The Ohio State Buckeyes received a commitment from Willie Mobley, a four-star prospect at defensive tackle, from Eden Prarie, Minn. today. Here's the rundown on him from Scouts Inc.:

Biography:
Led Eden Prairie to 14-0 mark and a Class 5A title as a junior. Named All-Metro by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and First-Team All-State. Mobley had 74 tackles, 12 sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Partial senior (9-0) stats: Eden Prairie defeated Hopkins High School 56-14 in the playoffs on Oct. 27. Mobley had three tackles, one sack and one six yard rushing touchdown in that game. For the season he has 10 sacks and 21 tackles for loss.

Mobley reports a 2.7 core GPA and is retaking his ACT on Dec. 8. "I'm fine, but I just want to keep my test score confidential."

Mobley: "I feel like I'm a great athlete. I learn things quickly and am very confident. I have great strength (benches 305 pounds, squats 405) and good quickness. I run the 40 in about 4.85 seconds. I get the job done and leave it all on the field. I have heart.

"I'm improving every year and I'm working on getting even faster. Speed kills in football and my main focus is speed and agility."

How much of an impact did Bill Willis have in the sport of football? He has a permanent place in both of the sports prominent halls of fame - the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He was the first African-American All-American to come out of Ohio State and had his number retired in the Horseshoe earlier this season. He went on to star with the Cleveland Browns where he dominated

I'm too young to have seen him play, but like many Browns fans I saw plenty of the scratch B&W footage.

Here's what OSU Coach Jim Tressel had to say about Wills' death:
"Bill Willis made a profound impact on the game of football throughout his lifetime. Even as recently as this fall, Mr. Willis was serving as a powerful role model for our players and coaches.
Number 99 will be missed greatly, but we will draw strength from his life, accomplishments, and his Ohio Stadium recognition. Our thoughts are with the Willis family at this difficult time."

From Browns Coach Romeo Crennel:
"Bill Willis was one of the pioneers of the game of football," said Browns Head Coach Romeo Crennel. "Everyone associated with the Cleveland Browns is saddened by his loss. His hard-nosed play on the field, coupled with the manner in which he conducted himself off it, epitomized what it is to be a Cleveland Brown. We send our thoughts, prayers and condolences to the Willis family."

The experts in the national media are already beginning to jack their jaws about whether the Ohio State Buckeyes deserve to be in the BCS National Championship Game in January when they haven't even moved into the No. 2 slot in the BCS polls yet.

For anyone who listens to Colin Cowherd on KNR2 or streams him via the Internet (I do), the ESPN Radio sports talker's theme yesterday was "I don't want to work; I just want to bang on the Bucks all day." Cowherd said more than once that he doesn't think it's fair for OSU to get into the championship game.

Right now, the only way they get in is if either West Virginia loses against Pitt (unlikely) or Missouri gets bounced by Oklahoma (more likely considering the Sooners beat up on the Tigers earlier this year).

In one respect, Cowherd has a point in that the Buckeyes non-conference schedule this year could have been played by a high school football team and they may have actually have been competitive. Youngstown State (they're back on the schedule next year)? The Akron Zips? The Kent State Golden Flashes? And when you can claim this year's version of the Washington Huskies, that's not much to brag about. For that the Buckeyes can only blame themselves for scheduling those teams. In any given year when does Athletic Director Gene Smith and Coach Jim Tressel believe the Penguins, Zips and Golden Flashes will offer any competition?

Looking at the way this junior-laden team is built it's clear that Tressel constructed it to win it all next year. This was supposed to be a down season and I can buy into the notion that they schedule was set up with that belief in mind. However, you are only as good as your competition and what the heck was wrong with schedule another decent opponent outside of the state of Ohio?

But when you look at Cowherd's rant, it falls apart. First of all, the Buckeyes haven't backed into anything yet. Secondly, they clearly thought they were done after an inexcusable loss against the Illinois Fighting Illini. There was one simple way to keep the Ohio State Buckeyes out of the national championship spotlight - all the teams ahead of them when they fell to No. 7 had to do was keep winning.

