Welcome to the Skull Session.
One more sleep.
Our Honor Defend.
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 7, 2023
Vol. 2 starts on Saturday.pic.twitter.com/BYnT51HtdE
Let's have a good Friday, shall we?
"NOBODY HERE CARES AT ALL." The Wednesday Skull Session featured comments from former Ohio State quarterback and current ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who called select members of Buckeye Nation "psychotic" in an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
“There’s a standard, and then there’s a psychotic standard. And I would say that the 15% that represent Ohio State on social media fall into that category of ‘psychotic.’ They’re out of their minds. ... They’re just such jackasses. They drive me crazy with everything that they do.”
Herbstreit's remarks were aimed toward Ohio State fans who were critical of the Buckeyes' season-opening win over Indiana, but primarily those who came after Ryan Day, Kyle McCord and Ohio State's offensive line for their performance in Bloomington.
On Wednesday, Josh Fryar, the lone Ohio State offensive lineman named a "Champion" in Week 1, called his position room's performance "mediocre." He believes that is a fair assessment of the offensive line's efforts. What Ohio State fans have said on social media... well, not so much.
"I love Ohio State fans. I love Buckeye fans," Fryar said. "But I think the scrutiny we are under now, it doesn't affect us because we're trying to win. ... I mean, yeah, the offensive line didn't play very well. You can go on Twitter and search 'offensive line play.' I don't think they said one good thing about an offensive lineman until (we won) the game. And then they're like, 'Oh, we won the game.' Everybody will forget about it in a month, two months."
Cade Stover was more blunt than Fryar when asked to share his response to criticism he's received or seen on social media since Saturday.
"I can promise you that nobody here cares at all about what they say," Stover said. "We appreciate all their support and everything else. But when it comes down to Xs and Os, they don’t see the thousands of reps we put in and Kyle and Devin (Brown) put in. That’s a tough spot to step into. And, to be honest with you, I think they did well. I trust wholeheartedly in both of them with the game in their hands. I think, for a start, that was awesome. I remember people calling for C.J. (Stroud)'s head when he first started.”
He later added: “When you first deal with (social media at Ohio State), it’s hard not to look at some of the stuff, I guess. But I mean, once you go through it and realize that some homeboy in his basement – texting about him, it doesn’t matter for what you’ll do on Saturday. I can assure you when we go in that game on Saturday that we are not thinking about Johnny in his basement typing, ‘Hey, you guys suck.'”
So take that, 15 percenters. And take that, Johnny.
No matter how much you complain, the Ohio State football team cannot hear you. Feel free to continue screaming into the void like Jim Carey's Grinch.
DIVISIONS "DON'T REALLY WORK." When the Big Ten expands to 18 members next summer, the conference will do so without the reinstallment of football divisions, according to a report from The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach.
Where did Auerbach receive such info? Well, from the commissioner himself, of course!
The league will use the same Flex Protect Plus model it created for football scheduling after adding USC and UCLA and simply adjust it to incorporate new members Oregon and Washington. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti told The Athletic that “divisions don’t really work” for multiple reasons.
“They’re very difficult to balance because they’d have to be large,” Petitti said. “And secondly, if you’re playing nine conference games and you’re breaking into divisions, you’re playing so much against your own division that you’re not really crossing over. The inability to see other teams and really connect the conference is not ideal. So, there’s a competitive aspect to it, but there’s also a practicality. ... We want our members to see each other as frequently as we can make it happen. The system that we have does that. Divisions would make that way more complicated.”
PETITTI: “We want our members to see each other as frequently as we can make it happen. The system that we have does that. Divisions would make that way more complicated.”
Hm. Let me translate.
TRANSLATION: "While it makes sense to place our teams into an East Division and West Division, we would be left with a scenario where Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State don't play USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington enough. That would upset our television partners, who have agreed to pay us billions of dollars. Therefore, we won't do it!"
How did I do?
I mean, seriously. To call divisions "complicated" in a conference that reaches from coast to coast seems outlandish. Put nine teams in the East Division and nine in the West Division; voila, there are the two divisions.
But, nope. That's too "complicated."
Let's call a spade a spade: The reason the Big Ten will keep its Flex Protect Plus model is that FOX, CBS and NBC want to see Ohio State – and Michigan and Penn State, but mainly the Buckeyes – face USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington as much as possible. And the media partners should want that! Ohio State-Indiana had 4.65 million viewers, but imagine what that number would have been if the Buckeyes battled the Trojans, Bruins, Ducks or Huskies. It would have met or surpassed the numbers Florida State-LSU (9.17 million) and Colorado-TCU (7.26 million) produced over the weekend.
