Welcome to the Skull Session.
This video from Ohio State football is hilarious.
Guessing Staff & Coach youth photos what could go wrong
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 11, 2024
#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Fs80jMfvqw
Have a good Tuesday.
THE LEGENDARY COACH COOP. This week, Bill Connelly of ESPN released an article that examined how a playoff would have decided every college football title since 1966. Using his SP+ formula, Connelly created a College Football Multiverse and simulated eight-, 12- and 16-team playoffs for the past six decades of the sport. His simulations produced undisputed champions for each of those years.
Since multiverses are all the rage these days, let's hop over into an alternate universe where, 60 years ago, college football magically did something progressive. Let's pretend for a moment Duffy Daugherty's lobbying for an eight-team playoff, with six conference champions and the top two independents (or, theoretically, champions of other conferences), actually worked.
Daugherty's plan was to leave the bowls alone and finish the entire playoff over three weeks in December. Let's have fun with that idea: Let's say the quarterfinals and semifinals are on campus, and, to placate the Rose Bowl — and get it to agree to this whole thing — the finals are always in Pasadena. Conveniently, we'll say this entire thing starts in time for the 1966 season, which had one of the most controversial finishes on record.
For each season starting with 1966, I'm going to simulate an eight-team playoff using historic SP+ rankings. Instead of just picking the favorite to win each game, I'm going to go full ESPN Analytics style and pick a random simulation from 10,000 to determine what would have happened in a given playoff. For the more controversial seasons in college football's recent history, we'll do more of a deep dive on how things might have played out with a playoff in place.
Here is how Ohio State was impacted in Connelly’s alternate reality:
- Ohio State won national championships in 1970, 1975, 1996 and 1998. The Buckeyes finished runner-up in 1968, 1973, 1993, 1997, 2018 and 2019.
- Ohio State’s national championships in 1968, 2002 and 2014 went instead to Penn State, Kansas State, and Alabama.
- John Cooper became a three-time national champion head coach, including one at Arizona State (1986) and two at Ohio State (1996 and 1998). Yes, you read that correctly.
- Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer never won national championships as Ohio State head coaches. Tressel’s 2002, 2006 and 2007 teams missed their title games. Meyer’s 2014 team missed its title game, and his 2018 team finished as runner-up to Alabama.
- Ryan Day’s 2019 team reached the national championship but fell to Joe Burrow and LSU. His 2020 team missed the title game in favor of Alabama and Oklahoma.
It’s hard to comprehend how fans would view The Local Team in Connelly’s reality.
Ohio State won four titles in both realities. In ours, it won in 1968, 1970, 2002 and 2014. In Connelly’s, it won in 1970, 1975, 1996 and 1998. The latter universe would have Buckeye Nation feening for a national championship.
Cooper is one of the most maligned Ohio State coaches in our reality, but in Connelly’s, he’s a three-time national champion and two-time title winner for the Buckeyes. Meanwhile, Tressel and Meyer are two of the most beloved Ohio State coaches in our reality, but in Connelly’s, their tenures with the Buckeyes were full of disappointment. What are the legacies of all three in this other universe?
In our reality, Day’s 2019 team fell to Clemson in the CFP semifinal, but in Connelly’s, the team made it one step further but fell to LSU in the title game. In both realities, the Buckeyes failed to reach the national championship in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 but were in the mix. Is 2024 still the year for Ohio State to win it all?
All are unanswerable questions, yet all are fun to ponder.
MEETING THE STANDARD. The Ohio State men’s basketball team is in the market for a new head coach.
Could it be Jake Diebler, the assistant turned interim coach who helped make the Bucks hot? How about Dusty May, the Florida Atlantic head coach who took the Owls to the Final Four last season? Or even Sean Miller, the Xavier head coach who has reached four Elite Eights in his 19 years as a program leader?
Regardless of who Ohio State hires in the role, there are some standards the coach needs to meet. Last week, some former Buckeyes including Jerry Lucas, Clark Kellogg, Ron Stokes and CJ Walker explained those standards to Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch:
Jerry Lucas
“The coach has to know the game, has to know strategy and has to know how to handle people,” he said. “He has to understand their personalities. He has to handle almost everybody differently because everybody’s different. Some people need more attention than other people need attention.”
“To win the Big Ten,” he said when asked for his expectations for the new coach. “Hopefully win the national championship. Hasn’t happened in a while, but I’m sure that’s the goal of every coach, to win their league, to go to the highest level that they can and win. I think they’re far off from winning a national championship, yes. Whoever is the next coach, hopefully things go well and we start to build back to that caliber of play.”
Clark Kellogg
“The ability to lead in a complex environment and being able to handle managing up through and down within the institution, particularly with the president and athletic director, both new in their roles at Ohio State, (is important),” Kellogg said. “That kind of alignment is going to be pretty significant as a leader.”
Ron Stokes
“If a coach comes here, they’ll have every opportunity to win,” he said. “It’s a great job, and I’m not saying it’s Duke or Kentucky or anything like that, but it’s a great job. Because of that, you should demand excellence. When I say excellence, someone’s going to come in here and genuinely love being here. Some connection to Ohio State in some way, and excitement, the willingness to embrace the business community because of NIL. Embrace the former players, because that’s important to me.”
