When JK Johnson entered the transfer portal Tuesday, it looked as if the day was headed for a bleak end. But then Ohio State delivered a BOOM.
Please welcome Ja'Had Carter as the newest member of Buckeye Nation.
#BOOM Ohio State lands a transfer commitment from former Syracuse safety JaHad Carter. https://t.co/J7rwneLcV7
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) January 3, 2023
Let's have a good Wednesday, shall we?
MOM KNOWS BEST. Jackie Ruggles spoke on behalf of her son, Noah, on Tuesday with a statement via a tweet in which she tagged Eleven Warriors and Dan Hope, among others.
Noah Ruggles, who could have sent Ohio State to the national championship had he sent his 50-yard game-winning field goal attempt through the uprights, takes "full responsibility" for the miss, his mother says.
@ryandaytime @ParkerFleming_ @11W @Dan_Hope @joeyrkaufman @LSueSzabo pic.twitter.com/2tgKkDeIjw
— Jackie Ruggles (@ruggles_jackie) January 3, 2023
Ruggles declined interviews with the media after the game and did not make any public comments in the days that followed, so this is the first Buckeye fans have heard from the Ohio State kicker – albeit through his mother – since his missed kick in the Peach Bowl. While not his words, I am confident Ruggles has taken responsibility while doing his best to keep his head held high during a difficult time.
After all, Ruggles was always level-headed as a Buckeye. He was calm, cool and collected every time he took the field. He had ice in his veins. Remember his game-winner against Utah last season that won Ohio State the Rose Bowl? Oh, how quickly we forget.
Noah Ruggles caps it off for Ohio State to win the Rose Bowl pic.twitter.com/sIFumiqbEs
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 2, 2022
We may also forget that Ruggles made 37 of his 41 field goal attempts across his two seasons at Ohio State. In 2021, he ranked No. 1 among FBS kickers with an average of 10.3 points per game and set a program record with 134 total points. This year, Ruggles averaged 9.61 points per contest by converting 17 of his 20 field goals and 74 of his 75 extra points for 125 total points.
A finalist for the Lou Groza Award, an ESPN first-team All-American and a second-team All-Big Ten honoree, Ruggles should be remembered for more than his missed kick in the CFP. I am thankful most fans, if not all fans, in Buckeye Nation understand that, and I wish Ruggles the best of luck wherever he goes next. Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye.
THE BEST RECEIVER EVER. After a breakout season for the Buckeyes in which he was named a unanimous All-American, Marvin Harrison Jr. has ascended to the ranks of the best receivers in Ohio State history. However, he has his eyes set on more than becoming the best in Ohio State history, Big Ten history, NCAA history or even NFL history.
"My goal is to be the best receiver to ever play," Harrison told ESPN's Marty Smith, whose exclusive interview with the star pass-catcher details how Harrison plans to accomplish that feat before his football career ends.
When it's all said and done, Harrison wants to be the first name mentioned in the same breath as Jerry Rice, Don Hutson, Randy Moss, Lance Alworth, Larry Fitzgerald and, yes, even his father, Marvin Harrison Sr.
And, honestly, why not him? Why not the one they call Marvelous Marv, Route Man Marv and Super Marv? At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds with freaky athleticism, Harrison has the size to cause havoc in the sport for a very, very long time, so he has as good a chance as anyone to shatter records and – at the same time – expectations.
But I don't want to think too far ahead with Harrison, who still has at least one more year in the scarlet and gray before he makes his millions in the NFL. Let's appreciate his excellence as a Buckeye while we can. Then, of course, we can cheer him on as he continues his quest to become the greatest receiver the sport has ever seen with a long and prosperous career in the league.
THAT'S A GREAT CALL. Kirby Smart's expertly-called timeout in the Peach Bowl that kept Ohio State from achieving a successful fake punt was all the rave in college football over the past few days.
With that in mind, Andy Staples of The Athletic ranked his top 10 calls of the College Football Playoff on Monday, sharing what he believes are the most influential coaching decisions that shaped the outcome of playoff semifinals and national championships dating back to 2014.
Of the calls ranked, Ohio State was featured in two. From Staples' article:
No. 10: Targeting the Tight Ends – Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson
In a shortened 2020 regular season in the Big Ten, Ohio State tight ends Jeremy Ruckert and Luke Farrell combined for three touchdown catches. Against Clemson in a semifinal in the Sugar Bowl, Ruckert and Farrell combined for three touchdown catches in the first half.
Day and Wilson continued to play against tendency in the second quarter as Clemson spent resources attempting to cover the Buckeyes’ elite receivers. Fields connected twice with Ruckert for touchdowns in the quarter, and Ohio State went into the break up 35-14 before cruising to its first CFP win since the national title game following the 2014 season.
