Welcome to the Skull Session.
Game 1 recap?
Game 1 recap!
Game Recap pic.twitter.com/K9cCZIyycX
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 2, 2024
Have a good Wednesday.
JACK SAWYER. OK. It's Wednesday. It's time to move from the Ohio State season opener and look to Western Michigan. But let me make one more note about the Buckeyes from Saturday:
Jack Sawyer.
That's it. That's the section.
No, of course it's not.
Sawyer's performance on Saturday deserves praise. While he didn't appear in the box score much (two tackles), Sawyer made life hell for Akron quarterback Ben Finley – so much so that Finley exited after 35 minutes and received medical attention for the remainder of the contest. Just look at this 14-second reel from Dane Brugler of The Athletic:
This poor Akron QB is going to see Jack Sawyer in his nightmares. pic.twitter.com/mwE8bIq5zh
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) September 3, 2024
Geez, ow.
Those collisions should have come with a "BAM!" "POW!" "WHAM!" from the old Batman comics — that's how painful each of them looked. Finley will be in the training room for the rest of the season. He will also have nightmares about Sawyer for the rest of his life.
But I digress.
Jack Sawyer had two tackles but four pressures against Akron. That's a helluva game. Someone had to say it! (Many of you have said this for the past 72 hours, and now, I, the smooth-brained writer of the Eleven Warriors Skull Session, said it.)
HOLD UP, WAYMENT. Wait, I lied.
I have one more note about Ohio State's season opener.
This week, Eric Single of The Athletic ranked the "best and most notable broadcasts" in Week 1 and attempted to "assess which crews are doing right by their audiences in bringing this unique season to light." He ranked Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit (Notre Dame-Texas A&M) first, Rece Davis and Herbstreit (USC-LSU) second and Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson (Akron-Ohio State) third.
I know.
I know.
Wild.
Here's what he wrote about Nessler and Danielson:
3. CBS MID-AFTERNOON: BRAD NESSLER and GARY DANIELSON (OHIO STATE 52, ARKRON 6)
I was not ready to accept the complete transfer of the CBS mid-afternoon showcase broadcast from the SEC to the Big Ten. To my surprise, everything felt … natural. I find Gary Danielson extremely engaging and insightful (far from a consensus opinion, I’m told), with an eye for detail on things like interior offensive line play that he always sounds excited to share. He and Brad Nessler showed up well-prepared for a game many neutral observers expected to turn off after two drives. Instead, it took a whole half for Ohio State to pull away, gifting Nessler and Danielson with a little less garbage time than expected, and they hardly seemed bored with the short straw of a matchup they drew this week.
My lingering question: Will this broadcast feel “big” enough for later-season Big Ten showdowns? The conference’s other two major network partners have more established big-game packaging, with Fox’s Big Noon Saturday and NBC’s pedigree in prime-time football. This was a rock-solid Week 1, but I’d like to see something slightly beyond copying and pasting the SEC mid-afternoon packaging as the stakes of the Big Ten rise.
Well-prepared?
Sir, Nessler and Danielson called TreVeyon Henderson "Teveyon," Davison Igbinosun "Robinson" and mispronounced JT Tuimoloau, Tegra Tshabola, Will Kacmarek and Gee Scott Jr. on several occasions. I also heard them call Akron University's old name Buchtel College byook-toll.
I understand accidents happen. However, Nessler and Danielson are veteran college football commentators. To me, their consistent mispronunciation lacked professionalism. I hope both are better the next time Ohio State faces an opponent on CBS, which will happen sooner rather than later, I am sure.
THE COMPUTERS! AP voters and college football coaches believe Ohio State is the second-best team in America behind Georgia. But what do the computers think about the Buckeyes? I gathered some information from the SP+ and College Football Power Index to learn more. I also looked into where Heather Dinich of ESPN ranked the team in her recent College Football Playoff predictions.
