The good news is, it's the weekend. The bad news is, it's the first weekend that isn't full of college football since August.
But at least we got Army and Navy.
Word of the Day: Sibiliate.
“MAD SCIENTIST.” You know that sinking, helpless feeling you've probably felt about Ohio State's defense the past couple of years where you knew damn well it wasn't going to make a single adjustment pregame or at halftime regardless of what the opposing offense is doing to you.
I've got a strong hunch that isn't going to happen under Jim Knowles.
... Knowles’ reputation for being a schemer should leave the defense with more of a week-to-week focus on exploiting an opponent’s weaknesses while creating disruptive plays — elements that have felt absent over the last couple of years.
“Jim’s interesting. He’s kind of like a mad scientist,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy told The Athletic last week. “He goes in his office on Sunday and closes his door. You don’t see him until Sunday night when we go to practice. I mean, he’s in his office right now (Monday morning) with his door closed. I really won’t see him much today until late in the afternoon. And then you don’t see him a lot Tuesday until practice. That’s really the story that’s interesting with him. He goes in and puts on that mad scientist hat and comes up with things he wants to do, and you just don’t see him much until usually Tuesday at practice.”
It's funny, three years ago we were clamoring for the defense and this year we were begging the coordinators to do something – anything! – schematically different to give their team an advantage.
NO THANKS! A couple of good friends and former Ohio State teammates are getting a little bit of a reunion this week. But Joe Burrow simply wishes they were not.
Although the former Buckeyes talk all the time and play video games together on a regular basis, Burrow said he’d rather hang with his buddy during the offseason.
When asked if he looks forward to going against a friend like Bosa, Burrow responded how probably any quarterback facing the 6-foot-4, 267-pound defensive end would.
“Um, I think I’d prefer to see him in the offseason and hang out with him then,” Burrow told reporters on Wednesday.
Prayers up for Burrow this weekend. This offensive line going against Nick Bosa – Burrow's going to start applying for hazard pay.
LIGHTLY SALTED. The Biletnikoff Award might just hate anything associated with Ohio State.
The award snubbed all three Buckeye receivers this year, not naming a single one even a finalist. And on Thursday night, even former Ohio State receiver Jameson Williams got blindsided, as well.
Jameson Williams IG stories after getting passed up for the Biletnikoff Award
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 10, 2021
(IG/sg_jamo) pic.twitter.com/flNeDm3mCU
Did Brian Hartline hurt their feelings in middle school or something? What's going on here?
As frustrating as it was that not a single Ohio State receiver was a finalist, I understood how it happens – the vote gets split and none of them are as dominant as they would be on their own. But Williams getting snubbed is a bit egregious.
Williams has been the most dominant and impressive receiver in the country all year and he deserves the recognition. I made peace with that a few weeks ago.
WRONG ONLINE. If you're familiar with Mark Titus, you're probably familiar with the Trillion – the world's greatest basketball stat.
The concept of the Trillion has been around for a very long time, but Titus helped popularize it with his blog in college. Basically, a Trillion is when a player plays a minute, but records absolutely no stats, resulting in a box score that reads 1000000000000.
It's a walk-on's dream, but now somebody is trying to rebrand the Trillion.
for a true Snell to occur, at least 20 minutes need to be played. it took a lot of hard work to set the bar this high, please respect the rules.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 9, 2021
To be fair, you could argue that he's actually just trying to rebrand a 20+ trillion, so it could function the same way as like, a quarter – it's still 25 cents, it's just also a quarter.
In any case, Titus wasn't having it.
https://t.co/qH9X14y3N0 pic.twitter.com/1jF2YwiLEJ
— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) December 9, 2021
I started the blog 13 years ago but the trillion has been around forever and was invented by the guy who basically invented basketball stats in general. Trying to reinvent it as the Snell now is a preposterous move, my goodness https://t.co/4MBZtSeCXf pic.twitter.com/1Zem8UqnCu
— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) December 9, 2021
Regardless, I'm entertained. We can only hope this ends in a fistfight in an Applebee's parking lot.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Snow" by Leslie Odom Jr.
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