Are the reasons Ohio State might not make the College Football Playoff actually good?
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Also, what is Chris Holtmann hoping to get out of the basketball team’s trip to Spain?
“Heading into 2018, it is entirely possible that Urban Meyer and his team will not be on the outside, but could be very much in the thick of the College Football Playoff discussion. Athlon Sports has Ohio State ranked fourth as the college football season gets ever so closer to starting.”
-Chip Minnich, Athlon Sports & Life
In breaking down the Buckeyes, Minnich gives three reasons why OSU might make the College Football Playoff, and three reasons why they might not. The three reasons why they will are exactly the types of things that a team would want to build a season upon; talent, schedule, and coaching. Of course anytime a talented team with top-level coaches has a schedule that sets up for a strong run, that’s a good thing.
However, the three reasons that he gives for the Buckeyes not making the CFP might also be good things for OSU, because, frankly, they’re all pretty weak. Now, I’m not criticizing Minnich, it’s just difficult to look at this Ohio State team and pinpoint multiple areas of concrete concern.
Instead, Minnich has to search for weakness in the ever exciting “what if?” game. First, he opines that perhaps the Buckeyes could fall into a similar trap as they did in 2015. He compares new quarterback
Dwayne Haskins to fellow strong-armed, not-
J.T. Barrett QB,
Cardale Jones, and says that there is a possibility that head coach Urban Meyer will buck the wishes of his co-offensive coordinators Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day (more specifically Day), and force Haskins to run the ball more than his specific skill-set would dictate.
Now look, we’ve seen some pretty suspect play-calling decisions over the years from Meyer—
thinking of one rather big one from that 2015 season—, but if our No. 1 concern going into the season is this, I feel pretty good.
Minnich stretches and says that perhaps the team’s lesser experienced players won’t jell, or that key injuries could pop up and derail the season. Sure. That can literally happen in every season to every team. So, in relying on one, or both, of these as major issues that could legitimately derail the Buckeyes’ season must mean there’s just not much else of substance out there.
So, of course, this doesn’t mean that the Buckeyes are destined for their third trip to the College Football Playoffs, but it does not not mean that.
“However, that dream for Holtmann remained, and in his second season with the Buckeyes, his first full summer with the team, he will take the Ohio State men’s basketball team on a 10-day trip to Spain.”
-Colin Gay, The Lantern
A little more than a year ago, Chris Holtmann was preparing to take his Butler basketball team on a summer training trip to Spain. And while the Bulldogs did go to Spain last summer, Holtmann went to Columbus instead.
So, as he sets his sights on his second season as the head coach for Ohio State, Holtmann is finally going to get his trip to Spain, albeit a year later than originally planned. The Buckeyes will head to the Iberian Peninsula in early-August for a 10-day trip that will be focused on bonding together a young, inexperienced team that will be relying on a ton of new talent beginning this fall.
“When you have a group that is relatively new... it’s better because they really do spend concentrated time together and we get to learn more about them,” Holtmann said according to
The Lantern. “We will be put into some difficult game situations there because the competition there has been typically pretty good. So that will be good. We will be able to see how our guys respond to those situations.”
The Buckeyes will be playing professional-level talent during their trip to Spain as they try to find the right mix to account for the losses of
Keita Bates-Diop, Jae’Sean Tate,
Kam Williams, and
Andrew Dakich.
With four freshman and a graduate-transfer joining the team this season (not to mention Florida State transfer
CJ Walker, who has to sit out this season before becoming eligible in 2019-20), there will be a lot of learning that has to be done if the basketball Buckeyes want to repeat the surprising success that they had last year.
“I think, perception wise, we will try to be real and try to hopefully reach the potential for this group,” Holtmann said. “We are so anxious to see what that is going to look like because we don’t know what it is going to look like.”
My Zach Smith story will be updated soon on
https://t.co/jFONLC1Ub1. I spoke with Smith's lawyer, who said Smith was not arrested and that the issue was whether Smith was allowed to drop off his son at his ex-wife's home. There was no altercation involved. The case was continued.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch)
July 18, 2018
Ohio State wide-receiver coach Zack Smith was in Delaware County court today to answer a charge of criminal trespass. Little was known about the incident leading up to today, other than that it occurred on May 12, and that his ex-wife was listed as the victim on the police report.
According to Rabinowitz, it appears to have been a disagreement over visitation protocol. Since the case was continued, we will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.
Women’s Soccer
Izzy Rodriguez, a rising sophomore on the Ohio State women’s soccer team, has been selected to the U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup starting Aug. 5 in France.
Women’s Lacrosse
Ohio State University women’s lacrosse Head Coach Alexis Venechanos has bolstered her staff with the additions of Kevin Burns as an assistant coach and Lynda McCandlish as the director of operations, the team announced Tuesday.
Men’s Soccer
We sat down with associate head coach Sergio Gonzalez recently at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium and he discussed his thoughts on joining the Ohio State program. Gonzalez comes to Columbus after spending five seasons with the Indiana women’s soccer team.
Men’s Hockey
Kevin Miller, a senior on the 2018 Ohio State men’s hockey
Frozen Four team, has signed a contract with the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL.
Lauren Spring, co-captain of the 2017-18 Buckeyes, has signed with Linköping HC Dam in Sweden where she’ll continue her hockey career, the team announced on Wednesday.
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