Welcome to Game Week.
Ohio State. Indiana. Game 1. Saturday.
It's almost here, folks.
Let's have a good Monday, shall we?
THE INDIANA DOSSIER. At the time of the Skull Session's official release – Monday, Aug. 28 at 5 a.m. – Ohio State will face Indiana at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana, in five days, 10 hours and 30 minutes.
Before the 2023 season opener, here is some need-to-know information about Indiana to kick off Game Week:
From the Eleven Warriors Schedule Breakdown, part of our two-week 2023 Season Preview series that ran from Aug. 15-27:
In 2017, Indiana head coach Tom Allen started his tenure as the Hoosiers' head coach with a home and season opener against Ohio State at Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes won the matchup 49-21 behind a four-touchdown performance from quarterback J.T. Barrett.
After Indiana posted a 6-18 record the past two seasons, Allen’s final year in the role may end the same way it started: A blowout loss at the hands of the Buckeyes. Allen is on the hot seat in 2023, and with the Hoosiers’ roster composition ranked as one of the worst in the Big Ten ahead of this season, it could become warmer and warmer as time passes. Ohio State’s visit to Bloomington on Sept. 2 will probably be the first time the seat’s temperature rises.
Indiana returns 15 players with notable experience in 2023, including seven on offense, seven on defense and one on special teams.
Offensively, the Hoosiers will look to running backs Josh Henderson and Jaylin Lucas to produce as they break in either Dexter Williams, Brendon Sorsby or Tennessee transfer Tayven Jackson – the brother of former Indiana basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis – at quarterback. On the other side of the ball, linebacker Aaron Casey will lead the Indiana defense after he recorded a team-best 86 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits last season. Cornerbacks Noah Pierre and Josh Sanguinetti will look to help Casey in his defensive efforts.
As for the special teams player with experience, punter James Evans could receive a lot more of it in 2023. Evans booted the ball 75 times last season for an average of 44.3 yards. He also downed 30 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Overall, the Hoosiers don’t stack up with the Buckeyes on the field, which should appear evident when Ohio State visits Indiana and looks to start the season 1-0.
A sneak peek at my score prediction for later this week: Bucks by a hundred – mmmm, maybe a thousand. A hundred thousand? A million? A billion?
Doesn't matter.
The Hoosiers will, in fact, Get Dumped.
*At 8:35 a.m., our newest staffer, Andy Anders, will have a more in-depth breakdown for the Hoosiers in our weekly Five Things to Know. Make sure to stick around for that.
INTERESTING... INTERESTING. In a recent episode of College Football Live, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on comments he received from Ryan Day about how the Buckeyes will handle the quarterback competition at the start of 2023.
As of Friday, Thamel said the expectation is Ohio State will use both McCord and Brown in the Buckeyes' season opener with the Hoosiers. However, Thamel noted that Ohio State had another scrimmage on Saturday that could have altered that outcome:
“I talked to Ryan Day (on Friday) morning, and this will be a battle right through the Indiana game. He said – as of now – he expects to play both quarterbacks in that game. There’s a big scrimmage for Ohio State on Saturday that could determine who does become the starter, eventually. Interesting battle. Kyle McCord, a little more veteran and a little more polished. He’s kind of a more drop-back guy. Devin Brown’s got a little more wiggle to him and a little more of a dual-threat. They want to find a quarterback because they have to build an identity. They go to Notre Dame on Sept. 23. By then, they want to have that battle set."
Day's comments toward Thamel align with what the Buckeyes head coach has shared with Ohio State beat reporters recently. Following Ohio State's second scrimmage on Aug. 19, some coaches favored McCord, and others favored Brown. Unless McCord or Brown was dominant in the Buckeyes' third scrimmage on Saturday, I doubt those coaches switched sides because of a week's worth of practices.
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 27, 2023
If my doubts are incorrect, and a coach had a change of heart on Saturday, we should hear about it on Tuesday, when Day holds a press conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Day also has three additional media availabilities this week: "Buckeye Roundtable" on Monday, "The Ryan Day Radio Show" on Thursday and a Zoom session on Thursday.
Here is a look at the complete media schedule for this week:
Monday: Day will call in to the Buckeye Roundtable Show, broadcast statewide and locally on 97.1 FM, at approximately 6:35 p.m.
Tuesday: Day will address the media at noon at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. DC/LB coach Jim Knowles will answer questions from the media at the podium following Coach Day’s remarks.
Wednesday: A select number of players will be available for interviews on the Woody Hayes Athletic Center indoor field post-practice, at approximately 6:15 p.m.
