The Buckeyes are back on the hardwood tonight. If you're into watching Ohio State clobber a team from the Colonial Conference in a game that's not going to end before 11 p.m., feel free to tune in!
Word of the Day: Reticent.
“GEORGIA-LEVEL GOOD.” There were three absolutely dominant defenses in college football this season, and the Buckeyes nabbed the architect of probably the least likely.
See, you could easily argue that Oklahoma State had the best defense in the country this year, but unlike Georgia or Wisconsin, Jim Knowles didn't have five-star and four-star players. He was rolling exclusively with three-stars and below – and dominating teams anyway.
Knowles’ Oklahoma State defense is Georgia-level good. You just probably haven’t heard. The Cowboys are No. 1 nationally in sacks, tackles for loss and third-down conversions. They are fifth in scoring defense (16.4 points) and third in total defense behind only Georgia and Wisconsin.
...
The narrow OU win could not have been achieved without it being kept from scoring an offensive touchdown in the second half. Oklahoma State handed Texas Tech a shut out for the first time since 1997. Its eight sacks against West Virginia tied a Power Five high this season. The Cowboys have held their opponents to a cumulative 184.3 points below their scoring average.
Knowles is proud of doing it without five- or even four-star recruits.
I hope that he takes similar pride in taking a defense loaded with five- and four-star players and turning it into one of the most dominant defenses ever.
What he did at Oklahoma State is like beating a video game on the hardest difficulty without any assistance. Now, he gets to start over with cheat codes. Pretty cool!
EVERYTHING'S BIGGER IN TEXAS. I'm not sure this is going to surprise anybody at all, but it sure looks like some wealthy Texas booster is willing to let the money flow in order to land Quinn Ewers.
Word on the street is that first round draft pick-level NIL money is on the table for Quinn Ewers if he chooses Texas as his transfer destination.
— Geoff Ketchum (@gkketch) December 7, 2021
The weaponization on the NIL front is fully underway.
I don't really know what "first round draft pick-level NIL money" means, but for context, last year's No. 32 overall pick Joe Tryon's rookie contract is worth $11.1 million over four years and his signing bonus was $5.48 million. So if he's making first-round pick money, that's the *minimum* we could be talking about here.
Folks, we're not just talking Kombucha anymore...
BIG ZEEK. It's that fascinating time of the year where we get to see who Ohio State chooses to consider when it goes portal shopping. And it looks like transfer offensive tackle Miles "Big Zeek" Frazier has made that cut.
Great in home visit with @CoachStudOL Thanks for coming to visit me and my family! @OhioStateFB #Buckeyes #Gobucks pic.twitter.com/nAtGw45iO7
— BIG.ZEEK_ (@milesfrazier15) December 8, 2021
This would be an odd move, considering you have Dawand Jones (who was the highest-graded lineman on the roster) at right tackle, Paris Johnson Jr. (your highest-rated offensive lineman in years) wanting to play tackle, and Nicholas Petit-Frere hasn't even left yet.
At the same time, I'm not about to turn down a 6-foot-6, 320-pound behemoth if he would like to come move people for my football team. He and Dawand on opposite sides of an offensive line would be... something.
WELL DESERVED. It's always a bit weird when an Ohio State alum is directly competing with the Buckeyes for something (like, uh, a national title), so it's going to be awkward having to continually stuff Marcus Freeman and Luke Fickell in a trashcan for the foreseeable future.
However, I've got no problem tipping the cap when they succeed. And Luke Fickell has earned all of the accolades he's going to get this season.
BREAKING: Luke Fickell has been named College Football's Coach of the Year @CoachFick | @GoBearcatsFB pic.twitter.com/hBh2ar0slc
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 7, 2021
Now, go ahead and beat Bama.
SONG OF THE DAY. "The Christmas Song" by Michael Bublé.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Inside the high-destakes world of undercover wildlife agents... Pacific Ocean garbage patch is an immense plastic habitat... You can now play video games on a Tesla screen when the car is in motion... Is there a minimum amount of time you need to stay at a job?... Movies should have intermissions...
