No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball tame North Alabama Lions 105-67
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Ohio State University athletic department

The final game before the ACC/B1G challenge and Big Ten play ends in a win

As most of the Big Ten Conference was taking part in tournaments in exotic (and not-so-exotic) locations, Ohio State women’s basketball stayed close to home. With a top-10 match-up against No. 10 Louisville on the horizon, the Buckeyes played a final tune-up game, against the University of North Alabama Lions. For the sixth game in a row, Ohio State earned a double-digit win, beating the Lions 105-67.

The win definitely wasn’t guaranteed for the Buckeyes, especially with how well North Alabama came out to start the game. Leading the charge was guard/forward Skyler Gill. In the first minute of play, Gill hit her first layup attempt on the day and made a strong block under the basket on Buckeyes forward Rebeka Mikulášiková.

Gill was the highlight of the first half for the Lions, but for Ohio State, it was forward Cotie McMahon keeping the Buckeyes in the game. McMahon hit her first two threes of the game, making it the first game of her college career making multiple threes.

Joining McMahon in the first quarter scoring column was Mikulášiková. The forward hit 4-for-6 from the floor, grabbed two rebounds, and had the Buckeyes' only steal of the quarter, which was a lowlight for a Scarlet and Gray side who usually like creating the turnovers. North Alabama had only three turnovers in the first quarter, compared to four for the Buckeyes.

That meant a much closer quarter than Ohio State’s played in over three games. With 1:14 left in the first, the Lions and Buckeyes were tied with 22 points apiece. It was confident play attacking the basket that stretched the lead going into halftime.

Up first was a pair of layups for forward Taylor Thierry. The Cleveland, Ohio native hit two layups by charging the basket, putting Ohio State up four, then with only seconds on the clock, guard Madison Greene showed the home fans a sign of things to come in the second quarter.

Inbounding on the opposite side of the court, the Buckeyes moved the ball down the length of the floor and Greene hit the layup, putting Ohio State up 28-22. The Buckeyes stopped a seven-point Alabama run to end the quarter with six of their own.

The runs for North Alabama didn’t carry into the second quarter. Ohio State stretched their six-point lead up to 10 within the first minute of the second quarter. A peculiar part of the Lions’ defensive plan was leaving Thierry open.

Thierry was left open three times in the first four minutes of the quarter, with the North Alabama defense opting instead to fill the paint. With time to spare, Thierry received three passes, making a three and midrange jumper with nobody in her face, giving the forward nine points and five rebounds in the first half.

After a quiet first quarter of only three points, guard Taylor Mikesell also received looks, and once decided to shoot anyway with a defender in her face. Mikesell scored nine of her 12 first-half points in the second quarter but showed a lot in dishing the basketball, tallying three first-half assists. Ohio State stretched their six-point first-quarter lead up to 22, entering halftime up 59-37.

Starting the second half, North Alabama came out like they did in the first quarter, on the offensive. The Lions cut the lead down to 17 thanks to a pair of threes from guard Jade Moore, but Ohio State flipped the switch again, outscoring North Alabama 19-6 to end the quarter.

With just over three minutes remaining, Mikulášiková made a play that she’s starting to make regularly this season. Greene found the Slovakian forward at the top of the key, and Mikulášiková opted to charge the basket. Instead of going for the layup, aware of Gill who already had three blocks on the day at that point, sent a quick no-look pass to McMahon for a contested layup, and a trip to the free throw line.

Ohio State went into the fourth quarter with a 30-point lead that they increased in the final 10 minutes of the game.

The fight of the Lions didn’t transfer over to the fourth quarter. Instead, Thierry and the Buckeyes made North Alabama pay. The sophomore forward grabbed a steal and offensive rebound in the first half of the fourth quarter, extending her scoring on the day to 13 points.

At the final buzzer, the Buckeyes did what they intended to do on the three-game home stretch, stay undefeated and prepare for the beginning of a tougher section of the calendar that stretches into Big Ten conference play.

Buckeyes also scored triple digits in their second straight game, the first time Ohio State’s done that in program history. In their first-ever matchup between the two sides, Ohio State beat the Lions 105-67.

Forward Power


Leading into Sunday’s game, head coach Kevin McGuff said Ohio State needs to improve in forward play and on the boards. Against North Alabama, the Buckeyes did just that.

Mikulášiková, McMahon and Thierry controlled the game’s rebounding. Also, all three of them hit double-digits in points, with Mikulášiková and McMahon scoring 23 and 20 points respectively.

Madison Greene Continues Stellar Play


With starting guard Jacy Sheldon still out Sunday, with a lower leg injury, Ohio State had the ball in the capable hands of Greene. Starting her second game in a row, she continued where she left off from Wednesday’s win against Wright State.

Greene entered the locker room at halftime with 10 points and four assists and almost played her way to a double-double. Instead, Greene still had 15 points and seven assists in the final game before Power Five opponents hit the court.

What’s Next


The Buckeyes have two days off before heading down to Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday. Coach McGuff’s side faces the No. 10 Louisville Cardinals, with it still unknown if Sheldon will be available for the ACC/B1G Challenge match-up.

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Column: I was wrong about Ohio State, and it sucks
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

After spending a year thinking the Buckeyes couldn’t possibly lose two straight to Michigan, Ohio State laid an egg at home

I have been wrong plenty of times before in my life, and I’m sure there will be plenty of other times the rest of my life that I’ll miss on things. All you have to do is go look at some of my college football picks to see instances of me being hilariously wrong about teams and their talent, effort, and coaching.

There was nothing funny about yesterday’s Michigan-Ohio State game. Everybody else saw the warning signs, but apparently I was too dumb to notice them. There had been games earlier in the season where the Buckeyes started slow, and I just dismissed them as Ohio State not being inspired to play hard because the were playing a weaker opponent. Against Northwestern, I just shook the performance off because of the wind and the rain.

I gave Ryan Day the benefit of the doubt following last year’s loss to Michigan because I know every once in a while Michigan was going to get one back. To me, the Wolverines had just got their once in a decade win. In my eyes, Day at least went out and fixed the biggest problem the Buckeyes had last year and hired Jim Knowles to overhaul the defense. Little did I know that Day might be the biggest weakness.

Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

Day’s own arrogance got in his way. We’ve seen the issues Kevin Stefanski has had with the Cleveland Browns not only trying to be a head coach and run the offense. With both Stefanski and Day, it worked initially, but it has fallen flat in their teams biggest games. Not that I really think Kevin Wilson is the answer to all of the problems on offense, it has just become obvious that something needs to change with how the offense is run, which is a wild thing to say when Ohio State has had one of the best offenses in the country under Day... until games where it matters the most.

For all of Urban Meyer’s faults, at least he had his teams fired up to play Michigan. That just doesn’t seem to be the case under Day. We might get some lip service about how this game is always the most important one on the schedule for the Buckeyes, but his teams haven’t played like it is the last two seasons. Not only did Ohio State get embarrassed last year in Ann Arbor, they got run out of their own stadium yesterday in the second half.

There is talk about how Ohio State would be wise to move on from Ryan Day. I wouldn’t say I’m quite to that point, I just know that I’m a whole helluva lot closer to getting there than I was before the start of yesterday’s game. What is holding me back is I’m not sure right now who you would get that is going to better right now. I do know there at least has to be some concessions made by Day on how the Buckeye offense is operated, because it certainly isn’t working when it needs to. Maybe put a clause in his contract that the next time Day calls a bubble screen he gets fired.

As tough as it is to admit I was wrong about Ohio State, it’s even tougher to admit I was wrong about Michigan. I thought last year was a fluke and the Wolverines wouldn’t be able to do the same thing in Columbus this year. The prospect at winning two in a row against the Buckeyes looked like it was going to be even tougher for Michigan when Blake Corum was injured last week. The Wolverines didn’t even need Corum, as Donovan Edwards ran for 216 yards and two scores.

With Corum’s status being iffy for the game, I thought J.J. McCarthy would wilt under the pressure inside Ohio Stadium. McCarthy didn’t even play that great in the game, only completing 50 percent of his passes. The ones he did complete, he made sure they counted, with the majority of his yards coming on three touchdown passes. While C.J. Stroud completed 19 more passes than McCarthy, there certainly aren’t as many that standout or were as important as McCarthy’s completions.

While there is a shot Ohio State could make the playoff if TCU or USC fall in their conference championship games, I’m not holding my breath for it to happen. Honestly, after the beating Ohio State took yesterday, I don’t think they belong in the playoff. If the result was reversed and the Buckeyes won 45-23, nobody would be saying Michigan deserves to be in, so I can’t justify saying Ohio State deserves to be one of the four playoff teams.

Instead we’ll likely watch the Buckeyes head to another Rose Bowl. It’d be hard to blame C.J. Stroud if he opted not to play in a non-CFP bowl game, since what does he really have left to show NFL scouts? Maybe Ohio State goes and wins a bowl game, but that doesn’t change the fact that this team played soft a lot of the year and those players and coaches that are coming back are going to have to take a long look at how they go about things, since it’s obvious that whatever they are doing now isn’t working.

I wish I would have seen it earlier. Not that it would have made yesterday easier to stomach, I just wouldn’t have felt like such an idiot for believing in something that wasn’t there.

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Column: Ohio State isn’t going to fire Ryan Day, but they should
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

I’ve seen just about enough.

