From administrators to social media accounts to even police officers, the Ohio State Buckeyes keep having people pop up addressing the rumors of Tennessee fans. While the Vols should be thrilled about that, you have to wonder about the method to the madness at this point. It’s getting out of hand.
Things started last week when, amidst rumors that UT fans were hijacking tickets to Saturday’s College Football Playoff matchup, OSU athletic director Ross Bjork begged the fan base not to sell its tickets on 97.1 The Fan WBNS-FM last week, noting that those sales would go to Vol fans.
That was embarrassing enough but should have been the end of it.
Now, though, police are getting involved. Two weeks after an Ohio lawmaker proposed a bill to ban flag planting after the Michigan Wolverines did it to them, Ohio State University Police Chief Dennis Jeffrey has addressed rumors of Vol fans planning to tear down their goal posts should they win.
Jeffrey said there is a plan to make sure this doesn’t happen. All of this comes from an online rumor of Vol fans planning to take the goal posts and throw them into the nearby Olentangy River, an ode to when they threw goal posts into the Tennessee River after beating Alabama in 2022.
Here’s the problem: It’s a social media RUMOR!!! This is all based on one fan account saying OSU should be more worried about the goal posts than flag planting and another facebook account posting a map from the stadium to the river. That’s it.
In what universe does it make sense for the police to have to address this? That they are only fuels the idea the school truly is nervous about the Vols taking over Columbus, and the more they address it, the more they embarrass themselves ahead of their first home CFP game.
Adding to the chaos, OSU is sending out tweets begging fans to “Scarlet the Shoe.” This is one of their gimmicks that they do during the season in which the team wears all scarlet and they ask all the fans to wear scarlet in the stadium to overwhelm the opponents with the color. Think what the Vols do with Checker Neyland.
The issue, though, is that these things are done for games against lesser opponents to keep up the interest. Did you notice that Tennessee didn’t bother Checkering Neyland nor wearing its Smokey Greys or all orange uniforms against Alabama this past year? Why would OSU need this for a CFP game?
It’s because they’re nervous of Vol fans filling up the stadium, and for good reason. SeatGeek and StubHub have reported more tickets being sold to Tennessee residents than Ohio residents, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Against this backdrop, OSU’s social media accounts have gone overboard pushing “Scarlet the Shoe.”
Sorry, but there’s no way they would be doing all this if they weren’t truly worried about a Tennessee takeover. The problem now, though, is that even if there’s not a takeover, it looks like OSU had to take a ton of steps to avoid that happening in the CFP. That’s embarrassing, and no matter what, UT fans get the laugh.
