Welcome to the longest day of the year, which came way too fast. I am on hold with global management to sort this debacle.
ICYMI:
- Dwayne Haskins' connection with Austin Mack is a big reason to get excited about the passing offense.
- The Rushmen could be even better a year after losing three players to the NFL—especially at the top of the unit.
- Musa Jallow thankful for opportunity to try out for the U-18 men's national basketball team.
- Have a tailgate recipe the world needs to know about? Submit it to the Official 11W Tailgate Cookbook. The author of the highest-voted recipe receives a $50 gift certificate to the Eleven Warriors Dry Goods.
Programming note: An NBA team should draft Keita Bates-Diop tonight in the first round. The annual men's fashion summit tips off with the Phoenix Suns picking No. 1 overall at 7 p.m. on ESPN. My sources tell me the Cavaliers will select Terrelle Pryor at No. 8.
Follow Young Adrian Wojnarowski, Dan Hope on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates.
Word of the Day: Winklepicker.
CALAMITY IN COLUMBUS? Urban Meyer is 73-8 at Ohio State and 47-3 in the Big Ten since arriving in Columbus. He has never lost more than two games in a season and potentially has the most talented team of his tenure entering this season.
Despite what a Michigan Man would tell you, the past does not dictate future success. Every year is different, and Ohio State plays five big games while blooding a first-year starter. Out of the 14 million possibilities, the darkest timeline features the Buckeyes dropping three games, and real estate developers from Georgia bulldozing the Horseshoe to make room for riverfront "luxury" condos.
From Tom Fornelli of cbssports.com:
10.5 wins: I have a pretty simple philosophy when it comes to season win totals with teams over 10 wins. I tend to lean Under simply because it's hard to go 12-0 or 11-1 during the regular season no matter how good you are. That's especially the case with Ohio State in 2018, as it breaks in a new QB and has regular season games scheduled against TCU, Penn State, Michigan State, Michigan and Nebraska. It's not crazy to think the Buckeyes go 3-2 in that span. So while Ohio State is the favorite in the Big Ten for a reason, and is certainly capable of going 12-0, the value on the Under at even odds is too much to pass up. -- Over -120, Under EVEN
Hey, it could happen. That's the beauty of the offseason. You can say whatever you want and it can't be wrong for two to three months. And by then the games steal everybody's attention and nobody cares what some random internet columnist said in the summer.
Even a small portion of Ohio State fans think Haskins is only a couple of throws in Ann Arbor and expect him to crumble when asked to carry an offense for four quarters.
I won't fault national columnists for not reading the Skull Session. But come November they will wish they would've; they would've seen the train barreling down the tracks. At least national media guys can hide behind their vain quest for the myth of objectivity. I'm just wondering what Ohio State fans get out of their skepticism other than a desire to tell people "I told you so!" after losses, like anybody else cares.
STRATAGEM SHIFT? Meyer, for better or worse, directs his kickers to pin kickoffs between the 10-yard line and the goal line.
The NCAA recently altered kickoff rules. Receiving teams can now fair catch anything behind the 25-yard-line and start at the 25. Meyer may stick with a strategy that can be frustrating at times, though nothing is final.
From Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:
“As of now, I think so, but to be determined,” Meyer said.
As a result, the Buckeyes have finished in the top 10 nationally in kickoff-return defense in three of the past four seasons: No. 9 in 2014, No. 3 in ’15 and No. 10 last season.
Furthermore, statistics from 2017 show that Ohio State forced opponents to return kickoffs more times (82) than any other team in the nation, giving up an average of 17.4 yards per return. That average includes two taken the distance the other way: a 100-yard return for touchdown by Maryland’s Ty Johnson and a 97-yard return for a TD by Penn State’s Saquon Barkley on the opening kickoff.
Out-of-bounds kickoffs and returns are two things that trigger my lizard brain. I'll go to my grave in 2022 screaming "JUST KICK THE DANG BALL OUT OF THE END ZONE" at the TV in the fourth quarter of a game Ohio State leads by 24.
DUCKS WANT DRUNKER FANS. The college football cognoscenti claim Autzen Stadium is one of the most intimidating places in the country to play. I've never been there, but I'm now skeptical about those claims because...
- Eugene City Code only allowed fans to consume alcohol in the parking lots surrounding the stadium four hours before the game.
- Ducks fans followed the Eugene City Code.
The Draconian Duck drinking laws could soon get an update.
From Maggie Vanoni of The Register-Guard:
The University of Oregon wants to add two hours to the time before games where it’s legal to consume alcohol in parking lots around Autzen Stadium. Football fans now can drink legally in the lots for four hours before kickoff.
The Eugene City Council would have to change city code to extend the time that alcohol can be consumed in tailgate reserved parking lots to a total of six hours before games.
Depending on when the game starts, tailgating activities could start as early as 7 a.m.
You can't drink before the sun comes up if you wait until 7 a.m. And if you're not doing that, you might as well stay sober on a college football Saturday.
#SAVETHECREW. The Columbus Dispatch reported last week that Major League Soccer made inquires with Austin, Texas' mayor about relocating the Columbus Crew.
With a stadium location still in limbo, Richard Suttle, a paid flack for titular Crew chairman Anthony Precourt and MLS, is already using his syndicate's favorite tool: Extortion.
From mystatesman.com:
If an agreement is not reached on June 28, or if soliciting other proposals drags on too long, Suttle said MLS may take matters into its own hands. The league has announced two expansion teams since December — Nashville and Cincinnati — that were picked from a list of 12 candidates.
“There’s 10 other cities that would like to have a soccer team,” Suttle said. “They’re willing to put forward a lot of incentives to get one. If we have to wait for months to see if McKalla is going to work or not, then I think we have no other option but to look to other cities. The decision may not be made by Precourt. He wants to be in Austin. The decision may be made for him by the league.”
The MLS league office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Precourt would rather reside in the South Pole than Ohio, and the League is treating its founding member like it's a porno sofa. Wild.
STILL WATCHING THOSE TWEETS. I figured #teens had gotten the memo about tweeting dumb things. (Repetitive, I know. Save me the sermon, grandpa.) I have never raised or coached 15 to 22 year olds, so my judgment could be cloudy.
New Nebraska coach Scott Frost is the latest to make it known he's watching these 'croots and checking their tweets.
From omaha.com:
“Aside from GPA, when we’re recruiting kids, the next thing we’re going to look at is what kind of kid the person is,” Frost said. “And part of that is looking through every ounce of social media we can possibly look at. So if some kid tweeted something four years ago that’s bad, we’re going to know about it.
“And I’ll tell you this right now — if there’s anything negative about women, if there’s anything racial or about sexuality, if there’s anything about guns or anything like that, we’re just not going to recruit you, period. Piece of advice for you — what you put on social media, that’s your résumé to the world. That’s what you’re trying to tell the world you’re all about. That’s how you’re advertising yourself. Be smart with that stuff.”
Easier said than tweeted, coach.
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