I wasn't sure what to think at first, but I have to say, I'm ready to see these Color Rush uniforms in action.
Get yourready#ScarletTheShoe pic.twitter.com/1uIh383tl3
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) October 27, 2021
Henceforth, they shall be known as the Red October unis. I have spoken.
Word of the Day: Disenchant.
“DRAW UP PLAYS ON THE SIDELINE.” The ending of Penn State's 9-OT loss to Illinois was objectively hilarious and frankly was what that abysmal football game deserved. But I can't be the only one that was left extremely concerned about the thought of Ohio State ever being put at the mercy of that bullshittery.
Turns out, Ohio State would have been completely unprepared to run seven consecutive two-point conversions and Ryan Day openly admits that he would have been drying up plays on the sideline if it came down to it.
Ryan Day says he would've had to draw up new plays on the sideline if he was in the position that Penn State and Illinois were during their 9OT game last weekend.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) October 28, 2021
Day explained that you generally don't want to waste valuable traffic time planning for things that have a very low chance of actually happening, and nine overtime periods certainly qualifies.
That said, I'm sure Day's gonna keep a few extra two-point plays in his back pocket from now on. But prayers up that he'll never need them.
TURNING OBSESSION INTO A CAREER. Matt Barnes was put on this earth to do one thing, and it is to coach football.
Dude has been absolutely neurotic about the game for as long as long as he can remember. While most kids played with action figures, he used them to act out plays. And instead of paying attention in elementary school, he'd get in trouble for doodling football scheme.
He's always been so smart that in college, he was effectively a player coach and led the team in tackles as a linebacker with a body type that's really not all that different than mine simply because he was always in the right position.
Barnes helped lead the Sea Gulls to consecutive 9-2 seasons. Teammates voted him captain his senior year. He was the leading tackler in his final season.
“I don't think of him as a big, bulky Dick Butkus-type kid,” Wood said. “He had those stats because of his knowledge of the game.”
Barnes, who was listed at 5-9 and 210 pounds, recalled his playing career with characteristic self-deprecation. He credited his defensive line for keeping him free to make tackles.
“I was in the right spot at the right time, and I got run over at least once or twice a game,” he said.
Even as a player, he planned for a future in coaching. While traveling to road games, he'd call his roommates from the bus to make sure the combination TV/VCR was recording other games so that Barnes would have tape to analyze when he returned.
“My roommates in college thought I was out of my mind,” he said. “I was just obsessed with football. I had like 50 VHS tapes.”
Given what I just read, it now makes all the sense in the world that he was able to just successfully transition to calling defensive plays and help restructure Ohio State's entire defense in a matter of weeks in the middle of the season.
And by all accounts, things seem to be going quite well, actually. Turns out, having scheme freak on your defensive staff pays off. Who would have imagined?
STOCKPILING STARTERS. If you've spent more than a few minutes subjecting yourself to a Penn State football game this season, you've surely made the astute observation that the Nittany Lion offense is absolute ass.
This is made especially hilarious by the fact that Ohio State currently has two five-star prospects and a Hall of Famer's son sitting on its bench, all of whom are from Pennsylvania.
(Kyle) McCord and (Marvin) Harrison might be getting all the playing time they need if they were entering Ohio Stadium on Saturday as visitors, playing for their home-state school Penn State. But Harrison isn’t thinking about that right now.
“We didn’t really think about starting or anything like that,” Harrison said. “Obviously coming here together was a thought of ours. We always wanted to go to the same school.”
Penn State didn’t keep some top in-state talent the last two cycles. As a result, its best chance of beating Ohio State is sitting on the Buckeyes’ bench patiently waiting their turn.
Julian Fleming began that Pennsylvania exodus when he picked OSU as the No. 1 receiver in the 2020 class and the third-highest rated commit in program history. Staying home wasn’t an option, even though he grew up 91 miles from Happy Valley. He was a Buckeye so much so that when rumors of him flipping schools started circulating, he had zero tolerance for it.
Even if Kyle McCord wouldn't have started over Sean Clifford, he would have been no worse than No. 2 and certainly would have performed better than *checks notes* 7-for-21 for 34 yards and two interceptions, and he wouldn't have forced you to play Clifford's carcass against Illinois.
Also, he would have had two more elite receivers to throw to!
Basically, if Franklin could simply recruit the best players in his own state, his team would be undefeated right now. Instead, they willfully chose to sit on Ohio State's bench for a season or two instead. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about these two programs right now...
THIS IS OHIO STATE BASKETBALL. Last night, the Ohio State football team released an absolute banger of a game trailer that had me ready to line up in the trenches myself.
Six minutes later, the basketball team released a different kind of masterpiece.
The Most Versatile Team in the Country. This is #Team123 #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/K3M6FfwrRC
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) October 29, 2021
Listen, I have watched too many Ohio State team videos to count over my lengthy online career, and I'm not sure I've ever been as genuinely amused as I was watching this one.
They absolutely nailed the vibe from ESPN's old This Is SportsCenter commercials and I cannot wait for more.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Scarlet Begonias" by Grateful Dead.
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