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2026 OH S Kaden Gebhardt (Verbal Offer)
- By pnuts34
- Football Recruiting
- 5 Replies
247
Rivals
Twitter
HudL
Class: 2026
Position: S
School: Lewis Center(OH) Olentangy
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 195lbs
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Rivals
HudL
Class: 2026
Position: S
School: Lewis Center(OH) Olentangy
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 195lbs
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2028 MA QB Christopher Vargas (Verbal Offer)
- By pnuts34
- Football Recruiting
- 0 Replies
247
Rivals
Twitter
HudL
Class: 2028
Position: QB
School: Danvers(MA)St. John's Prep
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 180lbs
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Rivals
HudL
Class: 2028
Position: QB
School: Danvers(MA)St. John's Prep
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 180lbs
Login to view embedded media
LGHL Fandom is like your favorite sweatshirt; and other musings on being a fan following a demoralizing loss
- News
- 0 Replies
Fandom is like your favorite sweatshirt; and other musings on being a fan following a demoralizing loss
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Ohio State’s fourth-straight loss to Michigan isn’t the end of the world, even if it feels like it right now.
Ohio State will play another football game in approximately three weeks. Between now and then (and preferably much sooner for our own sanities) we all need to come to terms with the events that occurred in Ohio Stadium on Saturday and figure out the individual ways that we are going to approach them. I am on the record that I believe a change in leadership is necessary for the Ohio State football program, and nothing short of a miraculously transformational four-game playoff run is going to change my opinion on that.
However, I am a lifelong Ohio State fan, and that’s never going to change. I am still going to proudly wear my Buckeye gear in public, I’m still going to watch press conferences and listen to podcasts (although it will probably take me a few days to be able to stomach that again), I am still going to pull for OSU to win every recruiting battle, and I will cheer my heart out for them no matter who or where they play in the College Football Playoff.
But, because I love this year’s team, the program as a whole, and my alma mater in general, I am going to continue to expect better from them all; therefore, when necessary, I am going to voice my concerns here on Land-Grant Holy Land and our various podcasts as I have for the past nine seasons. Since this has been an ongoing discussion during Ryan Day’s tenure in Columbus, I have long believed that just because you love something, doesn’t mean that you can’t criticize it; in fact, I believe it is healthy when you do.
So, that is the specific needle that I am going to try to thread coming out of a ridiculously frustrating, painful, and demoralizing 13-10 loss to Michigan, the fourth in as many years. I will hope for the best, and likely even convince myself that they can make a run to a title once the CFP field is released a week from today. But I will do so with my eyes wide open, knowing full well that Lucy is more than likely going to snatch the ball away from me, as she always seems to do, just as I am winding up for the kick.
But I won’t fault fans if they are off the bandwagon temporarily or even permanently. I’ve made it a point over the years to try and never criticize people for how they express their respective fandoms, as long as it does not turn toxic or violent. So, I am fully in support of you doing you in the wake of a fourth-straight loss to That Team Up North.
If you want to wallow in self-pity and despair for a few days, go for it. If you want to curse the gods for allowing such a fate to befall your favorite football team, have at it. If you want to immediately move on and focus on the good things in your life, I’m happy for you. All of these responses are valid.
My only word of caution is that if you are going to opt for something that hues closer to the first two options, don’t sit in the extreme versions of those emotions for too long. For many of us, it’s likely going to take a while for the pain of this defeat to fade (if it ever fully does), but it doesn't do you — or the people around you — any good to allow it to consume you. Those kinds of emotions ferment and turn into something much uglier that is unbecoming of you and Buckeye Nation.
As I have come into middle age, I have slowly (and often not especially gracefully) realized that allowing a football team — or any other type of fandom — to become the central focus of one’s personality is not especially healthy nor ultimately conducive to living a happy life. Fandom is a drug; the highs of victory are intoxicatingly sweet, but the lows of failure can be mentally and physically crippling.
And yet, those results have nothing to do with us as fans. Aside from maybe the tertiary connection of contributing to an NIL collective or cheering from the stands, we have no real hand in any given win or loss. And yet, our emotions thereafter are real; sometimes too real.