CJ Walker
“Having that relationship, being relevant to the new era of college basketball, being able to relate to that, how everybody wants to play,” said Walker, a captain on Holtmann’s 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. “Having that camaraderie, being able to relate as well, that’s something that Ohio State needs to get because of the diversity at Ohio State. That’s something that will play a big part.”
I think Lucas’ second quote is the most important of them all.
Ohio State needs a coach that can win the Big Ten. It also needs a coach who can make the Buckeyes a national championship contender once or twice a decade, taking the program to the Sweet 16 often and the Elite Eight and Final Four semi-often (the former more than the latter, of course).
That may sound like too high of expectations...
...but…
In college basketball, there are the Blue Bloods, like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA. Then, there are the schools that aren’t quite Blue Bloods but are still “basketball schools,” like Gonzaga, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan State, UConn and Villanova. Then, there are about 10 to 15 programs that could fit into the third tier, like Maryland, Marquette, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue and Virginia, among others.
Given its success across multiple eras of the sport, Ohio State belongs in that third tier. However, after years of disappointment under Chris Holtmann, the Buckeyes are trending in the wrong direction. The next head coach needs to come in and put them back on track. That doesn’t mean a national title in year one, but it means rebuilding the Ohio State program into the Big Ten and national powerhouse we all know it can be.
REDEMPTION SZN. Last season, Lathan Ransom wanted redemption.
After some of his mistakes cost Ohio State in its losses to Michigan and Georgia in 2022, the veteran defensive back returned in 2023 to win his first pair of Gold Pants, a Big Ten championship and the College Football Playoff. After he accomplished those goals, he would enter the NFL draft.
But then, in a moment, those goals were taken from him.
In Ohio State’s win over Wisconsin, Ransom suffered a Lisfranc injury, a tear of the bone and/or ligaments in the middle of the foot. His season was over. While the Buckeyes could have still beaten “That Team Up North” and had success in the postseason, Ransom was forced to watch from the sidelines.
“I won’t sit here and lie and say that when it first happened, I wasn’t crushed,” Ransom said on Thursday. “I was really destroyed.”
That last sentence just… sighs… it breaks the heart to read.
However, the good news is that Ransom – following a time of grief in November, December and January – remains undeterred as Ohio State enters the spring. His desire to win a pair of Gold Pants, win a conference title and win a national title has grown even stronger. Working with Ohio State physical therapist Adam Stewart, Ransom said he is ahead of schedule in his recovery. He also feels pain-free after two spring practices.
“I think just knowing that God has a plan for me and I’m facing this adversity for a reason, I’m going to come out stronger, smarter and a better player,” Ransom said. “I can’t wait for what he has in store for me this year.”
Ransom expressed his excitement about accomplishing Ohio State’s goals with what he called “the best defense in the country” several times during his press conference. While the Silver Bullets were elite last season, Ransom said the defense will improve in year three under Jim Knowles. Additions like Caleb Downs will help, too, he said.
“If you look on paper, we have the best defense in the country,” Ransom explained. “It’s on us to put it all together. It’s easy to say when you have this defense. You’ve still got to go on the field, strap on your helmet and show it every week.”
PIZZA WITH THE BUCKS. Remember when The 1870 Society and Giant Eagle announced a dandruff shampoo with JT Tuimoloau on the bottle?
Well, those companies had another product to announce on Monday. It’s called “Pizza with the Bucks,” a frozen cheese pizza with Ohio State men’s basketball players Bruce Thornton and Zed Key, softball player Kami Kortokrax and women’s lacrosse player Sydni Ratliff on the package.
Always pioneering NIL opportunities for OSU athletes, The 1870 Society has partnered with @GiantEagle to introduce 'Pizza With the Bucks'!
— The 1870 Society (@the1870society) March 11, 2024
Featuring @Bruce2T_, @iamzedkey, @KamiKortokrax, and Sydni Ratliff https://t.co/PmjjOl2dmu
“Giant Eagle was where I always shopped with my parents growing up,” Kortokrax said in a statement. “The first time I walk in there and see the pizza, it’s going to have to be with my parents. It will be an incredible moment that still doesn’t feel real.”
According to an 1870 press release, this delectable pizza, with its crispy thin crust and unique seven-cheese blend, will be available at Giant Eagle stores across Ohio for $7.99.
“I was extremely excited (to partner with 1870 and Giant Eagle),” Key said. “Giant Eagle has been great. The pizza is great. The people are liking it.”
It's been a while since I've indulged in a frozen pizza, but this “Pizza with the Bucks” has me intrigued. Its price is in the same ballpark as California Pizza Kitchen, DiGiorno and Screamin’ Sicilian, all of which I've tried and would recommend. That said, I have high hopes for what Giant Eagle has cooked up in its test kitchens.
Perhaps this pizza will raise the roof…
… like Zed Key.
Eh?
Eh?
SONG OF THE DAY. “That's Amore” - Dean Martin.
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