Skull Session: Ryan Day Doesn't Want to Move, Nick Bosa Planted the Flag For Buckeyes Past, and Justin Fields is Among the Nation's Best

By Kevin Harrish on October 10, 2019 at 4:59 am
J.K. Dobbins is hanging out in today's skull session.
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I'm pleased to inform you that the Best Damn Band in the Land is officially astronaut approved.

ICYMI

Word of the Day: Ken.

 MOVING SUCKS. I have never in my life empathized more with an Ohio State head coach than when Ryan Day spent about a minute and a half of his Tuesday press conference bitching about moving.

Because folks, moving absolutely sucks. And I'm glad Day is speaking up about these important issues.

From Rob Oller of the Columbus Dispatch:

Job security matters to Day. A lot. Not because he worries about not being able to pay his electric bill, but because he has been through the hell of having to tell his wife and kids to pack up and start over. Job changes meant Day, 40, moved his family from Boston College (2013-14) to Philadelphia (2015) to San Francisco (2016) to Columbus (2017).

Tired of having dandelions with deeper roots than his own, Day aimed his career path toward a more stable setting.

“When we had to move our family three times in three years — that was not good,” he said of his decision to veer from the NFL toward college. “That’s the thing that I don’t know if people realize. You have to move your family — we have a young family. When you’re moving them all over the place, it is the worst thing to go home to your family and tell them we’ve got to move again; they’ve got to be the new kid again and your wife has to figure out a new set of friends again. It’s just not good.”

Day explained that he and his wife, Nina, each grew up in one place. Moving station to station was not something to consider.

“I don’t want to do it anymore,” he said of living out of a suitcase. “She said the same thing. That was the decision that we made.”

Honestly, this is the most convinced I've ever been that Ryan Day wants to stay in Columbus for the long haul. This is all I needed.

"Ryan, you going to take the Pats job when Belichick retires?"

"No, because moving blows and I make $7.6 million to not move ever again."

 DID IT FOR HIS BROTHERS. Nick Bosa got a ton of attention for his absurdly dominant game against Baker Mayfield and the Browns on Sunday, but the only reaction that mattered to him was the love he got from his former Buckeye brothers for his flag-planting celebration.

From Cam Inman of The Mercury News:

SANTA CLARA — Rookie Nick Bosa is the first 49ers defensive lineman in nearly 15 years to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. In his words, he couldn’t care less.

What Bosa did relish was the reaction from fellow Ohio State alumni for Monday night’s dismantling — and flag-planting celebration — against Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns.

“That was the real thing. We wanted some revenge there,” Bosa said Wednesday, alluding to Mayfield’s antics in leading Oklahoma over Ohio State. “All my older guys I played with hit me up and said, ‘Good job.’ ”

Among those who reached out were fellow pros Tyquan Lewis (Indianapolis Colts), Marshon Lattimore (New Orleans Saints), Tracy Sprinkle (Houston Texans) and Jalyn Holmes (Minnesota Vikings).

I'm praying Bosa just becomes a trend setter. There are about seven games remaining on the schedule for a Buckeye defender to repeat the glorious sack dance and make it a tradition.

John Simon, Dre'Mont Jones, Cameron Heyward, Raekwon McMillan, Jerome Baker, and Sam Hubbard – if you're reading this, take up your flags (and also, maybe reconsider your media consumption).

I mean, Baker is clearly quite a bit more than rattled. If this happens again, he's going to snap like a dry-rotted rubber band.

Just a reminder, Baker – your entire motive for planting the flag in the first place was because you were seething from a previous loss. Let's not rewrite history just because your the one with the hurt ass this time.

 BEST OF THE BEST. Pro Football Focus took on the laborious and thankless task of ranking every FBS starting quarterback. Miraculously, they seem to have done resoundingly fine. I have very few complaints.

Joey Burrow's been absolutely carving teams apart down there in Baton Rouge, Jalen Hurts looks like your typical Oklahoma transfer quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa is having one of the best statistical seasons to date, and then we all know about Justin Fields.

From Cam Mellor of Pro Football Focus:

4. OHIO STATE: JUSTIN FIELDS

The nation’s third highest-graded passer on throws targeted at least 10 yards downfield, Fields has been dominant as a downfield thrower this year in Columbus. He’s completing a ridiculously-high amount of passes on such attempts and has a national-best 15 big-time throws on 10+ yard attempts. He’s finding his receivers well enough downfield on such attempts (22.3 aDOT) that they haven’t needed to do too much with the ball after the catch and his 15 touchdown passes on downfield attempts ranks second in the country. This all goes without mentioning his incredible skill set with the ball in his hands on the ground. He’s run for 204 yards on just 26 designed carries and 360 yards total on the ground with eight touchdowns and 14 more first-down carries and 10 broken tackles in the process. He’s got the Buckeyes rolling and it’s been incredibly fun to watch.

I'm gonna hit you with a paradox here, so bear with me – I don't think we've actually seen Justin Fields consistently at his best yet because he hasn't regularly played strong enough defensive talent to force him to use his entire skillset.

What I mean is, Fields' legs are what set him apart from everyone else, and he isn't going to run more than he has to. So we don't really see him at his absolute best until he plays a team that threatens enough for him to use his legs regularly.

Basically, I think he's going to look even better on the back stretch, and folks will take notice when he smart bombs and rolls over Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan and a Big Ten West champ on his way to the playoffs and the Heisman ceremony in New York.

 BRING 'EM ALL TO NEW YORK. Speaking of New York, we're halfway through the regular season and there are 3.5 Buckeyes who could (or at least, should) be in the running for an invite to the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

Here's football-knower Joel Klatt's top-10:

Even if he's clearly the bet player in college football (he is), I don't think it's physically possible for Chase Young to create enough carnage this season to even earn an invite, much less actually win the damn thing.

Now, a few punt returns or red zone touchdowns as a tight end might be enough to sway some votes. Your move, Ryan.

 BIA HOUSE. Gareon Conley's pumping out some animated shorts that are basically BIA's version of ESPN's Heisman House commercials.

I'm into it.

With much love to Marshon Lattimore, I'm riding with Denzel Ward in most races involving humans. My well-placed sources whispered for years that Ward was "by far" the fastest player in the cornerbacks room at the time, and that included Lattimore

Really though, you can't go wrong with any of them.

  • Bradley Roby: 4.39
  • Eli Apple: 4.4
  • Marshon Lattimore: 4.36
  • Gareon Conley: 4.44
  • Denzel Ward 4.32

And hilariously, the fastest one of the crop ain't even listed since he was injured during the combine before he had a chance to run. But for reference, Parris Campbell  ran a 4.31 – and Kendall Sheffield is faster than him.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Groom-to-be robbed a bank to pay for wedding ring and venue, but his fiancee’ recognized him in surveillance photos... Ohio goat named "Big Boy" breaks into a home and is found napping in the bathroom... A new study reveals how the last woolly mammoths died out 4,000 years ago... Teacher shares a gut-wrenching moment involving a hungry student in her classroom... One dad’s crusade to save his daughters from addiction...

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