I’m not sure what their schedule will be following the end of the regular season, but sometime in the next day or so, the team is going to officially turn the page and refocus its attention on the postseason. They will do what they can to learn the lessons of this loss and attempt to be better when they get back on the field on either Dec. 20 or 21. I know that the guys in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center are hurting far more over the outcome in The Horseshoe yesterday than I ever could be. So, I am choosing to view the fact that they finding ways to put one foot in front of the other as instructive.
Perhaps this is something I learned living in SEC country during the 2006 and 2007 seasons when Ohio State lost back-to-back national championship games to Florida and LSU respectively, but fandom should be something that primarily brings you joy. It obviously won’t all the time, and when it doesn’t, it’s okay to a break for a while; not from being a fan, but living in the fandom.
It’s like your favorite sweatshirt. You wear it day in and day out; there is comfort in the routine of putting it on, looking in the mirror, and smiling. The warmth the sweatshirt provides is cozy, it’s familiar, it’s a literal hug every day. The sweatshirt brings back tender memories that put a single sentimental tear in your eye. Those memories feel good, so you wear the sweatshirt so often that eventually, you are wearing the sweatshirt when something bad happens. Then you’re wearing it again when something else bad happens. You chalk it up to coincidence and dismiss the creeping sense of connection and focus on the positive times that you’ve had while wearing your favorite sweatshirt.
But then a third and fourth bad thing happen and you can’t ignore it anymore. While the sweatshirt was not responsible for those bad things happening, you can no longer avoid the association between the sweatshirt and those bad things. So, you take off the sweatshirt, wash it, and hang it in your closet.
The sweatshirt is still yours, it is part of you, you could never throw it away. But it got to a point where the sweatshirt wasn't providing your life with the same positivity that it once did. Negative thoughts and memories had latched onto the sweatshirt, coloring your relationship with it and, in turn, how you interacted with the world around you will wearing it.
So, the sane and healthy thing to do in this admittedly disjointed metaphor is to take a break from the sweatshirt. It could be one day, it could be one week, it could be one year; however long you need for the negative emotions attached to the sweatshirt to stop overwhelming all of the good memories. You are the only one who will know when that is, but to bring it back home to Ohio State, if you need to disengage with the all-encompassing content machine that is the Buckeye beat, do it. If you need to avoid college football sites, videos, and podcasts to maintain your sanity, please do. If you need to rotate a generic hoodie into your wardrobe rotation for a little bit, there’s no shame in that; your favorite Buckeye sweatshirt will be there when you are ready to put it back on.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Ohio State’s fourth-straight loss to Michigan isn’t the end of the world, even if it feels like it right now.
Ohio State will play another football game in approximately three weeks. Between now and then (and preferably much sooner for our own sanities) we all need to come to terms with the events that occurred in Ohio Stadium on Saturday and figure out the individual ways that we are going to approach them. I am on the record that I believe a change in leadership is necessary for the Ohio State football program, and nothing short of a miraculously transformational four-game playoff run is going to change my opinion on that.
However, I am a lifelong Ohio State fan, and that’s never going to change. I am still going to proudly wear my Buckeye gear in public, I’m still going to watch press conferences and listen to podcasts (although it will probably take me a few days to be able to stomach that again), I am still going to pull for OSU to win every recruiting battle, and I will cheer my heart out for them no matter who or where they play in the College Football Playoff.
But, because I love this year’s team, the program as a whole, and my alma mater in general, I am going to continue to expect better from them all; therefore, when necessary, I am going to voice my concerns here on Land-Grant Holy Land and our various podcasts as I have for the past nine seasons. Since this has been an ongoing discussion during Ryan Day’s tenure in Columbus, I have long believed that just because you love something, doesn’t mean that you can’t criticize it; in fact, I believe it is healthy when you do.
So, that is the specific needle that I am going to try to thread coming out of a ridiculously frustrating, painful, and demoralizing 13-10 loss to Michigan, the fourth in as many years. I will hope for the best, and likely even convince myself that they can make a run to a title once the CFP field is released a week from today. But I will do so with my eyes wide open, knowing full well that Lucy is more than likely going to snatch the ball away from me, as she always seems to do, just as I am winding up for the kick.
But I won’t fault fans if they are off the bandwagon temporarily or even permanently. I’ve made it a point over the years to try and never criticize people for how they express their respective fandoms, as long as it does not turn toxic or violent. So, I am fully in support of you doing you in the wake of a fourth-straight loss to That Team Up North.
