Welcome to the Skull Session.
Two more sleeps.
The Shoe is callin pic.twitter.com/V2zVs441qe
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 28, 2024
Have a good Thursday.
LEAVE. NO. DOUBT. Leave no doubt.
That’s Ohio State’s motto in 2024.
It’s also a phenomenal line in Remember the Titans.
“I don’t want them to gain another yard. YOU BLITZ ALL NIGHT! If they cross the line of scrimmage, I’m gonna take every last one of you out. You make sure they remember… FOREVER… the night they played the Titans. … RUN IT UP, HERMAN! LEAVE NO DOUBT!”
With the Buckeyes’ season opener on Saturday, veteran Ohio State beat reporter Tim May used one of his “quickies” to ask head coach Ryan Day if he had settled on a theme for the season – something similar to “The Chase,” “Love Conquers All,” et cetera.
“Leave no doubt,” Day responded. “Look back at where we’ve been the past several years when games that came down to the final play could have been put away earlier. Coming up a drive short, a play short – you can’t leave it to one drive. You can’t leave it to one play. You just can’t. You have to leave no doubt. That’s it.
“Whether it’s a prizefighter going down to knock them out or leave it to the judges, you can’t do that. That’s been something we’ve talked a lot about. Mick (Marotti) has hammered it in the offseason. We still break down some of our meetings that way. We have to do that. That’s probably the one we’ve grabbed onto the most this year.”
That’s the attitude and mindset Day wants Ohio State to enter the season with. Given his team’s talent – and its chances to maximize that talent with a Big Ten title and national title – Day expects the Buckeyes to make every rep in practice and every play in-game count, no matter if it’s on offense, defense or special teams.
“Every year, the expectations are high,” Day said. “We’ve talked about this for years. There’s been a lot of teams, a lot of talent, a lot of great teams here, so that’s nothing new. This team has done an unbelievable job of putting one day in front of the other and going to work. And the (season) is about to start here. I think our guys have had a good preseason. I think they’re focused. I think they know what’s important.
“We’re just gonna focus on trying to play the best game we can on Saturday and build from there. That’s all we can do.”
Oh, yes.
That’s music to the ears.
“IT’S AN HONOR.” Will Howard used an assortment of words to describe how he feels entering the 2024 season opener as Ohio State’s quarterback: Blessed, excited, honored – and my personal favorite, “fired up.”
“Man, I’m so excited. I can’t overstate how excited I am. I’m fired up, man,” Howard said Tuesday. “I grew up as a kid watching the Big Ten. I’ve played in a lot of places now at this point in my career. I’ve played in front of hundreds of thousands, but the Shoe and the atmosphere here, it’s different, man. And the traditions, I’m really excited to experience all of it.”
What excites Howard the most?
“Running out in front of 100,000 at the Shoe and just taking that in because I only get so many opportunities here,” he said. “I want to make sure I soak it in before we go out there and get to business, strap it up and play.”
That excitement is nothing new for Howard. The former Kansas State signal caller discussed “the REAL reason” he transferred to Ohio State in an interview with Whistle. While the release date of the video was Monday, I think it’s safe to assume the interview took place earlier in the summer, considering the Buckeyes shut down media opportunities such as this when the football season starts.
“To be able to be a part of something like this — with the amount of tradition, the excellence, the people – I don’t take it lightly,” Howard told Whistle. “Wearing the scarlet and gray is truly a privilege. Stepping into this position I’m in, I knew what I was signing up for. Obviously, everything is super, super heightened. Everyone here is expecting a national championship. That’s what we expect for ourselves.
“We know what’s on the line. We know what’s at stake. We know that we have to win them all. We have to beat ‘The Team Up North’ if we want it to be considered a successful season. The reality of the situation is last year, the team was 11-2 and won all (the regular season games) but one. They just lost the wrong one. It’s time to be done with that, win them all and make it happen this year.”
Yeah, I think I like this Will Howard guy.
