Skull Session: Zach Boren Says Ohio State “Shows Zero Emotion” and “Shows Zero Fight” in Games, James Franklin Reveals Drew Allar Will Be a Game-Time Decision on Saturday

By Chase Brown on October 29, 2024 at 5:00 am
Ryan Day
Adam Cairns / USA TODAY Sports
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

He's back! Arvell Reese is back!

Have a good Tuesday.

 BOREN GOES SCORCHED EARTH. In an appearance on THE Podcast this week, former Ohio State fullback and linebacker Zach Boren sounded off on the Buckeyes for their lackluster performance in a four-point win over Nebraska.

While Boren expected the Nebraska game to be Ohio State’s chance to turn the page following a one-point loss to Oregon two weeks ago, he said the lack of emotion and pure leadership the Buckeyes showed on Saturday makes him want to “sound the alarms even more” for his alma mater’s Big Ten and national championship hopes in 2024.

Here’s the video for Boren’s appearance on THE Podcast, as well as a transcript of his issues with Ohio State’s efforts this past weekend:

The Opening

“I thought sitting here this morning, all the feelings that have accumulated in my head for the last two weeks after the Oregon game would be gone, and we’d be turning the page like the old Bob Seger song. You know, turn the page, and we’re moving on. … The performance (on Saturday) makes us almost sound the alarms even more. The issues that occurred against Oregon, which we know have been issues for a while now, are starting to show their face, and you would think against an inferior talent like Nebraska that those glaring holes or those glaring issues wouldn't show their face, but again, they did.

"Now you’re going on the road to Penn State. You still have an Indiana team that’s riding high – and I’m not saying from a talent standpoint that they’re great, but confidence is a very real thing in team sports and especially in college football because there’s an aura in the locker room that you start feeling when you go on a roll, and Indiana has that. Then you also have the big one at the end of the year that we have failed to win the last three years. No matter how Michigan is playing at that point, there’s going to be a lot of pressure going into that football game.”

Issue No. 1

“Here’s where I have issues (with Ohio State’s performance). No. 1 is, normally, in those close games, there’s an anomaly. Things don’t go your way. There are some turnovers. There are some swings of emotions. The offense is normally clicking on all cylinders, but they have a bad day. The issue is the things that are arising with this football team that made the game close yesterday are the same issues that they’ve been battling all year long. They’re the same issues that came up against Oregon. You would think after losing a game against Oregon that, ‘Hey, guess what? We’re going to focus on those things.’ Ryan Day was very outwardly that there was a focus on certain things they consider their weakness, but again, those weaknesses reared their head against Nebraska.

"So if it was just a, ‘Hey, the ball didn’t bounce their way that day, but they found a way to win.’ That’s a completely different conversation than their inability to make explosive plays on defense, get after the quarterback in four-down sets and run the football – like we saw the inability to do in the second half against Oregon – those are real things that showed up against Nebraska. They’re real things that are going to be issues for the rest of the year. It’s not an anomaly. I don’t want people to watch this and think, ‘Oh, my God. They think every game should be a blowout.’ No. You need to find ways to win games, but those issues can’t keep coming up. They can’t be repetitive things."

Issue No. 2

"No. 2 is – and this is the biggest issue I’ve had for the last four years – the lack of emotion, the lack of pure leadership and the lack of killer instinct are all major concerns for me. In a game like that on Saturday, when you’re playing Nebraska and you know you should be blowing them out, there should be guys holding dudes accountable on the sideline, on the field, grabbing them and telling them to get their s— together. There should be some emotion from that standpoint. On Saturday, there was nothing. I was at the game and looked at the sidelines. It was like a funeral. There was no emotion at all. Guys were moping around, kind of holding their heads. There was no one to grab someone and tell them, like, ‘Let’s go.’

You see guys make plays on the field, and they celebrate and do all that stuff, but where’s the accountability for guys not doing their jobs? Where’s the accountability for Will Howard – and I love Will Howard – in that situation to go over to the O-line and tell them to get their you know what out of their you know what? Where is that? From the defensive standpoint, where are the linebackers going to the D-line and being, like, ‘Dudes, you got to go.’ There is no emotion from that standpoint and no pure leadership because everyone is scared to hurt each other’s feelings. When you’re in the 60 minutes of a game – whether that be in the locker room at halftime, on the sidelines, whatever that might be – you need to hold each other accountable.

"There we so many guys in my era that were on that team that there were times that we wanted to kill each other during the game because we were so pissed off at one another. But that night, we’re having beers together, and it’s the greatest and we’re singing Kumbaya, and it’s the greatest thing in the world. You need to have that on-off switch. These guys are so sensitive that they can’t have that."

The Closing

“When this team goes out, it shows zero emotion, shows zero fight, shows all these things, especially after getting beat on national television in arguably the biggest game of the year on your schedule in the regular season. You follow that up with a dud performance. That’s what frustrates me. It’s not the not executing. It’s not even the inability to run the football. It’s not the inability to make explosive plays on defense. In my opinion, that stuff will come if you have the right mindset, you hold each other accountable and you say, ‘Hey, listen. Let’s go fight our asses off.’ You don’t feel that within this locker room. You don’t feel that within the program. I think a lot of needs to be looked at with the coaches. I’m not talking about Ryan Day. I think there are some assistant coaches who get paid a lot of money – seven-figure assistant coaches – that need to look at themselves and the kind of perception they’re giving their position rooms when they go out. When you act a certain way, your position groups and the guys who play underneath you are going to think there’s a certain way to act.”

