Why is this News? All the articles and tweets Buckeye fans need for December 6, 2022
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-USA TODAY Sports

All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.

Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.

Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.

You’re welcome!

For your Earholes...


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On the Gridiron


Jaxon Smith-Njigba won’t return for Ohio State in CFP semifinal, to enter NFL draft
Joey Kaufman, The Columbus Dispatch

Certainly didn’t end the way that anybody wanted, but can’t wait to see what JSN does at the next level!


Making sense of Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s injury, decision; Ohio State impact
Patrick Murphy, Bucknuts

Analyzing impact as Jaxon Smith-Njigba makes Peach Bowl, NFL decision (paywall)
Austin Ward, Dotting the Eyes

I said everything I needed to say about this jacknut on Twitter yesterday:


OSU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson named next coach at Tulsa
Joey Kaufman, The Columbus Dispatch

Analyzing the impact as Kevin Wilson takes Tulsa head coaching job
Bill Landis, Dotting the Eyes

Could Brian Hartline replace Kevin Wilson as Ohio State offensive coordinator?
Colin Gay, The Columbus Dispatch

I hope all 704 find a place that fits everything they are looking for.


Buckeyes linebacker Teradja Mitchell enters transfer portal
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row

Jaylen Johnson first Ohio State football player to enter transfer portal in 2022
Nathan Baird, cleveland.com

Transfer Portal: How departing Buckeyes impact program moving forward (paywall)
Austin Ward, Dotting the Eyes

I think he’s only got a slim chance to win, but it’s still pretty impressive to be there in back-to-back years:


C.J. Stroud’s second Heisman Trophy finalist nod puts him in exclusive Ohio State football club
Nathan Baird, cleveland.com

How does this Ohio State team stack up to past Buckeye playoff teams?
Chris Renne, Land-Grant Holy Land

Listen to Ryan Day’s Sunday, post-CFP announcement press conference:


College Football Playoff offers Ryan Day a shot to change his legacy
Michael Citro, Land-Grant Holy Land

Column: Who would you have preferred Ohio State play in the College Football Playoff?
Megan Husslein, Land-Grant Holy Land

On the Hardwood


Ohio State women’s basketball moves to No. 3 in AP Poll
Thomas Costello, Land-Grant Holy Land

Ohio State preparing for physical test from Rutgers
Adam Jardy, The Columbus Dispatch

WATCH: Chris Holtmann Press Conference Ahead of Big Ten Opener
Ohio State Athletics


Buckeyes hold on edge of AP Poll entering Big Ten play
Andy Backstrom, Lettermen Row

Mikesell Named to Big Ten Weekly Honor Roll
Ohio State Athletics

Game Notes: No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball laments poor win at Rutgers
Thomas Costello, Land-Grant Holy Land

Outside the Shoe and Schott


Women’s Volleyball: Ohio State Sweeps USC to Advance to Third-Straight NCAA Regionals
Ohio State Athletics

Men’s Hockey: No. 17 Buckeyes Notch 4-3 Road Win at No. 6/5 Penn State
Ohio State Athletics

Student Staff Provides ‘Heartbeat’ of Ohio State Marching Band
Sydney Jones, The Lantern

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Column: Ranking the top three College Football Playoffs (hint: this one makes the cut)
meganhusslein 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

I’m just happy Alabama and Clemson didn’t make it this year.

It’s hard to believe that this year will mark the ninth edition of the College Football Playoff. It’s certainly made for interesting postseasons — some bad, some good. There have been mismatches and historical matchups. There have been blowouts and overtime games. Here are my top three college football playoff years.

1. 2014: (4) Ohio State defeated (1) Alabama, then (2) Oregon

Obviously, this was going to take the top spot. It was the first College Football Playoff and it was the best. Not so much the Florida State/Oregon game, as the Ducks won 59-20, but Ohio State’s journey to hoisting the National Championship trophy is one of the greatest stories in college football ever!

Let’s relive the glory days for a minute. Braxton Miller was supposed to lead this team to the Natty. Then he got injured before the season even started and J.T. Barrett took the reins, taking the Bucks to an 11-1 record. The 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech in the second game of the season ignited a fire that would not be relinquished.

Then J.T. got injured against Michigan, and in comes Cardale Jones. After whomping Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten Championship, the Buckeyes slid in as the No. 4 seed as a major underdog against Bama. After being down 21-6 in the second quarter, Ohio State proceeded to score four straight touchdowns, holding on to win 42-35.

