Rise from your sleepless slumber, readers! After a week away (special thanks to Chad for pinch hitting for me), I'm here to guide you through another Wednesday Skull Session.
For a month with no college football or basketball, May always seems to be crazy busy.
Besides the warmer weather, what I most enjoy about this time of year, unsurprisingly, is TV related. The networks simultaneously air season finales and announce their new fall lineups, and while I'm thankful my favorites were all picked up for next year, many of them were only given a 13-episode order. I guess since they get cable-sized ratings, they're treated like cable shows.
I also like to check out the trailers for the upcoming shows to see which ones pass the gut check. Terry O'Quinn as the owner of a The Shining meets Rosemary's Baby hotel? I'm listening. Kevin Bacon as a former FBI agent hunting serial killers? It sounds interesting, even if it doesn't premiere until midseason. Mindy Kaling headlining her own series? Well, she's got an incisive sense of humor...but oh, the preview looks rather disappointing. Something called "Guys With Kids"? As many laughs as you think there are, which is to say none1.
Although it's the offseason, I'll spare you a complete breakdown of each network's fall schedule. Instead, let's move on to some video actually relevant to Ohio State athletics.
HALL & NOTES. Remember last fall when some people speculated that Urban Meyer was interested in coaching at Penn State because he expressed his admiration for Joe Paterno or whatever? That was LOL-worthy. But was there ever any truth to it?
David Robert Jones of The Patriot-News addresses the question "Did Urban Meyer ever seriously consider the Penn State job?" and politely held back his laughter, replying with an "absolutely not." Basically, as an Ohio native who never outgrew his love for the Buckeyes, there was only one job that would bring him out of retirement2.
Meanwhile, Urban continued to court the student population, holding a town hall meeting last night. He was joined by Luke Fickell, Mike Vrabel, and their wives. Unfortunately, I have no idea if Urban was given the third degree about his favorite food, but Tim Jessberger did share video of Mickey Marotti, with an assist from Zach Boren, leading the coaches, their better halves, and the students in a high energy drill:
Brutus appears to be more football competent than Sparty, anyway.
SHIFT HAPPENS. As they will again today, the Big Ten athletic directors gathered yesterday to discuss playoffs and decided whatever Jim Delany told them. Adam Rittenberg interviewed Gene Smith, who said that the ADs were in agreement on the four-team playoff idea and believed that conference champions deserved the best shot at the title.
Considering Alabama did not win the SEC last season, Smith acknowledged, "I don't think you can say all four placements are conference champions. You have to leave some room for that type of scenario, that best high-ranked team that is not a conference champion has some room to get in there."
Smith also claimed to have "shifted" from being a proponent of campuses hosting the semifinals to conceding that the bowls are better equipped at handling them. Yes, because Ohio State never hosts big-time match-ups. And it's super easy and cheap for fans to travel hundreds of miles for more than one postseason game3.
In fairness to the much-derided AD, he's correct when he explains that the controversy won't go away with this system, particularly with only four teams. Or, as he put it, "It's just like in the NCAA tournament. Who's left out? That's what's going to happen." However, if college football sets up a selection committee like some are suggesting, please don't let him be in charge of it.
Still, nothing has been finalized yet, although it is looking likely that the Big Ten will require its teams to win at least seven games, rather than six, to qualify for a bowl. Shockingly, Pat Fitzgerald and Danny Mustache Hope are not in favor of this change.
Legendary Big Ten(?) quarterbackOUT PACE. I'm only going to touch on this topic because Jeff will bring you a story about it later today, but as you may have heard yesterday, the College Football Hall of Fame announced their inductions. Of the 14 players and 3 coaches selected, no one remembers any of them because we're all too outraged about the snubs, including IHOP mascot Orlando Pace and Nebraska QB Tommie Frazier.
Whether it's a rule that players from one school aren't allowed to be inducted in back-to-back years as Ivan Maisel wrote, or not, as Adam Jacobi possibly debunked, doesn't really matter. They should be in. They're not. They will be eventually.
Maybe because of how absurd it is, I'm not too incensed about the situation. Yet, I still get a little apoplectic when I think of Paul Posluszny taking home the Butkus Award instead of AJ Hawk, Crash winning Best Picture, and the final season Everybody Loves Raymond beating out Arrested Development for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys4. So, I'm not going to criticize anyone who is feeling indignant.
That is, except for Tom Dienhart, who called Frazier being passed over "a Titanic miscarriage of justice." Let's ease up on the hyperbole, buddy. It's a nice honor, sure, but one with an arbitrary selection process. We don't have a Tom Robinson/Mayella Ewell scenario on our hands here.
Of course, I could just be feeling resentful toward him because of this tweet:
OH HELL NO. And not only because "tragedy" does not mean what you think it means. Eddie deserved that Heisman! And who helped open holes for him to run through that season? Why, none other than Orlando Pace.
SURPRISE ZACH ATTACK. Bruuuuuuuce Feldman put together a list of the most pleasant surprise players of the spring. Coming in at #5 is senior and captain-in-waiting Zach Boren. Even though the coaches were unsure about what to do with a fullback at first, that quickly changed when they saw Boren on the field:
"We honestly didn't know what kind of role he would have in our system," OSU offensive coordinator Tom Herman said. "But once we put the pads on, it was very clear that: 'We gotta find a place for this guy.' "
Despite only having one career rushing attempt, Boren is expected to get some carries this season, and he's also plenty capable of catching passes. While a fullback in this offense is practically a different position than he played his first three seasons, Boren should get a lot more to do.
HANG TIME. At the Governor's Mansion yesterday, John Kasich recognized several college basketball programs, including Ohio State, Ohio University5, Cincinnati, and Xavier, all of whom made the Sweet 16. The Wittenburg University and the College of Wooster squads, along with women's teams from Ashland University and University of Mount Union, were also present.
In a game of H-O-R-S-E at the event, Aaron Craft and Bearcat Cashmere Wright paired up to beat Kasich and Clark Kellogg. Just hours before, JD Weatherspoon announced that he was transferring to Toledo.
Not content to enter a game for mop-up duty and the occasional nifty jam, he explained, "They showed me a lot of love and told me I'm going to be a guy they need to build the program up and go to the NCAA tournament."
Though he'll have to sit out next year, Toledo is ineligible for postseason play due to their APR, anyway. Best of luck to him and the MAC backboards. At least Sam Thompson is still around to satisfy our dunk cravings.
LINK FOR YOURSELF. The two-deep is expected to come out today... Nick Mangold gets his chest waxed courtesy of Jimmy Fallon... I think it's impossible for Bielema (yuck) not to outkick his coverage... Tom Izzo, Olympian?... I bet JaVale McGee's favorite Arrested Development character was J. Walter Weatherman... Ohio is home to the fist-pumping world record holder... Cougarton Abbey is real... I thought Vegas' nickname was "alcoholiday".
- 1 NBC's fall slate looks pretty woof as a whole, so yeah, thanks for shipping Community off to Fridays to be paired with Whitney.
- 2 Former FBI Agent Kevin Bacon understands.
- 3 Potentially three if you included the conference title game, semifinal, and national championship.
- 4 Man, 2005 was a terrible year for awards.
- 5 I almost inserted a Brady Hoke joke, but then I remembered OU beat Michigan in the Tournament and that's way funnier.