For the second year in a row, Ohio State’s season has effectively ended after an embarrassing loss at the hands of their biggest rival — this time at home, something that hasn’t happened against the Wolverines since the year 2000, and the first time the Buckeyes have lost The Game twice in a row since 1999-2000. While losing by far the biggest game of the year in consecutive seasons is cause for concern enough, Ohio State’s issues extend far beyond that, and the majority of the blame can be cast squarely on the shoulders of head coach Ryan Day.

Now, you may think this is simply an overreaction to another upsetting loss, but this is not the case. I have been skeptical of this coaching staff ever since the 2020 National Championship loss to Alabama, and the way these last two seasons played out led me to believe nothing of the contrary. The defenders of Ryan Day will say that he is 45-5 as the head coach for Ohio State, that the recruiting is still near the best in the country, and that he has made the College Football Playoff in three of his five seasons as the headman in charge. All undeniable facts, yes, but I’m here to tell you that simply isn’t good enough.

When it comes to his record, losing only five total games across five seasons, sure that looks good on paper. But how many actual losable games does Ohio State play in any given season? You and I could probably coach this team to wins over teams like Rutgers and Indiana. The talent gap is simply far too wide for the Buckeyes to really get tested in the vast majority of its regular season games, regardless of who the head coach is. I’m not giving any coach across the country credit for beating up on the dregs of their conference, so I’m certainly not doing it in the Big Ten, which features about 2.5 real teams.

The reality is, Ohio State has had a total of six games against real competition during Day’s tenure: Clemson (2019), Clemson (2020), Alabama (2020), Oregon (2021), Michigan (2021), Michigan (2022).

Day’s record in these games? 1-5. The Wolverines he beat in 2019 were a four-loss team. You can give him credit for wins against Penn State, but Ohio State has won 10 of the last 11 games in that series and would be a perfect 11-0 if not for a blocked field goal, so once again, talent gap.

Notre Dame this season? Meh. That one win over Clemson in 2020 was a game that was planned for over a full-year’s span. The results in big games just have not been there, and Day has been at fault in a number of these losses.

The recruiting is a valid point, but how hard is it really to convince the best players in the country to an already established elite brand like Ohio State? I will give him credit when it comes to quarterback recruiting, as the Buckeyes have seen an unprecedented run at the position since he took over in Columbus, but that is really it.

Outside of that, and of course the wide receiver talent courtesy of Brian Hartline, the recruiting is basically status quo. If anything, defensive recruiting has started to see a downtick, especially in the secondary, and offensive line recruiting has remained a problem. Sure they’re getting five-star guys at some of these positions of need, but most come from in-state. Recruiting on a national scale is starting to lag, at least by Ohio State’s standards.

Which brings me to his staff hires. Both the recruiting efforts and on-field play are largely impacted by your assistant coaches, and Ryan Day has made a number of poor hires or simply failed to replace coaches that are holding the program back. The last two years it was Kerry Coombs and Al Washington, and this year it’s been Tim Walton and Mickey Marotti.

Walton inherited a cornerback room with a freshman All-American in Denzel Burke and a proven veteran in Cam Brown, plus a handful of former high four-star recruits. Burke and Brown both regressed significantly, and none of the young guys seemed to have a clue on the field. All year we saw corners fail to turn around and make awful plays on the football in the air, and when all the guys are doing the same exact thing, it’s probably a coaching issue. I still think Jim Knowles was a good hire, even though his game plan against Michigan was horrendous and his defense actually let up more points to the Wolverines than Coombs did, but he got no help from the cornerback play, which he would have needed for that scheme to work.

On the strength and conditioning side, the Urban Meyer holdover in Marotti has cost Ohio State dearly for several years now. On the strength side, his entire philosophy of bulking guys up seemingly for the sole reason of looking bigger with no regard to actual football performance has made several players slower and worse. On the conditioning side, Ohio State didn’t have a single player get injured this season that ever recovered. Jaxon Smith-Njigba got injured in the first quarter of the season opener and never played another meaningful snap. Both Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson never fully recouped from early-season injuries. Matthew Jones played injured all year. The list goes on and on.

So, Day’s ability to prepare for big games and his staffing hires have both been awful, but surely his play-calling has been great right? Wrong! So wrong!

Ohio State still managed to put up great offensive numbers this season on paper, but that can purely be chalked up to talent advantage, as everything positive that happened offensively this season was basically in spite of Day’s in-game coaching. His obsession with using the field horizontally, whether it be via stretch runs or bubble screens, severely hampered the Buckeyes’ effectiveness all season long. Gone were the quick slants and mesh routes that made Ohio State’s passing attack so lethal.

His obsession with proving that his group was tough and not just a finesse team caused nothing but problems, and he never learned — which ultimately cost the Buckeyes their season.

Bringing me to another one of my biggest gripes with Ryan Day: the lack of any ability to self-scout. Day came into every game this season with a clear game plan, and never strayed from it regardless of how poorly it was going until at best late in the third quarter.

Every week Ohio State seemed like it was banging its head against a wall trying to get one particular aspect of the offense to work, when — in reality — the Buckeyes could have just utilized its spectacular vertical passing attack whenever it wanted to put up points. The middle of the field was seemingly always open, but Day refused to go there. It was like he was always trying to prove that he could do things the hard way and outthink the opposition when instead he was just overthinking and handcuffing his offense for no apparent reason other than to look like the big tough guy that Michigan said he wasn’t.

So what are we doing here? How many seasons can go by where Ohio State is shooting itself in the foot due to the ego of its own head coach before they have to call it quits? This year the College Football Playoff was ripe for the taking, with no dominant team in the way of a national title.

Instead, the Buckeyes’ headman in charge turtled up and played terrified en route to another huge loss against their rival — something we’ve now seen in almost every single big game he’s had to coach in. You can say Ohio State fans are jaded for wanting more, but that is the reality of the world we live in. Ohio State plays in a conference it should dominate and should be competing for a national title every year. Right now, they are not even close to doing either of those things.

Day isn’t going to be fired this offseason, unfortunately, but there need to be massive changes made in order to avoid this exact same fate next year in Ann Arbor. For starters, the staff needs to be turned over. Mick Marotti, Tim Walton, and Kevin Wilson should all be fired and replaced with people who actually know what they are doing. Parker Fleming should be fired and his staff spot dissolved and replaced with an actual important coaching spot, whether it be another offensive or defensive staffer. People will probably get mad at me for calling for specific guys’ jobs, but so be it. These dudes all make millions of dollars and will be just fine in life. You can get fired at any other job for not performing adequately. If you want to play with the big boys at this level, you either walk the walk or take a hike.

Secondly, Ryan Day has to give up the play-calling. I’m just fine with him designing the offensive passing attack alongside Hartline while continuing to coach up the QBs. But, there is no reason for the head coach to have to be the play caller. Replace Wilson with a real offensive coordinator who Day can provide ideas to, but ultimately Day should not be the one calling shots on game days. He has no feel for situational football and cannot make any sort of adjustments on the fly, and he clearly doesn’t have even the slightest idea on designing a run game. Bring in a play-caller who can work alongside Day, Hartline, Tony Alford, and Justin Frye. Everyone can give their ideas and input, but at the end of the day one guy needs to put those ideas together to make it all work, and it obviously is not Day.

This is a critical time for this Ohio State program. We are long removed from Meyer’s dominance against Michigan, and next year’s game won’t be any easier on the road. Not to mention, Ohio State will have to travel to Notre Dame early next season. The Buckeyes’ reign atop the sport feels like it is in jeopardy, but it can very easily return to form if they make the clear and obvious changes to right the ship. There is simply too much talent on this roster to fail year in and year out. Will Day make the necessary hirings and firings this offseason? Will he finally give up play-calling for the betterment of the team? I’m very skeptical that he will, and if he doesn’t, his last game on the sidelines as Ohio State’s head coach will be next season in Ann Arbor.

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Buckeye Stock Market Report: Ohio State suffers total collapse against rivals, with everything on the line
David M Wheeler via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Where’s the defense? | Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Defensive lapses, inferior coaching, penalties doom Buckeyes

After each Ohio State game during the 2022 football season, LGHL will offer its market analysis of the Buckeyes’ performance. Using a standard bond rating system, we’ll evaluate the offense, the defense, and the special teams, according to this formula:

AA: Very Strong
A: Strong
BBB: Adequate
BB: Facing Major Uncertainty

Then, we’ll take a look at any individual players whose performance stood out (in one way or another!) and assign them a stock rating: Blue Chip, Solid Performance, Penny Stock (akin to a junk bond, dangerously high risk).

Quick Overview


How quickly it all happened. One minute you’re planning your weekend around the Big Ten Championship game and confirming the playoff dates; the next minute, you’re realizing that you may have already seen C. J. Stroud play his last game as a Buckeye. A couple of hours – and it was all over.

The game looked promising. The weather was beautiful. The crowd was huge and extremely loud. After a couple of tries, the dangerous Blake Corum was on the sidelines.

In fact, I thought that the Buckeyes started strong, had a good game plan on both sides of the ball, and controlled the game throughout the first half. OSU’s first drive moved steadily down the field and produced a touchdown after five minutes. The Bucks’ second possession stalled in the red zone but resulted in a field goal, making the score 10-3. The opening quarter ended with Michigan going three and out on its second drive.

Ohio State’s third possession, I thought, was key. The offense was in rhythm, Stroud was accurate, and Miyan Williams was playing running back. Maybe Ryan Day called too many running plays, using the not-100% Williams, I don’t know. But the Bucks found themselves fourth and two at the Wolverines’ 34-yard line. Stroud’s pass to Stover was just wide – incomplete. The Buckeyes turned the ball over on downs at a point when another TD would have altered the entire tenor of the game. Day never again chose to try to convert a fourth-down play.