Onto the Natty against Oregon — the Buckeyes just overpowered them. Ezekiel Elliott ran for 246 yards (how did I forget about this) and 12 Gauge passed for 242 yards as Ohio State won 42-20. The storyline and magic of this year is purely unmatched: playing the entire postseason with the third-string quarterback, defeating the big, bad, No. 1 Crimson Tide and then taking down Heisman-winner Marcus Mariota to win it all. There hasn’t been anything like it since.

2. 2022: Georgia v Ohio State, Michigan v TCU, Winner: ?

Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images

I truly believe this postseason is shaping up to be one of the best playoffs yet. I know it hasn’t happened yet, but the way everything has fallen into place is intriguing.

Georgia finished its season undefeated, but has been tested a couple times against Missouri and Kentucky. Could the defending champs be taken down by the Bucks? Speaking of Ohio State, I feel like destiny is coming into play for them. The fact that Utah took down Caleb Williams’ USC AND TCU lost just to ensure the Buckeyes made the playoff makes me feel like this team simply isn’t done yet.

Michigan has been super interesting to watch this entire year, as they also finished undefeated, yet looked like they were going to lose in the first half for a decent portion of their games. However, the Wolverines looked dominant against Ohio State, so perhaps they are better than everyone thought.

OR, they could be a fraud. Maybe it wasn’t that Michigan played well, but the Buckeyes just played poorly. And if any team could expose this, I think it could be TCU. The Horned Frogs are so intriguing, and Max Duggan is a DOG. While I obviously want an Ohio State/Michigan rematch in the final, I certainly smell some upsets brewing.

3. 2017: (4) Alabama defeated (1) Clemson, then (3) Georgia

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

This year was FILLED with big names! Starting with the playoff, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts faced off against Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, and the No. 4 Tide came out on top. Watson and the Tigers didn’t even score a touchdown. Alabama won 24-6, and advanced to the title game.

As for the other playoff game, it was Jake Fromm of Georgia versus Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma. All four of these quarterbacks were great in college — it’s crazy to think that they all played in the same playoff. This Rose Bowl was a classic, as it was an offensive shootout. Georgia was down 31-17 at the half before scoring four unanswered TDs. Oklahoma took the lead, then the Bulldogs’ Nick Chubb rushed for a touchdown to tie it up 45-45 and send it into overtime.

Two field goals sent the game into double overtime, and Sony Michel (him and Chubb on the same team, OMG) scored the winning touchdown, sending Georgia to the Natty.

The Bulldogs got on top early, 13-0 at halftime. Then, Nick Saban switched from Hurts to Tua Tagovailoa and the now-Dolphins QB saved the day. Down 20-13 in the fourth quarter, Tua’s pass to Calvin Ridley tied it up, sending the game into OT. Of course, the overtime winner was to DeVonta Smith, giving the Tide the win. Man, these teams were star-studded.

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Silver Bullets Podcast: A Playoff Berth and Lots of OSU News
Michael Citro via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

A crazy weekend pushed Ohio State into the final four, C.J. Stroud is a Heisman finalist again, Kevin Wilson is leaving, and leave Jaxon Smith-Njigba alone.


What a difference a week makes. On our last show, we spent a good deal of time venting about Ohio State’s loss to Michigan, criticizing the decisions we thought led to it, and thinking that all that remained in the season was a meaningless exhibition game in which a bunch of starters sat out to focus on the 2023 NFL Draft.

But all of that changed on Friday, when USC got pounded by Utah and led to Sunday’s announcement that the Buckeyes are going to the College Football Playoff to face Georgia in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve. On this week’s show, we discussed the emotional sea change from last week to this, and discuss the games that ended up falling the Buckeyes’ way. We also touched on the whining we saw on social media from supposedly neutral national college football pundits, and how ultimately the committee picked the four teams that made the most sense.

The game against Georgia is anything but a reward for Ohio State, as the Bulldogs have looked like the cream of the crop all season. But David can’t slay Goliath without any stones for his sling, and now Ohio State has one. We’ll find out how they use that stone on Dec. 31.

The big question on everyone’s mind once the Buckeyes were in was whether Jaxon Smith-Njigba would be healthy and on the field for the playoff. That is not the case, and we discussed both JSN’s public statement, in which he clearly mentions consulting with his doctors, and what was an ugly reaction from many who either somehow know more about his medical file than he does, or else they just like questioning the character of people they don’t know. Either way, it was gross.

