Gameday Skull Session: Get Dumped Then, Iowa

It's time for Iowa to get dumped.

Bring em out bring em out bring em out pic.twitter.com/OhmD5EWicn

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) October 3, 2024

Have a good Saturday.

 I’D LIKE TO SEE… Before Ohio State and Iowa face off at 3:30 p.m., here are 10 (ish) things I’d like to see from the Buckeyes in their Big Ten showdown with the Hawkeyes.

I’d like to see Ohio State start fast.

I’d like to see Ohio State win the line of scrimmage.

I’d like to see Ohio State’s running backs score touchdowns. (Michigan State was the first opponent to keep TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins out of the end zone, though Jeremiah Smith and Will Howard scored on the ground.)

I’d like to see Ohio State complete a deep ball. (Howard is 4-for-9 passing with 143 yards and one interception on passes of 20 yards or more this season.)

I’d like to see Ohio State hold Kaleb Johnson to less than 100 rushing yards. (Johnson’s single-game yardage totals are 119, 187, 173 and 206 through four games.)

I’d like to see Ohio State hold Cade McNamara to under 100 passing yards. (McNamara’s single-game yardage totals are 62, 176, 99 and 251 through four games.) I’d also like to see some combination of Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton put him in the dirt for his previous ties to Michigan.

I’d like to see Ohio State record a pick-six or the special teams unit record a kickoff or punt return touchdown. (Or all three!)

I’d like to see Ohio State add flavor to its (somewhat) vanilla gameplans over four weeks—if vanilla works, it works, but I’d like to see Chip Kelly call more reverses to Smith or Jim Knowles dial up more blitzes. (You know Iowa wants to run the ball, and you know Iowa wants to stop the run.)

I’d like to see Ohio State build its depth in the second half.

I’d like to see Ohio State win.

That’s it — that’s 10 (ish) things I’d like to see on Saturday.

Ohio State 34 - Iowa 9

 THE MENU. Last week’s college football schedule was CINEMA. But this week’s schedule? Not so much. But, look — it’s college football. We’ll watch! Here’s a look at the complete slate on Saturday:

 MY PICKS. Aaaaaatttttt laaasssttt — I don’t mean to sound like Etta James — but aaaaaatttttt laaasssttt my picks have come along…

With a 3-6 record across the Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall Skull Sessions, I bounced back with a 2-1 mark in the Michigan State Skull Session — and the lone loss was a bad beat! 

Last week, BYU covered against Baylor and USC covered against Wisconsin (thanks to a double-doink pick-six for the Trojans!) As for the bad beat, the Louisville and Notre Dame game ended just as oddsmakers predicted, with the Irish beating the Cardinals by a touchdown. Therefore, Louisville just missed out on covering the 6.5-point spread.

Oh well.

With a new-and-improved 5-7 record after four game weeks, here’s the next round of picks:

• No. 9 Missouri (-1.5) at No. 25 Texas A&M: With how Missouri looked against Boston College and Vanderbilt, I feel terrible about this pick. Still, I’ll choose to have faith in Eli Drinkwitz and Luther Burden III, the receiver college football experts tell me is better than Emeka Egbuka. (I don’t see it!)  Give me the Tigers as Missouri looks to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive six weeks into the season.
• No. 10 Michigan at Washington (-1.5): Yes.
• No. 8 Miami at Cal (+10.5): Cal lost to Florida State — and Florida State is terrible. However, I think the Golden Bears deserve (somewhat of) a pass for that loss, considering the program had traveled from Berkeley to Auburn, Auburn to Berkeley and Berkeley to Tallahassee in a three-week span. On Saturday, Cal will feed off a raucous crowd at Memorial Stadium while leaning on star running back Jadyn Ott and a better-than-expected defense. They will also benefit from a 7:30 p.m. PST kickoff; that is, a 10:30 p.m. kickoff EST for Miami, who will have traveled 3,035 miles to face their ACC counterpart.

 BACK TO THE BUCKEYES. Braxton Miller entered the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend. The Buckeyes will honor him when the football team faces Iowa.

Kids these days — they don’t know about Braxton Miller.

When I was 11, 12, 13 years old, Miller was an ICON.

The Springfield, Ohio, native and Wayne High School graduate was the No. 30 overall prospect in the 2011 class. He committed to Ohio State over Alabama, Florida, Notre Dame, USC and seven other schools.

At Ohio State, Miller became one of the most electrifying players in college football as soon as his freshman year, recording 1,159 yards and 13 touchdowns as a passer and 715 yards and seven scores as a runner.

Over the next two seasons, Miller became a two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, throwing for 4,133 yards, 39 touchdowns while running for 2,339 yards and 25 scores. Miller led Ohio State to an undefeated 12-0 season in 2012 (the NCAA banned the Buckeyes from postseason competition as a result of “Tattoogate”) and a 12-2 season in 2013.

In the final game of Ohio State’s 2013 season — a 40-35 loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl — Miller stuffed a shoulder injury that required surgery. He later tore the labrum of the same shoulder in an offseason practice and took a medical redshirt for the 2014 season. Then-head coach Urban Meyer turned to J.T. Barrett to lead the offense. When Barrett broke his ankle in The Game that year, Cardale Jones took over and led the Buckeyes to three historic wins over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon to win the national title.

In Miller’s final season at Ohio State, he did not return to the quarterback position due to complications with his throwing shoulder. Instead, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound athlete moved to wide receiver (or H-back). Guess what? He shined there, too, collecting 601 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns while providing college football fans with one of the nastiest spin moves of all time.

Miller’s induction into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame is well-deserved.

Put some respect on his name!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Welcome to the Jungle" - Guns N. Roses.

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