OSU still controlled the game. Until they didn’t. The shift in momentum occurred on one play on UM’s fourth possession of the half. It was third and nine on Michigan’s own 31. The Bucks blitzed and almost got to J.J. McCarthy. Almost. But they didn’t, and he completed a 69-yard TD strike to Cornelius Johnson. Cam Brown got burned, but he was out there on his own. College football is a game of energy, emotion, momentum, confidence. All of those elements shifted to Michigan at the 7:26 mark of the second quarter.

Oh, Ohio State got another touchdown and another field goal before halftime to go into the locker room up 20-17. And the Bucks dominated the first-half stats. But that long TD pass and the play immediately after it – a 75-yarder – on first and ten on UM’s fifth drive put TTUN back in the game.

The coaching adjustments made at halftime sealed the Bucks’ fate, as they were outplayed in the third quarter and demolished in the fourth. Jim Harbaugh had answers. Ryan Day and Jim Knowles did not. I’m not saying that the Buckeyes gave up (I think that they did last year) but in the third quarter they played scared, and in the fourth quarter they expected to lose.

So, what all did the Buckeyes lose? They certainly failed to meet two of their season’s three goals, beating Michigan and winning the Big Ten championship. The national championship, their third goal, is possible, I suppose (see below), but seems remote. Ohio State lost its conference supremacy, something that they’ve enjoyed for nearly a decade. They lost bragging rights and dropped surely in their recruiting edge. It was said that the Heisman Trophy was Stroud’s to lose. He lost it, not winning the big game, not performing well. Face it, Stroud was considerably better in 2021 and even at the beginning of this season. If the Bucks don’t miraculously make the playoffs, don’t expect to see Stroud play in a meaningless bowl game. A lot was lost all around.

Offense


Overall rating: BB Facing Major Uncertainty

To some, it may seem harsh to give this lowest rating to an offense that produced nearly 500 yards. But the next highest rating is “adequate,” and this offense wasn’t. Oh, it was pretty solid in the first half. The Bucks picked up 16 first downs, 124 yards rushing, and another 191 through the air. They had seven (not counting the knee to end the half) first-half possessions and scored four times, two touchdowns, and two field goals.

The second half, obviously, was another story, as OSU was outscored 28-3. Seven first downs, 19 rushing yards, and 167 total yards. For the game, the Bucks produced 492 total yards but only two TDs. There were dropped passes, missed blocks, stupid penalties, and questionable play-calling. Ohio State didn’t seem to be able to pick up the crucial third (or fourth) down. Michigan was getting important stops.

I had said in a previous column that the Buckeyes needed big-strike scoring plays, and that they wouldn’t be able to count on consistent five-minute drives to produce points. The Bucks had only one – a 49-yard TD pass to Marvin Harrison, Jr. to provide a nice response to UM’s second long score. Harrison’s touchdown gave OSU their final lead of the game, 20-17 at the 3:49 mark of the first half.

For some reason, Chip Trayanum saw most of the carries. We saw Xavier Johnson playing some running back too. And they didn’t play badly. But was Williams hurt? What about Dallan Hayden, who had only two carries for the game? What about pass routes? Lots of wide plays, little up the field or over the middle, even though Stroud usually had all day to throw. Knowing that Stroud wasn’t going to run, the Wolverines focused on coverage and did a good job with it.

All in all, the offense didn’t get the job done. Twenty-three points weren’t going to beat Michigan.

Defense


Overall rating: BB Facing Major Uncertainty

If the offense was inadequate, the defense was worse. After starting off well, the Ohio State D gave up four touchdowns of 60 yards or more. Four? After yielding only one such play in the previous 11 games.

This disaster was a combination of at least a couple of factors. First was the defensive scheme. Jim Knowles was apparently hired to create a defense that would stop Michigan’s running game. Early in this game, the Bucks did. But, to do so, they had to move safeties up toward the line, leaving their dubious cornerbacks in one-on-one man coverage. They weren’t up to the task. Denzel Burke slipped, while covering Ronnie Bell, to give up a 32-yard completion that set up Michigan’s first field goal. Cam Brown missed his tackle in man coverage to allow the 69-yarder. Safety Cam Martinez was the one who got burned on the second long TD pass. In each case, they were in single coverage.

The second issue was, of course, execution. Although the Bucks succeeded in pressuring McCarthy, they couldn’t really get him. And they couldn’t rattle him. He had too much success. Ohio State has gotten by all year by covering speedy wideouts with their safeties. If you have a speed disadvantage, you need to rely on technique. Pass interference calls on Lathan Ransom and Ronnie Hickman were instances of poor technique. They were a step behind. They ran at the receiver. They didn’t look back. They committed the penalties. And they were costly – especially the one on Hickman that gave the Wolverines a first and goal at the two and permitted them to cap their 15-play, eight-minute drive with a TD that put them up by two scores.

The OSU defense ended up giving UM 242 rushing yards in the second half, most of them on long runs, very long runs, by Donovan Edwards. Again, where was the Buck secondary? Led to the other side of the field by receivers. Sucked into the middle. But, finally, simply gone.

One sack. No takeaways. 530 yards. 45 points.

Special Teams


Overall rating: BB Adequate

Adequate is the word. Certainly, the special teams did nothing that would win a game, but Jesse Mirco punted pretty well, Noah Ruggles made his two extra points and three field goals, and Xavier Johnson had some good kickoff returns.

Individual Performances

Blue Chip


The blue chippers all wore blue in this game. Since this is an Ohio State site, I won’t go into detail, but I will recite the names: J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards, Cornelius Johnson, Ronnie Bell.

Solid Performance


Emeka Egbuka. In general, I thought that the receivers played decent games. Harrison, Jr. had his first dropped pass of the season but played pretty well, as did Julian Fleming. It was Egbuka, though, who had the best game. He made the catches; he made the plays. He seemed to be able to get open on slants over the middle – but not many were called. He finished the game with nine receptions for 125 yards and a TD.

Penny Stock


All those guys who committed bad penalties. Ohio State had nine penalties for 91 yards. Of those, seven for 71 yards came in the second half. Michigan, the better-coached team, had no penalties in the second half. Gee Scott gets singled out for his bonehead head butt on the sidelines, an unsportsmanlike conduct call that, combined with Donovan Jackson’s holding penalty, put the Bucks at first and 35 after a big play was nullified. No excuse. Cade Stover was also called for unsportsmanlike conduct. I mentioned the two big interference calls. In addition to Jackson’s hold, linemen Dawand Jones and Paris Johnson had false starts. Sloppy play. Costly play.

Defensive secondary. All year the cornerbacks have been shaky. But the safeties have come through, and the offense scored lots of points. Yesterday, the cornerbacks were a severe liability. Burke, Brown, J.K. Johnson all played poorly. Michigan exploited them. Ransom, Hickman, and Tanner McCalister — all of whom have generally played well throughout the year — had subpar games. Probably because of the schemes they were playing.

Ryan Day and Jim Knowles. Both were badly outcoached by their Michigan counterparts. Day’s playcalling was conservative and unimaginative. Knowles’ left his defenders vulnerable to big plays. Neither made any necessary adjustments during the game. Things started well. Got bad. Got worse. Then caved in. I would expect new coaches to be hired, folks who can teach cornerbacks how to play.


So, what happens now? Theoretically, the Buckeyes still have an outside shot at a playoff spot. But the three undefeated teams – Georgia, Michigan, and TCU – are all ahead of them, as will be Southern Cal. Interestingly, the Trojans and the Buckeyes are the only teams with a single loss. A stumble by the front runners could open the door for the Buckeyes. But how would they fare against any of these teams? Or against two-loss Alabama or Tennessee, for that matter?

No, it’s probably time to start thinking about basketball.

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Game Preview: No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball vs. North Alabama
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The fourth of four-straight games against smaller conference schools ends Sunday, finally

In the remnant of Ohio State’s nation-stopping rivalry game against the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, the Ohio State women’s basketball team takes the court. Finally answering the popular, and now outdated, “We want Bama” rallying cry, kind of. The Scarlet & Gray welcome a team from Alabama to the Schottenstein Center – the University of North Alabama.

Who is North Alabama? Will the Buckeyes be at full strength for Wednesday’s trip to Louisville? Can Ohio State score 100 points in two straight games?

Preview


It feels like forever ago since the Buckeyes played in a truly meaningful quarter of basketball, roughly 15 straight quarters where Ohio State’s been in the driver’s seat against four different opponents.

Since the first quarter against Boston College on Nov. 13, head coach Kevin McGuff’s side has outscored opponents 355-199. Of the four teams, three came from teams outside of a Power Five conference like the MAC’s Ohio University or Southland Conference’s McNeese State.

Sunday is the final game against another smaller conference opponent before Wednesday’s ACC/B1G Challenge and the start of conference games on Sunday, Dec. 4 against Rutgers University.

Even if the games haven’t been too difficult for the Buckeyes, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been value in the 40-minute affairs. Sunday gives another opportunity for depth players to find their game legs and help Ohio State prepare for a Big Ten season with a target on their backs.

Part of that group is forward Eboni Walker and guard Hevynne Bristow. Walker is part of a forward group that has talent with starters Taylor Thierry, Cotie McMahon, and Rebeka Mikulášiková, but lacks depth beyond the starting five. The Syracuse transfer Walker has played well in the past two games, and will likely receive ample minutes to continue that trajectory.

