So. The Nebraska game did not go according to plan.
Two weeks ago, Ohio State men's basketball was ranked third and heading into a clash of top five teams. Subsequent losses to Michigan State, Iowa, and Minnesota were disappointing, but at least things would get back on track against downtrodden Nebraska.
That did not happen. Instead, Ohio State turned in a dismal performance and was the recipient of the lamest court storming of the season. The four-game losing streak is the program's first since 2007-2008, and the loss to Nebraska is the first since 1985.
The Buckeyes can take some solace in coming back from a 14 point deficit to make the second half a dogfight – more of a slugfight, really – before sagging in the final minutes. Maybe the most gut-punching fact: at 2-4 in Big Ten play, Ohio State is tied in the conference standings with Northwestern.
Because of the slump, there is some degree of panic. In responses to questions about what's wrong with the team, Craft said he didn't know and, “we have to figure this out. I think we will. Sooner rather than later, hopefully.” Coming from a senior captain who has regressed in Big Ten play, that's not the most reassuring statement.
Thad Matta blamed a lack of resilience for the loss, saying, "We don't have the mental toughness to make the next play. We're clinging on the mistakes. We've got to play forward." In response to a question about how much of a difference it would be if players just made shots, Matta quipped, "I'd probably be a happier man up here right now."
Meanwhile, it might be time to stop slagging on Nebrasketball, which filled brand new Pinnacle Bank Arena with 15,342 people for the second largest crowd in school history. After a drop-off from the previous coach in his first year, Nebraska under coach Tim Miles has shown steady improvement in years two and three. And even after the loss, it's hard to get mad at a guy willing to take a blurry selfie with fans.
At 15-4, Ohio State is in line for a middling NCAA seed, and thanks to what Creighton did to Villanova in a higher profile game at the same time, the Buckeyes will receive less national scorn for the loss. This is not 1998, where the Buckeyes lost seventeen games in a row. The sky is not falling.
TAYLOR SIGNS ON. Let's turn to a more heartening subject: football. The top story outside of the Nebraska game was OL Brady Taylor from Bishop Ready committing to Ohio State football’s 2014 recruiting class. You can see our coverage of his announcement here, along with his highlight tape.
Like many Columbus high schoolers, Taylor had strong affection for Ohio State; to receive a committable offer and then commit two weeks before NLI Day makes that day less stressful. Taylor was a Virginia Tech commit before he switched; if he’s game ready as a true freshman (admittedly unlikely), that'd be a fun storyline this fall.
Ohio State’s 22-man recruiting class is pretty tight for space now; Solomon Thomas and Mike Gesicki are out of the picture, leaving fewer targets and options.
Ed Warinner left one of his understated messages in celebration, while Taylor chose to celebrate the announcement with his family:
WEIGHING IN. Yesterday was Senior Bowl weigh-in day, and it featured all the things people love about the Senior Bowl: weights, heights, pounds, inches, and queues. Feel the excitement!
Jack Mewhort was the lone Ohio State representative, measuring at 6'5 5/8" and 306 pounds, a bit smaller than Ohio State's official listing of 6’7” and 308 pounds. That's still decent size for Mewhort, though an extra couple of inches would have helped him to be the prototypical offensive tackle size. He also measured as having 33" arms and 10 1/8" hands, about average for offensive linemen.
Carlos Hyde skipped the Senior Bowl, which some draft people thought was a bad decision. In particular, former Browns GM Phil Savage thought Hyde could have helped himself if he interviewed with teams and gave a solid explanation of the summer incident that cost him three games of his senior season.
That may be the case. Or, maybe Hyde is satisfied with being projected to go 26th overall to the Cleveland Browns and he prefers not to be treated like chattel on the stage.
A FAREWELL TO PATS. Kickers have become marginalized over the years as teams have become more willing to go for fourth downs and pass up field goals, and the placekicker may become even less relevant if the NFL is exploring eliminating the extra point:
“The extra point is almost automatic," Goodell said. "I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd (attempts). So it's a very small fraction of the play, and you want to add excitement with every play.
"There's one proposal in particular that I've heard about," Goodell went on. "It's automatic that you get seven points when you score a touchdown, but you could potentially go for an eighth point, either by running or passing the ball, so if you fail, you go back to six."
The NFL has a 99.1% success rate for PATs, making extra points sort of a time waste. Hypothetically, ditching extra points could cut down game time significantly. With no extra point, TV stations can go directly to commercial break after a score and officials can review the play during the break.
Well-intentioned as the change may be, this seems about as plausible as the suggestion of eliminating kickoffs from a couple years ago by Goodell and Greg Schiano. At the college level, where kickers make 96-97% of extra points, the extra point is not so automatic. It’s probably a non-starter as well in high schools as well.
However, if the league goes through with this experiment, it will edge ever closer to the platonic ideal of football, NFL Blitz. Bring on 1st and 30 and infinite forward passes.
LINKS AHOY. Richard Sherman is a student of the game… Online funding provides for the Jamaican bobsled team’s Olympics run... Esteemed OL coach Herb Hand is headed to Penn State... An impressive assortment of SLAM Magazine photos... Consumer costs of the SEC Network... There's no undoing Rutgers now... Signature coach dancing moves... Mike Zimmer departs from Cincinnati for the Minnesota Vikings... Hell yes, Katzinger’s is coming to North Market… Peculiarities of jumping in video games… oh, no.