Ohio State’s coaching staff will have some changes either before or shortly after the College Football Playoff, with the news that Kevin Wilson is all but officially announced as the next head coach at Tulsa. Will he stay at Ohio State through the playoff or focus on trying to keep Tulsa’s recruiting class together between now and then? What’s best for the Buckeyes? Who will the next offensive coordinator be, and how does Ryan Day’s insistence on controlling the play calling affect that? These are the questions we wrestled with this week.

C.J. Stroud is a Heisman Trophy finalist, and we discussed his season as well as the other contenders to make some sense of what will happen at the Downtown Athletic Club.

Finally, some transfer portal news that is OSU-related came out on a crazy day that saw hundreds of athletes enter in search of greener pastures. How much of it was NIL-driven and how much is it just guys trying to find a better situation? Either way, that’s a lot of names, and several of them are multi-year starting quarterbacks.

We’ll be back next week to talk about whatever news comes out of what is sure to be an interesting December. We’ll be getting ready for the Georgia showdown and taking a look at the other B1G bowl match-ups as well.

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.

Thanks for listening!

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Ohio State four-star TE target sets commitment date
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 tight end Michael Smith via Rusty Mansell, 247Sports

The Buckeyes will soon learn if a 2024 tight end will join the class.

The last 48 hours have been a wild ride for Ohio State. The Buckeyes learned Sunday morning that despite a loss to Michigan in the team’s last regular season game, they will be one of four teams in the College Football Playoffs. Ryan Day and the Ohio State coaching staff had little time to celebrate though, as Monday was the start of the 2022 transfer portal season, and this year’s cycle is far from any other.

While most of the headlines surrounding Ohio State will focus on this current roster and how they prepare for a New Years Eve bout with Georgia, the Buckeyes will also remain heavily involved in the recruiting headlines.

2024 four-star TE to commit in January


Ohio State is off to a quick start in the 2024 recruiting class. The Buckeyes have already accumulated three verbal commitments in next year’s cycle, good enough for the No. 9 group in the country, according to the 247Sports Class Rankings.

While it is certainly early in the 2024 cycle, the Buckeyes have already highlighted a position of priority — tight end.

The Buckeyes have offered six recruits at tight end in next year’s class and the team is hoping to soon add one to the class as 2024 four-star TE Michael Smith (Savannah, GA / Calvary Day School) announced he will be committing on Jan. 24.


Ohio State was able to start recruiting Smith early in his recruitment and he received an official scholarship offer from the Buckeyes on June 28, following a summer camp at Ohio State. The Buckeyes continued to build a relationship with Smith and it paid off on Halloween when he included them among his top eight schools. Alongside Ohio State, Smith also included South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Texas and Penn State.

Since his top schools announcement, Smith has kept his recruitment close to the vest and thus far none of the eight schools have set themselves apart from the pack. There have been some rumblings in favor of Florida and South Carolina, but the Buckeyes certainly still have a chance in this one.

The coaching staff may try and make a trip to Georgia soon to visit him if the Buckeyes are seriously interested in his commitment. An in-home visit may also be necessary for the team to steal him from SEC Country.

Smith is the No. 6 TE in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 133 overall prospect. He is also the No. 24 recruit out of Georgia.

Update on Damon Wilson


Ohio State’s 2023 recruiting class has been close to full for some time now. The team has not added a commitment since late October, but that is because they have to be picky with who will take the final spots in the class.

One of the recruits the Buckeyes have heavily targeted to close out their class is 2023 five-star defensive end Damon Wilson (Venice, FL / Venice). Wilson has seemingly narrowed his recruitment down to Georgia and Ohio State for a couple months. He has made official and unofficial visits to both schools lately, his last to Ohio State for the Michigan game. Additionally, both schools will likely make trips to visit him soon, as his high school team is still in the Florida State Playoffs.

While momentum in his recruitment has constantly switched back and forth between the two schools lately, we may soon be learning his decision. Wilson spoke with Chad Simmons of On3.com and Simmons says a recruitment could soon be coming. Even more so, he also said Wilson already knows who he wants to choose.


Simmons also gave his prediction on Wilson’s recruitment and he believes Georgia will get the victory over the Buckeyes. It also needs to be noted however, that the only two predictions submitted on 247Sports favor the Buckeyes. Needless to say, we will not know where Wilson will go until he lets us all know — even if he already knows.