SP+
| TEAM | SP SCORE | OFFENSE | DEFENSE | SPECIAL TEAMS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEORGIA | 34.5 | 45.1 (2) | 10.7 (8) | 0.1 (21) |
| ALABAMA | 30.3 | 44.0 (4) | 13.7 (7) | 0.0 (58) |
| TEXAS | 29.6 | 44.8 (3) | 15.4 (11) | 0.1 (3) |
| OLE MISS | 27.6 | 45.1 (1) | 17.4 (14) | 0.0 (97) |
| OHIO STATE | 27.5 | 35.0 (21) | 7.6 (2) | 0.1 (4) |
College Football Power Index
| TEAM | FPI | WIN OUT | WIN CONF | MAKE CFP | WIN CFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEORGIA | 29.6 | 10.3% | 30.4% | 86.5% | 24.7% |
| ALABAMA | 27.2 | 8.1% | 22.8% | 77.6% | 16.2% |
| TEXAS | 25.8 | 8.8% | 26.3% | 77.4% | 14.1% |
| OHIO STATE | 22.9 | 10.1% | 34.9% | 68.5% | 9.6% |
| PENN STATE | 22.0 | 12.4% | 35.0 | 70.2% | 8.6% |
CFP Prediction
3. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (1-0)
WHY THEY COULD BE HERE: Didjya see the one-handed catch freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith made when an Akron defender had his other arm tied behind his back? The Buckeyes are again oozing talent, and it was on full display Saturday. It was also the first time offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was calling the plays instead of coach Ryan Day, and Ohio State racked up 404 total yards.
WHY THEY COULD BE HIGHER: There would be a significant discussion in the committee meeting room about whether Texas or Ohio State should be ranked higher. They both dominated lesser competition at home, they both put on clinics on both sides of the ball, and they had similar talent returning and emerging.
NEED TO KNOW: Ohio State opens the season with three straight home games against Group of 5 opponents and likely won't face a ranked opponent until Oct. 5, when it hosts Iowa. Because the Buckeyes don't have any nonconference games against elite opponents, the selection committee will want to see Ohio State control these opponents like it did Saturday. The Buckeyes will have plenty of opportunities to impress the committee during league play — with games at Oregon and Penn State, and home against rival Michigan — but if they don't win the Big Ten, this nonconference schedule could factor into the discussion.
As has always been the case for Ohio State, if the Buckeyes win, they're in. So the message for Ohio State this season – again, as always – is to just keep winning. If I can reference one more computer-based metric, ESPN's Matchup Predictor, the Worldwide Leader likes the Buckeyes' chances to win the rest of their regular-season games in 2024, save for their Nov. 2 clash with Penn State.
- Western Michigan: 98.1% chance to win
- Marshall: 94.5%
- At Michigan State: 93.8%
- Iowa: 85.1%
- At Oregon: 58.1%
- Nebraska: 89.4%
- At Penn State: 46.5%
- Purdue: 91.3%
- At Northwestern: 90.4%
- Indiana: 94.5%
- Michigan: 77.7%
“WE'RE OHIO STATE, SO LET’S GO.” When asked to assess how Tshabola and Austin Siereveld performed on Saturday and whether or not their being first-time starters contributed to Ohio State's slow start on offense, Ryan Day provided an honest answer that I think deserves attention:
"Yeah, I don't know. We expect to go out there and score every time we touch the ball and run the ball well," Day said. "We're not in the excuse-making business. Those guys have got to go out and play really, really well. That's what we expect. We're at Ohio State, so let's go. But I'm predicting that this week they'll have a really good week of practice and they keep growing from (the Akron game) and learning from it. They have a point of reference moving forward."
That middle part: "We're not the excuse-making business. ... We're at Ohio State, so let's go."
I don't know if I've heard Day speak like that in my time on the Ohio State beat.
I think, if I can be bold and make assumptions, that comment communicates the urgency the head coach has to succeed in his sixth season at Ohio State. Sure, the comment was about Tshabola and Siereveld. But it was also about him. Day knows his back is against the wall. He knows there are no excuses. If the Buckeyes do not accomplish their goals this season, it would be the end of his time in Columbus – or at least, the end of his time in Columbus where most of the fanbase believes he's the man for the job.
So Tshabola and Siereveld, go out and play really, really well. And Day, go out there and coach really, really well.
No excuses.
This is Ohio State.
Let's go.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Hurts So Good" - John Cougar Mellencamp.
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