Welcome to the Skull Session.
At noon, Ohio State and Michigan will meet on FOX.
Call it an MLK Day Matinee.
Have a good Monday.
RELOAD THE CLIP. One week ago, Michigan won the College Football Playoff.
Buckeye Nation grieved... for about two minutes.
As confetti fell in NRG Stadium in Houston, former Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins committed to Ohio State. He became the third Power Five transfer the Buckeyes landed this offseason after former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard and Alabama offensive lineman Seth McLaughlin.
On Wednesday, Buckeye Nation received more positive news when Denzel Burke, Donovan Jackson and Jordan Hancock announced they would return for their senior seasons in 2024.
On Thursday, Buckeye Nation received even more positive news, as Emeka Egbuka also announced he would return for his senior season. (Marvin Harrison Jr. also declared for the NFL draft, an expected outcome for the potential top-three pick).
On Friday, Buckeye Nation received even more (!) positive news, as JT Tuimoloau and TreVeyon Henderson announced they would return for their senior seasons next fall.
The Buckeyes’ ludicrous week, combined with previous developments that Cody Simon, Tyleik Williams, Lathan Ransom, Jack Sawyer and Ty Hamilton will come back next season, can be condensed into one sentence: Ohio State reloaded the clip.
There are several reasons that rocks. Here’s one I love: While Ohio State reloaded the clip, Michigan ran low on ammo. J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum, Zak Zinter and Kris Jenkins, among others, declared for the NFL draft over the weekend. Meanwhile, Jim Harbaugh will interview with the Los Angeles Chargers soon.
In what will be a make-or-break season for Ohio State, the Buckeyes have all the pieces to beat “That Team Up North,” win the Big Ten Championship Game and win the College Football Playoff in 2024.
Well, actually, the Buckeyes may benefit from a couple more pieces. Another transfer offensive lineman could help. So could an experienced offensive coordinator.
Speaking of which...
RYAN DAY'S FAVORITE CANDLE. According to David Briggs of The Toledo Blade, Candle holds the No. 1 spot on Ryan Day's offseason wish list. However, it's not a Yankee Candle – it's a Jason Candle.
Ba dum tsss.
Once upon a time, a young Toledo head football coach left to become second in command for a friend with a shared expertise — in this case defense — at a flagship Ohio organization about two hours away.
Could it happen again?
Possibly.
In 1991, it was Nick Saban becoming Bill Belichick’s defensive coordinator in Cleveland. Now, it could be Jason Candle taking the offensive keys from Ryan Day at Ohio State.
With Day feeling the heat after three straight losses to Michigan, he’s reportedly prepared to relinquish his play-calling duties — read: transition to a CEO role — and Candle is not just a name I keep hearing.
He may be the name.
Two industry sources said Candle is at — or near — the top of Day’s wish list to be the Buckeyes’ new offensive coordinator. (My sense is he’s Ohio State’s preferred college candidate; there are rumblings that Day is poking around the NFL, too.)
Candle has been at Toledo since 2009. The Rockets hired him after he spent six seasons as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator at Division III powerhouse Mount Union (Alliance, Ohio), where he played college football in 2000 and 2001.
In his first seven seasons at Toledo, Candle worked in several positions before he took over as head coach in 2016. Since then, Candle has led the Rockets to a 65-35 record, three MAC West Division titles (2017, 2022, 2023) and two MAC championships (2017, 2022). He has also won MAC Coach of the Year twice (2017, 2023).
Candle has called Toledo's offense since 2012 – his first season as offensive coordinator under former head coach Matt Campbell, now at Iowa State. In 12 seasons as Toledo's head coach or offensive coordinator, the Rockets have ranked in the top 40 in total offense all but once (2022).
Impressive. Most impressive.
But would Candle want to leave Toledo for Ohio State?
Who knows.
It's uncommon for head coaches to leave their program and become an assistant at another school. But Ohio State is not “another school.”
The Buckeyes would offer more money (think $2 million per year, a bump from his incentive-loaded $1.1 million-per-year deal at UT), a new challenge with one of his better friends in the business, and perhaps a faster track to a big-time top job.
Face it: Candle has not received the power-conference offers you would think, given his success at Toledo (65-35, two MAC titles). As much as he loves UT and has a good thing going, with the Rockets losing the bulk of their production, sometimes timing is everything. Light it up at Ohio State — which finished a hard-to-fathom 48th in total offense this season, but is going all in on a national title run in 2024 — and the 44-year-old would be one of the hottest names in the sport.
