Do y'all smell that? It's the sensual, buttery smell of Marion, Ohio's Popcorn Festival. Easily the best festival America has to offer.
ICYMI:
- NFL upholds Ezekiel Elliott six-game suspension.
- Depth chart: Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins listed as co-starters.
- AP Top 25: Buckeyes No. 2, Oklahoma No. 5.
- Ohio State to continue with five-man front, despite limited success vs. Indiana.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Ubiquitous.
TATER MAYFIELD. Tate Martell went from Gatorade Offensive Player of the Year to bench warmer who won't play this year unless something goes horribly wrong. Such is life at Ohio State for a quarterback.
But Martell can still help his team, especially this week in preparing for Oklahoma Heisman contender Baker Mayfield.
Martell gives the team a luxury it lacked last season.
From cleveland.com:
"You want to tackle them so bad, and they take advantage of it," Holmes said. "I don't know how they do it. I remember one time I tackled Tate, and he spun out of it it."
[...]
While preparing for the Sooners last year, the Buckeyes didn't have a quarterback who could accurately simulate Mayfield's unpredictability. They had J.T. Barrett and Joe Burrow, who are mobile but don't run around in the backfield the way Mayfield does to extend a play. They had Dwayne Haskins, who'd rather stand tall in the face of pressure and deliver a well-thrown ball.
Mayfield likes to improvise. It's what makes him one of the most dangerous players in the country. He rode that unscripted style to top-five Heisman Trophy finishes the last two years.
Holmes went on to call Mayfield and Martell "twins."
Regardless, Ohio State prepared well enough for Mayfield without Martell's services last season. The extra preparation might not bode well for the Sooners.
MUST-SEE MATCHUP. Indiana offered a stiff test on the road. Oklahoma has even more talent. Here's the best matchup to watch, per CBS draft analyst Dane Brugler:
#Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield and TE/IWR Mark Andrews are the best players at their respective positions that #OhioState will face in 2017.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) September 5, 2017
The Mayfield-to-Andrews connection is the key to OU pulling the upset in Columbus. LB Jerome Baker vs. Andrews will be a must-see match-up.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) September 5, 2017
I wish Ohio State played teams like Oklahoma every week. As fun as it is watching Jerome Baker pinwheel future middle managers, it will be more fun to watch him matchup with a guy as talented as Andrews:
Hoping Malik Harrison gets some snaps in coverage, too.
GLORY TO ALL. Ohio State produces the best hype reels in college football, whether it be in preparation of big games or summer practices.
The genius behind them is Zach Swartz, who confirms what we've long suspected: These videos are aimed at recruits, not fans.
From columbusmonthly.com:
[Ohio State new media director Zach] Swartz says the goal is to keep the clips “as real as possible.” Ultimately, their purpose is for recruiting, showing nervous high-schoolers that practice “isn’t going to be easy all the time.” But that doesn’t mean it’s all yelling and sweating.
Of course, the archives of footage come with “language and certain things” not meant for public consumption, and Swartz and his staff also have fun laughing at the lighter moments of practice, which they try to mix in.
And because not everyone at OSU can be a Heisman Trophy candidate, it’s important for the team to evenly distribute footage around the roster. “You don’t want to just shoot the stars,” Swartz says. “You want to shoot the grinders and the walk-ons and anybody who may need some motivation.”
Cool to see how they focus on everybody from walk-ons to star players. Ohio State needs them all to succeed.
SHAKE THE WORLD, CINCY. We're not Bearcat fans here, this much is known. But we will all ride the Bearcat bandwagon this week as it invades the hostile Faygo jungles due north.
Crazier things have happened than a Cincinnati upset in Michigan Stadium.
From cincinnati.com:
"I've got no doubt in my mind that we can go out and shock the world," senior running back Boone said Tuesday. "We're focused this week. Razor-sharp focus. We just want to come out and execute."
UC (1-0) is a 34 1/2-point underdog to the Wolverines (1-0), who jumped from No. 11 to No. 8 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll. The point spread jumped from 33 points Monday to 34 1/2 on Tuesday, with most of America expecting a cozy Michigan win. Except, of course, those who will don UC red-and-black Saturday.
Not sure Cincinnati has the offensive weapons to go blow for blow with Michigan, but it won't stop me from cheering for them nonetheless. It would be funnier than Baylor losing to something called "Liberty."
DID SOMEBODY SAY EMPIRE? Here is a sweet project that I hope continues through the season and ends with Ohio State staking an empire from coast to coast.
From r/cfb user nbingham196:
What if College Football games were actually battles for land? This map answers this question. The original map is my closest FBS team to every county, but if a team is beaten their land is taken by the team that beat them.
Teams will keep their land until beaten by another team and then all land will be passed to the new winner. For example Oregon State lost to Colorado State in week 0. Colorado State then lost to Colorado in week 1.
Therefore Colorado owns Colorado State's land and Oregon State's land. FCS were are not originally included, but can win their way on to the map like Howard, James Madison, Liberty, and Tennessee State did this week.
So it is written. So it is done.
THOSE WMDs. The Chargers' Yunghoe Koo looks like an instant icon... Small dog, big heart... Where did it go wrong for Sebastian Telfair... Married to a mystery man... The golden age of Oprah.