In Bristow’s case, the senior guard’s normally played behind the Buckeyes' group of four stellar guards in Jacy Sheldon, Taylor Mikesell, Madison Greene, and Rikki Harris. However, before Wednesday’s matinee victory against Wright State, Sheldon and substitute Emma Shumate each missed the game for a lower leg and undisclosed injury respectively.

Bristow’s played more like a forward for the minutes she’s seen the court, grabbing 13 rebounds and 18 points across the past two home games for the Buckeyes. After missing much of last season battling injuries, Bristow looks hungry on the court and is making an argument for getting more minutes as the season progresses. Sunday is another good opportunity.

North Alabama (3-2) comes to Central Ohio to end the long holiday weekend. Part of the ASUN Conference, home of reigning champions Florida Golf Coast University, the Lions has kept a quieter non-conference schedule. Outside of a 77-40 loss against SEC’s Mississippi State, North Alabama’s kept it to smaller schools in the southeast.

Voted by ASUN media to finish sixth in the conference this year, they shouldn’t give the Buckeyes much trouble, with one exception. A standout on the Lions' roster is guard/forward Skyler Gill.


Only a sophomore, Gill’s already racked up honors entering her second season. In Gill’s freshman year, the 5-foot-11 athlete won ASUN Freshman of the Year and Defender of the Year. Gill averaged 9.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks per game and so far this year, Gill’s playing better. In five starts, Gill increased her shooting average up to 12.4 points per game and kept her rebounding and blocking just under last year’s averages.

The Buckeyes face a challenge in Gill, who gets into good positions to make plays defensively and offensively. Her awareness to grab blocks and rebound will put an Ohio State team who needs improvement on grabbing boards in check.

Projected Starters

Lineup Notes

• Guard Greene could make her second straight
• Mikesell leads the team in scoring this season, averaging 16.8 points per game
• Thierry’s 69.4% field goal percentage leads the team, with the forward consistently making layup attempts and shots inside the paint

Lineup Notes

• Freshman guard Alyssa Clutter started four games before missing the Lions' last game
• Guard Jade Moore is someone to watch deep, taking 47 attempts across her five games played
• Guard Hina Suzuki is second in the ASUN in assists, averaging 6.3 per game

Prediction


For the fourth time in a row, and third time in a row at home, the Scarlet & Gray shouldn’t have any trouble coming away with a victory. The only way a slip-up could happen is if eyes are already thinking about Wednesday’s game against the No. 10 Louisville Cardinals.

Expect Greene to have a big game starting at point guard, assuming Sheldon again doesn’t get a start. Even if she is available to play, starting Greene could be the smart move, giving Sheldon more rest before the ACC/B1G Challenge.

Either way you slice it, the Buckeyes should pull out a large margin of victory and keep their place as a top team in the country.

How to Watch


Date: Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Where: Schottenstein Center - Columbus, Ohio
Stream: B1G+

LGHL Prediction: 97-52 Ohio State Buckeyes

ACC/B1G Challenge Looms


As the football season winds down, the basketball season is kicking into another gear following Sunday’s game. There are 14 match-ups between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with Ohio State and Louisville starting things on Nov. 30.

Then, Sunday begins the conference schedule with a trip to Rutgers.

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Instant Recap Podcast: Ohio State lost to Michigan 45-23, and the Buckeyes have nowhere to hide
Chris Renne via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

The Buckeyes failed in The Game and now a fanbase ponders what’s next

Ohio State lost to the Michigan Wolverines in Columbus for the first time since 2000 losing 45-23 in a game where the Buckeyes were out schemed, out toughed, and out played.

Listen to the episode and subscribe:

Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio


To get the show started, the guys get into a discussion about the failures of Ohio State the last two years and how the moment was too big for everyone in the program. Ryan Day’s seat is hot, and now the Buckeyes have nowhere to hide.

Then the duo gets into a discussion about J.J. McCarthy’s performance, and how he epitomized the difference between the two teams. They talk about how when his team needed a big play, he made it giving them the confidence moving forward.

Ohio State’s secondary was atrocious and this leads to a conversation about the secondary moving forward. This also leads to a discussion about how the team came up short in more ways than just scheme as the Buckeyes took on the personality of their head coach.

After that, Jordan and Chris discuss Ryan Day’s extremely hot seat and how we will truly find out what Day is made of since he is fully backed into a corner now.

To conclude the show, they give some advice to take with you on the road. This was an emotional episode and a lot fo ranting was done, so the show summary does not include everything.


Connect with Chris Renne:
Twitter: @ChrisRenneCFB

Connect with Jordan Williams
Twitter: @JordanW330

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Column: Ryan Day both fucked around and found out because he wanted to prove he was tough
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

It didn’t have to be this way.

This was not the way that this game was supposed to go. Last year’s loss to Michigan was supposed to be a blip on the radar for a program that has dominated its rival for the entirety of the 21st Century. Ohio State, the team with more talent reconfigured its entire defensive coaching staff to be able to ensure that what happened last year never happened again. The Buckeyes spent the entire offseason and fall camp talking about how last year’s game had sharpened their resolve and how they now understood this rivalry more than they ever had before

I honestly think all of that might have worked (I said might have, not would have) if it wasn’t for one word, “tough.”

After last year’s game, then Wolverine offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said of the Buckeyes, “They’re a finesse team, they’re not a tough team.”

That was clearly more painful to Ryan Day than the loss itself. He seemed to take that comment personally, not as the coach of a football team, but as an individual. Proving Gattis wrong — or last least making it impossible for anyone to say that again — seemed to become his singular focus, all other areas of improvement be damned.

The insistence on proving how tough his team is became more important than actually just getting better and doing what they need to do to win. I don’t mind the focus on toughness during the offseason, when you have to give players a reason to put in the grueling hours of physical training that define their upcoming season, but Day’s pursuit of “toughness” seemed to cloud his ability to focus on who his team actually is.

Instead of playing to his offense’s strengths, Day forced this faux-toughness on them and insisted on running the ball between the tackles in short yardage, never took full advantage of the best quarterback and wide receiver combination in the country, and kept putting injured running backs into games chasing that elusive “toughness.”

Essentially, Day fucked around all season and squandered the ability to maximize what his team was and could be, because his ego was bruised so he decided that he wanted them to be something completely different than what he had built them to be.

To me, the two parts of Gattis’ statement are not saying the same thing, and Day focused exclusively on the wrong part. Ohio State is absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt a finesse team as currently constructed. You do not assemble that level of offensive talent and not rely on finesse. Even from the running backs, while Miyan Williams was a bit of a revolution this season in a more physical mode, TreVeyon Henderson came to Ohio State as a quick-cut, home-run-hitting type of back who was more likely to run away from a defender than to run him over.

And let me be clear, being a finesse team is not a bad thing. Sure, you want to have some physicality to go along with all of that skill and finesse, but Day and his coaching staff — at least on offense — built the team to be able to score quickly either vertically or by turning a short or intermediate play into a chunk play on the sheer talent of the players with the ball.

Besides, you can be a tough team without having to line up and play smash-mouth offensive football. Toughness can be in wide receiver hand fighting, in tight ends not getting embarrassed in open-field blocking, in your quarterback not continually throwing off his back foot at the first sign of pressure.

Yes, I would love to see Ohio State’s offensive line absolutely obliterate the opposition in running blocking on every short-yardage play, but that’s just not who this offense is. In his first few seasons, it seemed like Day understood that, but the deeper he’s gotten into his tenure as head coach, the more confused he’s seemed to become about his team’s identity.

He used to have a creative, aggressive offensive approach. His unit used to be able to score at will against good teams and bad (not just the bad). But, because of one comment from an opposing coach, Day decided that wasn’t good enough anymore. We here at Land-Grant Holy Land have seemingly been on an island alone in questioning Day’s play-calling all season (one of the benefits of being a blog vs. an official beat outlet, I suppose), and while it might have seemed like an overreaction early in the season, that position has only proven to be more and more correct with each passing week.


Day seemed to think that his team’s talent didn’t need nurturing, didn’t need refining, didn’t need repetition. Instead, he assumed that it was a given and that spending time — both in practices and in games — on things that ran inherently counter to who they were as a team were going to magically transform them into a different team of completely different players.

Obviously, when trying to compete at the highest levels, you want to work to improve your weakest areas, but that doesn’t mean that you can abandon your strengths and expect them to continue to be as strong as they could be when you need them most.

Go ahead and plant some rutabaga and asparagus in your garden if you want, Ryan, but make sure you tend to your money crops too. Ryan Day didn’t do that, and he found out what can happen when you take your eye off of your identity and fuck around with things that need not be fucked around with.

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Irrational Overreactions(?): Ohio State’s coaching staff continues to be the problem
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

This is not just a pattern, this is just who they are.

Ohio State fans live in the extremes, whether good or bad. As they say, we have no chill. So, I am going to give voice to those passionate opinions by running through my completely level-headed, not-at-all over-the-top, 100% unbiased takeaways from Saturday’s loss over That Team Up North.

Clean house, start over with a new coaching staff


I very well might come down from this fevered pitch in time, but right now, minutes after The Game has ended, it is clear that Ohio State’s coaching staff is almost uniformly in over its head. They have relied on talent to carry them for multiple seasons — which is generally something that I support — but the talent has had to overcome scared, stubborn, and short-sighted coaching.

