. Yushin Okami, Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara and Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson.

When: Saturday, 10 p.m. ET

Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

How: Pay-per-view, $44.95 ($54.95 in HD), or just follow along with our FanHouse live blog.

Predictions after the jump.

"You're hoping the players on this club will understand the magnitude of the situation. We're trying to get this organization into the playoffs for the first time. That's a big deal. I don't think we all appreciate how big a deal that is." -- Michael Peca, center, Columbus Blue Jackets

And that's why you sign Michael Peca as a free agent: For leadership, for perspective. The Blue Jackets play in Toronto tonight, entering the game three points out of the last two playoff slots in the Western Conference; two weeks from now, they will have traveled to Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, with a home game against the San Jose Sharks sandwiched in between. It's a treacherous road trip for a team that has the second-fewest number of victories away from its home arena. And it couldn't come at a more critical moment.

It arrives as General Manager Scott Howson decides who to keep, who to dump, who to bring into his locker room from other teams. He's making these decisions in an attempt to secure his team's first voyage into the Stanley Cup Playoffs; but more importantly, he's making these decision with the future of the team's season ticket base potentially hanging in the balance.