Happy Presidents' Day to all the U.S. Presidents out there, especially to Marion's Warren G. Harding, my former 11W colleague and 29th President of the United States who stands head and shoulders above all other presidents.
I also would like to shoutout T.J. from Boston, an Ohio State fan I met at Chris' wedding this weekend. Boston accents are as real as they are amazing. (The only time I've had accent is when I lived in Montana and people assumed I was from the South.)
Anti-shoutout to hangovers, though. I took a nap after dinner at 7 p.m. and woke up at 1 a.m. with nothing written. This is why I couldn't hack it in corporate America.
THE PERKS OF TOUGH SCHEDULING. If you haven't looked, the 2016 schedule (on paper) is a step above the 2015 schedule in almost every comparable statistic and even includes another season-ending double of Michigan State and its scrappy little brother.
While it's a schedule that will test the young Buckeyes early (hello, Norman, Oklahoma!) it's one the Buckeyes would've been better served playing last year.
From cleveland.com:
The schedule Ohio State will face in 2016 is significantly more difficult in every way than the 2015 schedule. It's a schedule that ideally the Buckeyes would flip-flop with last year.
The bored, at times overly confident veteran team of 2015 could have used national title contender Oklahoma early on and more challenges in the Big Ten. That team could have won those games, or the tougher schedule would have allowed one loss to not eliminate the Buckeyes from the playoff picture. Either way, the Buckeyes would have been more prepared for the Michigan State game in week 11 than they were after such a lousy run of opponents.
The young, developing team of 2016 could have used a 10-game start to the season that didn't include a top 25 team, as was the case last year. Instead, a team replacing 16 starters will face four teams that won at least 10 games last year before getting to the Spartans and Wolverines. If the Buckeyes are slow to come together, they could have multiple losses before that big November finish.
This is why I believe schools shouldn't schedule big OOC games a decade in advance. YOU JUST NEVER KNOW. Sure, a Labor Day night game in Lane Stadium got the dopamine flowing, but the Sept. 12 (Hawai'i) to Nov. 14 (Illinois) stretch was walking-barefoot-on-glass brutal.
Despite the lack of murderers, expectations affected the team. How so? Here's Joey Bosa in December:
“It just seems like nothing is ever good enough unless you’re beating teams by 50 points. You win by 20 and it was a bad week. That was a struggle for us, because you never feel like you’re good enough. It’s hard when your own fan base is getting after you for being what, 10-0? And they still weren’t happy. We won [23] games in a row.”
While only an idiot would be unhappy with a 23 game win streak, Buckeyes fans did rue offensive performances that showed the cracks that culminated in a loss to an inferior Michigan State team. I don't think that's fans' fault.
Alas, I welcome the 2016 schedule because it means the Buckeyes could easily survive a loss to Oklahoma and still make the playoffs. I'll never root for an Ohio State loss, but if you look at the the effect of early-season losses in Meyer's career, well...
VEST VS. URBAN, WHO WAS MORE DOMINANT? If asked who was more dominant, I assume most fans would pick Urban Meyer over Jim Tressel. BUT WHAT DOES SCIENCE SAY?
From landgrantholyland.com:
The first takeaway we see here is the relatively small amount of games against ranked opponents that Meyer has had compared to Tressel. This is not Meyer's fault, but unfortunately the out of conference gems that used to include Texas and USC were switched out for Virginia Tech and California, who have both drastically fallen from their early to mid-2000s heights, when the games were originally scheduled.
Overall Meyer has played 26 percent of his games against ranked opponents, whereas Tressel played 38 percent of his games against ranked squads. The margins of victory point in Meyer's favor, but there is one little thing called an outlier [the 2014 Big Ten championship] that may not be telling us the full story.
[...]
With that said, if you take away this one incredible win over Wisconsin, Meyer's margin of victory over ranked teams becomes ... 13.40. Or, exactly .01 away from Tressel. Coupling this with Meyer and Tressel's near identical margin of victory over unranked opponents leads me to conclude that these two great Ohio State coaches were equally adept in beating their opponents by multiple touchdowns on average. Maybe Meyer has done so with more flare, but the point remains the same: Meyer and Tressel, on average, have beaten ranked and unranked opponents by the same amount. Even if you don't want to remove Wisconsin from the equation, we are still looking at near identical margins of victory over unranked opponents, which I'm guessing most Buckeyes fans wouldn't assume (I know I didn't).
Wild to see Tresselball standing the test of time against Meyer's touchdown-and-awe offense.
Given the evolution of the game, we may never see one like Tressel ever again.
PACE: THE NEXT JORDAN? I believe the snowballing of small, everyday decisions eventually plays a bigger role in people's lives than the things we consider monumental at the time.
Orlando Pace may be the exception to the rule.
In a (non-embeddable) interview along side Brett Favre with nfl.com, Pace said there was a time in his life where he wanted to be the next Michael Jordan. (If you think that image is comical, Favre said he used to dream of being the next Doctor J.)
An unnamed person eventually righted Pace's course. It's a shame Pace didn't single this hero, otherwise I would've sent them a thank you note for their divine intervention.
Pace also admitted to disappointment in not being a first-ballot Hall of Famer but went on to add when he looked at the 2015 class there wasn't a name he thought he deserved enshrinement over.
Just more proof good things come to those who wait (unless you're waiting for your chance to rush the quarterback against Pace).
R.I.P. BRAXTON? I love the Cleveland Browns, because I hate myself and think I'm unworthy of love. Like anyone in an abusive relationship, I'm looking past my partner's criminality and onto better days that, in the nether regions of my psyche, I know are unlikely to ever arrive.
Still, I can't sign off on the Browns drafting anybody from the football factory two hours and 20 minutes down I-71 without on-the-field results.
From cleveland.com:
Hey, Mary Kay: Will the Browns look at adding Braxton Miller in the draft?
-- Jake Sherman, Oak Grove, Ky.
Hey Jake: Miller had an excellent Senior Bowl two weeks and scouts I talked to were really excited about him as they left Mobile, Ala. Browns coach Hue Jackson was impressed with Miller during the three days of practices he watched, and I'm sure the Browns will consider drafting him. It just depends on where they have him ranked as the draft rolls around. I've been told he can climb into the late first round with a good 40 time at the NFL Combine or his pro day. The Browns have the No. 32 overall pick and might consider him there.
I could see the Browns poaching Miller at No. 32, if he "falls" there. I can also see Miller shaking his head in disgust as Josh McCown's mangled corpse heaves a 3rd-and-5 slant pass three feet over his head in the middle of a 4-12 campaign.
WELL THAT'S AWKWARD. It seems Stacy "The Ambassador" Elliott's #brand has lost some value among Missouri Tiger football fans:
Just met my nephew! His mom found my jersey at Goodwill in Columbia! Guess the Mizzou fan was mad! #MizzouMade! pic.twitter.com/ILIAmMdRkR
— Ambassador Elliott (@stacy_elliott) February 14, 2016
I hope we never see a framed #15 ELLIOTT at an Ohio Goodwill!
— Momma, Mom & Mommy (@itz_mizdee) February 14, 2016
If I ever became stupid rich (Warren G. Harding help this country if it's ever dumb enough to let that happen), I'd make a habit out of incognito donating priceless artifacts to Goodwill.
Until that happens, well, I don't think the Elliotts have to worry about Zeke's #brand among Buckeye fans for the rest of their lives.
THOSE WMDs. Dogs over drones: The best way to catch rhino poachers... With sexual assault lawsuit, Tennessee has a lot of explaining to do... The movement to keep kids missing... How five different creatures flap their wings... Gravitational waves exist: How scientists found them.
