Tuesday Skull Session

Folks… it’s not often I write something like this, but words are tough for me to conjure at the moment. It’s as Charles Dickens wrote in his famous opening of A Tale of Two Cities: “Sports are extremely good, but they’re also extremely bad.”

Last night was an extremely bad sports night.

In the midst of another putrid offensive performance from the Almighty Cleveland Browns, we received the news that Braxton Miller had re-injured his throwing shoulder, and could be out for the season.

Eleven Warriors’ Patrick Maks was able to confirm Braxton will undergo an MRI this morning, and let’s not kid ourselves, that MRI will be a bit of a crystal ball into the Buckeyes’ 2014 title hopes. I want to hope for the best, but the bunker mentality taken by those close to the program has me expecting the worst.

Braxton could still be ready for Navy, or the dynamo could be shelved for the whole season. Because I always expect the worst, I’ve already written off the Ohio State legend contributing to the 2014 campaign.

I hope I am wrong. PLEASE, BASED WOODY HAYES: LET ME BE WRONG.

HOW SOME BUCKEYES HANDLED THE NEWS: As news of Miller's injury spread through the internet, some Buckeyes – past and present – took to Twitter to voice their opinions and support.

With Barrett or Jones running the show, Hermann/Meyer are going to have the most creative playbook in the country to move the ball.

— Jonathan Thoma (@JonThoma) August 19, 2014

Love my team. They're my family.

— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) August 19, 2014

thought our fans were loyal smh . keep the negativity away

— Lil Tre 2 (@treydayy_) August 19, 2014

@971thefan: Dispatch reporter Tim May reports Braxton Miller reinjured his shoulder during practice. http://t.co/2WNDcZZHrN I need a drink

— Bobby Carpenter (@Bcarp3) August 19, 2014

The Man does not make mistakes. He knows exactly what He is doing. He has a tremendous plan in place for all of us. Stay steady in the boat.

— Stan Drayton (@OSUcoachDrayton) August 19, 2014

Medical redshirt? Are you drunk people? He was almost out the door last year!

— Matt Finkes (@MattFinkes) August 19, 2014

Keep your head up homie @BraxtonMiller5

— Carlos Hyde (@elguapo) August 19, 2014

how do you delete twitter ?

— Lil Tre 2 (@treydayy_) August 19, 2014

Keep fighting on

— Johnnie Dixon (@MakeHistory_JD) August 19, 2014

Adversity causes some men to break and others to break records #quicknugget

— DREAM14 #10 (@JayHolmes_) August 19, 2014

The mission remains the same

— D Lee (@DLeeMG8) August 19, 2014

Fingers crossed. #Buckeyes

— robert smith (@ESPNRobertSmith) August 19, 2014

Who God bless, no man can curse

— GO HOME ROGER (@Cantguardmike) August 19, 2014

… WHAT DID Y’ALL DO TO DONTRE? I swear, I will tear the offenders limb from limb (on the internet, via Twitter).

SO WHO IS J.T. BARRETT? Over the weekend, Urban Meyer declared redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett the No. 2 quarterback, with a "slight lead" over sophomore Cardale Jones. Up until last night, that talk was only part of a contingency plan.

So what does Ohio State have in the Wichita Falls, Texas, product?

Here's Tom Herman on why Barrett supplanted Jones on the depth chart:

“The offense moves better when he’s in there,” Herman said. “And you can throw all the completion percentages and everything else in there, too. He’s completing more balls and making more of the right reads in the passing game and more of the right reads in the running game. But at the end of the day, the offense moves better when he’s in. And sometimes it doesn’t as much (when Jones is in).

“Not that Cardale is doing a bad job, but the offense moves more frequently when J.T. is the quarterback and that’s the sign of a good one.”

A source close to the program tells Eleven Warriors that while Barrett might lack the explosiveness of Terrelle Pryor and Braxton Miller, he's light years ahead of where those two were on the quarterback timeline when they were his age.

And I suppose the silver lining is Barrett has two weeks to get his mind right. At least the call isn't coming in the fourth quarter of the game in East Lansing.

In the meantime, hopefully Urban has mastered his quarterback's name:

At his Saturday press conference, Urban Meyer called J.T. Barrett "J.T. Barnett." I'm guessing he'll know his name sooner rather than later.

— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) August 19, 2014

MIKE THOMAS IS SWOLL. Braxton Miller may be out, but Ohio State will have its weapons.

Mike Thomas is one of them and he appears ready for football season:

Give him the damn ball. Josh Gordon led the NFL in receiving yards while playing 14 games with a Brandon Weeden/Brian Hoyer/Jason Campbell “triumvirate” at quarterback. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

Ditto for Devan Bogard:

BE THANKFUL. Sure, Ohio State’s Heisman Trophy-hopeful could be sidelined for the season, but I’d rather watch Cardale Jones or JT Barrett than Devin Gardner.

And at least Ohio State won’t be wearing these abominations:

Nebraska's red alternate uni, to be worn 9/27 vs. Illinois. pic.twitter.com/HwQn6sVVln

— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) August 19, 2014

Good lord, ADIDAS. Take a walk.

THOSE WMDs: Chris Ash: "We've seen a ton of improvement. The guys have bought in.”... Five-star 2015 RB Damien Harris says Kentucky is recruiting him the hardest… This, too, is how I guard my Papa Johns… Look at the fruits of Ramzy’s missionary labors… Elaborate floor plans from pre-WWI NYC apartments.