Today's Skull Session is dedicated to Richard's Pizza in Fairfield, Ohio. Their World Famous Steak Sandwich with never-frozen dough checks out. Pizza runs numbers, too.
ICYMI:
- This Year in Grievances: It's a miracle the Buckeyes won a game.
- Billy Price: 29th unanimous All-American in university history.
- Video: Urban Meyer and Larry Johnson ecstatic for Tommy Togiai to join the Supreme '18.
- J.K. Dobbins and Parris Campbell compared to Meyer's other 1,000 all-purpose yards performers.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Staid.
CAN I INTEREST YOU IN THE COTTON BALL? Ohio State fans came into 2017 expecting playoffs. Despite a Week 2 loss to Oklahoma and a second to I—[*SORRY, FILE NOT FOUND*]—Buckeye faithful got dragged to the championship altar and abandoned by a guy willing to lie on television for his corporate masters. (In Kirby Hocutt's defense, it's good pay if you can sleep at night.)
The Buckeyes will face preseason playoff favorite USC... albeit in the Cotton Bowl.
Say what you want about the Lone Star State; it's a better December destination than Siberia. USC is a tastier opponent than South Carolina or UFC, too.
Fans looking to make the hajj can do so from anywhere between ~$900 and millions of dollars.
From columbusbizjournals.com:
Buckeyes fans planning to travel to Dallas to watch the Cotton Bowl matchup against the USC Trojans can make the trip for less than $900.
[...]
Tickets to the game will cost an average of $245, the second cheapest of the major bowl games, according to secondary marketplace TickPick. Only the Peach Bowl between Auburn and the University of Central Florida costs less, at $244.
[...]
Hotel rooms around the time of the Dec. 29 game start as low as $42 a night, according to Kayak.com. If you want to stay in a fancy room at the Ritz, you'll spend about $4,000 a night.
If I ever pay $4,000 a night for a hotel room, please seize all my assets and distribute them to the homeless.
Spending $900 is a gambit. Air travel during this time of the year is never a sure thing. Ohio State could lose, leaving you as a soft target for USC's 100 fans to heckle.
The article notes the championship game has an average cost of $3,600. So we saved that money, which is nice. I'm still catching the Cotton Bowl at home.
OHIO STATE AWARE OF DROUGHT. So, you might not know, Ohio State hasn't won a game against USC since Jan. 1, 1975.
That's a long-ass time. Over 16,000 days, if you're scoring at home. The players, for their part, are aware of the drought.
From rivals.com:
There is no shortage of things for Ohio State to play for. For Price, it is many things, from representing the Big Ten conference to the best of his ability to limiting the hype of highly recognized and touted quarterback Sam Darnold. On the historic side of things, he said that it will be a challenge for Ohio State to record its first win against the Pac-12 champion since the 1974 Rose Bowl.
For safety Damon Webb, that is the only storyline he will need heading into the matchup at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“Definitely have to change that,” Webb said.
Steamrolling Clemson and Oklahoma for a national title would have probably led to my retirement from blogging. As a writer, there's no coming down from a euphoric high like that.
Beating USC won't be anywhere near that, but it'll still be a satisfying end to the season.
HUBBARD SEES THE LIGHT. Sam Hubbard, who you might not know once committed to Notre Dame lacrosse, will make one of the biggest mistakes a young man can make in life Sunday by graduating from college.
During his time in Columbus, he excelled in the classroom as much as the football field.
From Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:
"It’s a relief more than anything,” Hubbard said. “I’ve worked so hard to get the grades to keep my GPA up; it’s going to be a relief not to worry about that anymore. That’s the No. 1 thing I wanted to do here, and the fact I got it is a great feeling.”
An academic All-American last season, Hubbard is expected to join at least five teammates — Marcus Baugh, Jamarco Jones, Terry McLaurin, Damon Webb and Chris Worley — in that walk Sunday to receive their degrees and wrap up a major phase of their lives before playing Southern California in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29.
Wrapping up a degree is never easy under regular circumstances. It gets tough when you add the rigors of a 13-game season for the Buckeyes, climaxed by a win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game. For Hubbard, the week of the title game will stick with him for awhile.
Congratulations to all the Buckeyes walking Sunday. I hope it goes better than the last one I attended, which was about 500 degrees in the Horseshoe listening to some dude ramble about something I can't remember. I still get mad thinking about those two hours I wasted.
Still, it's impressive how the university orchestrates 10,000 graduates getting their diploma. I don't understand how they do that.
MEANWHILE... Perhaps you (like most Buckeye fans) don't follow recruiting. Here's a quick glance at the scoreboard:
How good is Ohio State's 2018 class shaping up to be?
— Tom Orr (@TomOrr4) December 13, 2017
Michigan's class is 12th in the nation and OSU has 11 (yes, ELEVEN) guys rated higher than any Wolverine commit.https://t.co/bkne853o06
This is how come-from-behind wins are built. Star by star.
HARBAUGH! Speaking of that "team" up north, the honeymoon with Jim Harbaugh is officially over after another year of losing to their two biggest rivals.
Apparently nobody wants to spend $900 (the price of a Cotton Bowl package!) on a pair of Harb's khakis.
From landof10.com:
One of the most recognizable features of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is that he is often seen wearing khakis. Whether it is on the sideline during a game or at the podium after practice, Harbaugh is almost always wearing khakis.
Because of this, a pair of autographed Harbaugh khakis were being auctioned off at the 2017 Michigan Bust, the team’s annual end-of-season awards banquet hosted by the U of M Club of Detroit, on Tuesday night. The bidding for the khakis in the event’s silent auction started at $900.
Unfortunately, there were no bidders for the pair of framed khakis.
Already looking forward to Harbaugh falling to 0-4 against Ohio State next year. MGoBlog may have to permanently take away comments.
THOSE WMDs. It's time to abolish the coroner... Video: What it's like to be addicted to Bitcoin during the bubble... Human feet still washing up in the Pacific northwest, but don't panic... Down with chef worship... 54 best songs of 2017... The best movies of 2017.
