Welcome to the Skull Session.
A Big Ten matchup is around the corner.
Conference play starts now pic.twitter.com/B6GvohJXQp
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 25, 2024
Have a good Thursday.
MAMBA MENTALITY. Ryan Day reminded me of Kobe Bryant on Tuesday.
In the 2009 NBA Finals, Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-0 lead over Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. The Black Mamba scored 40 points with eight rebounds and eight assists (yes, the old video game controller memes, Kobe passed the ball… sometimes) in Game 1. He scored 29 points with four rebounds and eight assists in Game 2.
After witnessing Bryant’s dominance over the outmatched and overpowered Magic, a reporter asked the All-NBA guard to smile during his postgame press conference.
“You’re up 2-0. What’s the story? Are you not happy? Are you only half-happy?” the reporter asked.
“What’s there to be happy about?” Bryant answered.
“You’re up 2-0.”
“Job’s not finished. Job finished? I don’t think so.”
On Tuesday, Tim May of Lettermen Row used one of his two quickies to ask Day if he feels good about Ohio State’s run game following back-to-back standout performances from both Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.
“I don’t feel good about anything. That’s just my mindset,” Day said. “I mean, I don’t. That has to be everybody’s mindset. You start to feel good about something, and complacency can sneak up on you fast. So, no, nobody feels good about anything.”
Job’s not finished.
Day’s response aligns with the “leave no doubt” mentality Ohio State adopted in the preseason (and has continued into the regular season). Wins over Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall? People don’t remember those. But they’ll remember wins over Oregon and Penn State. Even more, they’ll remember wins over Michigan (!!) and victories in the Big Ten Championship Game and College Football Playoff.
How can Ohio State make sure it finishes the job?
Continue building confidence – in the run game and elsewhere.
“We are building confidence,” Day said. “We can get after some people now. They’re starting to have a little bit of fun and say, like, ‘I’m gonna line up against you and get after you.’ I think, to me, the way the running backs are running, you can feel that. That’s palatable when you’re out there. We have to keep building on that. There are bigger challenges ahead.”
“THEY’RE WELL-COACHED.” One of those challenges will be Ohio State’s trip to Michigan State on Saturday. According to Day, Jonathan Smith – not Degenerate T-Bone Jonathan Smith but former Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith – has done “a really good job already of establishing an identity” in his first year as leader of the Spartans. Day also sees some other strengths that the Buckeyes must be aware of before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Peacock.
“They have a really good quarterback (Aidan Chiles). A good young quarterback who can do a lot of different things. He can beat you with his feet,” Day said. “He’s made some really nice throws in some big games, (including) a game on the road at Maryland. For a young quarterback, that should give him a lot of confidence. On defense, they’re playing really, really hard. You can tell they’re well-coached. (Smith) is doing a really good job. This is a Big Ten road game for us, and we have to bring it.”
This week, Smith also discussed the challenge his team faces on Saturday. In a 16-minute press conference on Monday, the 45-year-old mentioned the Buckeyes a handful of times. Here is a video of that media session and his Ohio State-related quotes:
On his respect for Ohio State
“Good opponent coming in, looking forward to a Saturday night against Ohio State in our place. I’ve got a bunch of respect for that program, those coaches, those players. It will be a real, real challenge that we are gonna put a lot of work in to take on.”
On “belonging on the field” with Ohio State
“I don’t know if we’re gonna talk about it like belonging. We’re excited about our opportunity on Saturday. We get 12 of them guaranteed. I want our approach to be pretty consistent. We respect everybody we play. Obviously, these guys demand some respect. We’ll give them that with our work and preparation. I think, hopefully, we’ll get to a point on Saturday where they’re gonna be excited to play in this game. There’s some good players on the other side. The atmosphere in our place, we’re counting on it being packed and full of energy. They’re gonna be excited to play.”
On Chip Kelly at UCLA vs. Chip Kelly at Ohio State
“You see some similarities. Innovative. They can run the ball. They’ve got some pace to them tempo-wise. The quarterback has answers, whether it’s in the run game or the pass game. Really effective and challenging to defend.”
On the history between Ohio State vs. Michigan State
“I know it means a ton. I just think about the recruiting side. We want to be in that state recruiting. Playing the flagship program in the state, that means something. I haven’t been in the league, but you know this logo, this brand of football — it’s a big-time opponent.”
I like Jonathan Smith. I think Ohio State beats his team by three scores this weekend, but I like him!
