Skull Session: Ohio State Has A Second Lease on Life, J.J. McCarthy Wants A Rematch of The Game in the CFP and Nick Saban's Lobbying Didn't Work

By Chase Brown on December 5, 2022 at 5:00 am
Ryan Day
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The World Famous Ohio State Buckeyes will be one of four teams in college football with a chance to win the national championship this season.

We all had that after the football game that was played on Nov. 26, right?

Right?

Let's have a good Monday, shall we?

 “A SECOND LEASE ON LIFE.” Ryan Day hit the nail on the head when explaining what it was like for Ohio State to reach the College Football Playoff this season.

He explained that thought further at a press conference on Sunday saying the Buckeyes have a new season in front of them – one where they plan to learn from the past and move forward with a loose and aggressive nature to their play.

I know there might be a few readers who hear Day's comments and think, “It's all words. Go out and prove it.”

Believe me. I had those same thoughts... Until Sunday. When I heard Day speak over the weekend, his words had an enthusiasm unlike anything I have heard from the man in my two years covering the team.

Keep in mind, this is a second lease on life for Ohio State and a second lease on life for Ryan Day, who almost certainly saw comments from countless fans calling for his head after the Buckeyes lost to Michigan for a second straight year. He was, in a lot of people's minds, a dead man walking, and now he has an opportunity to rewrite the narrative with his team by potentially winning a national championship in a season that was all but lost.

I can't wait to see how this thing ends. I'm hoping it ends with a national title trophy hoisted above the bearded man's head. What say you?

 THE GAME PART TWO? How would everyone feel about a rematch with Michigan in the College Football Playoff final? Would you want Ohio State to have another chance to exact revenge on its most bitter rival in the national championship?

While I'm not sure how everyone would answer that Q, I can say that Ryan Day would certainly be in favor. Of course, he understands that Ohio State would need to defeat Georgia to face Michigan, and he said the Buckeyes won't look past the Bulldogs. Still, he's pondered over the idea a few times since Utah beat USC on Friday.

Yes, Ryan, it would be unbelievable. And, yes, it would be historic.

I'm not sure one could understate the magnitude of these two teams – which have what is considered to be the greatest rivalry in all of sports – making history by playing multiple games in a single season for the first time ever, with the second matchup taking place in the College Football Playoff national championship of all places.

It would be legen – wait for it – dary. Legendary.

And the best part? Both teams want it. On Saturday after Michigan won the Big Ten Championship, Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy welcomed the idea of a rematch with Ohio State in the College Football Playoff.

He was eager to say those words, too. Just watch his response to the question during the postgame press conference at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Ohio State shouldn't need any extra motivation to beat Georgia, especially when considering its last performance was a 22-point loss at the hands of Michigan. However, if any of the coaches or players need any juice in the coming weeks when preparing for the Bulldogs, this video clip should be in the rotation of things to watch.

Bring on the Bulldogs and may the football gods then please bring on the Wolverines after that. The Buckeyes need revenge.

 SABAN'S CAMPAIGN SPEECH. Sooooooooooooo, can we talk about Nick Saban's lobbying effort during the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday? 

In case you missed it – and I wouldn't blame you if you did, it was Michigan playing Purdue in the conference title game, after all – the Sabanator received more than five minutes of interrupted air time during halftime. He essentially spent the entire segment pleading to the CFP committee that the Tide deserved to be one of the top four teams in the final rankings.

I simply cannot comprehend how this happened. FOX, the Big Ten's primary broadcast partner for the past few years and into the foreseeable future, allowed the head coach of SEC-affiliated Alabama to come onto its halftime show of the Big Ten Championship so said coach could talk about hypothetical point spreads that would hypothetically favor the Tide should those games hypothetically happen.

I mean... what?

I am incredibly thankful that Saban's efforts did not pay off, primarily because Ohio State made the College Football Playoff in the space where Alabama could have possibly found itself, but also because it shows the CFP committee has at least some credibility in its decision-making process that it didn't acknowledge or consider Saban's attempts to persuade them.

It was ridiculous, and everyone should have seen it as ridiculous, and I think at the end of the day, everyone ended up seeing it that way.

Have fun in the Sugar Bowl, Nick.

 A WELL-ROUNDED INSTITUTION. It may be football season, but the NCAA March Madness account reminded everyone of its existence over the weekend. Well, it did for me, at least.

After the College Football Playoff rankings were released on Sunday, the March Madness Twitter account tweeted a list of schools that have made at least one CFP, NCAA Tournament Final Four and College World Series appearance in football, men's basketball and baseball.

And guess what? Ohio State is one of those schools!

That's pretty neat.

With this information in mind, I decided to look at how many appearances each program has made to the pinnacle of its respective sports. Here is how they stack up:

  1. Basketball: 10 Final Four appearances (1939, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1968, 2007, 2012); 6-9 record with one national title in 1960 (thanks, Jerry Lucas)
  2. Football: 5 CFP appearances (2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022); 3-3 record with one national title in 2014
  3. Baseball: 4 CWS appearances (1951, 1965, 1966, 1967); 9-7 record with one national title in 1966

The craziest part of this information, to me, is that the football team has made more College Football Playoff appearances in the nine years since the CFP started in 2014 than the baseball team has made College World Series appearances in the 75 years since the CWS began in 1947.

Now, I know it's not that crazy, as Ohio State baseball is at a disadvantage to programs in warmer climates, but I honestly expected a little more from the scarlet and gray dirtbags. However, Ohio State's 1966 CWS title is the last national championship from a “Northern team” in Division I, so at least the Buckeyes have that. And who knows? Maybe Bill Mosiello can bring a title home for the good guys during his tenure.

But I digress.

Ohio State has it good when it comes to three of the four major sports in America, and hockey – both men's and women's – aren't too shabby, either. In short, it's an excellent time to be a fan of the Buckeyes, and there's no reason to stop now.

 SONG OF THE DAY. “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles.

 CUT TO THE CHASE. Bob McGrath, ‘Sesame Street’ legend, dies at 90... Fan buying famed ‘Goonies’ house in Oregon, listed for $1.7M... SEC halftime contest booed, both students awarded $100,000... 2 people are rescued from a plane that crashed into a Maryland transmission tower... A cruise ship passenger was rescued by the Coast Guard after hours in Gulf waters.

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