BUILT RIGHT. TIL, Ohio State requires 17 small cell towers, 58 buildings with oDAS nodes and numerous 150-foot tall cell towers to keep communications on campus running. That information comes from a recent article in The Columbus Dispatch in which Sheridan Hendrix and Esther Lim examined how Verizon hopes to improve cell service at Ohio State – and, even more so, Ohio Stadium.
This year, Verizon is working to increase both capacity (bandwidth for users) and coverage (the physical reach of cell coverage).
Walking around the Ohio State campus with a keen eye, one might notice some peculiar black poles. They could be mistaken for a lamppost or a utility pole at first glance. But these poles functionally serve as mini cell towers. While campus still uses macro towers some 150 feet tall, [Verizon associate vice president of network engineering Heidi] Reiter said these "small cells" act as additional support for certain high-usage coverage areas, like Ohio Stadium.
Mazher Iqbal, Verizon's senior director of network performance, likened the different towers to highways. Macro towers are like long, two-lane highways. They're efficient and cover a lot of ground, but too much traffic can quickly lead to a slowdown. Small cells are like short, 20-lane highways. They can carry more users but have a tighter coverage area.
Ohio Stadium also has 1,600 antennas in and around the stadium that feed signals to its own DAS, said David Lloyd, a senior project manager with Ohio State's Office of Technology and Digital Innovation. Those antennas provide another layer of capacity, making it easier for fans to make calls and send texts inside the stadium.
Ahead of the Buckeyes' first home game on Saturday, Verizon plans to increase the number of small cells on air around the stadium from two towers to five. More towers will increase the strength of cell reception, Reiter said.
Still, Reiter said the magnitude of change visitors will experience is somewhat unpredictable.
"It’s hard to quantify it because it fluctuates depending on what the size of the crowd is and how many are Verizon customers," she said.
Given this information, fans attending the Ohio State-Akron game should experience better cell connection in and around the stadium, which sounds like an absolute win. When considering Reiter’s final quote, however, connection quality could fluctuate “depending on what the size of the crowd is,” so maybe temper expectations when opponents like Iowa and Michigan come to Columbus.
AND WE'RE LIVE. Last weekend, Cardale Jones received praise for his calm, calculated presence as an analyst on the CBS Sports Network college football desk. According to a recent press release from Paramount Press Express, it seems the former Ohio State quarterback will have even more chances to win over audiences – and so will former Buckeye running back Chris “Beanie” Wells.
CBS Sports HQ to Launch COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREGAME, a New Three-Hour Saturday Morning Studio Show.
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) August 27, 2024
Watch the new show at 9 AM ET every Saturday beginning Aug. 31.https://t.co/UwbrhOWR5a pic.twitter.com/OcoHL69Fro
From the Paramount press release:
CBS Sports HQ, the 24/7 streaming sports news network, will feature its most robust lineup ever of best-in-class college football coverage this season, led by the launch of COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREGAME, a new three-hour Saturday morning studio show, which debuts August 31 and airs live from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM, ET.
Each week of the season, COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREGAME will have fans covered with the latest news, commentary on the biggest storylines, picks and updates from a national network of analysts and on-site reporters across the country.
The new pregame show will showcase a talented roster of decorated former players, national title winners, leading voices, reporters and hosts throughout the season, including Damien Harris, Danny Kanell, Cardale Jones and Beanie Wells.
While neither Jones nor Wells ended their college football careers among the greatest players of all time, both Buckeyes are living legends in Columbus – the former more than the latter. Jones was, of course, Ohio State’s No. 3 quarterback in 2014 but led the Buckeyes to the national title in the inaugural College Football Playoff, while Wells recorded 585 carries for 3,382 yards and 30 touchdowns in 36 games, including 59 carries for 412 yards and four scores against Michigan.
Like I said, legends.
I look forward to seeing them talk ball this season!
SONG OF THE DAY. “Wonderwall” - Oasis.
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