Folks, it's a good time to be a Buckeye.
Ohio State is now the only school in the country with a top-10 football team and basketball team.
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 18, 2019
Word of the Day: Sacrosanct.
EXTREMELY GOOD. This is just your regular reminder that Justin Fields is absolutely absurdly good.
#OhioState's Justin Fields TD-INT ratio is a mind-blowing 31-1. Adding in his rushing touchdowns, his combined TDs to INTs is 41-1. That is insane.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 17, 2019
He's not going to win the Heisman because Joe Burrow may as well the trophy sitting in his bedroom already, but he's probably going to get an invite in his first year as a starter, and with dominating games against Penn State, Michigan and whichever poor soul draws the Bucks in Indy, there's a solid chance he can make up at least a little ground in the voting.
I also think it's hilarious that Ohio State let the current Heisman Trophy favorite leave and it was almost inarguably the best decision for the program in the long run, even in perfect hindsight. I mean, it's hard to complain about back-to-back Heisman finalists with the second one returning for another season next year.
MR. JONES. Alabama is on the fringe of the playoff race and is now turning to a backup quarterback with the last name of "Jones" for style points. Prepare to hear some extremely lazy comparisons.
If Mac Jones wants to be the new Cardale Jones, he has a job to do – and it won’t be easy.
The redshirt sophomore quarterback needs to lead Alabama’s offense into Auburn on Nov. 30 and humiliate the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Now that star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is undergoing season-ending hip surgery on Monday, that may be the only way for the Crimson Tide to extend its perfect string of consecutive College Football Playoff appearances to six. And even if Alabama proves successful in that unlikely endeavor, it will still need additional help.
...
Without Heisman contender Tagovailoa leading the offense, Mac Jones has two opportunities left to make a similar impression on the committee. Beating up on 3-8 FCS opponent Western Carolina (noon ET, ESPN) on Saturday will not prove anything, but piling up points at Auburn might do the trick. And since the Tide seems unlikely to reach the SEC championship game – LSU can clinch the SEC West title by beating lowly Arkansas on Saturday – it’s Alabama’s only shot
First off, Cardale Jones and the Buckeye offense dropped 59 on Wisconsin, but an equal part of that dominance was the 0 the Buckeye defense allowed. Even if Mac Jones throw for 750 yards and 7 touchdowns, here's not a shot in hell Bama pitches a shutout against Auburn.
Second, if Mac Jones was in Cardale Jones' galaxy in terms of talent, we would know by now given that's started an entire game this very season.
But hey, let's toss around the low-hanging comparison. I mean, their last names are even the same!
GEORGIA = 2002 BUCKEYES? While we're on the topic of folks making comparisons to Ohio State national championship teams, Kirk Herbstreit is out here comparing this year's Georgia team to the 2002 national champs.
"I remember when Ohio State — in 2002, they had a team that they would win every game by a touchdown or three points. It was close, wasn't pretty and they ended up getting all the way to the national championship against Miami and they ended up playing well. You could argue at the end there whether that (was a) pass interference or not, but the point is they went toe to toe with the Miami Hurricanes in that national championship, ended up winning it. But if you looked at their regular season, there's so many people that rolled their eyes and said, 'Ah, they're not that good. What are we doing here?'
...
"It might not be pretty, but it's effective with the way they play defense, control the ball got a great back in (junior running back D'Andre) Swift, got a veteran quarterback in (junior Jake) Fromm and the receivers are making just enough plays. So ... that to me is — they're an interesting team, but I just love that they're not going to get caught up in a 'do they deserve it or not' discussion because they've got, more than likely, LSU in that SEC Championship Game."
I wanted to hate this, but truthfully, I cannot.
The obvious difference that I jumped to was that Ohio State went undefeated that season and Georgia has an overtime loss to a bad South Carolina. But the Buckeyes also had an overtime win over Illinois and a last-second win over Purdue. If either of those were a loss, then the comparison is pretty spot on.
I also appreciate the #take. Just because Georgia doesn't look good doesn't mean it can't win the games. I don't think Georgia would do too well against Ohio State, LSU or Clemson, but I'm not arrogant enough to pretend to know that for sure.
If Georgia's deserving, let them have a shot.
NICK SABAN ADMITS TO HATING EVERYONE. In an apparent effort to show some sort of human emotion towards Tua Tagovailoa after his injury, Nick Saban accidentally did pretty much the opposite, essentially admitting that he has no personal, human attachment to any of his players.
“You want to be fair and honest with all players and you’d like to say you treat them all the same, but that’s probably not the case,” Saban said. “And I can think back to four or five players and actually can say I really love those guys as people, the way they did things, the contribution that they made, how they affected other people, and Tua would be one of those four or five guys.
The Emperor has been coaching in some capacity for almost 50 years, and he can come up with "four or five" players he actually loved as people. That's like, one a decade in his most generous approximation.
This is almost the direct foil of Urban Meyer's "best I've ever been around" or "favorite players of all time," which I heard him say to describe players no less than 10 times in just five years at Ohio State.
CAN'T GUARD MIKE. Michael Thomas is dipping his toe into the apparel game and I can't argue with the results, especially on the front.
https://t.co/QnGZ6BocVU pic.twitter.com/HCLXV5imEf
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) November 18, 2019
I'm gonna need a shirt just like that, but with a different catch in a different uniform. Same stadium, though.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. The man sentenced to 47 years for crimes he didn’t commit... The men who try to hack tinder in order to score hotter women... A professor who wrote a book on drug crime is accused of money laundering... South Dakota spent $449,000 on an advertising campaign with the tagline "Meth: We're on it"... Launching a company while serving time for cocaine smuggling... Two infants were buried wearing helmets made from kids' skulls, and archaeologists are puzzled.