So remember: The Big Ten's future college football decisions are not about "competitive aspects" or "practicality." It's all about the dollar, folks. Always has been. Always will be.
THEN HE WADDLED AWAY. Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips was asked several questions about the Buckeyes in a press conference this week. And Phillips, a former Ohio State assistant under Jim Tressel in 2006, offered several different responses which varied from adoration of the Buckeyes to confidence in how the Penguins will perform on Saturday. I have collected some of his responses below:
On facing Ohio State, "the best in the FBS"
“I thank Ohio State for giving not only our players but our program, our university and the Youngstown State fans the opportunity to experience what they’re going to experience on Saturday. We play the best in FCS. Now we get to go play the best in the FBS. And it’s football and we got to go in with a plan to win and find out how we execute and evaluate how we do going against that type of program.”
On Youngstown State's experience against FBS teams
“We played Kentucky last year, played Michigan State and, in the future, (we have) Pitt, Maryland. The difference here is, you know, we got 79 (scholarship) players from the state of Ohio on our roster. That's a pretty big deal. They probably grew up, if not a fan, wanting to play there, wanting to be a Buckeye. So this one’s just a little bit different just for that.
“The state of Ohio, I don’t really know if they know the Missouri Valley Conference. They know Mid American Conference. For us to wave that flag that we play in the best FCS conference in the country. That every year first, second, third-round picks are coming from teams in the Missouri Valley Conference into the NFL. Nobody knows that. They know Mid American Conference. And so for us to be able to have a game like this, where not only are you representing your university, your city, the area, but you’re also representing the league that you play in. We’re proud of the league we play in. And each year those teams are winning national titles, and that’s why we come to work every day, to build that program.”
On how important the first quarter will be on Saturday
“For us, it’s like any game. Our scout team can’t give the look Ohio State’s gonna give. Nothing against our scout team. It will take that first couple of series, but you better adjust quick. You better adjust quick if you’re a defensive back, and you gotta guard Marvin Harrison Jr. Or you’re the left tackle, and you got those guys coming off the edge on pass rush. You need to make those adjustments quickly. Or it could be a long day. That's for sure.”
Well, Coach Phillips, it will be a long day.
The best in the FBS beat the best in the FCS – every. single. time.
WAIT... WHAT? On Thursday, I learned that Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (and Jim Lachey's son, Luke) inked an NIL deal with Casey's, a chain of convenience stores mostly connected to gas stations in the Midwest and Southeast.
Caseys joins the brands hoping to score big through NIL deals early in the college football season.
— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) September 7, 2023
Caseys announced Thursday three new NIL deals with Ohio State WR Emeka Egbuka, Tennessee TE Jacob Warren and Iowa TE Luke Lachey.
Story: https://t.co/BJVjlHg0Xq pic.twitter.com/uWb3FrJvLp
Casey’s announced Thursday three new NIL deals with Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka, Tennessee tight end Jacob Warren and Iowa tight end Luke Lachey. The three pass-catchers are promoting the “perfect combination” – breakfast and pizza – in Casey’s commercials that are already trickling out on social media.
“Between school, practice, film study and workouts, I’m balancing a lot as a student-athlete,” Egbuka said in a news release. “To be able to go into Casey’s and get everything I need in one spot, it was a no-brainer to partner with them. And who would say no to pizza for breakfast? There’s nothing better.”
"Cool," I said upon seeing the announcement.
*pause*
"Wait. What?"
*pulls out phone, clicks on Apple Maps, sees that the nearest Casey's location is in London, Ohio, a 41-minute drive from Ohio State's campus*
Egbuka is balancing a lot between "school, practice, film study and workouts" but has time to drive over half an hour for some gas station pizza... Lies! Deceptions!
Whether those were Egbuka's words or the words of someone PR intern at Casey's (it's the latter), the Ohio State star secured another bag with the deal, and good on him for that. Now let's see him secure a few passes and score some touchdowns on Saturday, huh?
SONG OF THE DAY. "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin.
CUT TO THE CHASE. Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel ending after 29 seasons... The ESPN-Charter dispute could shake the foundation of modern sports... EAT ARBY'S: Arby’s Is Releasing a first-of-its-kind fast food burger... Mack Brown went scorched earth on the NCAA... 7-year-old makes 2.95-carat discovery at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds.
