Welcome to the Skull Session.
Here are pictures I did not expect to see this week.
THE Ohio State University Football Teambut make it mini pic.twitter.com/KuSy8CJZNB
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) June 15, 2023
Let's have a good Friday, shall we?
"THERE'S NO DEFINITIVE PLANS." Gene Smith has made several public comments about the current state of Ohio State athletics. He first appeared on Real Pod Wednesdays and then on the Big Ten Network after the conference's football schedule release for 2024 and 2025.
Most recently, Smith spoke with Braden Moles of Buckeye Sports Bulletin for the newspaper's July Interview Issue. Among the many topics Smith discussed with Moles, one of the more prominent ones was Ohio State's plans for the legendary St. John Arena, of which Smith said there are "no definitive plans" beyond the removal of the arena's scoreboard that occurred last week.
From Moles' article:
“Really no plans beyond making it the best workout facility that we could possibly have,” Smith said. “Many of our Olympic sports, our men’s and women’s track team, women’s ice hockey team, our swimming programs are the ones who use it the most, (so) making that a really good weight room like it has been the last couple years.”
Smith said the scoreboard needed to come down due to the difficulty of finding parts, which was made a challenge after White Sign Company, which installed the scoreboard in 1987, went out of business in 2014. But despite the scoreboard coming down, Smith said there are no plans for any further changes – including the potential for taking down St. John Arena – in the near future.
“We just needed to take that scoreboard down instead of keeping chasing parts and asking my teammates to try and find parts to make the thing work made no sense anymore when the company has gone away, so we took it down,” he said. “But there’s no definitive plans. We’ll still hold Skull Session in there. Taking St. John down is a long ways away."
Once upon a time, in Ohio State's Framework 2.0 development plans for its Columbus campus, the university had three plans to either renovate or demolish St. John Arena. The latter option appeared to be the likely course of action for six detailed reasons, according to Framework 2.0's final plans:
- Strengthen the Ohio State identity
- Create a strong gateway and arrival point on campus
- Maintain and enhance connections to the stadium
- Reinforce east-west connections along Lane Avenue and Woody Hayes Drive
- Integrate the proposed Cannon Drive extension
- Provide a mix of program elements to meet campus space needs
Conceptual rendering of the St. John Arena site integrating recreation fields and interdisciplinary teaching and research facilities. (Photo: Ohio State's Framework 2.0)
However, in a May meeting of Ohio State's Board of Trustees, Amanda Hoffsis, vice president of Planning Architecture and Real Estate (PARE) for the university, established Framework 3.0, which put to rest any current plans for St. John Arena – and other parts of campus, for that matter. Framework 3.0 will start in the fall of 2023.
Given that information, Smith's remark that "no definitive plans" are in the works is true. However, the unfortunate reality is that his remark is only true now.
St. John Arena has lived on borrowed time since Schottenstein Center opened on Nov. 3, 1998. As much as we would love to see the Ohio State basketball teams return to that hallowed ground permanently, it's not in the cards. Some day, probably sooner rather than later, that beautiful arena will come down, and we will all have somber hearts.
On that day, I will remember witnessing Ohio State take down Cleveland State, 89-62, in the Clark Kellogg throwback scarlet uniforms on Nov. 23, 2018. It was the best basketball game I have ever attended (and I have attended many), mainly due to the arena's atmosphere. It was perfect in every way.
All that said, sorry to start this Skull Session with some news that will instill low morale. I was in my feels. Let's move on to some happier stuff.
THE BEST OF THE BEST. ESPN's Bill Connelly pondered over two questions recently: Is the ruling class in today's college football – the Ohio States, Alabamas and Georgias of the world – more dominant than usual? And more – what shifts in dominance have we seen over time? To answer those questions, Connelly used his SP+ formula to rank the top college football players of each decade from the 1920s to the 2020s.
While the version of SP+ presented weekly during a given season is based on a large number of predictive factors, I have come up with a version based solely on points scored and allowed that, at the lower levels of the sport, can serve to make solid projections. I applied those same methods to the games going back to 1883, when football's scoring rules became mostly what they are now.
