Welcome to the Skull Session.
A Rose Bowl Rematch on the Hardwood?
I'll be seated.
@OhioStateFB won their matchup by 20, so you get 20% off ours!
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) January 7, 2025
Thu Jan. 9
No. 15 Oregon
Schottenstein Center
6 PM ET
Online offer only (while supplies last)
https://t.co/lMHkwrkfp9#Team126 | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/bX6aSKE9pH
Have a good Thursday.
“THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS.” In the wake of Ohio State’s loss to Michigan, Justin Frye told the team’s offensive line: “We’re all we’ve got, but we’re all we need.” That’s how Tegra Tshabola remembered the moment in an interview with Pete Thamel of ESPN.
“We kind of felt like a lot of people turned on us,” Tshabola told Thamel. “In that moment, we could do two things. We can either keep spreading apart as a team or come together even closer, bond together and create something really special.”
They chose the latter.
In its victories over Tennessee and Oregon, Ohio State’s offensive line paved a path for TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins to average 5.26 yards per carry and score five total touchdowns. They also kept Will Howard off the ground, allowing 16 pressures but zero sacks against the Volunteers and Ducks, both of whom had vaunted defensive lines in 2024.
Seth McLaughlin attributes that success to his teammates’ execution. He said Frye deserves credit, too.
“We’re down to the eight and ninth guys in the room, and with any other college football team, if that happens, your season’s done,” McLaughlin told Thamel. “For the way we had a lot of guys step up that were not expected to ever play this season at the beginning of the year, and they’re playing really well, I think that’s a testament to how hard those guys worked. And Coach Frye, I think Coach Frye is a hell of a coach, the best in the business.”
Hell of a coach?
The best in the business?
McLaughlin must not frequent the Eleven Warriors Forum.
Jokes aside, that’s remarkable praise coming from a consensus All-American and Rimington Trophy winner. Frye deserves it for how he’s managed a room full of turmoil and loss.
Fair or unfair, I’ll reserve tossing flowers to him until Ohio State hoists the gold College Football Playoff trophy in Atlanta on Jan. 20. For now, I recommend he finds someone to keep the roses he received in Pasadena fresh as he and the offensive line prepare for yet another test against Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
“HE NEVER WAVERED.” There was one more section in Thamel’s article I wanted to mention in the Skull Session – one where former Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and current Ohio State strength coach Mick Marotti shared their gratification in seeing Ryan Day have success following the Buckeyes’ fourth consecutive loss in The Game.
First, Thamel compared Ohio State’s College Football Playoff run to the Virginia men’s basketball team’s NCAA Tournament run in 2019. The Cavaliers’ national championship that season followed one in which UVA became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the Big Dance.
Thamel admitted the analogy “is a bit clunky, as four consecutive losses to Michigan isn’t the same as Virginia basketball’s historic loss to UMBC” and “Virginia stewed for a year, whereas Ohio State simmered for a month.” Still, he noted similarities between the teams and their head coaches, explaining that both Tony Bennett and Day experienced “torrents of criticism that didn’t align with their high winning percentages.” Bennett ended that narrative with Virginia’s national title in 2019. Day has a chance to do the same this year.
“It’s total gratification to see him have his success, to see him rebound like he’s rebounded,” Smith told ESPN. “Sure, I’m happy for his family, happy for him. But the growth thing is huge. His transition to let Chip Kelly call the plays in a game was major. And then watching him transition on the sideline. I’m just so happy for him. And I know their mission is not complete. I know it. I can tell this team is on a mission. I think it’s going to be phenomenal.”
Marotti said there were hard conversations and hard times at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center after The Game, but Day’s measured demeanor helped Ohio State weather the storm. He reminded his team, especially its seniors, about the opportunity that awaited them in the College Football Playoff.
“He’s a pro,” Marotti told Thamel. “He’s the coach at The Ohio State University. He knows the expectations. He knows what comes with the job. He never wavered, and the team never wavered.”
“TEXAS HAS TO SURVIVE THE FIRST QUARTER.” Because of the hard conversations and hard times at the Woody, because Ohio State never wavered, the Buckeyes have looked like the best team in college football this postseason.
In its wins over Tennessee and Oregon, Ohio State pushed the pedal to the metal from the opening kickoff, shooting out to first-quarter leads of 21-0 against the Volunteers and 14-0 against Oregon. From there, the Buckeyes never looked back in either contest, controlling all aspects of the game until the clock reached triple zeroes.
With those dominant starts in mind, Joel Klatt of FOX said, “Texas has to survive the first quarter” in the Cotton Bowl or Ohio State will send the Longhorns three hours back to Austin with empty hands and tear-filled eyes.
“I believe this game will be almost won and lost in the first quarter,” Klatt said. “I believe Ohio State has the ability and the mindset right now to turn this into exactly what happened to Tennessee and Oregon. So, the No. 1 job Texas has in this one, among other jobs, is you’ve got to survive the first quarter. You have to survive what is inevitably going to be an offensive onslaught early of aggressive playcalling from the best offense in the country.
“Texas has to survive the first quarter. Ohio State jumped out 21-0 on Tennessee and then 34-0 on Oregon. Those are the leads in the first two playoff games. If that’s the case (against Texas), it’s a wrap. Both of those games were a wrap. Tennessee was not coming back from a 21-point deficit. Oregon was not coming back from a 34-point deficit. That is not happening – in particular against that Ohio State defense.”
Klatt is spot on here.
If Ohio State blitzes Texas in the first 15 minutes (blitzes meaning an intensive and sudden attack, not blitzes meaning the defense rushing more than four, though I am sure that will happen a lot in the first quarter), I think the Buckeyes easily advance to the national championship. This team has too much confidence and poise after back-to-back beatdowns to relinquish more than a two-score lead.
However, if the Cotton Bowl is a one-possession game after the first quarter, we may be in for a more entertaining game – that is, from the perspective of a casual observer. (I don’t know about you, but I find it immensely entertaining watching the Buckeyes steamroll their opponents from start to finish.)
Therefore, it is in Ohio State’s best interest to start fast against Texas.
Set the tone!
STROUD BACKS THE BUCKS. Former Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud feels excited to watch Ohio State face Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Friday.
With the Buckeyes and Longhorns set to battle three-and-a-half hours from Houston, where Stroud and the Texans will host Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers for an NFL playoff game this weekend, Stroud said he has a lot riding on the Cotton Bowl’s outcome.
“I got the Bucks, man, all day. A lot of UT guys here, so I got a lot of bets going on. If you see some guys in scarlet on Saturday morning, you know where it came from,” Stroud said with a smile.
CJ Stroud on the Ohio State vs Texas playoff game:
— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) January 7, 2025
A lot of UT guys here so I got a lot of bets going on. If you see some guys in scarlet on Saturday morning you know where it came from
Says hell root for one of his best friends Silas Bolden & former teammate Quinn Ewers pic.twitter.com/yYxQj0f4sN
Stroud is one of four former Buckeyes on the Texans’ roster, along with cornerback Jeff Okudah, defensive tackle Tommy Togiai and tight end Cade Stover. Fullback Andrew Beck is the lone former Longhorn.
“I think it’s gonna be a heck of a game,” Stroud said. “A lot of former teammates on Ohio State, and one of my best friends (and former Rancho Cucamonga High School teammate) actually plays for UT, Silas Bolden. I’m rooting for him and him only. And I like Quinn (Ewers), too. Quinn was my former teammate. But I’m going Bucks all day. Go Bucks.”
Good man, C.J.
Good man.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Cinderella Man" (Explicit) - Eminem.
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