If you want to wallow in self-pity and despair for a few days, go for it. If you want to curse the gods for allowing such a fate to befall your favorite football team, have at it. If you want to immediately move on and focus on the good things in your life, I’m happy for you. All of these responses are valid.
My only word of caution is that if you are going to opt for something that hues closer to the first two options, don’t sit in the extreme versions of those emotions for too long. For many of us, it’s likely going to take a while for the pain of this defeat to fade (if it ever fully does), but it doesn't do you — or the people around you — any good to allow it to consume you. Those kinds of emotions ferment and turn into something much uglier that is unbecoming of you and Buckeye Nation.
As I have come into middle age, I have slowly (and often not especially gracefully) realized that allowing a football team — or any other type of fandom — to become the central focus of one’s personality is not especially healthy nor ultimately conducive to living a happy life. Fandom is a drug; the highs of victory are intoxicatingly sweet, but the lows of failure can be mentally and physically crippling.
And yet, those results have nothing to do with us as fans. Aside from maybe the tertiary connection of contributing to an NIL collective or cheering from the stands, we have no real hand in any given win or loss. And yet, our emotions thereafter are real; sometimes too real.
I’m not sure what their schedule will be following the end of the regular season, but sometime in the next day or so, the team is going to officially turn the page and refocus its attention on the postseason. They will do what they can to learn the lessons of this loss and attempt to be better when they get back on the field on either Dec. 20 or 21. I know that the guys in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center are hurting far more over the outcome in The Horseshoe yesterday than I ever could be. So, I am choosing to view the fact that they finding ways to put one foot in front of the other as instructive.
Perhaps this is something I learned living in SEC country during the 2006 and 2007 seasons when Ohio State lost back-to-back national championship games to Florida and LSU respectively, but fandom should be something that primarily brings you joy. It obviously won’t all the time, and when it doesn’t, it’s okay to a break for a while; not from being a fan, but living in the fandom.
It’s like your favorite sweatshirt. You wear it day in and day out; there is comfort in the routine of putting it on, looking in the mirror, and smiling. The warmth the sweatshirt provides is cozy, it’s familiar, it’s a literal hug every day. The sweatshirt brings back tender memories that put a single sentimental tear in your eye. Those memories feel good, so you wear the sweatshirt so often that eventually, you are wearing the sweatshirt when something bad happens. Then you’re wearing it again when something else bad happens. You chalk it up to coincidence and dismiss the creeping sense of connection and focus on the positive times that you’ve had while wearing your favorite sweatshirt.
But then a third and fourth bad thing happen and you can’t ignore it anymore. While the sweatshirt was not responsible for those bad things happening, you can no longer avoid the association between the sweatshirt and those bad things. So, you take off the sweatshirt, wash it, and hang it in your closet.
The sweatshirt is still yours, it is part of you, you could never throw it away. But it got to a point where the sweatshirt wasn't providing your life with the same positivity that it once did. Negative thoughts and memories had latched onto the sweatshirt, coloring your relationship with it and, in turn, how you interacted with the world around you will wearing it.
So, the sane and healthy thing to do in this admittedly disjointed metaphor is to take a break from the sweatshirt. It could be one day, it could be one week, it could be one year; however long you need for the negative emotions attached to the sweatshirt to stop overwhelming all of the good memories. You are the only one who will know when that is, but to bring it back home to Ohio State, if you need to disengage with the all-encompassing content machine that is the Buckeye beat, do it. If you need to avoid college football sites, videos, and podcasts to maintain your sanity, please do. If you need to rotate a generic hoodie into your wardrobe rotation for a little bit, there’s no shame in that; your favorite Buckeye sweatshirt will be there when you are ready to put it back on.
Continue reading...
LGHL If This Were A Movie: Ohio State fights a losing battle against the killer robots of ‘Chopping Mall’
- News
- 0 Replies
If This Were A Movie: Ohio State fights a losing battle against the killer robots of ‘Chopping Mall’
Jami Jurich via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Someone get a technician in the control room, I beg of you.
Honestly, the vibes are so rancid in this moment that it’s hard to even come up with a film that encapsulates what we all witnessed today. The season isn’t over, but it felt like we were attending our own funeral for most of this afternoon. It appeared to be less like a movie and more like a circus nightmare.