Is the team better than it was last season? I mean, I guess, but not nearly as good as they should be with the collection of talent that they have. This game felt like nearly every other big game during the Ryan Day tenure as head coach; out-coached, unprepared, scared. If you remove the Sugar Bowl following the 2020 season against Clemson, I’m not sure there has been a marquee game in which OSU had the better coaching performance.

Saying that Ryan Day and his staff should be fired still feels like a massive overreaction — even for me — given all of the success he’s had in four years, but when you have the type of talent that the Buckeyes do, the level of expectations is higher than most programs.

Winning 10 or 11 games per season is a monumental success for most teams, but when you have the inherent advantages that Ohio State does and you simply feast on the also-rans on your schedule and go full turtle against the opponents on your level, that is more than a problem; it is unacceptable at a school like Ohio State.


The offensive guru moniker that has been tagged on Day has clearly worn off. I’ve been saying it for nearly a year now — much to the dismay of a lot of Buckeye fans — but your head coach should not be your play caller; that is a rule that I believe in 100%, no matter who the coach is, but in this case, I really think that Day’s stubbornness and inability to put his offense in the best position to win big games has undermined his standing as the head coach of this team.

If you continually get beaten by practically every other competent team on your schedule, it’s time for Gene Smith to start considering what’s next. Day made all of those changes on the defensive side of his coaching staff in the offseason and yet the same problems remained in the biggest games on defense, and the offense still frustratingly underachieves when the team needs them the most.

Not only does the coaching staff — on both sides of the ball — appear to not be able to prepare their units for major opponents, they are clearly incapable of making substantive adjustments against good teams in-game; and what’s even more annoying, is that they seem to not even want to make them.

I know that football schematics are much more complicated than what idiots like me can see on the TV broadcast, but this is not an acceptable output from a coaching staff that is paid this much money and has this much talent.

Getting embarrassed by every top-level team on your schedule is no longer a coincidence for this Ohio State staff, it is not even a pattern, it is just who they are. Ohio State can, should, and must do better.

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LGHL Staff Predictions: Shocker, everybody picks Ohio State to win The Game
Matt Tamanini 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

I mean, did you really expect anything different from us?

Today’s the day, fam. The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes will host the No. 3 Wichigan Molverines at 12 noon ET in Ohio Stadium in a game to be broadcast on FOX. The Game is always a big deal for these two fan bases, but this year it is even bigger than usual. Whether it is the ramifications on the Big Ten title hunt, College Football Playoff berths, or the larger narrative for both programs, it is difficult to imagine a game that will have more storylines at play than this one.

There has been a lot of discussion about those stories already, and there undoubtedly will continue to be during and after the game as well, but we are going to put a cap on those conversations with the official predictions of some of Land-Grant Holy Land’s staffers.

Before the season started, we asked everybody what they thought the outcome of The Game would be and those predictions are included as well. So never say that we don’t hold our writers accountable for their predictions! You can check out our full preseason predictions in the link below.

Land-Grant Holy Land Staff’s Score and Storyline Predictions for The Game!

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LGHL Asks: Ohio State fans weigh in on starting RB, Blake Corum, The Game score prediction
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.

Every day for the entirety of the Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.

Ok. The day all of Buckeye Nation has been waiting for is finally here. One year after losing to That Team Up North for the first time in a decade, head coach Ryan Day and the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0, 8-0) will host the No. 3 ichigan Wolverines (11-0, 8-0). The 2022 edition of The Game will determine the Big Ten East representative in the conference championship game and essentially a spot in the College Football Playoff, but more importantly, it will determine the narrative for both of these programs for at least the next 365 days.

Have the Mitten State Muskrats taken control of the rivalry, or was their 2021 win just a blip in the two-decade dominance for the Buckeyes? Heading into Saturday’s contest, we asked Ohio State fans their thoughts on a variety of topics surrounding the Game.


In this week’s SB Nation Reacts survey, we asked fans everything from who Day should start at running back to how they are feeling about TTUN’s injured star running back Blake Corum; from what they are most worried about to what they think the margin of victory will be.

Check out their answers below and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Question 1: Who do you think Ohio State should start at running back?



If we had to send out this question now, I probably would switch some of these percentages. The more we hear through the unofficial grapevine makes it sound like Miyan Williams is closer to 80% while I am imagining that TreVeyon Henderson is less likely to be a major contributor after putting up just 1.7 yards per carry against Maryland last weekend.


I’m on record advocating for Dallan Hayden to be the starter for this weekend, and I am glad to know that so much of Buckeye Nation agrees with me. All things being equal and everybody being fully healthy, I’d go Miyan, Trey, and then Dallan, but those first two guys aren’t anywhere close to being fully healthy. So, I’m riding the hot, healthy hand, Dallan Hayden

Question 2: Do you want TTUN running back Blake Corum to play in The Game?



I admire the character of the 58% of respondents who want Ohio State’s rivals to have their best player so that when the Buckeyes beat them, the Mitten Men don’t have something to complain about. But here’s the thing, I’m not a very good person, I am more than petty enough to want the Buckeyes to have the best chance to win.

After all, Ohio State’s best offensive weapon, Jaxon Smith-Njgba, has been out all season, and — as I said above — I would be starting the guy that started fall camp as the Buckeyes’ fourth-string running back in this game if the decision were up to me.

If this was practically anybody else in the country save for Penn State or Clemson, I would be willing to entertain the “want them at their best” argument, but this is That Team Up North, the whiniest group of players, coaches, and fans in the history of sport, so, while I certainly do not wish any ill-will or prolonged injury to Corum, I am fine leveling up the injury statuses between the teams for The Game today.

Question 3: What are you most worried about in Saturday’s game?



Before Corum got hurt against Illinois last week, that was obviously the correct answer, and I think even earlier in this week, that made sense. But, the longer the week has gone on and the more we’ve heard coming out of Ann Arbor, I am becoming less and less concerned. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am still concerned about Donovan Edwards returning, even with an injured hand, and Corum pulling a Willis Reed and having a career game after being hurt, but my level of anxiety has come down to some of the other concerns.


Earlier this week, while my colleague Jami Jurich took stopping the TTUN run game in our Wednesday You’re Nuts article, I went with keeping the pass rush from getting to C.J. Stroud, which finished second in this poll. Last season, Aidin Hutchinson and David Ejabo were an incredibly disruptive force against the Buckeyes, despite Stroud throwing for 394 yards.

Both of those edge rushers are now in the NFL and while the TTUN defensive line is still very good, they aren’t game-changingly great like they were last year. Stroud has been near perfect when not pressured this season and the only times when it felt like he wasn’t completely in control have come with rushers in his face. Overall when under pressure, Stroud has still been good, but in recent weeks, he has had a tendency to assume that his arm strength would be enough to make plays and he has let his fundamentals falter.

Stroud is a technician, not a gunslinger, so if his offensive line — which will likely see one new starter at right guard — can keep him clean, that’s a huge advantage for the Scarlet and Gray.

Question 4: What do you think the results of The Game will be?



At the beginning of the week, I was much closer on my predicted score than I am now. As I’ve thought about it more and let my homerism take root as I spent the holiday with my Buckeye-obsessed family, I have settled on 41-17. That would put me with the group with 6% of the respondents between a 22-point win and a 35-point win for the Buckeyes.

I will obviously be happy with a single-point victory in this one, but I think that we are going to see the absolute best version of the Buckeyes today in The Horseshoe.

Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

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LGHL Tailgate Podcast: Everything you need to know to watch today’s Ohio State vs. TTUN game
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Set Number: X163079 TK1

The only Ohio State game day podcast you need.

Before every Ohio State football game, Matt Tamanini will get you ready with all of the information that you need for that day’s game on the “LGHL Tailgate” podcast.

Listen to the episode and subscribe:

Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-8) vs. No. 3 TTUN | over/under 55.5


Game Date/Time: Saturday, Nov. 26 12 noon ET
Location: Columbus, Ohio
TV: FOX
Online: Sling TV
Radio: 97.1 FM/1460 AM

The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes will host their No. 3 rivals today in a game that has more storylines than most New York Times Best Sellers. From a Big Ten Championship Game berth to a spot in the College Football Playoff; from trash-talking coaches to which team is really tough, a lot is on the line today.

In the “LGHL Tailgate” podcast, we run you through everything you need to know in order to be the most informed Buckeye fan possible.

Matt’s Game Prediction: Ohio State 41-17


C.J. Stroud: 22-for-29, 400+ passing yards, 5 TD
Receiving TDs: Harrison- 2; Egbuka, Fleming, Stover- 1 apiece


Contact Matt Tamanini
Twitter: @BWWMatt

Music by: epidemicsound.com

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

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If anyone can reseed any of these buckdubbs torrents, I'd appreciate it. I'm mainly looking for the regular broadcast of this indiana game, but I'll seed any/all of them that you reseed. The torrents are already idling in my client - just need the reseed. Thanks in advance! I'm also looking for all but the rutgers, unlv, and ttun games from this season if you are feeling especially helpful.

UPDATE: indiana game acquired - thank you seeder!

pnuts34 said:

There’s no way that I don’t buy a jersey from DHgate at this point. No one knows the difference, and they look great. NCAA did it to themselves by charging astronomical prices for so long. I’ve gotten about 6 jerseys from the site and haven’t paid over $35 for them, and they’re all stitched on letters and numbers

Click to expand...

I've gotten a few that the Ohio state patch on the sternum look like a 4th grade art project.

