THE SITUATIONAL: Omertà

The crowd increased by nearly 20,000 souls between Tulsa and Akron, as time put a little more healing space between us and the Oregon game – we are notoriously bad at handling losses. But also, our in-state visitors arrived from just two hours away, with traffic. Tulsa was never going to put enough butts on benches.

We like feel-good stories, and the home team obliged with 59 unanswered points; a dance number typically reserved for bigger stages with higher stakes. The Buckeyes even trotted out their 3rd string quarterback for old time's sake. On the field, it was warm and fuzzy.

Big stadium-havers make a big deal about attendance. It isn't worth getting into a twist over.

An hour until kick this week. And hour until kick last week. pic.twitter.com/hXwBhYULVD

— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) September 25, 2021

That's Penn State hosting Villanova at noon vs. Penn State hosting Auburn at night. Normal stuff.

Speaking of 180 degrees from normal, on the sideline a senior quit the team in the middle of the damn game and abruptly became a former player. That wasn't part of the planned entertainment, and if you think we're just going to compartmentalize that and move on - well, welcome to the fan base, newbie. We are known for not moving on from anything quickly.

We can blame the Tulsa attendance on Tulsa – that's out of the way. Ohio State will have to handle its next crisis as emphatically as it handled Akron on Saturday night.

Welcome back, thirsty comrades! Let's get Situational.

OPENING: REAL LIFE SATURDAYS

C.J. Barnett escorts K'Vaughan Pope out of Ohio Stadium during Saturday night's game with Akron.

K'Vaughan Pope, like every 4-star recruit who signs up for the Ohio State football value proposition, believed he was destined for holistic greatness followed by generational wealth.

It's a fair aspiration. The fourth-best player in Virginia had offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, and Florida State. Pope signed his letter of intent for Ohio State in December of his senior year in high school. He worked and waited a long time for...this.

He registered statistics in just 11 games, and now it's all over. His Buckeye legacy is both past-tense and unfulfilled. That's a shame, because as much as he believed in the path from Columbus to the NFL through elite training and development, what closed him on Ohio State over his other opportunities was the stuff that comes after football is over:

Three years of participation in Ohio State's RLW program gave him face time with chief executives and other leaders from various industries. Those types generally deliver a sanitized, boilerplate message in front of large groups, which means Pope was exposed to the 50,000-ft view of the business of business. The real-life details are hard to see from that altitude.

What he missed – or failed to see entering his fourth year of undergrad – is that unfairness is a pandemic the vast majority of us will never escape. Pope began in Bill Davis' position group and finished in Al Washington's. He had two managers in four years. That's real life.

His collegiate career started with Greg Schiano's and Alex Grinch's defense, which became Greg Mattison's and Jeff Hafley's defense – and is now Kerry Coombs' and Matt Barnes' defense. His division had six vice presidents in four years. VPs tend to bring their own philosophies to the business, forcing everyone to pivot so they can make their mark.

That's not crazy, either. Attrition and succession planning are eternal in business and real life.

Pope signed with Urban Meyer and exited the program under Ryan Day. CEOs change all the time. It's easy to assume Pope believed he should have been playing more than he was, which also makes it easy to suggest he had problems with his boss. Oh, you're the guy who thinks he was unfairly passed over for a promotion? Buddy, the line forms to the left and circles the globe.

Those problems festered – probably for years – until Pope allowed them to boil over. This was a classic CLM. They happen every single day, just usually not on national television. The football program does not forgive such public disparagement of what Ohio State calls the sacred brotherhood.

Other large and prominent families refer to this as omertà. Swift termination always follows.

What Pope failed to see is that unfairness is a pandemic the vast majority of us will never escape.

Pope is a now a cautionary tale that Buckeye fans can use to either fight each other on message boards, choosing a side in the Linebacker Evaluation vs. Linebacker Development wars or – for your consideration – maybe learn from. Having problems with your boss? You think she/he sucks? Put as much energy as you can muster into managing up more effectively.

Lean into diagnosing and addressing what is setting you back instead of allowing your body to feast on the delicious cortisol that comes with blaming others for your problems. A new hire transfers in from another department and immediately gets preferential treatment? See if there's something you can do or should have been doing, since you think that should have been you.

And once you exhaust every element within your control, you document your measurable successes, update your resumé, line up your references and hit the transfer portal with dignity for opportunities more befitting of your abilities and aspirations. Leave every bridge intact. Carnage isn't rewarded in real life. It's discouraged, actually.

Don't allow one moment of poorly-managed frustration to become the first eight pages of results when your name is googled. If you're 22 or 62, learn from how Pope handled his situation, remember the fallout and then continue learning – because while school eventually ends, education never does. That's real life. Pope's journey was the realest Real Life Wednesday lesson in RLW's history.

As far as the linebackers go, my eyes tell me Steele Chambers, Teradja Mitchell and Cody Simon are the three best guys the Buckeyes have by a significant margin – as in, I don't know or care who the fourth-best guy is because right now there's an abyss between them and everyone else, probably including the two seniors now in the transfer portal.

And that can't be a player problem. It's a management issue. The chief executive handles those.

INTERMISSION: THE SOLO

We honor Jim Steinman every time we exploit the superior acoustics in our bathrooms.

