Thursday Skull Session

Long time, no talk fellow Buckeyes. After three weekend nights spent Phishing and a Monday of intense body reassembly, I come to you on the eve of another couple nights of spoiling my ear drums. 

One thing I will be doing in conjunction with getting my swerve tonight will be keeping an eye on the Draft to see which team is going to look past the physical concerns and make Sully a member of their squad. 

I maintain the recent blather about Jared's health will put him in a better position to succeed long term despite the short-term hit to his bank account and I'm anxious to see if he is taken by an already solid team that visualizes him as filling a particular niche of need to go deeper into the playoffs. 

Just as interesting will be just how far Buford falls - to the point of some wondering if he'll even get drafted. Sully's a bigger name so much more has been made of how his player-image is taking on water but the WB has seen a greater nose dive and with his mental makeup, I have to wonder if his confidence is shaken to the core. I still say he gets drafted. Time will tell but good luck to both tonight. 

SEE, TEBOW OF NAZARETH AIN'T ALL BAD. By way of GatorZone, the internet's very own (Chief) Inspector Clouseau uncovered a spectacularly awesome quote from America's favorite virgin in which he takes a swipe at Brady Quinn and the struggling to be almost relevant Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Behold:

"So many guys come up to me and say, ‘What's it like to be at the University of Florida? What's it like to be a Gator?' The first thing I think of is, ‘Wouldn't you like to know'. "I had a teammate at Denver who played the same position as me and he went to the University of Notre Dame. He would brag about his university, how great it was. Most of us in the locker room were like, ‘C'mon, we all had opportunities. We chose not to go there.' ... But he talked so much about his university that it became easy. I'd say, ‘Your whole team had one guy who ran under a 5.0 40 [yard dash]. Our kicker ran under 5.0.'

Damn. Then he served Quinn and his ND flunkies some pancakes. 

THE BATTLE OF WHO COULD CARE LESS. You know Ben Folds had Michigan and Notre Dame in mind when he penned the joint that clearly infers watching Rockford Files is more enticing than the epic  battle of meh between was what two pretty awful football teams the last chunk of years. 

Having already won six of the last seven matchups, Michigan announced the two schools will take a two year hiatus (Trey made me hate that word forever, btw) in 2018-19. I don't know about you, but I wish those two teams would quit playing for good. Watching a game between two programs I couldn't possibly hate more is like kissing your sister. Sure, it's great that one of them loses but that just means the other wins so in reality, you lose anyway.

Interestingly, the sun and cobalt also announced Appy State will return to Ann Arbor to kick off the 2014 season, seven years after setting a Guiness world record by producing the most simultaneous sh!t-eating grins ever recorded in the great state of Ohio. 

THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF MAKE BELIEVE. Having staged an ongoing fatwa on the BCS system as a whole over the years, the always insightful Matt Hinton is not only squarely behind (for now) the new playoff format, he even applied the new proposal to the last six years to see what a four-team format would've looked like. 

The particulars by season:

The breakdowns for each season scenario are a fantastic read and solid memory joggers so if you don't typically click the links, you should take a minute to do so this time around. 

The '06 playoff would've been bonkers with the foursome of Ohio State, Florida, Michigan and USC. Any one of the potential championship game matchups would've been fun to watch. 

For me, what really sticks out - and reinforces my overall feeling on a playoff - is that four teams is more than plenty. As Hinton notes, with the exception of 2008 - and I do understand this is a small sample size - there really wasn't a ton of teams with an argument for inclusion. The powers that be can cap this thing at four until the end of time as far as I'm concerned. Upsets are fun and all but the goal is to hopefully get the two best teams in the championship and in many seasons, not even four teams truly separate themselves from the pack and keeping the club exclusive helps maintain the importance of the regular season. 

SPEAKING OF PLAYOFFS... While the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta bowls are in line to host rotating playoff games, it was interesting to see the Chick-fil-A Bowl release this statement announcing their intentions to be a player:

The Chick-fil-A Bowl is eagerly anticipating the opportunity and plans to pursue a bid to host college football's national championship game in Atlanta.

“We believe we can assemble a compelling bid and play a significant role in college football's new post season,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “As the future home of the new College Football Hall of Fame, Atlanta has it all … a world-class facility, a proven host city, transportation and lodging infrastructure, corporate support and a track record for successfully hosting major sports events that cannot be matched" ...

 

In addition to opportunities to host the championship game, the national semi-finals or the new Champions Bowl, the Chick-fil-A Bowl remains committed to hosting the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta and elevating the position of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. We will maintain our history and tradition as college football's most charitable bowl game and continue to grow and improve our game within our partner conferences.

Unfortunately, Hot-Lanta has a proven track record for hosting big events and the conglomerate would likely have a fat enough checkbook to land a title game. I assume most in B1G country would just as soon stay away from traveling to that SEC hotbed so hopefully Emperor Delaney has enough pull to keep this from becoming reality. 

BOUNCING AROUND THE 'NET. Rittenberg has thoughts on Ohio State's home schedule... Oden getting his learn-on... Zombies feed!!! Mad props but I just don't get the hype... Touch football with AJ Hawk is a risky proposition... How many can you guess?