Was up in the air headed back to Ohio, wish I could've watched this one. I'll have to watch the replay, but great win and nice to see Justice get on track. Seems the team has plenty of fight in them, happy to see this.

For a definition of DSC, among other things, click HERE.

Teams Ranked by DSC, showing CFP ranking and the difference between DSC and CFP ranking.

Team	DSC Ratio	DSC Rank	CFP Rank	Difference	Conf.
Georgia	3.697	1	1	0	SEC
Michigan	3.115	2	3	1	B1G
Ohio St.	3.025	3	2	-1	B1G
Alabama	2.584	4	7	3	SEC
Penn St.	2.339	5	11	6	B1G
Tennessee	2.215	6	10	4	SEC
Texas	2.011	7	23	16	Big 12
Florida St.	1.960	8	16	8	ACC
Louisiana St.	1.863	9	5	-4	SEC
Kansas St.	1.861	10	12	2	Big 12
Illinois	1.810	11	NR	15+	B1G
Utah	1.793	12	14	2	Pac-12
Clemson	1.731	13	8	-5	ACC
Central Fla.	1.863	14	22	8	AAC
Notre Dame	1.863	15	15	0	Ind.
Louisville	1.863	16	25	9	ACC
Iowa	1.863	17	NR	9+	B1G
Minnesota	1.863	18	NR	8+	B1G
Tulane	1.863	19	19	0	AAC
Oregon St.	1.863	20	21	1	Pac-12
Southern Cal	1.863	21	6	-15	Pac-12
Boise St.	1.863	22	NR	4+	MWC
Texas Christian	1.863	23	4	-12	Big 12
Mississippi St.	1.428	24	NR	2+	SEC
Oregon	1.425	25	9	-16	Pac-12
UCLA	1.288	35	18	-17	Pac-12
Mississippi	1.277	38	20	-18	SEC
Cincinnati	1.222	39	24	-15	AAC
Washington	1.200	44	13	-31	Pac-12
North Carolina	1.168	48	17	-31	ACC

Teams in top 25 in DSC but not in CFP in RED.
Teams in top 25 in CFP but not in DSC in BLUE.

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Play the game.

CMic said:

I was going to say that was one of the worst calls ever.
Then, I remembered this bad boy.

Click to expand...

What are you talking about? There was clearly no PI there.

The juggalos are pretty shitty, so I was expecting a win, but I didn't expect it to be a plungering.

The juggalos are so delusional about their place in the basketball pecking order. They've been to one Final Four in the last 60 years, yet they hated Cronin because he didn't go every other year and were thrilled when UCLA hired him away. Be careful of what you wish for juggalos.

Column: What I am grateful for heading into The Game
meganhusslein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

There sure is a lot to be thankful for surrounding this Buckeye football team, especially during rivalry week leading up to The Game.

Rivalry Week is officially upon us... as well as Thanksgiving (I think The Game might be a bigger holiday). This week is a time to pause and reflect on all that we are grateful for this year. Buckeye fans are supremely blessed with an 11-0 season, filled with breakout players and dominant wins. That all culminates on Saturday.

Here is a list of what I am thankful for as we head into The Game.

1. Home Field Advantage

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

How painful was it to hear “Pump it Up” after every single touchdown at The Big House last year? Six dreadful times of hearing that song along with the crowd going absolutely bananas. I am extremely grateful that this year, if the Shoe’s DJ decides to be petty and plays it, it will be for a Buckeye TD and not a Wolverine one.

If it isn’t played, I will be equally as happy. That song permanently scarred me. It is such an advantage that in one of the most important games in the series history, it will be played in Columbus. The Buckeyes have definitely had their fair share of struggles on the road this season with Penn State, Northwestern and Maryland. However, they are dominant at home.

Personally, this will be my first ever Ohio State-Michigan game that I am attending. I am ecstatic. The stadium was electric during the Penn State game last year and the Notre Dame game this year, but I expect the crowd to be dialed up about 10 notches. It’s going to be loud and there’s going to be a lot of scarlet. Buckeyes- 1, Wolverines- 0.

2. Dallan Hayden

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Obviously, I am thankful for everyone in the running back room. However, Hayden is stepped up big time when needed, especially against Maryland this past Saturday. It seems like either Miyan Williams or TreVeyon Henderson is out every week, making Hayden the backup. He has gotten a lot more snaps than initially anticipated this season, but he has made the most with the time he has gotten on the field.

It is nice to have him as a security blanket. Unfortunately, there seems to be a theme of a starting running back getting injured each week, and the other starter has to shoulder the majority of the load. That’s where Hayden comes in to share some of the snaps, and experiencing massive success while doing so. I feel like he will be a major key in The Game.

3. Marvin Harrison Jr.

Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images

I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory. He’s the GOAT. He should be the Biletnikoff Award recipient. He’s been damn near perfect all year long. However, last Saturday’s game revealed why he is even more important than we think.

He’s clearly the best weapon on the team, making amazing plays for positive yardage and averaging one touchdown per game. However, he was being heavily defended against Maryland, even more so than usual, limiting him to just 68 receiving yards. This isn’t entirely a bad thing. When he gets double teamed, it frees up the other receivers to make great plays, as demonstrated by Emeka Egbuka on Saturday. This team is full of talent, and honestly, Marv makes a lot of great things possible.

4. A hungry defense in need of some food (I think Wolverine is their favorite)

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

This defense is READY!! This is the moment they have been training for all season long. They have skyrocketed in terms of their improvement, and this game I expect them to ball out. They are going to be amped up, they are going to jump from the line of scrimmage in search of someone wearing maize and blue to take down to the ground.

I see J.T. Tuimoloau and Tommy Eichenberg having big games. Eichenberg has been here before, so his leadership will be invaluable. Tuimoloau I think is just ready to erupt, and this will be the perfect opportunity. Yes, the defense had a bit of a blip against Maryland, but I think that was an anomaly. Will there be some nerves, and as a result some penalties? Probably. But I believe the good will outweigh the bad in this case, and their energy will be to their advantage.

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Column: Come on, where’s our petty Jim Harbaugh?
Meredith Hein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

It’s only a matter of time.

Two decades ago, when Jim Tressel and Lloyd Carr faced off against one another, the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry was perhaps the classiest in all of sports. The two coaches never showed anything but the utmost respect for one another. And while other rivalries like the now defunct Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia or the Miami (FL) vs. Florida State games of old often resulted in fisticuffs, such occasions didn’t feel as common in the days of yore for the Buckeyes.

Then came the series of unfortunate events for Michigan that was Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke that eventually led to Jim Harbaugh, and the concurrent transition from Tressel to Urban Meyer and, finally, to Ryan Day.

And here we are, in 2022.

Things feel different now. But perhaps it’s just the passage of time and the warmth of nostalgia that makes me yearn for the rivalry of yore. Regardless, the rivalry we see today, from a coaching perspective, shows two men who are not fans of each other and don’t try to hide it.


That disdain may be because the pair are so different. Day is kind of a boring coach, all things considered. Obviously he has a great mind for coaching, but he’s about as anti-drama as they come. Generally, he’s calm, cool, collected and logical. It’s what made moments like his near-fight with Greg Schiano earlier this season so wild.

Harbaugh is Day’s foil. He is eccentric and, at times, downright absurd. See challenging a walrus to a pushup contest, having a sleepover at a recruit’s house and his obsession with milk. And that’s not even getting into the whole thing with his khakis. He’s a distraction in and of himself, and seemingly can’t get through a presser without either a weird or disparaging comment.

(We should give credit where credit is due: Harbaugh’s eccentricity is in many ways a shield for his players. As much as he’s blamed refs, opposing coaches and others for Michigan’s shortcomings, that blame has never publicly fallen on his players, which is more than can be said for a lot of coaches. Looking at you, Brian Kelly.)

Those personalities show themselves in perceptions of Ohio State and Michigan. Ohio State has a ton of flash (think Marvin Harrison Jr.’s Louis Vuitton cleats), but Day is very much the anchor behind the scene that keeps his stars flashing at their flashiest. When we think of the faces of Ohio State football, Day is probably not even in your top five.

On the other sideline, Harbaugh is Michigan’s brand all by himself — he’s undoubtedly the face and name that comes to mind when you think of Wolverine football.

Of course these opposites would clash over time. We all have that person who gets under our skin. For Day, that person is Harbaugh. For Harbaugh, it’s pretty much anyone who crosses his path, including Day. Seriously, he just doesn’t have the patience to maintain positive relationships with many opposing coaches, players and officials. See here and here for examples.

For Day, that frustration boiled over in 2020 during a Big Ten coaches conference call, when Harbaugh interrupted Day while he was speaking to accuse Day of breaking rules. Day responded by telling Harbaugh to worry about his own team while Day worried about Ohio State. Later that week, Day famously told his team they’d hang 100 on the Wolverines. (That was in 2020 and Michigan backed out of the regular season finale due to COVID). It was reminiscent of that time Woody Hayes said “because I couldn’t go for three” in response to why he went for a two-point conversion against his rivals in 1968, but without any of the genial ribbing.

For Harbaugh, things came to a head with Day in 2021 when he made his now worn statement: “Sometimes, people that are standing on third base think they hit a triple.” The words came in the post-game presser after, *gulp* Ohio State fell on the road to the Wolverines and, while not said directly in reference to Day, were a clear statement about the well-oiled program Day inherited from Meyer.

Neither of these statements was kind hearted or friendly needling. Both were incredibly mean spirited.

