Skull Session: Al Golden Has “Much Respect” For Ryan Day, Notre Dame Activates “Operation: Keep the Red Out” and the Styles Family Has Close Ties to Buckeyes and Irish

Are the Silver Bullets... back?

Game changers on Defense pic.twitter.com/3pRTVJADjY

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 20, 2023

We'll find out this weekend.

Let's have a good Thursday, shall we?

 “HE DOES A GREAT JOB.” Ahead of a top-10 showdown in South Bend, Indiana, on Saturday, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has expressed the belief that the Buckeyes will provide a "good challenge" for the Irish defense.

In fact, Golden offered tremendous praise for Ohio State's offense, calling its receiver room "as good of a group as we've seen," its running back room full of "talented guys" and its offensive line room one of athleticism and strength.

But his praise didn't stop there.

Golden also said that one of the Buckeyes' greatest assets, if not its greatest asset, is Ohio State head coach Ryan Day.

"He does a great job," Golden said on Tuesday. "I have so much respect for Ryan and the coach that he is. Multiple looks, multiple groupings and tempos. He really has it all and the ability to control it from the sideline – and then the experience to go with it. It's what makes (Ohio State) formidable, and it's a challenge for us."

Still, with four sets of film on Notre Dame's defense and three on Ohio State's offense, Golden feels more confident – there's that word again – before the 2023 matchup between the teams than he did in 2022.

"There are some unknowns with both teams because it is the first quarter of the season," Golden said. "But we kind of know what we are as a defense and what we need to improve on, what we need to fix, how we need to attack them based on what they have done and who they may be on Saturday."

Here are some stats for Notre Dame's defense this season:

• Scoring Defense: 11.8 PPG (14th in NCAA)
• Total Defense: 234.2 YPG (4th)
• Passing Defense: 126.8 YPG (3rd)
• Rushing Defense: 107.5 YPG (41st)
• Third Down Conversion Defense: .317 (28th)
• Red Zone Defense: .583 (12th)
• Tackles For Loss: 17 (75th)
• Sacks: 6 (74th)

Make no mistake, Notre Dame's defense is solid, which makes Marcus Freeman and Golden confident before kickoff on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.

And by the way, did I mention that the Irish's home venue will feature a "Green Out"? I believe I did... several times... which is probably too much... I'm sorry. Still (!), I have more information about how the "Green Out" came to be in the next section.

 OPERATION: KEEP THE RED OUT. From ticketing technology to jersey colors and marketing strategy, Notre Dame has put in the work to get the look it wants for Saturday's matchup between the Buckeyes and the Irish. This look features a sea of green rather than a sea of red (scarlet), à la Notre Dame-Georgia in 2017.

In an article for The Athletic titled "Operation: Keep the Red Out," Pete Sampson detailed Notre Dame's efforts to stop opposing fans from invading Notre Dame Stadium. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick has spearheaded those efforts with help from senior associate AD for business innovation and revenue generation Patrick Nowlin and deputy AD for business strategy Yulander Wells.

Swarbrick tasked Nowlin and Wells to solve “the red problem” after the duo arrived in South Bend in 2022.

Notre Dame’s season ticket base is 45 percent of the stadium, including students. At other top programs, that figure is closer to 85 percent — including Oklahoma, where Nowlin worked before coming to Notre Dame. It can’t close that gap entirely. Season ticket holders are an average of 500 miles from campus, about four times the distance from many major programs.

Notre Dame wants to turn the economic argument of ticketing into an experiential one. The get-in price for season tickets is $850. It was the only guaranteed way to purchase tickets to the Ohio State game. Single-game tickets never went to public sale, which meant Notre Dame had more control over who bought them. The maximum number of tickets donors could purchase was also reduced to 10, roughly cut in half from previous limits.

A chance at Ohio State tickets from the school lottery required a minimum $100 donation to enter, but it never dropped that low relative to buyers. In other words, higher-level donors had better access, which is how Nowlin executed tickets for the Red River Rivalry with Texas in Dallas. The same principle applied to the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville between Georgia and Florida, where Wells worked from 2008-13. And if this game did go to public sale, Notre Dame was prepared to put it in its own pricing tier, above games like USC, Clemson or Michigan.

“We know more about our fans now and we’ve also protected it by making sure that the only way to buy it is you had to have a pre-existing relationship with Notre Dame,” Nowlin said. “You couldn’t just come in off the street and buy it.”

Then there’s the matter of the Ohio State fans buying from the school’s 5,000-ticket allotment. Instead of creating a block of Buckeyes fans in one section beneath the video board, Notre Dame has spread them around the stadium in the top rows of multiple sections. The point isn’t to give visiting fans the worst seats. It’s more to break up red blocks in the stadium.

