Skull Session: Ohio State Leads College Football in Blue-Chip Ratio, James Laurinaitis Says “Talent Doesn’t Win National Championships” and CBS Makes a Questionable Broadcasting Decision

By Chase Brown on June 26, 2024 at 5:00 am
Jeremiah Smith
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Reminder: Larry Johnson is the GOAT.

Also, I know Eleven Warriors is an Ohio State website, but I need all of our readers to know that the Cleveland Guardians are the best team in baseball.

Have a good Wednesday.

 GET RATIOED. Eleven years ago, Bud Elliott of CBS Sports created the Blue-Chip Ratio, which examines the percentage of four and five-star prospects on a college football team and identifies whether that team can win a national title.

Since its inception in 2013, the Blue-Chip Ratio has been “an excellent method for identifying the top 10% of teams that have a shot at winning a title,” Elliott wrote this week. “To win the national championship, college football teams need to sign more four- and five-star recruits than two- and three-star players over the previous four recruiting classes. … This has been consistently true since the advent of modern internet recruiting rankings.”

Does the Blue-Chip Ratio guarantee a team will win the national title? No. Does the Blue-Chip Ratio guarantee a team will compete for a national title? No. But it never hurts for a team to have a roster full of four- and five-star talent. (Unless you’re Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M). And this season, Ohio State will have the most four and five-star talent in college football.

While I loved learning that Ohio State has the most Blue Chips in the sport, I was reminded of a comment head coach Ryan Day made about his team in March. He said the Buckeyes are talented, but it will be the “no-talent issues” that make the difference in 2024.

“You see the potential,” Day said. “But for as much talent as we have, it will be the no-talent issues that help us win and reach our goals. That’s been the focus now. Once we get on the field, that’s what we focus on. It isn’t seeing Jeremiah (Smith) run a go-ball. It’s the discipline of knowing what to do. It’s the focus. It’s the running the ball. It’s the effort. It’s all the things that take no talent. That’s the focus.”

Like head coach, like assistant coach, James Laurinaitis made a similar comment last week.

 “TALENT DOESN’T WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.” Following a stress-free 18 holes at the Roosters Golf Outing – Bishop and Laurinaitis listeners will know it was far from stress-free as Laurinaitis… doesn’t have the patience for golf – the Ohio State linebackers coach told Dom Tiberi of 10TV that “talent doesn’t win championships.”

“I remember going into 2006 ranked number one in the country. There is pressure with that, but pressure is a privilege, so you have to be able to go and attack it. We keep hearing about how we are a talented team — talent doesn’t win national championships. Some of the most talented teams in Ohio State history never won it all. I think about the 2005 team that I was a part of. That was the most talented team out of the four years I was at Ohio State. You think about how ‘15 was probably more talented than ‘14. You think about 2019. There’s been a lot of talented teams that didn’t hoist a national championship. For us, we have to be the toughest team, and that’s physically and mentally. There will come games where things aren’t going well, and you have to find a way to get through and win those things, and at the end, stay healthy and hopefully have a chance to win it all.”

Yeah, what he said!

 THAT’S CERTAINLY A CHOICE. On Tuesday, CBS announced that the 11th annual CBS Sports Classic, featuring Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA, will be held on Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden.

I often look forward to the CBS Sports Classic, but in 2024, I have beef with the people who scheduled the event (and those familiar with the college football calendar know where I’m heading) because there are three College Football Playoff first-round games scheduled for Dec. 21, including one at noon, one at 4 p.m. and one at 8 p.m.

I cover Ohio State men’s basketball for a living – as in, I get paid to watch the team – yet I have little desire for the Buckeyes and Wildcats to consume the television screen when a CFP game on a college campus in the inaugural 12-team playoff exists as another option. I could be off base here, but I assume the football-crazed Eleven Warriors readers have even less desire to watch, especially considering there’s no cash incentive involved.

If that assumption is correct, good luck finding an audience, CBS.

 DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMEN AND GENTLEWOMEN. Sorry, Cardale Jones. At least some Ohio State athletes come to campus and play school. 

On Tuesday, the Buckeyes had a conference-best 220 student-athletes named Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for the 2023-24 academic year. The total is the second-most in school history – behind only the 232 honored in 2021-22 – and marks the third consecutive year Ohio State has led the Big Ten in the award.

According to an Ohio State press release, the Big Ten created its Distinguished Scholar award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. To be named a Distinguished Scholar, a student-athlete must be enrolled at an institution for two semesters (or three quarters) and obtain at least a 3.7 GPA, 0.7 points higher than the 3.0 required to earn Academic All-Big Ten honors.

To view the complete list of Ohio State’s 220 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars, click here. The 48 Buckeyes who earned a 4.0 GPA in 2023-24 will be named below:

  • Katelyn Abeln, pistol
  • Emily Armstrong, synchronized swimming
  • Riley Brengman, women's hockey
  • Jenna Buglioni, women's hockey
  • ­Irina Cantos Siemers, women's tennis
  • Faith Choi, women's golf
  • Natalie Chourova, rowing
  • Tegan Cortelletti, softball
  • Chloe Dawson, women's cross country/track & field
  • Alex Dediu, men's cross country/track & field
  • Karina Dyner, fencing
  • Mason Edmund, men's swimming & diving
  • Amelia Figler, women's cross country/track & field
  • Amy Fulmer, women's swimming & diving
  • Jennifer Gardiner, women's hockey
  • Alexandra Gluntz, rowing
  • Madison Greene, women's basketball
  • Kaitlyn Grimes, women's gymnastics
  • Sam Hackenbracht, softball
  • Jacob Harmon, men's gymnastics
  • Rikki Harris, women's basketball
  • Hadley Hartmetz, women's hockey
  • Karl Helmuth, men's swimming & diving
  • Justin Howard, men's volleyball
  • Sarah Johnson, women's lacrosse
  • Jaylen Jones, baseball
  • Sean Kaminski, men's cross country/track & field
  • Kira Katterle, rowing
  • Carson Kharchla, wrestling
  • Raygan Kirk, women's hockey
  • Sarah Klein, women's lacrosse
  • Clark Kokenge, fencing
  • Quinn Kuntz, women's hockey
  • Katherine Larimer, fencing
  • Abbie Leverett, pistol
  • Erin Little, field hockey
  • Emily Londot, women's volleyball
  • Morgan Miller, rowing
  • Audrey Murphy, rowing
  • Darby Pethrick, rowing
  • Catherine Russo, women's swimming & diving
  • Leah Sax, women's lacrosse
  • Emma Shumate, women's basketball
  • Lindsay Stull, women's cross country/track & field
  • Nathaniel Tamminga, men's cross country/track & field
  • Taylor Thierry, women's basketball
  • Tess Thompson, rowing
  • Jojo Warga, women's gymnastics

 SONG OF THE DAY. “You Get What You Give” - New Radicals.

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