Skull Session: Ohio State's Dominance Visualized, Chris Ash Believes He Left Rutgers Better Than He Found It, and Drue Chrisman Laments His Lack of Action

By Kevin Harrish on November 13, 2019 at 4:59 am
Get dumped then, nova.
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I cannot adequately express how pleased I am that weeknight MACtion is back in our lives.

And folks, I'm pleased to inform you that Chris Holtmann will be putting a top-10 opponent in a trash can today.

Get dumped then, Villanova.

ICYMI

Word of the Day: Hiemal.

 FUN WITH RADAR CHARTS. I know I've brought up these radar charts before, but we're a few weeks further into the season and Ohio State's is still just a massive perfect circle, and that's never going to stop being hilarious to me.

You know how this year's Buckeye team set new records in multiple computer ratings systems? Well, this is what that looks like visualized:

I cannot stress this enough: there is not a chance in hell I could even draw a circle as perfect as Ohio State's radar chart. It's one thing to say "this team has no weaknesses," but it's completely different to star at that visualization for five minutes and come away with "maybe they're vulnerable on first down?"

Also, for bonus points, can you tell which one of those four teams is not going to make the playoff? I think I've got a prettttttty good idea.

And for some context from a previous national title winner, here's Ohio State most recent national title team:

And just for shits and giggles, here's Michigan's pinwheel-ass chart:

So, yes. Excuse me for being confident in that late November matchup.

 BETTER THAN HE FOUND IT? Rutgers ain't good, and the Scarlet Knights finally resorted to firing former Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash because they weren't getting much (at all?) better.

But despite his axing, Ash believes that he left the program better than he found it.

From Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch:

Despite the lack of winning, Ash believes he left the program better than he found it.

“As I go back and reflect on a lot of stuff, I feel strongly that I was still able to do that, and I can hold my head high because of that,” he said. “If I looked back and I just had a whole long list of mistakes that I made or things that I didn’t do, I’d have regret. But I feel looking for in programs — it’s in a much better place.”

That’s one reason Ash believes that Rutgers isn’t the hopeless program that many consider it to be.

“There are a lot of positives at Rutgers,” he said. “There are good people. It’s a good academic institution. It’s in a great area. It just needs to build.

“Going into the Big Ten from the American (Athletic) Conference was a big jump up, and it’s just going to take time to build facilities and take time to continue to build a competitive, deep roster.”

I don't even know if I can fairly evaluate how a coach performs at Rutgers and more than I could fairly evaluate someone's ability to juggle knives with their hands tied behind their back. I just don't think this is a job where it's really possible to like, do well.

"It just needs to build" and "it's just going to take time" seems like a fine and optimistic thing to say, but how much time do you have?

As long as Rutgers is sharing a Division with Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State – essentially starting every season with an automatic four-loss handicap right off the bat – things ain't going to change in anytime soon. You need to win all but two of your other games to even make a bowl game.

Me, to Chris Ash:

Things didn't go well for Ash, I'm not sure they would have gone well for Nick Saban.

 VICTORY MEAL. Folks, I know where I am going for breakfast next week (if Ohio State is able to bring home a victory against the mighty Scarlet Knights, that is).

Mickey Marotti is now looking for a new laptop after viewing that Tweet.

 IT'S A HARD KNOCK LIFE FOR DRUE. Reminder: Ohio State has a punter.

When the backup and third-string quarterbacks get more action than you on a week-by-week basis, you know the team is clicking.

Forget the 52-point spread, someone needs to give me odds on whether Chrisman will punt on Saturday so I can put all of my money on "NO."

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A driver leads police on a chase while live streaming it on Facebook... He told a kid to slide and then he got sued... The spiritual path at fat camp... A bucket of hot diarrhea was randomly poured on a woman by a homeless man...

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