Back in 1982 he wrote a couple of power ballads that would eventually be sung in showers around the world. The first was Making Love Out of Nothing at All, which ended up with Air Supply. That song peaked at No.2 on the charts, unable to knock Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart out of the top position.

That was Steinman's other power ballad. Meat Loaf passed on it first, which was unexpected considering Steinman had written Loaf's timeless banger about having sex in cars five years earlier. So it went to Tyler, and the rest is history.

Steinman's legacy is syrupy rock operas that made a ton of money and belong to The People, on karaoke stages and in our bathrooms. Eclipse features a multi-synthesizer mid-song solo.

Let's answer our two questions.

Are the soloists in this video actually playing the synthesizers?

This is one where we can't just skip over the rest of the band. Rick Derringer of The McCoys (responsible for another song you've sung in the shower, in public and at church) is on guitar. Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg from the E Street Band are on piano and drums, respectively.

The dude singing the turn arouuuund part is the voice of the Hungry Hungry Hippos commercial, an underrated banger you should also sing in the shower. That brings us to Larry Fast on the organ synth, with Steve Margoshes providing dramatic thunder sound effects on another synth. However, only Tyler and creepy ghost child actors with birds appear in the video. VERDICT: Inconclusive.

Do these synthesizer solos slap?

The solos (technically, a duet) understandably get cut from everyone's shower version, but from a karaoke standpoint 16 frames of lyric-less thunderclaps is an awkward disaster. The Dan Band's version eliminated it entirely, which tells you exactly how important it is to the song. They also covered Making Love Out of Nothing at All, which you now know is Eclipse's slightly less-but-still-successful cousin.

Thanks, Jim. RIP. Thanks, Bonnie. Thanks, Hungry Hungry Hippos guy. VERDICT: Does not slap.

THE BOURBON

There is a bourbon for every situation. Sometimes the spirits and the events overlap, which means that where bourbon is concerned there can be more than one worthy choice.

Last season I got really excited about Penelope releasing a rosé cask finish bourbon because, well, it was 2020 and we desperately needed reasons to be excited.

Penelope bourbon. New Jersey sent its best.

The limited release coincided with our limited release football season. That was a slam-dunk Situational Bourbon. Sometimes you don't have to think too hard.

When I reviewed it I was relying on samples from the distillery. I'm happy to report no issues in finding it in any liquor store near me, and it's readily available online. I shipped a bottle to Kevin Harrish this morning (Kevin, hi buddy <3 ).

The Buckeyes travel to New Jersey this weekend, which is where Penelope was first conceived (it's one of mannnnny bourbons distilled at MGP in Lawrenceburg, IN). The rosé cask-finish is superb, but in terms of volume - I probably go through a bottle of the flagship product every month. That's what's GIF'd here.

For my palate, it's simply the most agreeable, versatile, affordable and interesting smaller format bourbon going today. If you trust mash bills more than opinions, flagship Penelope goes 75/15/7/3 corn/wheat/rye/barley which you learned in earlier episodes should deliver sweet/smooth/heat/aroma in that order (reader, it does).

Penelope is sweet summer corn, honey and vanilla. Suitable by itself or in a proper cocktail.

CLOSING: GAP YEAR

Jameson Williams (6) celebrates with Tyreke Johnson (13) during the 2021 Sugar Bowl. | © Russell Costanza USAT Sports

The photo above was taken shortly after Jameson Williams scored his knife-twister against Clemson back in January. Jamo isn't quite Joe Burrowing at Alabama, but he's not exactly stuck behind anyone on the depth chart there either.

Tyreke Johnson is a Nebraska Cornhusker. Tyler Friday is injured, Jaylen Harris is no longer with the team and neither is Roen McCullough. Those guys are all pictured above, earlier this year. None of them are playing for the Buckeyes currently.

They represent multiple recruiting classes, but here is how I've graded Ohio State's 2018 class entering its fourth and Expected Leadership year, keeping in mind that each recruit comes with his own set of unique expectations:

On its face, it's a disappointing return on a recruiting class. You would like to see more guys in the far left column, especially since Supreme '18 was touted as the best in program history. NPF was supposed to be awesome and is somehow even better. Olave was a Three-Star Recruit™; Jim Tressel beams with delight.

Overall, it feels like a bust. But that's only part of the reason. The other part is what preceded that class, and how it turned/is turning out:

Ohio State's 2017 recruiting class was nothing short of phenomenal, even accounting for the stars that burned out. That class matriculating out of its eligibility window is a loss that can only be mitigated through recruiting – and now – effective transfer portal management.

What you're seeing now is the result. Sometimes the incoming class of four years earlier upgrades everything. Other times, it takes a step back. Improving upon the 2017 class was next to impossible.

RELATED The Situational Whiskey Cellar

It's still premature to grade 2019 onward, and holding every recruit to a TreVeyon Henderson performance standard is a recipe for disappointment. But it does go to show that recruiting classes are kind of like bourbon. They should be carefully aged two to three years – at least – prior to being judged. Definitely before they're deemed the best ever.

Thanks for getting Situational today. Go Bucks. Beat Rutgers. Take care of each other.