WILD, WILD WEST. So this Matthew Sluka stuff…
ICYMI: UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka, who helped make the Rebels one of the Group of Five’s College Football Playoff contenders with wins over Houston, Utah Tech and Kansas in the first four weeks, announced his departure from UNLV on Wednesday because of a NIL dispute with the program.
In a post on X, Sluka explained that the program did not uphold "certain representations" made to him before he transferred to UNLV from Holy Cross. Sluka plans to utilize his redshirt year and transfer to another school for the 2025 season.
"I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled," Sluka stated. "Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program."
Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that Sluka was verbally promised a minimum of $100,000 from a UNLV assistant coach to transfer there, but Sluka has not received any payments. While a report from Paloma Villicana of FOX5, who hosts the RebZone Sports Show with UNLV coach Barry Odom, indicated that Sluka was offered more money to preserve his final year of eligibility and transfer elsewhere next season, Sluka’s father told Adam Rittenberg of ESPN that Sluka never asked for any adjustments to his original deal with UNLV.
"We have no idea what the hell happened," Bob Sluka told Rittenberg of his son not being paid.
Cromartie told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that Sluka was promised $100,000 during his recruitment from UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, but there was no signed contract between Sluka and UNLV’s collective, FriendsOfUNILV. Blueprint Sports, which operates the collective, told Dellenger that it did not have a contract with Sluka but offered to pay him $3,000 a month, which Sluka and his camp did not view as fair compensation.
UNLV said in a statement on Wednesday that “Sluka’s representative made financial demands upon the University and its NIL collective in order to continue playing,” which UNLV interpreted “as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law.” The collective said “there were no formal NIL offers made during Mr. Sluka’s recruitment process” and that it has “not defaulted on any agreements with Mr. Sluka.”
I have several questions.
Only one bears mentioning here.
What if this happened at Ohio State?
To be clear, I don’t think it will. Ohio State has excellent name, image and likeness infrastructure, and its collectives have its players sign contracts for any NIL deals to ensure that both sides are in agreement on how much each player will be paid.
But still, I wonder… what if it did?
After Sluka announced his departure from the UNLV program, claiming the Rebels didn’t uphold “certain representations” made before he transferred to the school this offseason, UNLV insisted that it didn’t make any promises it didn’t keep and that Sluka demanded more money to continue playing.
Regardless of who’s telling the truth or if the truth lies somewhere in between, it made me think: What would happen if an Ohio State player demanded more money for his play on the field?
For example, what if – and I won’t use names so as not to disparage the fine young men inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center – a valuable backup quarterback, wide receiver or cornerback entered Day’s office in December and said, “Give me $500,000 or I will transfer before the playoff starts.” How does Day respond? Does he meet the demands? “Yes, of course, here’s the half-a-million dollars you asked for.” Or does he express untethered rage that knows no bounds? “Be gone, vile man! Be gone from me!”
I have no idea.
I really don’t.
No matter how the situation between Sluka and UNLV ends, I fear both parties made decisions with consequences that extend far beyond Sin City's borders. Or, in other words, what happened in Vegas may not stay in Vegas.
ON THE RISE. Ohio State climbed the ranks in the U.S. News & World Report’s latest release of the top public and national universities in America, improving to No. 15 among public universities and No. 41 in the nation in the new “Best Colleges” list for 2025.
“Ohio State is one of the best public universities in the nation with outstanding students, faculty and staff who are passionate about solving the world's most pressing challenges," president Ted Carter Jr. said in a school press release. "The university just enrolled a record-setting first-year class, we have a world-class academic medical center that continues to excel at patient care and life-changing research, and a worldwide network of nearly 620,000 alumni."
In addition to Ohio State’s overall ranks, the school’s College of Nursing ranked No. 1 among public universities and No. 4 nationally. At the same time, the Fisher College of Business ranked No. 7 and No. 14, while the College of Engineering came in at No. 12 and No. 20.
For the first time, Ohio State appeared in the top 50 for “first-year experience,” which the U.S. News & World Report describes as a school’s “efforts to make new students feel connected to their campus community.”
I looked and I looked for where the U.S. News & World Report ranked Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences – and, more accurately, its School of Communication and journalism program – among public and national universities.
Alas, I could not find it.
Therefore, here and now, I declare Ohio State has the No. 1 journalism school in America.
(Don’t look that up. It’s true.)
SONG OF THE DAY. "S P E Y S I D E" - Bon Iver.
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