Skull Session: Kyle McCord Enters the Transfer Portal, Ryan Day's Losses Have Come to Elite Teams and Ohio State's Coaches Receive Bonuses For Cotton Bowl Bid

Marvin Harrison Jr. is a Heisman finalist.

Super Marv,
Maserati Marv,
Route Man Marv,


@MarvHarrisonJr x @HeismanTrophy #HereComesTheSon pic.twitter.com/OlNQOSugGQ

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 4, 2023

Word of the Day: Chaos.

 THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. 

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a minor change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in significant differences in a later state.

There's 32 seconds on the clock. Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord motions wide receiver Emeka Egbuka toward the middle of the field. He examines the Michigan defense one last time before center Carson Hinzman snaps him the ball.

As he controls the snap, McCord completes a simple five-step drop. There's clean protection in the pocket. Wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is open at the 25-yard line. The former high school teammates connect on a 17-yard pass over the middle.

Moments later, Ohio State scores a touchdown. The Buckeyes overcome back-to-back losses to the Wolverines. They are headed to the Big Ten Championship Game. They are almost guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff; where Ryan Day, McCord, Harrison, Egbuka and Ohio State will look to win the program's first national championship since 2014...

That's how it could have happened...

Instead...

Ladies and gentlemen, the butterfly effect.

Had McCord completed that pass to Harrison, Ohio State could have gone on to score a touchdown to defeat Michigan. It could have completed one of the greatest comebacks in the history of The Game. It could have placed the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff.

Instead, the Buckeyes will compete in the Cotton Bowl vs. Missouri as McCord finds a new home where he will complete his college career.

One moment changed Ohio State's season.

One moment changed McCord's career.

Funny how that works, huh?

 MASS EXODUS. What a difference a season makes.

Between Dec. 5, 2022, and April 30, nine scholarship Buckeyes entered the transfer portal: Jaylen Johnson, Jantzen Dunn, Teradja Mitchell, Javontae Jean-Baptiste, JK Johnson, Jake Seibert, Caleb Burton, Kaleb Brown and Ben Christman.

Between Nov. 30 and Monday, 12 scholarship Buckeyes entered the transfer portal:

• Omari Abor
• Cam Martinez
• Victor Cutler Jr.
• Evan Pryor
• Ryan Turner
• Parker Lewis
• Jyaire Brown
• Kye Stokes
• Kyle McCord
• Jakob James
• Reid Carrico
• Julian Fleming

Indeed. What a difference a season makes.

Despite Ohio State’s 12 departures, the Buckeyes are seven scholarships above the 85-scholarship limit. However, Miyan Williams’ declaration for the NFL draft and the potential future declarations (expected declarations?) of Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, JT Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams, TreVeyon Henderson, Denzel Burke, Cade Stover and Tommy Eichenberg, among others, should (or will) resolve that issue before the 2024 season.

Still, Ohio State’s transfers and potential NFL draft entrants could (or will) create a new-look Buckeyes team next season.

If Harrison, Egbuka, Henderson and Stover do, in fact, enter the 2024 NFL draft, in addition to McCord and Fleming's departure for the transfer portal, Ohio State will have lost all of its offensive skill-position starters from the 2023 season. The Buckeyes could also require replacements for numerous starters on defense, depending on the decisions of several upperclassmen like Tuimoloau, Williams, Burke, Eichenberg, Jack Sawyer, Mike Hall Jr. and Steele Chambers.

That's wild.

But that's college football.

College Football Da Wild Wild West

— Jermaine Mathews Jr (@Jr2Maine) December 4, 2023

 SOME CONTEXT. When Ohio State fell to Michigan on Nov. 25, some in Buckeye Nation called for Gene Smith and the Ohio State athletic department to move on from Ryan Day as head coach of the Buckeyes.

“Unacceptable! ... Conditions!... Unacceptable!” they screamed.

Bad news for them: Day will be Ohio State's head coach in 2024.

Does it stink that Ohio State lost to Michigan for the third consecutive season? Of course. There are no excuses for Day and the Buckeyes in that regard. However, Day remains a top-tier college football coach.