Well, guess what? They didn't. And the consistency of teams ranked in the top two spots in college football this year has been akin to the U.S. stock market. It's a topsy turvy kind of thing. So with with a dominating win over Michigan (again) they sneaked back into the picture. Once again there is a simple way to keep OSU out of the game Jan. 7 in New Orleans.

If West Virginia loses to a Dave Wannstedt coached Pitt team Saturday, they have no one else to blame but themselves. If Missouri loses to Oklahoma, they can pin the stupidity on the Big 12 Conference which, in an effort to make more cash, went to a two-division conference so they could have a Big 12 Championship Game.

If one of them loses I see no reason why the Buckeyes shouldn't sneak in there - they, after all, are playing by the rules as they stand now. What this all really means is that there should be some sort of playoff system, but the NCAA wouldn't want to look greedy, right?

No, I'm not recovering from quarter beer night.

I'm here at Ohio Stadium, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

I sit here as Meeeessshhheegan is losing to the Badgers big time past the midway mark in the third quarter. I guess we know that they're looking ahead.

But what about the Buckeyes? I can only get a sense of what they are going to be like from talking to the players and they are all business. They remember last year's game that almost cost them a shot in the championship game. If you can judge the attitudes of Kirk Barton, Dionte Johnson, Brian Hartline and others, they will do everything in their power to make sure the team doesn't stumble.

Mke no mistake about it, they could easily slip up should they not contain Rashard Mendenhall and Juice Williams. The Illini are fully capable of hitting homeruns on offense and the Buckeyes need to be aware of that fact.

Defensively, you can pass on this team and pass a lot, but I suspect that the Buckeyes will stick with what's been working for them for the past four games - Beanie Ball. Wells left. Wells right. Wells up the middle.

Score 10-3 and as good as the Buckeyes offense looked last week, they look just as mediocre.

Quarterback Todd Boeckman is getting pressure up the middle effectively limiting his effectiveness. The minute Chris "Beanie" Wells gets it going, they shift gears and go back to passing.

Perhaps Jim Tressel is just having his team feel the Badgers out, or perhaps this is a team that's lost some of the trademark focus that they've had for the past few weeks.

It's also fairly obvious that Badgers coach Bret Bielema doesn't believe his team can win this game straight-up as his game plan reeks of one word - trickeration.

Tressel is great at halftime adjustments. Time and the final score will tell whether he gave his team an attitude adjustment.

Five prospects for the 2008 recruiting class including prized quarterback Terrelle Pryor, center Michael Brewster and offensive tackle J.B. Shugarts took in Saturday’s game. Brewster and Shugarts have already given their verbal commitments to OSU. Apparently the Buckeyes are very much in the running for Pryor who is also reportedly being pursued by Florida, Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

You don't want to be arrogant, but Wisconsin Badgers running back P.J. Hill isn't even dressed for the game. Ohio State has to like its chances, but stranger things have happened this football season.

So far I've managed to ignore that 10-ton gorilla in the cyber room.

Are the Ohio State Buckeyes overrated? That's the prevailing opinion of the pundits and powers that be in college football. They point to the cupcake schedule the Buckeyes have played and say: "See, they haven't played anyone."

And they're right. And they're wrong.

They're right for three reasons: Youngstown State, University of Akron and Kent State. Cupcakes? Hell, creampuffs they are. It's a way to provide in-state colleges a huge payday for the willingness to take a beating and in the process we process we won't beat up on you too bad. The lone "real" football school in the Buckeyes non-conference schedule was the Washington Huskies and the Buckeyes smacked them on the nose like the pups they were.

The point is that OSU can control that portion of the schedule - easily. And the team's worthiness wouldn't come into question if they dared to schedule just two cupcakes and two programs that are actually competitive.

Those pundits are wrong in this respect: OSU cannot control the rest of the schools that occupy the Big Ten. You can't help that prior to this year that Illinois, Purdue, Indiana and the rest of the Big Ten were pretty much also rans. Michigan State hit a rough patch and, as much as it pains me to say this, Penn State isn't likely to be a force again until Joe Paterno is gone. Michigan will always be Michigan and that's why I wagged my index finger at fans who want to see them collapse.

When you're in a conference where there are only two national powerhouses - unlike the Southeastern Conference which has five or more - you're only as respected as your closest competitor or, in this case, rival.