But in the spirit of Black Friday yesterday and my unrelated desire to wear black today and for the foreseeable future, humor me: Let’s imagine that today’s game took place not in The Shoe but at the Park Plaza Mall, the setting for the 1986 film “Chopping Mall.”
Park Plaza has recently installed a new, state-of-the-art security system: Robots named Protectors 1, 2 and 3. But when a lightning storm damages their control system, the Protectors go rogue, chasing and killing teens who have decided to throw a party in the mall’s furniture store overnight.
Before the robots began to unleash their horrors, the teens had big dreams of a night of fun with friends, lawlessness, and teenage antics. So too did the dreams of Buckeye fans die a painful death today—dreams of finally snapping our losing streak to the Wolverines. Dreams of handing them a double-digit loss en route to the Big Ten Championship. They were to be but a speed bump before it was off to the races.
Then disaster seemed to strike the control room. In the film, the robots make short work of their own technicians, meaning the teens are left to defend themselves against a murderous band of technoids. It wasn’t much different in the game: The Wolverines seemed to manhandle Ohio State’s offense at every turn, and the coaching decisions were inexplicable against a team the Buckeyes were expected to beat easily.
The defense, on the other hand, had some trick plays up its sleeve: Propane tanks and booby traps took the form of interceptions, big third-down stops. They were fighting for their lives out there, just like the teens who come up with some clever solutions to protect themselves in the film.
It wasn’t enough, in the end. The robots were out for blood, defending their streak against the Buckeyes, while the Ohio State players seemed to get in their own way at every turn (TWO missed field goals! Sloppy interceptions! Useless run plays! Failing to capitalize on multiple Wolverine turnovers). But more egregiously, any adjustments that would have been welcomed from the, uh, control room technicians (aka the coaches) never came.
In the film, it could be said the teens shouldn’t have been in the mall in the first place, but realistically, the robots shouldn’t have been allowed to malfunction and go on a killing spree, with or without the teens present.
Similarly, OSU should never have been put in a position to get in their own way – their miscues were unacceptable, but they weren’t the root problem. The logic board went bad. The control room combusted.
And in an effort to provide some actual football analysis here, what was the reason? Sure, the Wolverines were hungry, but Ohio State continued to let them snack! Why the Buckeyes continued to run the football straight up the middle into the mouths of the starving Wolverines is beyond explanation, and actually, much like we’ve seen in some of the other games where the Buckeyes have struggled, the coaches (specifically head coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly) either failed or simply refused to adjust the strategy. There continues to be poor clock management from Day, and Kelly’s play calling was inexcusable.
Beyond seeing the film’s survivors walk out of the mall, we can only imagine the ramifications afterward: Lawsuits, news coverage and most likely, a few people out of their jobs. There’s certainly no legal standing for a lawsuit over this football game (unless I’m allowed to sue for emotional damages), but Day and Kelly’s positions should, frankly, be on the line to make up for the slaughtering their team underwent today. It’s time we fix the issues in the control room, before Protector No. 4 turns next year’s Game into a sequel.
Continue reading...
Jami Jurich via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Someone get a technician in the control room, I beg of you.
Honestly, the vibes are so rancid in this moment that it’s hard to even come up with a film that encapsulates what we all witnessed today. The season isn’t over, but it felt like we were attending our own funeral for most of this afternoon. It appeared to be less like a movie and more like a circus nightmare.
But in the spirit of Black Friday yesterday and my unrelated desire to wear black today and for the foreseeable future, humor me: Let’s imagine that today’s game took place not in The Shoe but at the Park Plaza Mall, the setting for the 1986 film “Chopping Mall.”
Park Plaza has recently installed a new, state-of-the-art security system: Robots named Protectors 1, 2 and 3. But when a lightning storm damages their control system, the Protectors go rogue, chasing and killing teens who have decided to throw a party in the mall’s furniture store overnight.
Before the robots began to unleash their horrors, the teens had big dreams of a night of fun with friends, lawlessness, and teenage antics. So too did the dreams of Buckeye fans die a painful death today—dreams of finally snapping our losing streak to the Wolverines. Dreams of handing them a double-digit loss en route to the Big Ten Championship. They were to be but a speed bump before it was off to the races.