When asked in his Monday presser about Ohio State and Ryan Day, Harbaugh deflected the question and even said there was “No need to hate.” It’s a break from the drama we’ve grown accustomed to.

But it’s still early in the week, and Harbaugh has time.

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Silver Bullets Podcast: Maryland Rewind and Michigan Preview
Michael Citro via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Buckeyes overcame another stressful road game, and now it’s time for The Game.


Ohio State’s win at Maryland was a bit stressful, but in the end the Buckeyes did enough to get the job done on a day when other favored teams needed late scores to win — or didn’t survive at all. We dive into all the good and bad of Ohio State’s 43-30 win in College Park. Hopefully the team will be a lot more focused and amped up for an iteration of The Game between a pair of unbeaten top-five teams. We look back at our picks to click and our score predictions to see how reality stacked up against our imaginations, too.

After the Maryland talk, we welcomed in David Woelkers from SBNation site Maize N Brew to get us prepped on the Wolverines prior to their trip to the Horseshoe this Saturday. David gave us the scoop on what’s up with Michigan, but no one seems sure what to make of Blake Corum’s knee injury at this point. That is an important knee for the Wolverines. Big thanks to David for stopping by and helping us preview The Game.

We took our weekly walk through the rest of the Big Ten results from Saturday, and the West finally came into a little more focus with one weekend remaining. Meanwhile, Penn State has quietly rolled through everyone not named Ohio State or Michigan, and the Spartans almost certainly threw away their shot at bowl eligibility in the second half and overtime against Indiana at home.

Finally, we discussed the importance that Steele Chambers has in stopping J.J. McCarthy in the run game on Saturday, and we dove into Michigan’s stats a bit before making our predictions and picks to click for this weekend’s battle of the titans in Columbus.

We’ll be back next week to talk about Ohio State’s matchup with the Wolverines and to preview... well, whatever’s next, which we won’t know until after the game. It’s a little strange not having that next opponent set, but that’s what the end of the regular season brings. In the meantime, feel free to reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, and share!

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BOOOOM!! Four-star athlete Garett Stover commits to Ohio State
Dan Hessler via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


2024 four-star ATH Garrett Stover via @GarrettStover2 on Twitter

Ohio State lost a member in its 2023 recruiting class, but added to its 2024 class on Monday.

Rivalry Week is finally here, and the Buckeyes are gearing up for their biggest game of the season. The ‘Shoe will be full Saturday when Ohio State plays host to Michigan, and most of the college football landscape will have their eyes on the game. ESPN, FOX, and many other media outlets will be setting up shop in Columbus Saturday, but they will not be the only ones making the trek to Ohio Stadium this weekend.

The visitor list for the game this weekend will likely be one of the largest of the season, and many of those making the visit are priority targets for the Buckeyes. While many of the Ohio State headlines this week will focus on the current roster, Ryan Day and his staff will also be heavily featured in the recruiting headlines as well.

Garrett Stover commits to Ohio State


Ohio State’s 2023 recruiting class is in the midst of the final touches. While the Buckeyes will look to add a few more commitments to the class, a lot of focus has been put on next year’s class as well.

The Buckeyes entered the week with two verbal commitments in the class, good for the No. 11 group in the country. However, late Monday night that total rose to three, as 2024 four-star athlete Garrett Stover (Sunbury, OH / Big Walnut) announced his commitment to Ohio State.


Ohio State has long shown interest in Stover, who is cousins with current Ohio State tight end Cade Stover. He visited with the Buckeyes in the spring, and that was just the beginning of what grew to be a strong relationship with the Buckeyes coaching staff.

Stover took another visit to Ohio State for a June summer camp, and left with an official scholarship offer. The summer visit was not his last, however, as he made another return visit to Ohio State on Sept. 3 for the team’s home-opener versus Notre Dame.

Following his first visit for an in-game environment, multiple 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions started coming in, pegging him to Ohio State. Those predictions came true Monday when he made the decision official.

Stover spoke with Bill Kurelic of 247Sports following the commitment and had the following to say on Ohio State and his decision:


Stover chose to commit to Ohio State over a long list of impressive programs including Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwester, Iowa State, Kentucky, Duke, Pitt, etc.

Stover is the No. 17 ATH in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 168 overall prospect in the 2024 class. He is also the No. 6 prospect from the state of Ohio.

Brock Glenn de-commits, Ohio State to host four-star QB


Rivalry Week may have just arrived, but flip-season has been heavily active. Ohio State has had a rough go of things of late, seeing 2023 four-star running back Mark Fletcher (Fort Lauderdale, FL / American Heritage) de-commit from the program last week. On Monday, the Buckeyes lost another verbal commitment when four-star quarterback Brock Glenn (Memphis, TN / Lausanne Collegiate School) decided to leave the program in favor of Florida State.


Glenn committed to the Buckeyes on July 30, 2022 over LSU and Florida State. Both the Tigers and the Seminoles looked like the favorites at points late in his recruitment, but it was Ohio State that landed the blue-chip prospect. However, Florida State never stopped recruiting Glenn, and recent rumblings about a de-commit started to make noise. Those rumors quickly showed as true, as Glenn is now a member of the Seminoles’ class.

The move certainly hurts the Buckeyes class, as the team currently has no commit at the position. The class is still impressive, viewed as the No. 6 class in the 247Sports rankings as things stand, but the better news is the Buckeyes may already have a contingency plan.

One of the many recruits scheduled to be visiting Ohio State this weekend is 2023 four-star quarterback Lincoln Kienholz (Pierre, SD / T.F. Riggs). The blue-chip QB has seen an uptick in contact from Ohio State as of late, and he will now be using one of his five official visits with the team.


While the visit is good news for the Buckeyes, the coaching staff has plenty of work ahead of themselves if he is to play football in Columbus. Kienholz committed to the Washington Huskies on June 29, 2022 after using an official visit the week prior.

Despite being committed to Washington, Kienholz is deciding to visit with Ohio State late in the season. This compounded with the news on Glenn’s de-commitment certainly looks promising for the Buckeyes, but as the team has learned the hard way, nothing is a guarantee in college football recruiting.

Glenn is the No. 22 QB in the 247Sports Composite and is the No. 378 overall prospect. He is also the No. 12 prospect out of Tennessee. Kienholz is the No. 24 QB in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 404 prospect. He is also the No. 1 recruit out of South Dakota.

While Kienholz may be ranked lower in the above metrics, he is far from a falloff at the position. The blue-chip prospect had an incredible season that led to a South Dakota state title. He also produced the below career stats:


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Three things from Ohio State’s 88-77 loss to San Diego St. at the Maui Invitational
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images

It might have been the Buckeyes’ first loss of the season, but there’s lots of positives to take from the defeat.

In the quarterfinals of the 2022 Maui Invitational tournament, the Ohio State men’s basketball team just flat-out lost to a better team. The No. 17 San Diego State Aztecs handed the Buckeyes their first loss of the season Xx-Xx on Monday night, but — call me a homer — I think that there were actually quite a few positives to take away from the game.

First and foremost, Sean McNeil is a scorer. The former West Virginia Mountaineer had 19 points through three games as a Buckeye, and dude went out and put on a show in the second half for OSU, nearly single-handedly keeping his team in the contest. McNeil ended the game with 22 points, just four off of his career-high.

It was also probably really good for the young Buckeyes to play a team early in the non-conference schedule that had the ability to push them around and show them what level of physicality will be needed to play college basketball.

Despite the fact that the Aztecs built a 14-point lead with 8:01 left to play, the Buckeyes continued to fight, eventually cutting the SDSU lead to just seven with 3:57 remaining. While Chris Holtmann’s team was never able to get any closer than that, the heart and perseverance that the team displayed have to build a little bit of confidence moving forward for the Buckeyes.

San Diego State is one of the best teams in the country and the experience of grinding it out in a respectable early-season game should pay dividends throughout the rest of the campaign.

In addition to McNeil’s game-high 22, true freshmen Brice Sensabaugh and Bruce Thornton contributed 17 and 13 respectively, and the latter freshman fouled out with just under two minutes remaining in regulation.

In his return home to Hawaii, Justice Sueing struggled a bit at times but ended up with 6 points and 6 rebounds.

Zed Key has to avoid foul trouble for this team to compete


The Ohio State veteran big man picked up his second personal foul just 5:21 into the game and ended up playing only three more minutes in the first period. With Key out, the Buckeyes first went with an all-guard/small-forward lineup with true freshman center Felix Okpara mixed in.

That is when the wheels started to fall off a bit for the Buckeyes. Not only does Key present a legitimate offensive threat inside, but just his presence on the court also allows the rest of the offense to have extra space to operate. Without a true inside scorer, San Diego State’s defense was able to gum up just about everything that OSU tried to do in the first half.

While it wasn’t exactly night and day, with Key back in the game in the first five minutes after halftime, the OSU offense found a bit of a rhythm with McNeil capitalizing on the increased room to operate. Key picked up his third foul (coincidentally enough) 5:21 into the second half. He did stay in the game this time but came out after a few more minutes.

I think that the Buckeyes have a number of veterans that can provide leadership — especially as the season goes on — but Zed Key is the guy who provides both the on-floor stability for the squad to be able to run its best offense and also the experience to keep his guys under control and focused on the task at hand.

Key ended the game with just 7 points and 3 rebounds in 21 minutes of action, but he was the leading Buckeye in terms of +/- at +5. The only other OSU player to have a + number was Sean McNeil; speaking of which...

