While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

So I had a ticket to the Buckeyes game yesterday and couldn’t make it; probably for the best:  ”On a cold and rainy October afternoon, the weather symbolic of the ugliness on the field,Ohio State fell 10-7 to Michigan State in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. For the first time since 2004, Ohio State begins the Big Ten season with an 0-1 record. For the first time in his coaching career, Mark Dantonio has a win against Ohio State. For the first time in over a decade, the Spartans notched a win against Ohio State.

As many expected, it was a game dominated by both teams’ defenses. Michigan State, who came into the contest as the top-rated defense in the nation, looked the part. However, it was less about what they did than about how pathetic and truly inept the Ohio State offense played. Braxton Miller and the run game were shut down, and if not for a Bauserman 33-yard touchdown pass to Evan Spencer with 19 seconds left on the clock, the Buckeyes would have put up a goose egg for the first time in the Horseshoe since 1982.”   [Sarah Hardy / Eleven Warriors]

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On the QB match-up at Cleveland Browns Stadium later today: “Overall, Matt Hasselbeck and Colt McCoy have played key roles in the success of Seattle and Cleveland, respectively. Hasselbeck’s production has been superior to this point, and that is somewhat surprising since he was a career West Coast quarterback who was making the switch to a more vertical passing game. His accuracy has been very good at nearly 70%, and he has had some clutch drives to close out games.

McCoy had a clutch drive to end last week’s game against theDolphins, but there are definitely some accuracy concerns for the second-year quarterback right now. Accuracy is the key to his game and this offense, but too many passes have been wobbly, off-target, or batted down by defensive linemen.

I’m worried that the weather conditions will hurt Colt McCoy’s effectiveness again, especially against the Titans’ pass defense. It would make me so happy to see McCoy come out with crisp passes, because we shouldn’t have to be worrying about “October weather.” If the Titans had Britt for this game, I would have picked them to squeak out a victory. Without him, I think the Titans find themselves a bit lost offensively. ”  [Chris Pokorny / Dawgs By Nature]

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Not much progress being made in this weekend’s NBA lockout talks:  ”Two days of meetings, including Saturday’s marathon that lasted more than seven hours. One heated exchange “of some kind” between NBA commissioner David Stern and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade. Hundreds of bad Twitter jokes by myself and other writers while waiting for talks to break.

Ah, yes. This lockout clearly has it all.  Except, of course, a resolution. That’s the story after two more days of negotiating, with both owners and players admitting there has been little progress. Some, but little overall. More talks are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in New York — or the same days training camp would begin if this were a normal year.  But given the state of things, we can kiss the idea of pro basketball in October goodbye. And probably for most of November.

While Stern said no announcement is coming on further cancellations, it’s not hard to do the math and figure out there’s really no other option. Apparently, the subject of basketball-related income (BRI) remains a major sticking point. Several reports say the owners don’t want to give up more than 46 percent of it. One source told FOX Sports they never will. If that’s true, you can expect this thing to last at least until Christmas, or about the time the league will have to decide whether there can be any sort of season at all.” [Sam Amico / FSO]

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John Wall did this too at Chris Paul’s charity game last night; the second one is ridiculous. From the Hoopmixtape crew, check out this video on [SLAMtv]

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Cleveland Rovers Rugby beat Pittsburgh yesterday: “Saturday was a perfect day for savoring a Cleveland victory over Pittsburgh on a football field — even if it was on the mud and grass of Impett Park and not in Cleveland Browns Stadium. The game was rugby, and the Cleveland Rovers topped the South Pittsburgh Hooligans, 25-10.

The sport is everything football used to be: two 40-minute halves that are exactly that, with nonstop running, pummeling, more running, lateral or backward passing, and then more running. The teams play in the Men’s Division III Eastern Conference of the Midwest Rugby Union along with the Eastern Suburbs team from this area, three squads from Greater Pittsburgh, and one each from Erie, Pa., Akron and Youngstown.” [James Ewinger / The Plain Dealer]