The officials' no-fun attitude and Rich Rodriguez's defensiveness were two impressions taken from Saturday's Buckeyes romp.
View full sizeDeVier Posey's "O" gesture after his touchdown attracted a penalty flag -- and the ire of an observer wanting to know why athletes can't show excitement anymore in college football.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- What Bill Livingston and Jodie Valade will remember from Ohio State 37, Michigan 7:
• The Big Ten is trying to penalize the natural human instinct to celebrate an achievement. It is trying to reduce it to the joyless state of the NFL, the so-called No Fun League.
Both DeVier Posey and Boom Herron were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties Saturday after making a hand signal to the crowd instead of celebrating their touchdowns with their teammates.
Some viewers thought they were forming the "Roc," a gesture by the hip-hop artist Jay-Z, which has been much mimicked by LeBron James. Actually, the players were wearing new gloves with a design on them which forms a Block O if both thumbs and forefingers are pressed together.
I have to call excessive persnicketiness and cluelessness on the refs. This was a harmless gesture of school pride, the reverse of the diva performances of NFL receivers.
Sometimes, referees have to use some common sense and realize they're dealing with kids.
-- Bill Livingston
• In the sports reporting world, there are a handful of unwritten rules when covering games. Among the most important are: 1. If another reporter is on deadline and you're not, let that reporter ask questions first, and 2. If you need to ask tough questions, let other reporters lob the softies first. The tough questions have to come at the end.
Which is why when Rich Rodriguez sat down at the post-game podium Saturday, he was greeted with silence. There were no easy questions after Michigan lost to Ohio State again, the third time in Rodriguez's three years as head coach of the Wolverines.
There were long, awkward pauses between a couple fleeting questions about the 37-7 rout Michigan had just endured, the seventh consecutive loss to the Buckeyes. And then someone finally asked the question that everyone knew had to come.
"Do you know you'll be back next year?" someone asked Rodriguez. "Or hope you'll be back next year?"
And suddenly, the fire that had been simmering just beneath the surface in Rodriguez's demeanor burst into full flame, and the Michigan coach rattled off his defense of why he should have more time to turn the program around.
His kids are young. He has only had two recruiting classes. Forces that never wanted him to coach at Michigan in the first place are too eager to usher him out the door. He's not "deterred," he said, time and again.
The way he was put on the defensive, and his resulting petition to have one more season to topple the Buckeyes, was what stood out most in a pretty forgettable game.
-- Jodie Valade