The Best Ohio State News/Writing Of September 3

Happy Labor Day! While you kick your feet up on the ottoman and enjoy a feel good film about the American working class (say, "The Dark Knight"; billionaire diversifies his finite hours by serving vigilante justice), Ohio State and new coach Urban Meyer's world keeps turning. Miami (Ohio) culminated an off-season of firsts, but now it's time for another: the first real test for Meyer and his Buckeyes. Sure, the Bucks open as 14.5 point favorites, but that's not stopping Ohio State from taking a Central Florida Knights team Phil Steele predicted as a potential BCS buster (yanno, before their unfortunate run in with the NCAA) extremely seriously. Get up to speed on everything that is and was in Ohio State news and scribery.

ON QUICK READS

The always insightful Tim May provides a frantic, fast paced, and not entirely unlike Ohio State's offense rehash of everything that went down this past Saturday (as well as a few things to be mindful of moving forward). While there's no doubt the degree of difficult is upping from Starter to at least All-American this coming Saturday, that doesn't mean we can't take a few moments to dwell on what Ohio State did as well as didn't do right against the RedHawks. and how it relates to the looming task at hand.

The Columbus Dispatch Tim May College football: OSU insider

Meyer relishes the psychological part of the game, and the Buckeyes provided him with plenty of teaching points. The good: more than 500 yards of offense and more than 50 points, a touchdown on special teams (Bradley Roby recovered a fumbled punt snap in the end zone); and minus-1 yard rushing given up by the defense. The bad: the slow start on offense; the big pass plays given up by the defense; and the offense getting stuffed on the last play of the first half. In other words, as good as things looked, they can be a lot better.

ON CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE

The University of Michigan may have taken a ride both on the field and off it, but that doesn't mean that they don't deserve at least some credit for agreeing to take on Alabama in the first place. Michigan's suspension of Fitz Toussaint as well as trying to better themselves by taking on what appears to be the best of the best should be lauded, not mocked.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer Doug Lesmerises Skip the jokes, give Michigan credit for playing Alabama: Doug Lesmerises' college football insider

Having Toussaint on the field Saturday wouldn't have saved Michigan. Alabama signing 15 fewer players during the past five years wouldn't have saved Michigan. But never scheduling the game would have.

So at a time when college football fans beg for early season matchups that matter, let's thank the Wolverines for taking a shot and remember that Michigan isn't as bad as Alabama made it look.

ON DOMINANCE

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Following a failure to execute early on a game plan that involved out gunning Alabama through the air, Michgian found themselves down 31-0, and the rest was pretty much history. Alabama's defense deserves all the credit in the world for coming out far crisper than their offensive counterparts in maize and blue, but alas, Denard Robinson's lack of evolution may ultimately be the Wolverines' long term undoing.

SB Nation Bill Connelly Alabama's Defense Has No Respect For Your Gameplan

It's okay to have flaws. Despite only playing sparingly as a freshman, the senior is still probably going to finish his career with close to 7,000 passing yards and 4,500 rushing yards, and that's just incredible. He is uniquely talented, and few defenses have proven capable of slowing him down (at least when injuries aren't involved). The problem is just that he isn't skilled in the ways it takes to beat Alabama. Almost nobody is. Robinson's legs are a wonderful weapon against all but the country's best defenses, but his arm simply isn't accurate enough in terms of intermediate passing.

ON CHANGING THE GAME

While plenty of battles were going on on the field this past weekend, one off the field (or rather more specifically, off the court but in the court) showdown continues to rage on. You likely remember Ed O'Bannon, star of Jim Harrick's national champion UCLA Bruins team during the 1994-1995 men's college basketball season. O'Bannon's attempting to run the gauntlet against a new opponent, however: the NCAA itself.

The Birmingham News Jon Solomon Ed O'Bannon lawsuit seeks to change how current athletes are compensated

In a court filing last Friday, the lawyers wrote that money coming from from television, video games and other products with the names, images and likenesses of athletes should be shared with players.

That revenue can be "temporarily held in trust for those individuals until cessation of their collegiate careers" if the NCAA feels that's necessary to abide by amateur sports rules, according to the filing.

Have any great reads you've come across you'd like to see included in Monday's edition? Send them along to @lukezim or e-mail me below.