Today's Skull Session will give you some items to ponder this morning as you begin your workday. Just make sure to at least look like you are hard at work so the boss man doesn't stop by your cubicle and ask "whhhhhhat's happening." in a manner that is more a surprise introduction than an honest question.
Really, I think we all work for Lumbergh.
NEW DEPTH CHART RELEASED. Ohio State released its depth chart for the California game around 6 p.m. yesterday. Much of it conforms to what we could have anticipated from the depth chart, and, indeed, resembles last week's depth chart. There are a few important points to highlight from the depth chart.
Braxton Miller's position as starting quarterback was not changed from the last depth chart to this one. The injury that ended his day seven plays into the game against San Diego State did not bump Miller down the quarterback depth chart as an "OR" with Kenny Guiton. Meyer remains optimistic that Miller will be ready to go come kickoff in Berkeley.
The other injury concern is Adolphus Washington, Ohio State's starting strongside defensive end who left last week's game in the first half with a "lower body injury". We now know it was a groin injury. "Day to day", he is still Ohio State's starting strongside defensive end. True freshman Joey Bosa is still listed behind him on the depth chart, though Bosa plays both inside and outside.
The other item of interest from Ohio State's depth chart concerns Bradley Roby. Roby is now officially the starting cornerback over Armani Reeves.
FIRST ITEM IN SI'S OKLAHOMA STATE REPORT DROPS. Sports Illustrated recently teased an expose on Oklahoma State football, jointly investigated by Thayer Evans and George Dohrmann. Both are trolls, and arguably Evans is the greater troll than Dohrmann. For those unaware, Evans is as much a loud Oklahoma homer with a national media platform as Skip Bayless. That he is going knives out against Oklahoma's in-state rival is expected. Ohio State fans may recall George Dohrmann writing the headline to a Jim Tressel expose before actually researching it.
That, or Dohrmann measures depth of oceans in "rigged raffles" in lieu of fathoms.
Nonetheless, their five-part expose makes some serious allegations against Oklahoma State, and not just under Les Miles, who we previously assumed would be implicated very heavily in this expose. The allegations extend to 2011, putting Mike Gundy in a uncomfortable situation.
The first item that was released to the public at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, detailing allegations of monetary incentives for player performance, among other things. Here is a sample.
The amount paid for a specific play was not always the same. For Girtman, quarterback hurries were worth $50, a tackle between $75 to $100 and a sack from $200 to $250. Echoing his teammates' claim, Girtman says the rates were told to him by assistant Joe DeForest, who ran the special teams and secondary under coach Les Miles from 2001 to '04, and was the associate head coach, special teams coordinator and safeties coach under current coach Mike Gundy from 2005 to '11.
[...]
Linebacker-defensive end Rodrick Johnson (2004 to '07) told SI it was openly discussed among teammates that DeForest set rewards of between $100 to $500 for a big play on special teams. Cornerback-wide receiver Chris Wright (2001 to '03) says he saw DeForest hand stacks of bills to certain players. "It depends on who the player was, how many yards they ran for, how many catches they made, how many touchdowns they scored, how many tackles," says Wright, who says he did not take money. "It all depends on performance."
There is much more to the story, including allegations of no-show and sham jobs (i.e. free money). That much is just a sample.
The aforementioned assistant coach is currently an assistant coach at West Virginia. To be honest, I was expecting to hear T. Boone Pickens' name mentioned in this story as a booster supplying cash to players. However, he comes up clean in their expose.
You are free to draw your own conclusions. I am just relieved that George Dohrmann finally penned his great OSU expose, if just not the OSU he imagined two years ago.
Oklahoma State University has set up this "response" website, which is very ambitious for a university administration that must have a high level of confidence in A) its institutional innocence, B) its inability to have anything stick to it, or C) its ability to bluff when staring down the barrel of a gun.
I do have one parting comment, namely inquiring just where in the dickens these sentiments were two years ago...
Take the safety, son. 125 FBS TEAMS, RANKED. Matt Hinton, a well-known sportswriter most commonly associated with his time on the Dr. Saturday blog, released his second ranking of all 125 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. In most cases, he provided commentary. Ohio State registers at no. 8 on his rankings, the highest ranked Big Ten team.
8. OHIO STATE (2–0). Headliner Braxton Miller may or may not play this weekend after spraining his MCL against San Diego State, but frankly the Buckeyes would be favored to win every game on their schedule even if Miller fails to take another snap all season. And yes, that says as much about the schedule as it does about the Buckeyes.
The comment about Ohio State's scheduling is fair. Vanderbilt did us no favors, but then neither did California, or Ohio State, for that matter, in scheduling Florida A&M. Oh well.
Michigan is the next highest ranked Big Ten team at no. 11.
11. MICHIGAN (2–0). Quarterback Devin Gardner was so good in the Wolverines' win over Notre Dame that he gets a mulligan for attempting the worst pass I've ever seen. Otherwise he was fantastic. I am really rooting for Gardner to emerge as a bona fide star whose reliably flawless performances are punctuated by one equally reliable, jaw-dropping gaffe per game.
After Michigan, Northwestern makes an appearance at no. 17. I share in his praise of Northwestern's non-conference scheduling.
17. NORTHWESTERN (2–0). I like Northwestern's approach to non-conference scheduling, which involves seeking out the most Northwestern-like opponents from other major conferences (Cal, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Boston College) in the hopes of finding teams the Wildcats can beat with regularity without completely tanking the strength of schedule. It's working: Saturday's win over Syracuse was Northwestern's seventh in a row outside of Big Ten play, and although none of those wins have come at the expense of a ranked team, only one has come against a cupcake from outside the "Big Six" BCS leagues.
It tapers from there. Purdue (no. 92) is the lowest ranked team in the Big Ten, and deservedly so.
MISCELLANY. The United States' Mens National Team beat El Tri in Crew Stadium in Columbus last night. USA #1... Follow the new 11W intern, @jbrandon11w, on Twitter... Things are probably fine at USC. Probably fine... Illini and football legend Dick Butkus stops by BTN... Chris Brown (of Smart Football) breaks down the Alabama-A&M game this Saturday... CBS has a "Johnny Cam" for the game against Alabama, just in case you didn't already think everything was becoming unbearable... Jason Whitlock dumps on Thayer Evans, which, well consider the source, I guess... What in the sam hell happened to Sammy Sosa... Ndamukong Suh got fined enough for some person's law school education, the largest such fine for an on-field incident in NFL history... New York Liberty honor Ohio State basketball legend Katie Smith for her final home game... Arizona State had an "entrance malfunction"... Massachussetts, that team for which we are suppose to praise Wisconsin for shutting out in addition to shutting out a meek by FCS standards Tennessee Tech team, is arguably the worst team in the country per S&P+... Hahaha... Purdue defensive back Landon Feichter is the most unlucky person... I really wish I still played video games...