Despite Notre Dame's efforts, which I must admit were well-crafted and have since been well-executed, I am not convinced it will matter much – at least not this weekend. 

Every Ohio State fan and their mother, father, brother, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins are headed to South Bend on Saturday. And, of course, they are. This is one of the team's best matchups all season, along with Penn State (Oct. 21), Wisconsin (Oct. 28) and Michigan (Nov. 25). It's no surprise Buckeye Nation plans to show out.

However, Nowlin and Wells believe their hard work could pay off.

No one expects to keep the red entirely out of Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night. That’s different from accepting a takeover as inevitable. ... Nowlin and Wells will find out if these strategies will pay off in real time on Saturday with an entire sport’s view trained on Notre Dame Stadium. There’s reason to believe it will work. On his computer, Nowlin has a dashboard with every seat in the stadium, color-coded as the tickets are bought, sold and resold. Blue represents a transfer. Pink represents the secondary market. The chart should let Nowlin anticipate problems before they play out on national television.

“The secondary market where we’ve seen the most turnover is an Ohio State section,” Nowlin said. “That’s a positive for us and what we’re looking for. We’ve done everything we can to prevent it from being in that (Georgia) area. Our technology is there, our strategy is there. ... It’s gonna come down to making sure that our fans hang onto their tickets and come and support the team.”

Just two days, 14 hours and 30 minutes, folks. Just two days, 14 hours and 30 minutes. That's when we'll see if Ohio State fans created a sea of scarlet in Notre Dame Stadium. And even more importantly, we'll see if Ohio State can hang with Notre Dame for 60 minutes on the football field. I can't wait.

 FAMILY TIES. When Ohio State faced Notre Dame in the 2022 season opener, Lorenzo Styles Jr. was still a member of the Irish football team while his brother, Sonny, was a freshman for the Buckeyes. That caused a family divide over who to root for in the matchup.

“We’re trying to make sure we’re even,” Laverna Styles told NBC4 the week of the game. “My husband (former Buckeye linebacker Lorenzo Styles) is Ohio State, and I’m Notre Dame, so we’ve got one parent on each side. Got an older sister on Ohio State, and a younger sister on Notre Dame.”

Lorenzo Styles and Sonny Styles met at midfield after Ohio State defeated Notre Dame 21-10 in the 2022 season opener.

One year later, no predetermined allegiances or attire is needed for the Styles family as the Buckeyes and Irish battle in 2023. That's because Lorenzo Jr. transferred to Ohio State in the offseason, a decision he said in preseason camp "feels great" with due respect to Marcus Freeman's program and his experience in South Bend.

“It feels great to be here with my brother putting the work in and trying to bring a national championship back to the state of Ohio,” Lorenzo Jr. said. “Notre Dame is a great institution, a great coaching staff. But I think this was the best thing for me.”

Added Sonny: "Home was the best place for him. I think it's super cool (he's at Ohio State). ... It's special."

According to Dan Hope's critically acclaimed and Ohio State football beat-referenced Snap Counts, Lorenzo Jr. has only appeared on special teams in the Buckeyes' matchup with Indiana this season, so we may not see him play on Saturday.

Still, I am sure the Styles family is pleased to have a singular rooting interest in the top-10 matchup. Moreover, I am sure Ohio State fans are pleased to have the Styles brothers on the same side this time around.

 #DEVELOPEDHERE. Ohio State can add another note to its #DevelopedHere profile.

On Wednesday, I conducted some research into the career earnings of former Buckeyes who are on NFL rosters for the 2023-24 season.

According to Spotrac's Ohio State team page, the Buckeyes rank second behind Alabama (66) for the most active players in the league with 54, followed by Georgia (52), LSU (49) and Michigan (41). However, the career earnings of those players create a different hierarchy, as Alabama and Ohio State again lead the way and LSU, California (the Golden Bears can thank Aaron Rodgers and Jared Goff) and Texas A&M round out the top five.

The former Ohio State player with the most career earnings is Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward, a 13-year NFL veteran who has made over $115 million in the league. Behind Heyward are Joey Bosa ($104 million), Nick Bosa ($85 million), Ezekiel Elliott ($74 million) and Taylor Decker ($67 million).

Other notable Buckeyes include Michael Thomas ($66 million), Corey Linsley ($66 million), Marshon Lattimore ($57 million), Denzel Ward ($51 million) and Curtis Samuel ($41 million). 

Outside of Alabama, Ohio State is NFLU. And that's a good U to be.

Keep the #DevelopedHere train movin', Buckeyes.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

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