Welcome to the Skull Session.
Another week means another seven days for Ohio State football to get better.
trench work pic.twitter.com/fWDzjVSIpX
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) January 25, 2024
Have a good Monday.
THE DUALITY OF MAN. On Dec. 29, 2023, Ohio State fell to Missouri, 14-3, in the Cotton Bowl. After the game, the Eleven Warriors poll asked, ”How satisfied are you with the current direction of Ohio State football?”
The responses?
With Ohio State fans in distress, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes decided to have the best offseason of all time in a matter of four weeks.
From Jan. 1 to Jan. 27, Ohio State had 20 BOOMs.
TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, Donovan Jackson, JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams, Ty Hamilton, Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock and Lathan Ransom announced they would return for another season at Ohio State.
BOOM Counter: 10
Will Kacmarek, Will Howard, Quinshon Judkins, Seth McLaughlin, Caleb Downs and Julian Sayin transferred to Ohio State.
BOOM COUNTER: 16
Dominic Kirks committed to Ohio State in the 2024 class, while Devin Sanchez, Zahir Mathis, and Carter Lowe committed to the Buckeyes' 2025 class.
Boom counter: 20
After all the BOOMs, we conducted another poll that asked, ”How satisfied are you with the current direction of Ohio State football?”
The responses?
That, dear reader, is the duality of man.
“WE JUST HAVE TO BE BETTER.”
CHASE IS GETTING UPSET...
Yes, I’m turning into Jimmy from Seinfeld.
Northwestern – yes, Northwestern – embarrassed Ohio State on the basketball court on Saturday in an 83-58 defeat of the Buckeyes. The 25-point loss in Evanston, Illinois, was the largest of the season for Ohio State. It was also the Buckeyes' most lopsided defeat in their all-time series with the Wildcats.
A Roddy Gayle Jr. jumper and two Jamison Battle free throws helped Ohio State take a 4-2 lead at the start of the contest. However, once Ryan Langborg drained a 3-pointer to put Northwestern up 5-4, the Buckeyes never led again.
Unable to stop Northwestern’s offense...
...and overcome the Wildcats' defense, the Buckeyes trailed by 10 or more points for the final 21 minutes of action. At one point — the 3:41 mark of the second half, to be exact — Ohio State trailed by 35 points, 81-46, before a couple of Chris Paul hits a huge three to cut the lead down to 42 kind of buckets made it an 83-58 final.
“Bottom line, we just have to be better,” Holtmann told Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch. “Across the board. All of us. Players, coaches, we just have to be better. I believe it’s fixable, and it’s our job to fix it. I definitely think it’s fixable, and we’re going to work like hell to find a way to fix it and certainly be better than what we were tonight. ... Give Northwestern credit. I thought they were good, but our concern right now is how are we better as coaches and players so that’s what we have to do.”
I know Holtmann and Ohio State want to fix the mistakes, but I don't know if Holtmann and Ohio State can.
In 2022-23, the Buckeyes suffered 14 losses in 15 games across January and February. They finished the season 5-2 in their final seven games, including a run of three wins over Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State at the Big Ten Tournament, which helped the program enter the offseason with (at least a little) optimism for 2023-24.
For some, the optimism has diminished entirely. For others, the optimism is on life support.
With a 13-7 record, Ohio State needs to go 7-4 in its final 11 games to end the regular season with 20 wins. Its opponents will be No. 10 Illinois, Iowa (in Iowa City), Indiana, Maryland, No. 13 Wisconsin (in Madison), No. 2 Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan State (in East Lansing), Nebraska, Michigan, and Rutgers.
That's tough sledding.
Still, Ohio State believes it can accomplish the feat.
“I’m confident we have the right group of guys,” Zed Key said.
In 13 years as a head coach, Holtmann is 250-167 (.600). At Ohio State, he is 136-82 (.624). Until last season, he had not missed an NCAA Tournament with the Buckeyes.
“You coach long enough, you have moments that are certainly really humbling, and that’s part of being in a profession like this,” Holtmann said. “For all of us, we’ve got to find a way to get them in a better mindset and prepare to play better than what we’ve played. I don’t think we played nearly this poorly during this stretch, but we certainly have this last game and a half. We’ve got to figure out how to correct it here quickly.”
That is evident.
How Ohio State does that, and if it can, are not.
CHRIS SPIELMAN, EVERYONE. The Detroit Lions fell to the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, in the NFC Championship Game (thanks to some questionable coaching decisions from head coach Dan Campell).
Still, Detroit's turnaround in recent seasons has been remarkable. Part of it can be attributed to the work of former Ohio State linebacker and current Lions special assistant to the president/CEO Chris Spielman. He has no desire to take credit for his role, however. Spielman merely wanted to do what he could to help the franchise.
From Mike Florio of NBCSports:
Chris Spielman probably doesn’t want me to write this article. Which only makes it more appropriate that it be written.
The man who spent eight seasons playing for the Lions is listed by the team as “Special Assistant to the President/CEO & Chairperson.” The title doesn’t begin to capture the influence he has had on the turnaround of the team.
You’ll never see it. Because he doesn’t want the credit. He just wants to do the job, and to help the team win games.
...
At times, he’ll participate in walk-through practices as a linebacker. He basically does whatever he believes needs to be done. Including on multiple occasions helping the grounds crew refill divots during practice.
He has the attitude that every employee of every organization should exhibit: I’m here to do whatever needs to be done, and to never complain or engage in self-promotion.
The culture of the Lions has dramatically changed over the past three years. And Chris Spielman has a lot to do with the fact that the entire team now plays football the way he once did. Even if he’d strongly prefer that neither me nor anyone else ever mention it.
We need more Chris Spielmans in our world.
More people who do what needs to be done, never complain and never self-promote.
That'd be wonderful. Wonderful, indeed.
OLYMPIC VILLAGE *HANDSHAKE* FOOTBALL. Connor Cmiel, a senior captain at Ohio State, will play football at Coastal Carolina in 2024 after he finishes his lacrosse career with the Buckeyes. Cmiel tweeted out his commitment on Sunday.
Unfinished business with @OhioStateMLAX
— cc (@CmielConnor) January 28, 2024
Excited for the future @CoastalFootball pic.twitter.com/aJtjofnYng
A short-stick defensive midfielder for the Buckeyes, Cmiel played in 14 games last season and collected three goals, two assists and 22 groundballs. He has recorded six goals and 10 assists in his first three years of college lacrosse.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Cmiel was a three-sport athlete at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, playing basketball, football and lacrosse. In his senior football season, he caught 34 passes for 723 yards and six touchdowns.
A three-star recruit, Cmiel was the No. 323 wide receiver and No. 85 player from Ohio in the 2020 class, according to 247Sports. While Cmiel ultimately chose to play lacrosse for Ohio State, he had scholarship offers to play football at Air Force, Akron, Bowling Green, Fordham, Toledo, William & Mary and Youngstown State.
Cmiel will transfer to Coastal Carolina for the 2024 season. The Chanticleers went 8-5 in 2023 under first-year head coach Tim Beck, a former Ohio State co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Cheers, Connor.
Ball out for the Buckeyes, then ball out on that teal turf.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Stressed Out” - Twenty One Pilots.
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