Day's 56-7 record, two Big Ten championships and three College Football Playoff appearances across five seasons in Columbus prove as much. Also, please consider the following: Four of his seven losses — Clemson, Alabama, Oregon, Michigan (2021), Michigan (2022), Georgia and Michigan (2023) — came to teams ranked in Bill Connelly's top 40 programs to make the CFP since 2014.

1. 2020 Alabama (13-0)

CFP result: Beat Notre Dame 31-14; beat Ohio State 52-24

The Crimson Tide had the Nos. 1, 3 and 5 finishers in the Heisman voting. They played one game decided by fewer than 14 points. They bested an SEC-only schedule by an average of 30.2 points per game. Their defense struggled early but allowed only 15 points per game after mid-October. This was the best Nick Saban team ever and quite possibly the best of the 21st century.

Best team ... from the best coach ... with the best dynasty of the 21st century (at the very least)? Sounds like the best team of the CFP era.

3. 2022 Georgia (15-0)

CFP matchup: Beat Ohio State 42-41; beat TCU 65-7

Only twice did the defending national champs find themselves in a down-to-the-wire game, and only once did they have to lean on the college football gods for help (with Ohio State's last-second field goal in the semifinals). They scored at least 37 points in 11 games and allowed 14 or fewer in nine. They didn't have quite the level of high-end talent their 2021 team boasted, but they were an even more dominant team.

6. 2023 Michigan (13-0)

CFP matchup: Rose Bowl Game pres. by Prudential vs. Alabama

They had to wait most of the season for a challenge, but "Playing Penn State and Ohio State without your suspended head coach" certainly counts. They passed the tests they were given with aplomb, finishing the regular season first in scoring defense and fourth in yards allowed per play. Only two opponents stayed within a touchdown of the Wolverines. They get a little better and better each season.

12. 2019 Clemson (14-1)

CFP result: Clemson beat Ohio State 29-23, then lost to LSU 42-25

It was overshadowed by LSU's late-season brilliance, but both the Buckeyes and Tigers were unreal for most of 2019. They went a combined 26-0 in the regular season; 22 of the wins were by at least 24 points, and only one was by single digits. And in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal, they played one of the most even and compelling games in recent college football memory.

Ohio State dominated the early proceedings, going up 16-0 but settling for field goals; that offered Clemson a lifeline, and the Tigers charged back. The second half featured three scores and three lead changes, and after controversy and countless plot twists, Nolan Turner's interception of Justin Fields made the difference. If they'd played 100 times, each team would have won 50.

The other three losses? Oregon, a defeat for which former defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs was demoted, and Michigan in 2021 and 2022 — but we know the NCAA has evidence the Wolverines gained an unfair advantage from Connor Stalions' sign-stealing operation (read: cheated) to help them beat the Buckeyes in those contests.

Overall, Day is a good football coach.

Next season, with a win over Michigan, a Big Ten championship and a top-four seed in the College Football Playoff, he can emerge as great.

 MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY... MONEY! With the Buckeyes headed to the Cotton Bowl in 2023, Ryan Day and his 10 full-time assistants are due $1.78 million in combined bonuses from annual incentives in their contracts.

Day, who received a raise in 2023, increasing his compensation package to almost $10.2 million, will receive a $200,000 bonus. Ohio State’s 10 assistants will earn bonuses equal to 17% of their base salaries. As a result, over half of the assistant coaches are due six-figure bonuses. Jim Knowles and Brian Hartline lead the bunch, with the defensive coordinator to receive $332,690 and the offensive coordinator to collect $272,000. 

Defensive line coach Larry Johnson will add $198,388 in bonuses. Offensive line coach Justin Frye and secondary coach Tim Walton will earn $170,000, while running backs coach Tony Alford adds $131,325. As for the rest of the on-field staff, safeties coach Perry Eliano will add $87,550, special teams coach Parker Fleming will receive $85,000, quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis will earn $70,040 and tight ends coach Keenan Bailey will collect $68,000.

Of note: Ohio State’s coaches would have received double their bonuses had the Buckeyes defeated “That Team Up North” in Ann Arbor, won the Big Ten Championship Game and reached the College Football Playoff.

Perhaps that will be an extra incentive (see what I did there?) for Ohio State to beat Michigan in The Game in 2024 – as if the coaches and the program need more of that after three consecutive losses to the Wolverines.

 SONG OF THE DAY. “BUTTERFLY EFFECT” - Travis Scott.

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