Then disaster seemed to strike the control room. In the film, the robots make short work of their own technicians, meaning the teens are left to defend themselves against a murderous band of technoids. It wasn’t much different in the game: The Wolverines seemed to manhandle Ohio State’s offense at every turn, and the coaching decisions were inexplicable against a team the Buckeyes were expected to beat easily.
The defense, on the other hand, had some trick plays up its sleeve: Propane tanks and booby traps took the form of interceptions, big third-down stops. They were fighting for their lives out there, just like the teens who come up with some clever solutions to protect themselves in the film.
It wasn’t enough, in the end. The robots were out for blood, defending their streak against the Buckeyes, while the Ohio State players seemed to get in their own way at every turn (TWO missed field goals! Sloppy interceptions! Useless run plays! Failing to capitalize on multiple Wolverine turnovers). But more egregiously, any adjustments that would have been welcomed from the, uh, control room technicians (aka the coaches) never came.
In the film, it could be said the teens shouldn’t have been in the mall in the first place, but realistically, the robots shouldn’t have been allowed to malfunction and go on a killing spree, with or without the teens present.
Similarly, OSU should never have been put in a position to get in their own way – their miscues were unacceptable, but they weren’t the root problem. The logic board went bad. The control room combusted.
And in an effort to provide some actual football analysis here, what was the reason? Sure, the Wolverines were hungry, but Ohio State continued to let them snack! Why the Buckeyes continued to run the football straight up the middle into the mouths of the starving Wolverines is beyond explanation, and actually, much like we’ve seen in some of the other games where the Buckeyes have struggled, the coaches (specifically head coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly) either failed or simply refused to adjust the strategy. There continues to be poor clock management from Day, and Kelly’s play calling was inexcusable.
Beyond seeing the film’s survivors walk out of the mall, we can only imagine the ramifications afterward: Lawsuits, news coverage and most likely, a few people out of their jobs. There’s certainly no legal standing for a lawsuit over this football game (unless I’m allowed to sue for emotional damages), but Day and Kelly’s positions should, frankly, be on the line to make up for the slaughtering their team underwent today. It’s time we fix the issues in the control room, before Protector No. 4 turns next year’s Game into a sequel.
Continue reading...
LGHL The worst loss in recent memory: Ohio State has a real problem yet again
- News
- 0 Replies
The worst loss in recent memory: Ohio State has a real problem yet again
Caleb Houser via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Buckeyes fail to beat their rivals for the fourth year in a row in a game that should be forgotten.
Sick.
That’s the only single word that comes to mind if asking for a one-word reaction to how Buckeye Nation is feeling right now. For the fourth consecutive time, the Buckeyes fail to beat their rival in a game where once again they had the upper hand in several areas.
You could probably sum it up right there, but we need to take a deeper look at the issues at hand in Columbus. Hopefully this rant helps you release some emotions that are completely understandable.
The first reaction when seeing the score is wondering how on Earth this team with this much talent only scored 10 points. Just 10 points against a defense that has lost five games on the year. 10 points to a defense without their best cornerback. 10. points.
The first drive of the game the Buckeyes moved the ball down the field with ease thanks to the passing game, and that should have been the plan all day long considering the points just argued. Knowing full well Michigan is without their best defensive back, why would you not throw the ball twice the amount of times you keep it on the ground?
Having to settle for a field goal was issue No. 1 on the opening drive, and that is on the play-calling. Chip Kelly called the worst game possible and picked the worst time to do it. It honestly made me question if Ryan Day had taken over with how bad it looked.
To consistently ram your head into the same wall is just maddening. It would take about two seconds of thought to realize running the ball directly up the gut into the best interior defensive line in the country probably isn’t the best choice there, yet here we are watching it over and over to little success.
Don’t get me started on stretch runs into the boundary either. Ohio State’s infatuation with that specific ideology for several years running is beyond dumb. Running the ball to the short end of the field without a numbers advantage has never worked, and once again it reared its ugly head today.
In my 30-years of watching this team, I have never been so embarrassed. How can this program continue to play its worst game of the season in the most important one? It’s simple — It’s all on the coaching.
Seeing this offense play scared all day long is hard to wrap your mind around knowing the amount of talent at their disposal. The times they did push the ball down the field through the air it worked. Yes, in a huge moment Carnell Tate dropped a pass in the fourth quarter, but my biggest gripe with play-calling today is the consistent desire to run the ball on virtually every first down.
