Folks, fantastic news: I'm getting a mom!
Picked up a fiance tonight (thanks to @ramzy for teaching me the the necessity of that extra e).
— D.J. Byrnes (@DJforOhio) December 22, 2018
Bengals might lose by 40.
Congratulations to my estranged father and the unrealistically kind, normal and 100 percent real and definitely not fake woman who has agreed to marry him, presumably on purpose.
ICYMI
- Larry Johnson – "the greatest defensive line coach in the history of college football" – is why Noah Potter picked Ohio State.
- Ohio State is on pace to give up more rushing touchdowns than it generates for the first time in 30 years.
- Meet the Rose Bowl-bound Washington fan who shares a name with Ryan Day.
- Urban Meyer welcomes his second grandson, Urban Gray Dennis.
- Ohio State lands preferred walk-on kicker Jack Deneher.
- Chris Holtmann gives his assistants mostly positive performance reviews.
Word of the Day: Austere.
FIELD DAY. It's looking likely that Justin Fields will be at Ohio State next season, and we have Ryan Day to thank for that.
Sources: Momentum for a Justin Fields-to-Ohio State transfer is increasing. Ryan Days impact cannot be overstated. Fields and those close to him are enamored by a potential pairing with Day.
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) December 21, 2018
Folks were worried about Day's ability to recruit, but he held Ohio State's 2019 class mostly together, landed a critical five-star defensive end who was thought to be going to Michigan just a few weeks ago, and is now about to bring in the highest-rated player in Ohio State history.
I think his first month on the job is going swimmingly. We should let him do more.
COMPARING BOSA(S) TO THE BEST. Nick Bosa is far and away the best edge defender in the draft this season, and quite possibly one of the best edge prospects in NFL Draft history.
But Jon Ledyard of TheDraftNetwork.com wasn't settling for "one of the best," he decided to do an in-depth analysis of Bosa compared to several other top prospects – and now NFL stars – when they were in Bosa's shoes. That includes his brother, Joey.
Ledyard ranked the players against one another in several categories before culminating it all into one final ranking. Here are his results:
Physical Gifts
- Garrett
- J. Bosa
- N. Bosa
- Clowney
- Mack
Athletic Testing
- Garrett
- Mack
- N. Bosa
- J. Bosa
- Clowney
Burst
- Clowney
- Mack
- Garrett
- N. Bosa
- J. Bosa
Bend/Flexibility
- Garrett
- Mack
- N. Bosa
- J. Bosa
- Clowney
Pass Rush Moves
- Mack
- J. Bosa
- N. Bosa
- Garrett
- Clowney
Counters
- J. Bosa
- Mack
- N. Bosa
- Garrett
- Clowney
Rush Defense
- Mack
- J. Bosa
- Clowney
- Garrett
- N. Bosa
Final Ranking
- Garrett
- Mack
- N. Bosa
- J. Bosa
- Clowney
If you're wondering how Ledyard came to any of these conclusions, he did a wonderful and thorough job of explaining his analysis. If that's your thing, you should absolutely check it out.
My bloggers #take on the matter is that he might not have the same upside, but Nick Bosa is clearly the safest of the five picks, because you basically know what you're getting – a more polished and faster version of his brother, who's already one of the most dominant pass rushers in the league.
MICHIGAN MAN WANTS MORE. Shea Patterson hated losing to Ohio State so much this year he decided he's going to do it again.
From Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News:
“I’ve been thinking about it for the past month, ever since after that game,” Patterson said of mulling his future. “I just thought to myself there’s no way in hell I’m leaving this place on that note. Regardless of a draft grade, whatever the case may be, I would never end my career with an opportunity to come back with a loss to that team. That’s the one thing that has ignited me. I think one of the biggest things that impacted me coming back – one of them – was that last game in Columbus.
“I just felt we worked so hard and had such a good season leading up to that game. I was more upset that I couldn’t do enough to get us a win. I love the guys so much and let down the Michigan fan base, and I just felt like we all did that that day. That just brought a lot of emotions. Anger. I think anger was the biggest one. I hated to lose and even more, I hated to lose to them, especially with what we had in front of us.”
The dude has to be some sort of masochist because there's just no way he actually thinks this is going to work out well for him. I legitimately cannot believe he's going to willfully play in that broke-ass offense for another season.
Yeah, he'll get another shot at Ohio State. but first he's got to play 11 games in an offense that seems to be allowing him to regress and hope against all evidence that his head coach has finally figured out how to win a big game.
Here's a statistical look at what Michigan did to Shea Patterson:
He played five more games in 2018 than he did in 2017 at Ole Miss, and had just over 100 more passing yards. And that's throwing to Donavon Peoples-Jones for the entire season and Tarik Black for half of it.
It's absolutely hilarious how Michigan's offense actively makes its best players worse. I'm praying nothing ever changes with that program. I want Jim Harbaugh and his staff to stay forever.
BOWL GAME WINNERS. My picks are honestly just straight up hilarious at this point, but I ain't going to stop now. There are four games today, here's who I like and why.
Wake Forest +3.5 against Memphis
Memphis has been one of the top Group of Five teams all season, but that been largely because Darrell Henderson is unstoppable, and he isn't playing in this game. Now, Wake's defense is far from great, but the Deacs can put up some points. This season, Wake scored over 50 points five different times, and Memphis' defense loves to give up big plays.
Houston +6 against Army
It ruins me to my core to pick against the troops in the Armed Forces Bowl, but this is just the right pick. Houston might not have D'Eriq King or Ed Oliver, but they still have way too much talent and explosiveness, particularly on offense, for me to feel confident Army is going to even win this game, much less by a touchdown. Sure, Army could control the time of possession and keep Houston's offense off the field, but Houston also plays Navy every year, so the shock value of seeing a triple option really isn't there. Houston is the better team, and I think they'll win. But I'll take the six points if you'll give them to me.
Buffalo -2 against Troy
These teams are very equal, and in that case would typically roll with the Sun Belt squad over the MAC team in a Bowl Game, but I just really like Buffalo. I thought the Bulls were the best team in the MAC most of the season. They have a dangerous defensive line and a strong offense led by a behemoth at quarterback. The only thing that scares me is that Buffalo cannot kick field goals very well at all. And in a game that could be close, that's a problem. The solution? Don't let it be close! Go Bulls.
Louisiana Tech +1
It's counterintuitive, but fading Hawai'i in late games at home has proven to be a shockingly good strategy this season, so I'm going to do it one last time. But more than that, Hawai'i is a revolving door on defense, allowing over 35 points per game. I've watched an uncomfortable amount of Hawai'i football this season and I've just seen nothing from the Rainbow Warriors that tells me they're going to win this game.
Ohio State Basketball -5.5 against UCLA
In lieu of a fifth bowl game, I'm tossing my obligatory support behind Chris Holtmann's squad against a UCLA team that is just straight-up not very good. Happy Saturday!
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