Ohio State's offense frequently featured Cade Stover and the tight ends this year, but (as you all know) that wasn't always the case under Ryan Day and past coaches. It certainly wasn't the case during the 2020 season, when Ruckert collected 13 catches for 161 yards and three touchdowns, while Farrell added three receptions for 26 yards in the Buckeyes' first six games before the CFP.
However, Day and Wilson went to that well again and again against Clemson, and good on them for it. The aerial attack to the tight end understandably blindsided the Tigers, which was a huge reason why Ohio State finally beat them in 2020.
No. 7: The Joey Bosa & Darron Lee Twist - Luke Fickell and Chris Ash
Seeing future first-rounder Joey Bosa standing in a two-point stance slightly off the line of scrimmage probably was disconcerting for Alabama’s offensive line on this third-and-6 play from the Ohio State 40-yard line in the inaugural CFP after the 2014 season. The Buckeyes needed a stop badly in the Sugar Bowl. They led by six, but Alabama could seize momentum with a score.
So Fickell and Ash started Bosa in an unusual spot. Then Bosa twisted left. Alabama center Ryan Kelly passed Bosa back to fullback Jalston Fowler, but Kelly lost his footing in the process. That allowed linebacker Darron Lee, who was twisting behind Bosa and heading straight up the middle of Alabama’s offense, to stone a run by quarterback Blake Sims and force a punt.
Fickell and Ash's decision to use Bosa – now known as one of the best defensive ends in the NFL and the first name in a trio of monsters of the edge at Ohio State along with his brother Nick and Chase Young – as what was basically the Buckeyes' second linebacker next to Lee on this play was an insanely clever move that deserves more credit than it likely received at the time and since 2014.
Still, I understand why this play from Bosa and Lee is often forgotten by Ohio State fans, as Ezekiel Elliott's "85 Yards Through the Heart of the South" touchdown run occurred five plays later. So, yeah, that makes sense.
NOT THE TRUE CHAMPS? As has been stated many times in the Skull Sessions, I am a fan of a one Bill Connelly and the consistently good work he does for ESPN. However, he recently wrote something that made me upset! How dare he!
That last sentence was sarcasm.
On Tuesday, Connelly crowned the "true champions" from 16 of college football's split or controversial national titles. In the process, he took away two championships from the Buckeyes in 1954 and 1957. Here is what he said about both of those years:
1954 - Oklahoma over Ohio State and UCLA
In 1954, Woody Hayes' Ohio State and Red Sanders' UCLA split shares of the title, while Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma, now 19 games into its famous 47-game winning streak, finished third in both polls. Because bowls didn't take repeats in those days, neither UCLA (which had played in the Rose Bowl in 1953) nor OU (same with the Orange Bowl) got chances to bolster their résumés in the postseason, and between these three teams, only UCLA scored a win over an SP+ top-10 team. The Bruins otherwise trounced an extremely weak Pacific Coast Conference, however, and while Oklahoma had little competition in the Big 7, the Sooners graded out the best of the three in my opponent-adjusted SP+. So we'll give them an ever-so-slight nod here.
1957 - Auburn over Ohio State
In 1957, Auburn played Chattanooga and middling Houston and Florida State teams in nonconference play; the Tigers were banned from the postseason for paying a couple of recruits, too, and head coach Shug Jordan had kicked likely starting quarterback Jimmy Cooke off the team before the season began. But they gave up only four touchdowns all season (one to Chattanooga!) and finished the season with a 40-0 pasting of Alabama. (The loss was humiliating enough for Bama to fire Jennings "Ears" Whitworth and pursue a replacement named Bear Bryant.)
Ohio State took on a more impressive schedule -- Wisconsin and Iowa were both excellent, and the Buckeyes beat a decent Oregon in the Rose Bowl -- but we're going to give Auburn the ring here because the Buckeyes began the season with a stinker: TCU won 18-14 in Columbus in September, then proceeded to go just 4-4-1 the rest of the way.
Obviously, I wasn't around for these years of Ohio State football, but come on, Connelly, that's the local team! You can't take away championships from the local team!
I guess I could look up the numbers of Oklahoma and Auburn from '54 and '57 and compare them to Ohio State's from those years, but I am tired, and I don't want to. So, I turn to the faithful readers of the Skull Session who are older and wiser than I am.
Please tell me, for those alive back then, did they deserve to be champions? I would very much like to hear your answers. Let me know in the comments. I'll see you there.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Sh-Boom" by The Chords.
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