Skull Session: Jerron Cage’s Scoop-and-Score Against Penn State Was Beautiful, C.J. Stroud Has a Golden Arm and Jim Knowles is the Master of Disguise

By Chase Brown on October 28, 2022 at 5:00 am
Jerron Cage
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We've reached Friday of Penn State week.

Only one more day until the Buckeyes take on the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley. Until then, enjoy this Skull Session and this video of Cade Stover hurdling an Iowa defender.

Let's have a good Friday, shall we?

 SCOOP-AND-SCORE. The Big Man Touchdown. The Thick Six. The Jerron Cage Scoop-and-Score. Did you really think we would go the entire Penn State week without talking about it?

We need to look back on Cage's touchdown, Ohio State's play of the year last season, and admire its beauty before the Buckeyes travel to State College, Pennsylvania, for their battle with the Nittany Lions this weekend.

Listed as a 305-pound defensive tackle last season, Cage sprinted all 57 yards to the end zone after Zach Harrison and Tyreke Smith knocked the ball loose from Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford. He left nothing in the tank on the run, and his teammates rewarded him with palm-tree treatment as he caught his breath on the sideline.

Almost a year later, Cage has now played 38 games with seven starts in his Ohio State career. In 2022, the Cincinnati native is in the middle of his best year as a Buckeye and has recorded eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks through seven games.

It remains to be seen if Cage will do something to outshine the Big Man Touchdown in his final season. However, if that play remains his legacy as a Buckeye, it's a pretty cool legacy to have.

 THE GOLDEN ARM. The Ohio State University quarterback Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV was born with a golden arm (or a platinum arm or a palladium arm).

This season, that arm is the talk of the town, as Stroud has thrown for 2,073 yards and 28 touchdowns in a 7-0 start for the Buckeyes. He‘s been one of the best quarterbacks in college football, and on Thursday, he was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

From a press release by the award's selection committee:

These remaining quarterbacks are 10 of the best players in college football across the nation. The candidates are selected by the distinguished Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Selection Committee, a group of prominent college football journalists, commentators, announcers, and former players. The award annually recognizes the top senior or upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with their class. Candidates are chosen based on player performance on-and-off the field.

Johnny Unitas was an 18-year veteran of the NFL, who played his collegiate career at the University of Louisville before joining the Baltimore Colts in 1958. His career passing figures include 2,830 pass completions for 40,239 yards, 290 touchdowns and throwing a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games.
 
The 2022 award winner will be presented the Golden Arm Award trophy by The Johnny Unitas Educational Foundation President, John Unitas, Jr., at the Golden Arm Award banquet and celebration at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

Winning the award would be a tremendous honor for Stroud. However, it would not determine whether or not his arm is genuinely golden. Week in and week out, Stroud proves that his ability to throw a football with both power and finesse is unmatched around the country. He doesn't need a trophy to validate that.

Still, there are trophies that would validate Stroud as the best thrower of the football. They are Gold Pants, the Stagg Championship Trophy and the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy. After all, isn't the best quarterback in America the one who wins a title for their program? ... OK, no, not always. But if a team doesn't win a championship do all the individual awards matter all that much?

Luckily, Stroud can be both this season, earning himself individual and collective recognition as the best quarterback in the nation on the best team in the nation.

 MASTER OF DISGUISE. Ohio State‘s defensive transformation under first-year coordinator Jim Knowles has been remarkable. What was the team‘s well-documented weakness in 2021 has become a significant strength in 2022.

This season, the Buckeyes rank No. 2 in total defense and No. 5 in scoring defense through seven games, allowing 239.9 yards and 14.9 points per game to their opponents. Ohio State also ranks No. 4 in the nation with an 80.7% stop rate – a metric used by The Athletic's Max Olson that determines the percentage of a defense's drives that end in punts, turnovers or turnovers on downs.

So the Silver Bullets are back. Oh, are they back. But what exactly has led to Ohio State's return to the top of the totem pole as one of the best defenses in the nation? FOX analyst Joel Klatt says there are many reasons, but the most prominent one might be that Knowles has been tremendous at being “multiple“ and disguising looks to frustrate opposing quarterbacks and coordinators.

Move over, Dana Carvey, Jim Knowles is now the Master of Disguise.

 OLYMPIC VILLAGE. On Thursday, Ohio State women's ice hockey defenseman Sophie Jaques was named a finalist for the 92nd annual James E. Sullivan Award – an honor presented to the top amateur athlete in the United States. She will look to join Ezekiel Eliott (2014) and Kyle Snyder (2017) as Buckeyes to receive the award in the past decade.

Jaques is an absolute stud for the Buckeyes who will go down as one of the greatest to ever play her position at the collegiate level. And, no, that's not hyperbole.

In 2022, Jaques led Ohio State to a national championship with a single-season program-record 59 points – the second-most by a blueliner in the NCAA in 20 years – from 38 assists and 21 goals. She also finished with a +51 on-ice rating and a team-high 44 blocked shots. After that season, Jaques was named a first-team All-American, the Frozen Four MVP, the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Year and finished in the top three for the Patty Kazmaier Award.

Off the ice, Jaques was named the WCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year and became Ohio State's first recipient of the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sport Scholar of the Year award after graduating with a 3.75 GPA in civil engineering.

This fall, Jaques is tied for the most points on the team with 12 and leads the Buckeyes with three power-play goals. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in civil engineering and is an active participant in the university's SHEROs organization and the 2nd & 7 foundation, which aims to promote literacy for children in Columbus.

Jaques’ accomplishment on the ice, in the classroom and in the community make her a fantastic representation of Ohio State. You can vote for her to be the Sullivan Award winner here. The voting opened on Thursday and will close on Nov. 9. Individuals are allowed one vote per day. The winner will be announced on Dec. 8.

 SONG OF THE DAY. “Believer” by Imagine Dragons.

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