Wednesday Skull Session

Best of the morning to you, readers. Let me suggest that you watch the sunrise and then listen to the song of the same name because it's an overlooked gem. After that, I don't know what to tell you since the day after the All-Star Game¹ is the most boring sports day of the year.

Oh, what's that? The ESPYs are tonight? Add "lamest" to that description.

On the other hand, if you're really amped for the release of the Lou Groza Award and Ray Guy Award watch lists², then today is your day. The kicking game in the Big Ten is pretty decent, so I expect the conference to be well-represented, just as they were yesterday for the Mackey Award and Rimington Trophy watch lists.

And for those who may have missed such breaking news, Jake Stoneburner, still the #1 tight end on the depth chart, is one of six B1G preseason candidates up for the Mackey Award.

REAL STEELE. Later today, Kyle will post an interview he conducted with Phil Steele. As an appetizer, let's examine his daily blog entry from yesterday. Steele channeled his inner William McKinley High School mathlete and came away with projected stats for everyone in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, ACC, and PAC 12.

In this case, those stats include what each team is expected to average in passing yards and in rushing yards on both offense and defense. Ohio State ranks in his top 15 in every defensive category, including rush defense (#12), pass defense (#7), scoring defense (#5), and overall defense (#8). Only Michigan State, one spot above at #7, is supposed to have a better overall D than OSU in the conference. Illinois and Wisconsin, #13 and #14 respectively, weren't too far behind.  

As for the other side of the ball, the Buckeyes are supposed to be fourth best in the Big Ten in rushing yards (199.3) and points (28.5), but only ninth in passing yards (201.8). Unsurprisingly, those are all better numbers than last year's offense put up. 

ROSIE I'M COMIN' ON STRONG. With the bowl schedule coming out yesterday, we were reminded once again that Ohio State will be ineligible for postseason play. Despite there being no chance of a Rose Bowl appearance, Jon Spencer believes that the outlook is rosy³ for the Buckeyes this season, and he cited Steele's prognostication skills as one of the reasons:

The good news is, of all the major colleges, Steele says Ohio State will be the most improved. That might not seem like a reach, especially since we're talking about a team coming off its first losing season since 1988, and now under the direction of a coach with two national championship rings.

 

But here's why you want to embrace that Most-Improved tag. Steele brings good karma. In 2002, he called the Buckeyes his No. 1 Surprise Team or top dark horse contender for the national title, while hardly anyone else picked them to win the Big Ten.

Spencer can't picture OSU losing at home to Nebraska or Michigan when their anemic offense almost beat them both last season. The only potential losses he sees are at Michigan State and at Wisconsin, two games that Ohio State certainly has a shot at winning. Or, as he put it, "Running the table isn't off the table."

Yet, it's never that easy. The Buckeyes are dealing with a new system, injuries, and a lack of depth at certain positions. Not to mention, they have the tendency to drop a game, usually to Purdue or Illinois, that they shouldn't. Still, the fact that there's optimism after a 6-7 season and with a bowl ban speaks for itself.

"I've got the best job ever!"

TAKE THIS JOB AND RANK IT. ESPN's Big Ten Blog is using this snoozer of a sports week to take a look at college football coaches. In one article, Adam Rittenberg ranked the league's coaching jobs based on desirability. There's nothing earth-shattering here; Ohio State, who managed to snag one of the game's best coaches, is in the top spot while Indiana is sitting at the bottom.

Penn State coming in at #3 (after Michigan) is a bit curious given the mess they're trying to move on from, but Bill O'Brien is doing okay for himself with regard to recruiting, which is why they're higher than Nebraska, who can claim a similar quality in tradition and facilities. 

The Michigan State position, in the sixth spot, appears to be on the rise. Mark Schlabach referred to it as one of the nation's most underrated coaching jobs, mostly because the Spartans are often overshadowed by Wolverines, even though MSU is riding a four-game winning streak in the rivalry. 

IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER. If you thought football season was far away, we have even longer until basketball season starts⁴, but Drew Cannon from KenPom.com decided to make some hoops projections of his own. His calculations involved figuring out how much the Big Ten's incoming freshmen will contribute. 

Among those expected to become key players for their teams are Indiana's Yogi Ferrell⁵, Michigan's Glenn Robinson III, Michigan State's Gary Harris, and Wisconsin's Sam Dekker. Cannon did not evaluate Ohio State's lone freshman, Amedeo Della Valle, who is not supposed to garner much playing time next season. 

If Thad Matta had been able to land one of his big targets like Tony Parker or Amile Jefferson, then a Buckeye freshman would have been included, but as Matta told Bob Baptist, it's not that simple:

“As you’re looking at what we lost out on (in recruiting) this year, everybody forgets we only had one senior and one junior on our team,” Matta said. “That makes recruiting very, very difficult when you’re recruiting the elite of the elite and you’ve got 11 freshmen and sophomores.

“It’s more a numbers game than it is the brand of Ohio State.”

Even though next year's team will still be relatively young with mostly sophomores and juniors, Matta needs more commits than Marc Loving for 2013, so the coaches will start hitting the AAU circuit to check out who has the talent to receive an offer. 

SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY. Dana O'Neil wrote a piece for Penn State's Curley Center that explained the difficulty for women in sports journalism nowadays. To sum it up, "we have created an entire generation of young women who want to be stars, not journalists, failing to realize that the truly brightest stars are damned good journalists, too."

She mentioned that for her female colleagues who are both pretty and knowledgeable, they're only seen as the former, thanks in part to the influx of media "personalities" who are only around for their looks. "Rocks a bikini" should not be a requirement for any journalist, but when certain women court that kind of attention and make that the most interesting thing about themselves, and the audience buys into that, then it doesn't help those, like O'Neil, who are accomplished in their field. 

Although it's hardly news that women in the sports world are judged on their apperance, whether they're attractive or not shouldn't be the main topic of discussion. Instead, all that should matter is whether someone, man or woman, is a good journalist.

I LINK UR A CONTRA. 99 College Hoops Thoughts... A comprehensive Michigan football preview... Iowa re-ups with Fran McCaffery... Minnesota and Wisconsin will face off in hockey at Soldier Field... Most Roll Tide tattoo ever?... Go Fring Yourself... 27 Indisputable Facts... Elementary, my dear Sacker?

• ¹ It's pretty cool that the Reds will have home-field advantage for the World Series. 
• ² Hi, Tressel!
• ³ Even I groaned at that pun. I apologize. 
• ⁴ Ugh, that was a depressing sentence. Womp womp. 
• ⁵ How many times will we have to hear an announcer say, "Hey there, it's Yogi Ferrell"?