Sounds like a sweet deal to me.
Still, we'll see how it all goes.
According to Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, Kentucky offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Liam Coen is also a “serious contender” to land on Ohio State's staff. Day could also look to the NFL, where several offensive coordinators could be looking for new jobs with the league in the midst of its own coaching carousel.
C.J. STROUD IS H7M. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.
When the Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Tennessee Titans last weekend, and the Houston Texans won the AFC South division, I knew C.J. Stroud and the Texans would beat the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Wild Card Round. Why? Because the former Ohio State quarterback is a certified stud.
Stroud shined on Saturday in the Texans' 45-14 win over Cleveland, completing 16 of 21 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. He became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game. Stroud also recorded the fourth-most passing yards for a rookie in his postseason debut. Those yards were also the most ever in a playoff game for a former Ohio State quarterback, surpassing Mike Tomczak (205).
The youngest QB in NFL history to win a playoff game. #NFLPlayoffs@CJ7STROUD | @HoustonTexans pic.twitter.com/Vre7aaqwVl
— NFL (@NFL) January 14, 2024
After the game, Stroud shared a moment with some Buckeye teammates, Ronnie Hickman and Luke Wypler. When the former Ohio State quarterback-center duo said their farewells, Wypler looked at Stroud and said, “Hey. Go win it all.”
Hey go win it all - a former center to his former quarterback.
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) January 14, 2024
After the Texans beat the Browns in the Wild Card, CJ Stroud shared a moment with former teammates Ronnie Hickman and Luke Wypler. pic.twitter.com/j9YAi4KU5v
Later, in a press conference, Stroud told reporters he's been counted out for most of his football career. Whether it has been “Woody Versus The World,” “NRG Versus The World” or “Houston Versus The World,” Stroud understands what it's like to perform under pressure.
"At Ohio State we used to call it 'Woody versus the World'"... C.J. Stroud incorporating the #Buckeyes in his postgame presser. pic.twitter.com/KrELs3EM98
— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) January 14, 2024
While I would have loved to see the Browns win in the NFL Wild Card Round, I am happy from Stroud. I'll be rooting for him and the Texans the rest of the way. I hope they win it all.
THAT'S NEAT. Nick Saban retired last week after 17 seasons as head coach at Alabama, where he won six national championships with the Crimson Tide. Over the weekend, I looked for some #content about Saban's tenure at Ohio State, as he was the Buckeyes' defensive back coach in 1980 and 1981.
In my search of the World Wide Web, I found an article from Doug Lesmerises (when he was still with cleveland.com) in which Saban recalled a time when Woody Hayes spoke with the Buckeyes' 1981 team before it faced Michigan to end the season.
Hayes' message, as Saban recalled it, was to overcome adversity.
Thought I'd share it here:
“You cannot have a great victory in life if you can’t overcome adversity. This is a Woody Hayes quote. I heard him speak when I coached at Ohio State," Saban said. "He came and talked to the team in 1981. We went and played Michigan. We were 17-point underdogs. They were No. 1 in the country. We had a horrible week of practice, which was unusual for the Ohio State-Michigan game. Earle Bruce was the head coach, Woody had never been back to a game since he was fired, we were going to take him on the trip.
“He came to Senior Tackle, and he talked to the team, and he says, ‘You can have no great victories in life unless you can overcome adversity. The War in the Pacific was the greatest military victory of all time because of Pearl Harbor and the adversity we had to overcome because of that.’ So he took a whole negative team scared to death of getting beat and getting criticized for it, getting beat by Michigan, and we had already lost two games, so if you lose three at Ohio State, you’re really going to take a beating, and he turned it into a positive opportunity to overcome adversity.
"Playing the No. 1 team, the No. 1 offense, on the road, all the people are against you, it's 32 degrees and snowing. We won the game 14-9, you can look it up. They didn't score a touchdown."
Hayes and Saban, two of the greatest coaches ever – but only Woody could give a speech like that.
Anyway, cheers to Saban on his retirement.
I'll miss him and I won't.
SONG OF THE DAY. “I Have a Dream Speech” - Martin Luther King Jr.
CUT TO THE CHASE. From a ludicrously capacious bag to fake sausages: "Succession" props draw luxe prices... No joke: Feds are banning humorous electronic messages on highways... With snow still falling, Bills call on fans to help dig out stadium for playoff game vs. Steelers... Nick Saban's daughter Kristen Saban Setas reflects on his retirement as Alabama coach... Together, Tiger Woods and Nike accomplished the impossible: They made golf gear cool.