Then, again, whether needing two or three yards or even 10, Kelly would call for another run on second down that rarely went anywhere, setting up obvious passing situations on third downs. That is very hard for a quarterback to constantly overcome, and Will Howard was not able to rise to the occasion.
Another gripe: why does Ohio State have a bad kicker every single year? The last time a kicker in a Buckeye uniform was dependable feels like decades ago with Mike Nugent! Leaving six points on the board is sickening, and you have no excuse at Ohio State to continuously have this situation come up.
I don’t expect kickers to be perfect, but to miss not one, but two kicks inside of 40 yards is gross. Considering high school kickers regardless of wind make that range and in the biggest moments you miss two? Just cannot happen, especially as you watch Michigan — who brought in an elite kicker through the transfer portal — drill one with ease from 50-plus yards.
Additionally, seeing this team derail their last efforts of hope with the timeout blunder in the fourth quarter is all you need to look at if we’re being honest. How does that happen? It’s 3rd-and-2. If you can get a stop and force a field goal there you have a real shot, but instead you gift them five yards, a first down, and most of all lose your timeout and contribute to them bleeding the clock even more.
This team is flat out poorly coached in big moments far too often, and that’s where this conversation should end.
Ryan Day. It’s just time. I don’t see how three years of this let alone four is acceptable any more. Day is a great guy, but let’s just call it like it is right now. He cannot get the job done.
There’s maybe no one reason you can directly point to as the cause, but that is the issue. There’s too many recurring problems for a team with this much talent and resources to constantly be playing this poorly in the game that means the most.
You’ve been more talented. You’ve brought in different coaches. You have played down the rivalry and then made it the most important game ever, and it’s still the same result for the fourth year in a row.
He coaches different in this game compared to others, and it’s dead wrong. There’s never creativity. Never a moment where aggression and play calling go hand-in-hand. Once again, Michigan throws in a trick play, while it’s doesn’t work, it got them a pass interference call. I am not saying you need trick plays to win big games, but clearly the safe and conservative approach isn’t working either.
You have an advantage all over the field with your receivers against their secondary and you didn’t lean into it. Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate and the rest of the skill guys cannot be guarded. But no, continue to run into Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. I will truly never understand that aspect to this game. If it’s this “toughness” mantra Day is trying to win against still, then just end it now.
Knowing how many guys came back for this single game and still had the same result tells me all I need to ever know. Day does not have what it takes to beat Michigan, and neither does this staff. Argue it all you want, but what have we seen to believe any different?
You can argue that players have to execute too, and I fully support that stance and agree, but coaches also have to put players in the best place for success. I do not see that being the case anytime the god-forsaken winged helmets are lined up across the field.
I do believe Day is a good football coach. I do. It’s not lost on me there are a ton of bright spots to look at in his tenure. But fair or not, fans know this game alone is how you are judged, and he’s so deep into the John Cooper era it’s scary.
We’ve been let down again. The defense played hard, and while they weren’t perfect, this game is on the offensive staff and that side of the ball. Even a win or two in the College Football Playoff will not take the sting off of this game. The anger we have felt for years continued again on Saturday, and it’s another long wait until you get another crack at them.
I fully believe by then there has to be a change at the helm, because if not, why would I believe anything other than the same result?
Be better. End of story.
Continue reading...
Caleb Houser via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Buckeyes fail to beat their rivals for the fourth year in a row in a game that should be forgotten.
Sick.
That’s the only single word that comes to mind if asking for a one-word reaction to how Buckeye Nation is feeling right now. For the fourth consecutive time, the Buckeyes fail to beat their rival in a game where once again they had the upper hand in several areas.
You could probably sum it up right there, but we need to take a deeper look at the issues at hand in Columbus. Hopefully this rant helps you release some emotions that are completely understandable.
The first reaction when seeing the score is wondering how on Earth this team with this much talent only scored 10 points. Just 10 points against a defense that has lost five games on the year. 10 points to a defense without their best cornerback. 10. points.
The first drive of the game the Buckeyes moved the ball down the field with ease thanks to the passing game, and that should have been the plan all day long considering the points just argued. Knowing full well Michigan is without their best defensive back, why would you not throw the ball twice the amount of times you keep it on the ground?