Thursday: Day will share insight on his weekly radio show, broadcast live at noon on Sports Radio 97.1 The Fan and throughout the statewide Ohio State Sports Network. The show is hosted by Paul Keels and Jim Lachey. Day will briefly address the media with a Zoom session following his radio show. The 10-minute Zoom will start at approximately 12:50 p.m.
Eleven Warriors will have coverage for Day's media availabilities – and those of Knowles and Ohio State's players – on the one-and-only elevenwarriors.com. Also, follow Dan Hope, Andy Anders, Garrick Hodge and me on the ol' Twitter machine (or X machine) for live coverage of those press conferences and interviews.
HE'S AT IT AGAIN. Former Michigan wide receiver Desmond Howard has made preseason predictions for the Big Ten and the College Football Playoff.
A well-documented Ohio State hater, it should come as no surprise that Howard picked Michigan to beat Ohio State on Nov. 25. He also selected the Wolverines to win another Big Ten title, make a third consecutive appearance in the CFP and win their first national championship since 1997.
A tale as old as time pic.twitter.com/fGDayDwMUZ
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) August 26, 2023
Good news: Three of Howard's CFP picks from last season were wrong – dead wrong, to be more accurate. Howard selected Pitt, Texas A&M, Baylor and Michigan to make the CFP last season. When all was said and done, the Wolverines were the only team to reach the playoffs, as the Panthers (9-4), Aggies (5-7) and Bears (6-7) didn't even come close.
Flashback to Desmond Howard's picks heading into the 2022 season pic.twitter.com/u6lKshsssz
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) August 26, 2023
One can only hope Howard's picks will be as wrong as last season and Ohio State shows up in the playoffs instead. And one can also hope, with that opportunity, the Buckeyes will find a way to win it all.
MARV → ULTIMATE HERBIE. Over the weekend, Marvin Harrison Jr. received the top accolade a college football player can receive. That, of course, is the "Ultimate Herbie Award," an annual honor former Ohio State quarterback and captain Kirk Herbstreit presents to a player he believes excels on and off the field.
"It's because of the way his parents raised him. Despite all the accolades, it’s amazing to me that he wants more. He wants to be coached hard by Brian Hartline, who is one of the top receiver coaches in the country. He expects more of himself this year than any year of his entire life. Sometimes you see players fall victim to early success, and they tend to lose their drive, but that’s not the case with Marvin Harrison Jr. at all. You almost think that he hasn’t done anything when you look at the way he practices, look how humble he is, look what his approach is, it’s almost like he’s still trying to prove himself. Really impressed with him as a player, as an individual, and to his overall approach to life and football."
OK, so the Ultimate Herbie Award is not the top accolade in college football. That was a joke. Instead, the top honor in college football is the Heisman Trophy. After securing an Ultimate Herbie, Harrison will attempt to win that award this season. Last week, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt broke down how Harrison can do that in 2023.
"How does a non-quarterback actually win the award, this year specifically? Well, in Marvin’s case in particular, I think that it’s probably good for him that he’s going to be working with a new quarterback. It’s unlikely that he will be fighting for votes with his quarterback. Even if the Ohio State quarterback, whoever it is, is having an unbelievable season? To me, Marvin is, like, still the focal point. He’s the star. So he is who they will promote, the offense is going to roll through him. He’s the one that’s going to garner the attention, even if the quarterback is having a great year.
"You’ve got to play your best when everybody is watching. I think Ohio State is going to have the biggest stages in college football this year. If you look at their schedule and then you look around at the schedules of the other kind of contenders? Here’s what you’ll see: Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan, and the Big Ten Championship. Those are all games that have a chance to be over 10 million viewers. There’s not many 10 million viewer games in college football. Ohio State is the Dallas Cowboys of television ratings for college football. He’s going to have the stages and some of the biggest stages in all of college football. In fact, you can make an argument that, of the Heisman contenders, he will play in front of more eyeballs than any of them.
"Then he needs performances on those stages. He was in the 75-75 club last year – at least 75 catches with 75% of them going for first downs. He was 77 catches, 60 of them first downs. That’s crazy. It’s not that he just puts up numbers but those numbers are really important. He’s going to have the stages and he needs to produce. The offense is going to go through him. They need to be big catches, they will be big catches. I think he’ll have those things."
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ultimate Herbie Award winner.
Marvin Harrison Jr., Heisman Trophy contender.
Marvin Harrison Jr., good at football.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes.
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