Buckeye Nation, meet Sean McNeil


West Virginia transfer Sean McNeil did not score in 29 minutes of action against Eastern Illinois last Wednesday. Coming into Maui, he had 19 points on the season. He had 22 against San Diego State, one of the best, toughest defenses in the country.

At one point early in the second half, McNeil scored 11-straight points for Ohio State, keeping the Buckeyes in a game that could have gotten out of hand quickly coming out of the intermission.

Not only was McNeil showing his ability to connect on spot-up jumpers from distance, but what impressed me most about McNeil was his ability to come off of screens and create his own shots.

While so much of the conversation about this year’s squad has been rightly focused on the highly-rated recruiting class, Ohio State is going to need contributions from transfers McNeil, Ice Likekele, and Tanner Holden. So seeing what McNeil is capable of doing — turning into an absolute microwave — is definitely a positive.

It’s going to take a while for this team to gel


If you have watched the Buckeyes in their first four games this season, you know that there are a lot of new faces playing big-time minutes for Holtmann’s squad. Against San Diego State, the only returning contributor from the 2021-22 season to play was Key. Of course, Justice Sueing was injured for nearly the entire season, but the rest of the rotation for OSU currently is made up of true freshmen and transfer players.

During their first three games of the season, the Buckeyes beat up on Robert Morris (this is actually a school, not just one dude who tried to take on the entire OSU team), Charleston Southern, and Eastern Illinois. So, Monday night’s game against the No. 17 Aztecs was really the first time that this new configuration of Buckeyes has played against anyone of substance.

There were certainly things to be excited about from the game — obviously, McNeil, Bryce Sensabaugh, Bruce Thornton — but the lack of cohesion was pretty obvious in the game. The offense felt more than a little disjointed, which is probably just as much a function of Ohio State’s lack of time together as it is San Diego State having the No. 7 rated defense in the country according to Ken Pomeroy.

In the first half, the Buckeyes were 9-for-30 from the floor (including 1-for-11 from distance) and with Key out, there just wasn’t much flow on the offensive end of the floor.

In the second half, thanks to McNeil’s hot hand and some impressive defensive possessions, the Buckeyes cut what was a 15-point hole to just four at the 13:28 mark in regulation. Then, thanks to back-to-back triples and a turned-over in-bounds play, San Diego State had pushed the lead back up to 59-47 just 51 seconds later.

It’s moments like that where a more experienced group might have been able to slow down the action and keep the deficit to seven instead of 12.

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‘Ball Hell Broke Loose: Your Week 12 College Football Chaos Roundup
JamiJurich via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

The moments that left our jaws on the floor this week.

Has anyone told OSU Halloween was a few weeks ago and it’s time to stop scaring us? Other than the mild heart attack they gave Buckeye fans, this weekend in college football seemed to have it all. Underdogs annihilating favorites. Rivalry matchups with playoff implications. Snowball fights. Actual fights.

The fun started early in the day and continued all the way through Pac-12 after dark, leaving us with no shortage of moments that were scary, fun, or entertaining as hell. Let’s unpack the weekend that was in college football.

Ohio State vs. Maryland


This dumb team has really aged me lately, and yesterday’s chaos perhaps took more years off my life than any game up to this point. Let’s be clear – if we play like this next week, we are going to get absolutely creamed. I’m sure this was a fun game to watch for someone with no stakes in the game, but for me personally, it was very stressful. Flirting is fun, but flirting with disaster is not.

I’ll be naming my gray hairs after Ohio State’s defensive backs, who looked a total mess yesterday. We’ve had close calls before, but suffice it to say this felt like the first real test – against a team that was shut out by Penn State last week.

It wasn’t that we were down 13-10 at halftime that had me a little panicked. OSU tends to be a second-half team, after all. I was much more concerned when we turned the ball over on downs about halfway into the Fourth Quarter while we held onto a marginal 33-30 lead. But a three-and-out seemed to shift something, and from there, the Buckeyes we know and love seemed to take the field.

It wasn’t all bad. TreVeyon Henderson returned, and while his performance was underwhelming, it was great to see him on the field again after sitting out the last two with an injury. But this was the second-most points the Buckeyes allowed this season (topped only by Penn State), and the performance we saw this weekend won’t be enough to smash through to victory next week.

Illinois vs. Michigan


The good news is OSU wasn’t the only one who had a tough time in the week going into The Game. Illinois gave Michigan a very solid run for its money on the road in Ann Arbor, with Michigan’s victory coming down to the final drive of the game.

With that said, it’s not much consolation for me, as the Wolverines were missing running back Donovan Edwards, and then Blake Corum – a Heisman contender – went down with a knee injury early in the second.

There were so many ways for this game to have ended poorly for the Wolverines in what was an unpredictable and chaotic game, and yet, they came out victorious. And I can’t really tell you why, but the fact that they walked away with this win given how these four quarters went? Well, it leaves me a little nervous about this Saturday.

TCU vs. Baylor


Baylor unexpectedly made TCU work for their win this week, which perhaps makes TCU’s win even more frustrating. I don’t particularly think TCU is the real deal, and perhaps the real deal wouldn’t have gotten themselves into such a sticky situation in the first place, but as a Buckeye fan, we can’t really be one to talk after yesterday. Perhaps what makes a team the real deal is the ability to walk away with the win in spite of many, many missteps.

Which is what happened yesterday, when TCU – down 28-26 to Baylor with mere seconds left in the game, positioned themselves to kick a field goal on 4th down for the win. Did I make it sound like a seamless late-in-the-game comeback? Oh, I’m sorry. This was after a botched 2-point conversion and a strange run-play call from Baylor on a 3rd down where they could have run the clock out. TCU got the ball back with only 1:34 left on the clock and managed 45 yards in 9 plays, leaving me to wonder whether maybe they are the real deal after all.

Did Baylor roll over and hand them this win, or did TCU fight it out to the last second? No matter which way you spin it, this was once again a game that reminds us why we love this dumb sport. It was exciting. It came down to the final seconds. A team that was expected to get blown out nearly walked away with an upset victory that would have sent ripple waves through the college football playoff rankings. And still, this “little team that could” keeps “coulding” to victory.

Lehigh vs. Lafayette


Here are two names you don’t see making headlines all that often in the college football world, unless you live in Pennsylvania and pay close attention to this annual matchup, apparently known simply as The Rivalry.

Though The Rivalry has been fairly evenly matched since it began in 1884, Lehigh has dominated in recent years, winning 10 of the last 14 matchups, including 5 on the road. But the real story yesterday wasn’t about wins and losses (for what it’s worth, Lafayette did win 14-11). But people aren’t talking about that. We’re talking about the fight on the field after the final play.

Because after the game ended, as Lafayette fans, cheerleaders and players started to celebrate, a tussle broke out between members of the Lafayette team and the Lehigh team, which then had to be broken up by coaches. I can’t express to you how many times in my life I’ve wanted to sock a Michigan player, but that doesn’t mean you can go around acting on it!

Michigan State vs. the Snow


A very different kind of fight broke out in MSU’s stands on Saturday.

During the Spartans’ matchup at home against Indiana, their fans turned East Lansing’s snowy nightmarish weather into a way to have a little fun – with a good, old-fashioned snowball fight.

The lighthearted battle among spectators in the fan section was captured on video, and it perfectly encapsulates the unadulterated joy of being a college student cheering on your team no matter the weather.


Fans also crafted a snowman (snow-fan?) who parked it in the bleachers and probably wished he could melt away, along with the Spartans’ lead. Because it’s not Big Ten football without a little wildness, and Indiana delivered by edging out the favored MSU (who led 21-7 at halftime), 39-31 in a game that went into double overtime after a brilliant 3rd quarter performance by Indiana.

Tennessee vs. South Carolina


Three days ago, I was arguing Tennessee still had a good chance to make the playoffs. Those dreams were dashed Saturday when they were absolutely annihilated by the Gamecocks, 63-38.

The Gamecocks have been a very middle-of-the-road team all season ... average enough to be forgettable. Boy, did they change the narrative on Saturday night? It was a heartbreaker for Vols fans who saw a real path to glory after years of being the SEC laughing stock. Their win against Alabama was the apex of a season that felt a bit like a dream ... until Saturday reminded them that often, being a Vols fan is actually just a nightmare. Smoky, the goodest boy, did not deserve that.

To add insult to injury, Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker went down with a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season, likely ending his Heisman hopes if the two losses hadn’t already done so.

On the other side, you have to hand it to the unranked Gamecocks for this victory. They looked fantastic, and it was their coach Shane Beamer’s first win over a top-five team. If shocking underdog wins are your thing, this was the game for you.

Pac-12 After Dark


USC and UCLA delivered a bar fight of a rivalry game. While USC looked like a burly, brawny guy who could knock you out with one right hook, UCLA was the scrappy guy who just keeps swinging until something connects.

And the result was a game that ultimately came down to UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s interception on the Bruins’ final drive, positioning USC to win this game by a mere three points.

Though the margin of victory was small, the implications were huge, as this game put the Trojans in a genuine position to sneak into the playoffs.

And it wasn’t just USC and UCLA delivering excitement late into the night. Oregon and Utah delivered a defensive showdown that also ended in a mere three-point victory. Now, if Oregon wins against Oregon State next week, they could be USC’s final roadblock to the playoffs. Assuming both teams win out (but as a chaos monger, I am obligated to remind you what they say about people who assume), they’ll meet in the Pac-12 Championship in two weeks in a game that could determine whether USC gets to return to postseason conversations for the first time since Pete Carroll was running the show.

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