Having to settle for a field goal was issue No. 1 on the opening drive, and that is on the play-calling. Chip Kelly called the worst game possible and picked the worst time to do it. It honestly made me question if Ryan Day had taken over with how bad it looked.
To consistently ram your head into the same wall is just maddening. It would take about two seconds of thought to realize running the ball directly up the gut into the best interior defensive line in the country probably isn’t the best choice there, yet here we are watching it over and over to little success.
Don’t get me started on stretch runs into the boundary either. Ohio State’s infatuation with that specific ideology for several years running is beyond dumb. Running the ball to the short end of the field without a numbers advantage has never worked, and once again it reared its ugly head today.
In my 30-years of watching this team, I have never been so embarrassed. How can this program continue to play its worst game of the season in the most important one? It’s simple — It’s all on the coaching.
Seeing this offense play scared all day long is hard to wrap your mind around knowing the amount of talent at their disposal. The times they did push the ball down the field through the air it worked. Yes, in a huge moment Carnell Tate dropped a pass in the fourth quarter, but my biggest gripe with play-calling today is the consistent desire to run the ball on virtually every first down.
Then, again, whether needing two or three yards or even 10, Kelly would call for another run on second down that rarely went anywhere, setting up obvious passing situations on third downs. That is very hard for a quarterback to constantly overcome, and Will Howard was not able to rise to the occasion.
Another gripe: why does Ohio State have a bad kicker every single year? The last time a kicker in a Buckeye uniform was dependable feels like decades ago with Mike Nugent! Leaving six points on the board is sickening, and you have no excuse at Ohio State to continuously have this situation come up.
I don’t expect kickers to be perfect, but to miss not one, but two kicks inside of 40 yards is gross. Considering high school kickers regardless of wind make that range and in the biggest moments you miss two? Just cannot happen, especially as you watch Michigan — who brought in an elite kicker through the transfer portal — drill one with ease from 50-plus yards.
Additionally, seeing this team derail their last efforts of hope with the timeout blunder in the fourth quarter is all you need to look at if we’re being honest. How does that happen? It’s 3rd-and-2. If you can get a stop and force a field goal there you have a real shot, but instead you gift them five yards, a first down, and most of all lose your timeout and contribute to them bleeding the clock even more.
This team is flat out poorly coached in big moments far too often, and that’s where this conversation should end.
I’ll just keep this going...
Ryan Day. It’s just time. I don’t see how three years of this let alone four is acceptable any more. Day is a great guy, but let’s just call it like it is right now. He cannot get the job done.
There’s maybe no one reason you can directly point to as the cause, but that is the issue. There’s too many recurring problems for a team with this much talent and resources to constantly be playing this poorly in the game that means the most.
You’ve been more talented. You’ve brought in different coaches. You have played down the rivalry and then made it the most important game ever, and it’s still the same result for the fourth year in a row.
He coaches different in this game compared to others, and it’s dead wrong. There’s never creativity. Never a moment where aggression and play calling go hand-in-hand. Once again, Michigan throws in a trick play, while it’s doesn’t work, it got them a pass interference call. I am not saying you need trick plays to win big games, but clearly the safe and conservative approach isn’t working either.
You have an advantage all over the field with your receivers against their secondary and you didn’t lean into it. Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate and the rest of the skill guys cannot be guarded. But no, continue to run into Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. I will truly never understand that aspect to this game. If it’s this “toughness” mantra Day is trying to win against still, then just end it now.
Knowing how many guys came back for this single game and still had the same result tells me all I need to ever know. Day does not have what it takes to beat Michigan, and neither does this staff. Argue it all you want, but what have we seen to believe any different?
You can argue that players have to execute too, and I fully support that stance and agree, but coaches also have to put players in the best place for success. I do not see that being the case anytime the god-forsaken winged helmets are lined up across the field.
I do believe Day is a good football coach. I do. It’s not lost on me there are a ton of bright spots to look at in his tenure. But fair or not, fans know this game alone is how you are judged, and he’s so deep into the John Cooper era it’s scary.
We’ve been let down again. The defense played hard, and while they weren’t perfect, this game is on the offensive staff and that side of the ball. Even a win or two in the College Football Playoff will not take the sting off of this game. The anger we have felt for years continued again on Saturday, and it’s another long wait until you get another crack at them.
I fully believe by then there has to be a change at the helm, because if not, why would I believe anything other than the same result?
Be better. End of story.
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