Our morning sermon belongs to one of the top-five endings in American television history.
From Justified:
ICYMI:
- Ohio State crosses the rubicon, doles out contracts worth more than $1 million annually to Greg Schiano and Ryan Day as total assistant pay hits $7 million.
- The national recognition of Keita Bates-Diop is a longtime coming.
- The Ohio Classic: A thing that needs to happen immediately.
- Ramzy's latest dispatch tackles the pleasures of a mediocre Michigan.
- Reserve your (or your business’) spot next to the life-size statue of Woody Hayes coming to Newcomerstown!
Word of the Day: Compendious <— what the Skull Session strives to be!
RENDER UNTO CAESAR. College football coaching salaries are inflating like student loan debt. Unlike student loans, however, an elite coach is worth every penny.
A week after lambasting Texas A&M for guaranteeing a $75 million contract with a Floridian named "Jimbo," Gene Smith dished out raises to the Urban Meyer Gang.
From dallasnews.com:
Ohio State announced staff salary increases for the 2018 season on Wednesday. As part of the increases, two different assistants will make at least $1 million this fall, including defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, whose salary increases from the $700,000 he received in 2017 to $1.5 million for the upcoming season.
Increases for all assistants total $3.4 million.
The announcement comes just one week after Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith took a shot at Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher's new contract, calling it "ridiculous."
When you consider the increased profile the football team brings the university, you realize the Meyer Gang is underpaid. A lot of people would disagree with that notion. Yet there's a reason salaries inflated to this level. Important people crunched the numbers, and they're worth it.
Some schools spend their resources better than others.
GET DUMPED THEN, PENN STATE. The Ohio State men's basketball team, picked to finish 11th in the Big Ten, has only lost one conference game as of Feb. 15.
Tonight, the Buckeyes get to tangle with the Nittany Lions, the team that handed them that loss via a buzzer-beating dagger courtesy of Tony Carr.
Unfortunately for our favored team, the rematch occurs in Happy Valley... the worst visiting venue in the Big Ten.
From dispatch.com:
“When you look at what people thought our defense was going to be and then what it’s ended up being right now, it’s been incredibly consistent,” Holtmann said Wednesday afternoon. “But in that game, we had a really hard time with them. That’s why I say they’re a matchup struggle for us.”
Guard Tony Carr torched the Buckeyes for a game-high 28 points and hit four of five three-pointers to power the upset. At 6-4, he has about three inches on Buckeyes guard C.J. Jackson and frequently used his size advantage to get open looks at the basket.
“A little over half the game we didn’t play as well as we could have, and we know if that happens again (Thursday) the same result’s going to happen,” Jackson said. “It probably won’t be as close as the first game if that happens. We’ve got to play with more of a chip on our shoulder and get that back and we should be fine.”
That contest tips off at 8 p.m. ET on BTN.
I'd worry more about this game if Ohio State hadn't loss the last meeting in heartbreaking fashion. No doubt Holtmann's team remembers the sting that will give them the edge in tonight's meeting.
Penn State fans can wear white if they want. It hasn't stopped the Buckeyes from leaving the Valley with a W dangling from their necks in the past.
LEGENDS NEVER DIE. Only 90's babies remember when Curtis Samuel, now of the Carolina Panthers, committed to Ohio State out of Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York.
At the time, an NYC recruiting pipeline seemed preposterous. But Samuel rewarded our faith. And in 2018, it's still paying off in the recent arrival of four-star center Matthew Jones.
From cleveland.com:
Ohio State freshman center Matthew Jones committed to the Buckeyes on June 17, 2017.
But he knew where he wanted to go before he even got to high school. As an eighth grader, Jones saw another player from Erasmus Hall, Curtis Samuel, decide he wanted to be a Buckeye as part of the Class of 2014.
"I've been (at) Friday Night Lights since eighth grade. I've been hungry to be a Buckeye," Jones said. "So as soon as I got the chance, or the position to be here, it was a great feeling."
Want to feel old? There could be a 7th grader in the Erasmus pipeline that will cite Jones' Buckeye career when he commits in 2023.
And we're going to be around to celebrate it.
CALLING THE BROWNS. Last year, I called for the Browns to draft Pat Elflein at the top of the second round. They chose a Notre Dame quarterback instead and went 0-16.
This year, another undervalued Ohio State offensive lineman lurks. WILL THE BROWNS LISTEN?
Jamarco Jones should get more love. Like him over Rankin, Okorafor, O'Neill, Crosby, Miller.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) February 14, 2018
Maybe Jones won't be a Joe Thomas-like left tackle. He'll still contribute as a lineman in the league for the next half decade at minimum. Folks need to stop concentrating on the negatives before they talk themselves out of a quality footballer.
FROM QUEEN TO FOREST CITY. Kerry Coombs delivered Queen City connections to Ohio State. His replacement will can also recruit, though it seems his recruiting azimuth lays in northeastern Ohio:
Have already had one former Cleveland-area HS coach reach out to me to express his happiness with the Taver Johnson news. Johnson has had some tremendous recruiting success in NE Ohio over the years.
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) February 13, 2018
I've cooled my quarrel with the Queen City in recent years. Not going to get me upset about more Cleveland 'croots in Columbus, though.
THOSE WMDs. Insane ways men do skin care... Mystery of the Havana embassy... Louvre publicizes Nazi-looted art in effort to find rightful heirs... 350th anniversary Paradise Lost reading list.
