Skull Session: 63 Days for the Rest of Their Lives

By Chase Brown on November 18, 2024 at 5:00 am
Ryan Day
David Banks / Imagn Images
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

On to the next one...

Have a good Monday.

 63 DAYS FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. Jan. 8, 2009. BCS National Championship Game. Oklahoma vs. Florida. Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida. Halftime, tied 7-7. Tim Tebow stands in the middle of a crowded locker room.

“Hey, let’s go! Get in here! Get in here right now!” the defending Heisman winner screamed. “We got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! Thirty minutes for the rest of our lives! … We get the ball – I promise you one thing – we’re going to hit somebody and take it down the field for a touchdown. I guarantee you that! Look at me! Look at me! We got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! Let’s go!”

Nov. 16, 2024. Ohio State vs. Northwestern. Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois. Final, 31-7. Ryan Day sits in the middle of a crowded media room.

“What you’ve done in the past has nothing to do with what’s going to happen moving forward, other than the fact that you’ve learned things and you have to use those experiences to help you,” Day said. “But what really matters is what we do moving into this game next week.”

We will remember the first speech forever and forget the second, yet both have similar meanings. 

Tebow’s team had 30 minutes for the rest of their lives. Day’s team has 63 days.

After Saturday, Ohio State’s season started in earnest.

Yes, there were wins over Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall, Michigan State and Iowa. There was a painful loss to Oregon. There was a come-from-behind win over Nebraska, an emotional win over Penn State and some victories over Purdue and Northwestern that were never in doubt. But all of those games led to this – an almost two-month stretch that includes guaranteed matchups with No. 5 Indiana and Michigan, then a potential rematch with Oregon in the Big Ten championship and three or four games in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

From this moment forward, it’s survive and advance.

“We know we have to be playing our best football in November,” Day said. “We want to be consistent in everything we do. Either we are, or we aren’t. Everything you do is hard in the Big Ten. You’re not just going to walk in and think from the first snap you’ll roll your helmets out there and run the team out of the stadium.”

Ohio State will need to play its best football against Indiana – a sentence I never imagined I would have to write. While the program has 28 consecutive wins over the Hoosiers, a 29th is far from guaranteed. The Buckeyes understand that.

“They’re a great team,” Sonny Styles said. “They’ve got a great coach. They brought in some great players. I’m excited to play them.”

Ohio State will also need its best football against Michigan. The Wolverines are 5-5 this season but have three consecutive wins in The Game. They also have dozens of players who know what it’s like to beat “Ohio,” while the Buckeyes have zero players who know what it’s like to beat “That Team Up North.”

And then, Ohio State heads to the postseason. Wins over Indiana and Michigan would get the Buckeyes to Indianapolis. Revenge – or excuse me, reckoning – against Oregon at Lucas Oil Stadium would secure the No. 1 seed and an automatic bid in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. A loss would secure a top-six seed and a home game in the first round.

Now, I don’t know how Ohio State will perform down the stretch, but I know this: People remember Tebow’s words because Florida responded to his impassioned challenge, beating Oklahoma 24-14 for the Gators’ second championship in three years. Perhaps we will remember Day’s words 63 days from now when the Buckeyes win their first title since 2014.

 HAVE A GAME, CARNELL. Carnell Tate shined in an emotional homecoming on Saturday. With almost 30 friends and family in attendance, the sophomore receiver collected four receptions for 52 yards and two touchdowns in one of the best performances of his career.

Tate’s contributions started in the first quarter with a 5-yard catch. Then, the must-see moments started. On Tate’s next reception, he showed off incredible hands and vision to haul in a 14-yard pass and set up Quinshon Judkins’ 1-yard touchdown, Ohio State’s first score of the game. His next two catches were just as cool – a 25-yard touchdown on a fade route and an 8-yard score in which he plowed past three Wildcats into the end zone.

After the win, Day beamed with pride over Tate’s performance. Tate’s teammates did, too.

“We say all the time that the game doesn’t care what you’ve been through. When you cross that line, when you go out on the field, the game doesn’t really care. But we do. His teammates do. His coaches do. The people who know Carnell care a lot about him,” Day said. “The way he’s handled himself is an example to everybody. We care a lot about him. To see him get two touchdowns in his hometown… I know it means a lot to him. It also means a lot to us. We’re happy for him today.”

Will Howard added: “I’m so proud of that kid. I couldn’t be happier for him, coming home to his home city given all he’s been through. I don’t say it a lot to him, but he’s one of my favorite guys on the team, and just seeing him every day lifts my mood. For him to have the game that he had here in his home city in this stadium, I couldn’t be happier.”

Neither could I.

Carnell Tate! The Chicago Kid!

Cheers, 17.

 HOSTILE TAKEOVER. I’ve watched Suits. I know what a hostile takeover looks like. But the hostile takeover that occurred in Chicago on Saturday? I’ve never seen anything like it. Ohio State’s road game at Wrigley Field was a home game, as around 80 percent of the crowd wore scarlet rather than the home team’s purple.

That surprised Day as much as it did me.

“We expected to have a great presence, but to see the way it was today was exciting,” he said. “We felt it as the buses were going around the stadium, and you’re driving through Wrigleyville, and you see all this red and scarlet. I mean, people were fired up. You could tell they were just coming out of the bars after opening at 7 a.m. People were fired up. It kind of got us fired up, too. … We really appreciate them supporting us.”

Buckeye Nation’s presence was extra special in a stadium steeped with tradition, Howard said.

“I had to take it in for a little bit before the game because we came over here yesterday. It’s a historic place,” he said. “The 8-year-old kid in me would be giddy. I was a baseball kid growing up. I had to wear this (Ohio State baseball) hat because I loved baseball growing up. This place is one of the most historic places in baseball and in sports. Being out here to play a game was awesome.”

 THIRD QUARTER STRETCH? A cool moment from Saturday occurred after the third quarter when former Northwestern defensive end Corey Wootton led the crowd in baseball’s classic song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

This is unrelated to Ohio State, but I have to mention some of the incredible renditions of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field, including Chicago Bears defensive lineman Steve “Mongo” McMichael calling out umpire Angel Hernandez or Bernie Mac calling the Cubs the “champs” before a historic meltdown an inning later. Mike Ditka’s 30-second speedrun, Jeff Gordon’s “Wrigley Stadium” flub and Ozzy Osbourne mumbling the song were also hilarious.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Carmen Ohio" - TBDBITL.

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