Skull Session: This Buckeye Offense is Better Than 2020 Alabama, C.J. Stroud Has Insane Advanced Stats, and the New Overtime Rules Are Terrible

If you thought Ohio State -15 points against Penn State was free money, so did the rest of the world.

College Football
Week 9 Biggest Line Moves

MINNESOTA -4 -8
GA TECH PK -4
SAN JOSE ST +1 -3
E CAROLINA -6 -9
RUTGERS +2 -1
OHIO ST -15 -18
LOUISIANA -18 -21
BAYLOR PK -3
ARKANSAS ST +12 +9

Current lines: pic.twitter.com/FaC2EZfqEm
— Circa Sports (@CircaSports) October 25, 2021

*whispers* Ohio State -18.5 is still free money.

Word of the Day: Bodacious.

BETTER THAN THE BEST. Last year's Alabama team had the best collegiate offense my eyes have ever seen, and we all got to experience that WMD firsthand as it melted Ohio State's poor defense right before our eyes.

It was humbling, given that the same Buckeye team laid waste to Trevor Lawrence and Clemson a few days earlier, but it also made sense – Bama did that to EVERYBODY.

Well, folks, I'm pleased to inform you that Ohio State's current offense has been even more dominant than that otherworldly Alabama offense.

Ohio State is currently No. 1 in offensive SP+ by *4.5 POINTS*. They're at 47.0 for the week, and no one else is higher than 42.5. Even last year's Bama offense was only 3.7 points up on the field.
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) October 24, 2021

And for the "wait until they play a defense with a pulse" people – this metric strongly values strength of schedule. So the fact that Ohio State's offense is this highly rated despite not even having the chance to boost its rating against a good team is actually *more* impressive. It means the Buckeyes have been beyond dominant against

Does this mean the Buckeyes are going to win the title game by four touchdowns against the clear second-best team in the country? I'm not ruling it out!

GOOD AT FOOTBALL. C.J. Stroud's standard stats from these past three games are video-game-like. Turns out, his advanced stats are, too.

Ohio State QB CJ Stroud in his last 3 games

94.3 PFF Grade (1st)
8 big-time throws
0 turnover-worthy plays
+0.99 EPA per pass
4 QB-fault incompletions

hes figuring it outpic.twitter.com/V1Vn1rTZv9
— Anthony Treash (@PFF_Anthony) October 24, 2021

8 big-time throws vs. 0 turnover-worthy plays is pretty nuts. That means he's attempting high-risk throws (see the attached gif), and has completed all of them perfectly, with no degree of luck involved.

Also, that +0.99 EPA per pass is insane, too. Basically, every time he attempts a pass, it's worth almost an entire point to the Buckeyes on the scoreboard.

I think his shoulder is fixed!

THROW THE OVERTIME RULES IN THE TRASH. There are not many things America collectively comes together around these days, but we found one of them this week: the new college overtime rules suck.

To recap, if you mercifully missed this weekend's Illinois vs. Penn State rock fight, the teams ended up tied after two overtime periods, meaning that under the new rules, they had to trade two-point conversion attempts (and promptly failed a collective total of 14-straight attempts).

It was a disaster, it didn't remotely resemble a football game, and we have to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

The “two-point derby” was a response to the 2018 LSU-Texas A&M 74-72 7-OT game that ended with Joe Burrow passing out from dehydration. You barely noticed it the past two seasons because few games ever made it to five overtimes. But last spring, in an effort to further cut down the possible number of plays, the rules committee moved it up to start in the third OT. It was only a matter of time before it decided a big game. But Penn State-Illinois playing a 20-18 “9 OT” game with a combined 10 consecutive missed attempts? It was unique. It was exciting. But it was an absolutely farcical method for determining the outcome of a football game.

Ironically, for something intended to curb injuries, the game went on forever largely because one quarterback, Penn State’s Sean Clifford, was severely hobbled and could barely complete a pass. The other, Illinois’ Artur Sitkowski, got hurt himself in the fourth OT. There are also only so many plays you can run from 3 yards out. Surely, we can come up with a better way that limits play counts but is more resembling of an actual football game?

To be totally fair, college football is not the only sport that has an eventual overtime tiebreaker that doesn't really simulate an actual game (see soccer and hockey), but there are two main problems here.

First, college overtime was already a far enough departure from an actual football in the first place. Giving each team alternating possessions in scoring position is already radically different than an actual football game, you don't need to throw this bullshit in on top of it.

Second, *if* you're going to do this, the third overtime is way too soon. Ohio State's double-overtime win over Miami in the '02 title game and the 2016 win over Michigan would have been one overtime period short of a two-point conversion shootout. Imagine that looming over both of those games.

If we're going to keep this in the rule books, move it back to the fifth overtime and make sure it never happens in a playoff game. Please and thank you.

TODAY, IN ABSURD STATS... Y'all remember preseason when it was damn near a consensus belief that D.J. Uiagalelei was superior to C.J. Stroud? Turns out, not only is Stroud better than Uiagalelei, he's out-performing Clemson's entire offense this season.

... on consecutive drives. The past three games.

CJ Stroud led 19 consecutive drives to a touchdown over the last few weeks. Clemson has 17 total touchdowns on the season.
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) October 25, 2021

Folks, I'm beginning to think Ryan Day broke Clemson the way Jim Tressel broke Miami. It's a shame, really.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS: THE OFFICIAL SPORTS BAR OF 11W. I'm here again to remind you that if you like delicious buffalo wings, gourmet cheeseburgers, and a beer selection that is as vast as it is wide, you should come hang out this Thursday as we record another episode of The Eleven Dubcast live from a central Ohio Buffalo Wild Wings.

This week, we'll be at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Delaware. So once you finish work, school or whatever other weekday obligations you might have, head on down and hang out with us.

SONG OF THE DAY. "Cake By The Ocean" by DNCE.