Boren went scorched earth.

I don’t think I can add much more to that – so I won’t!

 ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP. I lied. I will add to Boren’s comments.

On Saturday, Ryan Day addressed the crowd at the Skull Session. “Today, it’s about action. It’s not about words,” he said. Then Ohio State started slow, took a narrow 14-6 lead into halftime and fell behind in the fourth quarter before it answered with a late touchdown and a game-sealing interception to win 21-17. 

The Buckeyes won. But it didn’t feel like it.

There were several reasons for that.

The offensive line had two weeks to prepare for Nebraska. Instead, it looked like Ohio State prepared for two minutes. Zen Michalksi looked out of place. Donovan Jackson, Tegra Tshabola and Austin Siereveld missed assignments. Nebraska sacked Will Howard three times. The Cornhuskers stuffed TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins all afternoon.

The defense collected three sacks and 13 tackles for loss. However, when I went back and watched the film, Ohio State should thank the Maker that Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and his staff had a horrendous offensive gameplan that asked Dylan Raiola to make 10 of his 11 pass attempts behind the line of scrimmage. (None of them worked.) The Buckeyes should also thank the Maker that Raiola botched two passes intended for wide open receivers – and I mean wide open receivers – that would have resulted in touchdowns for the Cornhuskers.

In addition to those issues, the special teams looked suspect. Jayden Fielding missed a 42-yard field goal on the same afternoon Nebraska’s John Hohl – who had made two of six kicks before Saturday – nailed kicks from 39, 54 (!) and 47. While Joe McGuire averaged a season-best 47 yards per punt, that number received a significant boost from a 61-yard boot that bounced a dozen times. (His other punts traveled 47, 36, 46 and 45 yards.) Before this past weekend, McGuire had averaged 39.3 yards per punt, which ranked dead last in the 18-team Big Ten Conference.

None of what I mentioned meets Ohio State’s standards. For all of it to improve, I think Boren is correct: The Buckeyes need to have the correct attitude. Remember the Titans told me, “Attitude reflects leadership,” so it’s on Day, his staff and his captains to make sure that happens. Otherwise,  Ohio State’s chances of winning a Big Ten and national championship will continue to decrease.

 DECISIONS, DECISIONS. Penn State coach James Franklin announced Monday that quarterback Drew Allar will be a game-time decision for the Ohio State game. Allar missed the second half of Penn State’s win over Wisconsin. Backup Beau Pribula replaced Allar in the contest, completing 11 of 13 passes for 98 yards and one touchdown while running for 28 yards on six attempts.

On the face of it, Allar’s potential absence seems like a positive for Ohio State. Allar has completed 117 of 164 passes (71.3 percent) for 1,640 yards, 12 touchdowns and four interceptions this season. Pribula’s career numbers as a passer don’t come close to that. The sophomore quarterback has completed 29 of 44 passes (65.9 percent) for 349 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception in his one-and-a-half years with the Nittany Lions. He is, however, a proven runner with 77 carries, 462 yards and seven scores.

That said, as I reflect on the situation more, I can’t help but wonder if Allar’s ailment – which appears to be knee-related – could serve as an advantage for Penn State. With Allar marked as a game-time decision, the Ohio State defense will have to prepare for both Allar and Pribula on Saturday. Allar can pass, Pribula not so much. Pribula can run, Allar not so much.

The good news is that each of Ohio State’s five scholarship quarterbacks has dual-threat capabilities, so the scout team should be able to offer the defense some solid looks on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

While we are on the topic of Ohio State’s scout team, I wonder who will serve as Penn State tight end Tyler Warren this week. At 6-foot-6, 261 pounds, that dude is a freak of nature – and he’s a darn good football player, too. Warren has 47 catches for 559 yards and four touchdowns this season, numbers that include a 17-reception, 224-yard, one-touchdown performance in Penn State’s road win over USC two weeks ago.

 OLYMPIC VILLAGE. I haven’t done one of these in a while, but I have good reason to do it now: In the women’s soccer match between the United States and Iceland, former Ohio State star Emma Sears made her international debut. She scored one goal and one assist in the game, becoming the fourth player ever to accomplish that feat for the Americans, joining Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy.

That’s Mia Hamm, the greatest U.S. women’s soccer player of all time; Brandi Chastain, who scored the greatest U.S. women’s soccer goal of all time; and Julie Foudy, a pioneer on and off the field for U.S. women’s soccer.

That’s who Sears associated herself with on Sunday.

“I saw when she came in, she had a big smile on her face, she looked really relaxed to me. Whether she was or not, I don’t know,” USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said of Sears after the game. “What I liked about her was her intention. She’d turn, she’d face up, she’d go forward, she’d play forward. Her first touch on the ball, she got us into the corner and got something out of it. And I liked her intention of positivity. As I said, I think she’s had a brilliant campaign in the NWSL. I can see, already, her professional habits in everything she does.”

Sears was a three-time All-Big Ten honoree at Ohio State. In five seasons, she appeared in 83 matches and recorded 25 goals and 40 assists, which ranked No. 12 and No. 11 all-time when she received her Ohio State degree.

Racing Louisville FC drafted Sears with the No. 28 overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NWSL draft. She’s scored five goals in 24 appearances with the club, including two that were voted NWSL Goals of the Week. On May 22, she inked a two-year extension with Racing that will keep her in Louisville through the 2026 season.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Turn the Page" - Bob Seger.

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