Happy Mirror Lake Jump Day, Buckeye fans! Whether you're there in person or in spirit, tonight brings about an indelible tradition in this holiest of weeks.
So naturally, the talk of the last 24 hours has been mostly centered around conference realignment. Maryland is now aboard the USS Delany with Rutgers expected to join later today and SERIOUSLY, THIS COULDN'T HAVE WAITED ONE MORE WEEK?
Among the acceptable topics this week:
- Go Bucks!
- Beat Michigan
- It's [insert any time of any day] and Michigan still sucks
- The letter M being banished from the hallowed grounds of The Ohio State University
- How "Hail to the Victors" makes ears bleed and the colors maize and blue make eyeballs vomit
- Michigan jokes
- Turkey and other Thanksgiving Day foods
- Beat Michigan
Like I really want to deal with reactionary comments about the Big Ten expansion and overanalyzing alternate uniforms right now, especially when both decisions boil down to the same thing.
But while Jim Delany continues to follow the Walter White plan, which I will reluctantly discuss in further detail later in this Skull Session, let's get down to what we actually care about right now: The Game.
STAKE STAKE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT NOW. It's only been six years since The Game was at its zenith, the first and only time it was a matchup between #1 and #2. Adam Rittenberg wrote that more recently it has lost a little bit of its luster, at least in terms of what's at stake for both teams, but this year, there's more than pride on the line.
For Ohio State, it's a chance to become the first Buckeye team since the 2002 squad—who will be honored between the first and second quarters on Saturday—to finish their season unbeaten. A win for Michigan, who has an outside shot at going to Indianapolis, would improve their resume in the hopes of going to an attractive bowl game1.
Bradley Roby noted what else the Wolverines will be aiming for:
"That team is going to definitely play harder, and they're going to play to ruin our season. What better would it be for them to give us the only loss we've had all year? ...
"We're going to be ready. It's going to be a showdown."
How certain players perform on Saturday could help them when it comes to individual awards, too. Unfortunately, Roby was snubbed as a Thorpe Award finalist despite leading the nation in pass breakups and causing opposing quarterbacks to not even glance his way anymore.
But Ryan Shazier is in the hunt for Big Ten defensive player of the year and Braxton Miller, who is up for the Davey O'Brien award (vote for him here), could still earn a trip to NYC if he channels Troy Smith against Michigan.
However, when it comes down to it, The Game is not about records or awards. Urban Meyer's familiarity with the rivalry means he knows there's something more important than perfection. As he summed it up, "We've got to find a way to go win it."
ALL THINGS MUST PASS. In many ways, Ohio State and Michigan are fairly evenly matched. It should also be an interesting battle between UM defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, who was the DC and defensive line coach under Meyer for a few seasons at Florida, and offensive coordinator Tom Herman, who better not be headed to Kalamazoo next season:
Against Wisconsin, Meyer and Herman admittedly didn't dial up their best plays, but this Saturday, the head coach revealed, "We have to open this offense up and trust that good things are going to happen." That seems like a smart plan considering the Michigan defense has struggled against spread offenses this season.
Ohio State's defense, though, is not highly rated against the pass, and Devin Gardner has been, not very surprisingly, a more proficient passer as a starter than Denard Robinson. Brady Hoke is of course keeping mum, but especially with RB Fitzgerald Toussaint out, most expect Robinson to be used primarily as a runner like he was in the Iowa game.
Meyer, however, said, "I think he'll probably be able to throw that ball well enough", so they're preparing for that possibility. Nevertheless, Gardner will probably be the main passer, and for a guy who was once salty that Ohio State declined to offer him a scholarship, he'll be looking forward to that...at least until the first time he takes a licking from John Simon.
MIA: Buckeye leavesMONEYBALL. Urban's contract was recently reworked so that he could still earn a bonus that he would've missed out on simply because Ohio State is banned from the postseason.
He's already got an extra $50,000 coming his way for winning the Leaders Division and now, depending on how the Buckeyes finish in the AP standings, he could add $150,000 or $250,000 more to his bank account.
He has the fourth-highest salary among college football coaches after Nick Saban, Mack Brown, and Bob Stoops. Following him are Les Miles and naturally, Kirk Ferentz.
Of the eight highest-paid coaches, four are from the SEC, which is not at all shocking, though one of them is Gene Chizik, which means the only way he can earn that $3.5 million is if Auburn takes down Alabama and spares us all another Bama national championship.
STEP RIGHT UP. Soon after landing his first commitment for the class of 2014, Thad Matta got his second in four-star forward Jae'Sean Tate:
Matta's current team is now up to #3 in the rankings after winning the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic this past weekend. But Matta is the first to say, "We've got a long way to go" because as Jeff Goodman pointed out, Ohio State needs other players besides Deshaun Thomas and Aaron Craft to step up:
The hope is that this team picks up another scoring option along the way, whether it's the athletic Thompson or the long and skilled Ross. That Smith becomes more consistent and Ravenel and Williams can be a solid duo in the middle. Then this team can be dangerous again come March. But for now, the Buckeyes aren't going to overwhelm you. Craft will continue to take care of the ball (he only has three turnovers in three games), execute on the offensive end, provide leadership and also set the tone defensively.
Starting next week, the schedule will get tougher and as great as those two have been, it can't just be the Craft & Thomas show all season long.
THROUGH THE TIMELESS GORGE OF CHANGES. For those of you, like me, who are in TL; DR mode with expansion talk, Teddy Greenstein put together and a nice and simple Q&A. Just as we knew when Nebraska joined the conference, the Big Ten will eventually include 16 teams, but at this point, who knows which schools will be added and when. It's not like most of us were predicting Maryland and Rutgers to be numbers 13 and 14.
Because AAU status is a high priority for Big Ten membership, it's likely that, unless Notre Dame finally caves, the next two will be on that list. Georgia Tech and North Carolina are two schools that have been speculated about, though my childhood self, the one who was really into The Baby-sitter's Club books, would get a kick out of Stony Brook hopping on the B1G train.
So why did Maryland agree to the Big Ten marriage? Money. It had to cut several sports like tennis, swimming, cross-country, and acrobatics (!?) that can now be reinstated.
And why did the Big Ten want Maryland (and Rutgers)? TV markets on the East Coast = Ka-ching:
The bottom line is that News Corp. could try to bundle BTN with YES to get BTN distributed in New York. BTN already contributes about $6 million a year to each Big Ten school, and analysts estimate that with Maryland and Rutgers, the Big Ten could see a $100 million-plus per year boost in subscriber fees.
Delany's proven to be a savvy businessman, and there are obvious pros and cons to the move. The college football landscape has changed, and like any change, it can be exciting, scary, and nauseating all at once. But like Jason said yesterday, I'm willing to wait and see how it all unfolds2 until I pass my final judgment on the matter.
While Delany claims there's been no decision about the Leaders and Legends divisions, I'm not entirely optimistic that we'll finally see East and West divisions, though it would make these recent developments a lot easier for many fans to swallow.
HELMET CLICKERS. Ohio State-Michigan ticket prices are on the rise... Big Ten beverages... This bush league psyche-out stuff. Laughable, man... Jerry Kill responds to A.J. Barker, may or may not treat his daughters nicely... Butler tops former Ohio State non-opponent Marquette thanks to this buzzer beater... The Texas basketball team was defeated by either a female rapper or a champagne/lemonade cocktail... Restoring the Back to the Future DeLorean... A guide to Thanksgiving TV marathons.
- 1 It's still possible for Michigan to receive a totally undeserving at-large BCS bid for the second year in a row. ↑
- 2A headline when Penn State joined the Big Ten. ↑