Starting with the 1920s, I looked at which teams most thoroughly dominated the sport from decade to decade, using SP+ percentile averages for each team and each decade. How much do these lists change over time? What can these averages tell us about how things have evolved over the past 100 years and how much things are evolving now?
Here are the instances Ohio State appeared as one of the top 10 programs of the decade:
- 1930s: Ohio State, No. 6 (86.5 percentile SP+ overall, three top-five finishes out of 10)
- 1950s: Ohio State, No. 5 (85.4, two top-fives, one No. 1)
- 1960s: Ohio State, No. 6 (87.0, two top-fives, one No. 1)
- 1970s: Ohio State, No. 5 (96.0, four top-fives, one No. 1)
- 1990s: Ohio State, No. 7 (90.1, three top-fives, one No. 1)
- 2000s: Ohio State, No. 7 (89.7, two top-fives, one No. 1)
- 2010s: Ohio State, No. 2 (94.1, eight top-fives, one No. 1)
- 2020s: Ohio State, No. 2 (98.2)
In a section Connelly titles "The past 100 years in a nutshell," he ranks Alabama and Ohio State as the most dominant programs in college football for the past century, as both the Crimson Tide and Buckeyes made seven appearances on the various lists. Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas were next with five appearances, while Georgia, LSU, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Penn State all had three.
I love that there is even more proof that Ohio State is elite.
What I love the most about this information, however, is that Connelly's SP+ formula, which is based on a team's efficiency and explosiveness, was not kind to Jim Tressel's Ohio State teams. Who could have seen that coming?
Still, while Tressel was not as up-tempo and speed-oriented as Urban Meyer or Ryan Day (and to some extent, John Cooper, given Connelly's numbers), Tressel generated results. One national title in three BCS Championship Game appearances and a 9-1 record vs. Michigan. Yeah, that'll do.
JSN'S FIT IN SEATTLE. According to the Seattle Times, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has been impressed with Jaxon Smith-Njigba this offseason, explaining that he is "just what we were looking for" with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
But Carroll is not alone in praising the record-breaking Ohio State pass-catcher. Smith-Njigba has also impacted Seattle's wide receiver room since he arrived in the Pacific Northwest. Smith-Njigba's teammate, Tyler Lockett, an eight-year veteran with the Seahawks, believes JSN has potential for an incredible career:
“I think he’s going to be phenomenal, man,” Lockett said. “It’s always hard just being able to get adjusted when you first come in. But the way he runs routes, the way he’s understanding the way that [receivers coach] Sanjay [Lal] coaches, the sky’s going to be the limit. I think he’s going to be really good at all the things that the Seahawks — that we — want him to be able to do.”
Despite those expectations, which are common among his teammates, Smith-Njigba has been focused on each day as they come. For now, he wants to keep building relationships and enjoy his first experiences as a rookie in the NFL:
“It’s been awesome connecting with the guys, finally being in the building and not dealing with all the draft stuff and just being on my team and just moving forward with those guys and getting to know these guys better,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it. It’s what I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”
I love this mindset from JSN, especially after a season in which he missed all but three games for the Buckeyes. Take time to appreciate the small stuff and worry about the legacy stuff later. Knowing the recent history of success for Ohio State receivers at the next level, it feels like only a matter of time before he will rack up the catches, yards and touchdowns that will be plastered on #DevelopedHere graphics for years to come.
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND. Because I was in my feels about St. John Arena earlier, I will end this Skull Session with a video that pumps me up. Here's footage of Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson passionately explaining what it means to be elite to his players, passed on by ESPN's Heather Rowe on Wednesday:
"Everybody says that they want to be elite.
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) June 13, 2023
But, they dont want to do what the edge requires.
The edge marks the place where you make the decision to do the things the average guy wont do.
Talent is a gift.
Elite is a choice.
Make the choice." @TimothyKight pic.twitter.com/3RYXAaS1N2
Talent is a gift. Elite is a choice. Make the choice.
Have a good weekend.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones.
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