Wilson is the No. 2 DE in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and is the No. 20 overall prospect. He is also the No. 5 prospect out of Florida.

Quick Hits

• Ohio State Quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis took a quick in-state trip to Findlay, Ohio on Monday to visit with 2023 Ohio State offensive tackle commitment Luke Montgomery as well as his brother 2024 Ohio State quarterback target Ryan Montgomery.

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Column: Who would you have preferred Ohio State play in the College Football Playoff?
meganhusslein 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

Personally, I wanted to play Michigan in the playoff, but now I’m not sure.

Ohio State has officially made the College Football Playoff — yay! I definitely thought the Bucks were going to be the No. 3 seed and play Michigan, but I was wrong. I also wanted Ohio State to play TTUN, but the more I think about, I’m not sure who I’d rather play between Michigan or Georgia. Let’s break it down.

I’m not going to lie, I’m nervous to play Georgia. Seeing them put up 50 points against LSU in the SEC Championship did not help things. It also doesn’t help that the Peach Bowl is pretty much in the Bulldogs’ backyard in Atlanta. They’re the defending national champs, they’re undefeated and they have home field advantage. Yikes.

As for Michigan, I truly wanted to face off with them in the playoff. It would be the biggest game in rivalry history. If both teams make it to the National Championship, it will obviously be the same situation. However, with a trip to the Natty on the line, after losing to them twice in the past two years, I think the Buckeyes would have had a great chance against them.

Now, I’m not saying that Ohio State isn’t going to beat Georgia. I definitely believe they can. It’s sounding like Jaxon Smith-Njigba might play, too, which would be HUGE. Forcing Georgia to play against a Buckeye offense they haven’t played before, plus throwing in JSN — who they haven’t seen on film since he hasn’t played at all this year — would definitely be an advantage for the Buckeyes.

Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK

However, I truly think that Georgia having Stetson Bennett as its quarterback is a big plus. He’s a veteran and has played in these types of games before and been successful. On the other hand, C.J. Stroud is 0-2 against Michigan, and has never played in a conference championship or playoff game. So far, he hasn’t proved to be great in important games.

Georgia has more advantages than Ohio State. Yet, that still isn’t reason enough to count the Buckeyes out. Ryan Day said new life has been breathed into the team, and I’m excited to see it for myself. The talent is there. Their motivation has been renewed. I’m sure they’re making the necessary adjustments in practice. Plus, Day said he expects everyone to be back healthy on Dec. 31 (without specifying about JSN).

Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports

Playing the Bulldogs will be tough. Will it be tougher than playing Michigan? I believe Georgia is the better team, but it will be more difficult to defeat Michigan. Everything, absolutely everything — Day’s legacy, Stroud’s legacy and how the season ends — is on the line. If the Buckeyes play Michigan, it will be unlike anything we’ve seen before in the rivalry.

In the end, I guess I am happy with the selection. I know I just listed many reasons why playing Georgia will be difficult, but the bigger game is definitely against Michigan. Playing TTUN in the championship game is the better storyline, anyway. But, let’s focus on one game at a time.

From now until New Year’s Eve, it is Operation Beat Georgia.

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LGHL Uncut Podcast: Ryan Day says juice is back in the Woody for playoff opportunity
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State Athletics

The coach met with the media just minutes after learning his team’s postseason fate.

Throughout the year, Land-Grant Holy Land will be bringing you uncut audio primarily from Ohio State press conferences, but also from individual interview sessions.

Listen to the episode and subscribe:

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On today’s episode, we have uncut press conference audio from Sunday, Dec. 4 as Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day met with the media just minutes after learning that his team had in fact made the College Football Playoff. The No. 4 Buckeyes will square off against the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31. In his media availability, Day discussed the emotional ups and downs that he and his team went through over the course of the week following the loss to Michigan.

He also talks about some of the things that they will do to prepare for the Dawgs, and potentially the Wolverines, in the weeks to come, how he will thank Utah’s coach Kyle Wittingham after the Utes beat USC, opening the door for the Buckeyes to claim a CFP berth. Of note, this presser happened before Jaxon Smith-Njigba announced that he would be unable to play in the postseason.

You can watch the full press conference on the official Ohio State athletics website.


Contact Matt Tamanini
Twitter: @BWWMatt

Music by: www.bensound.com

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How does this Ohio State team stack up to past Buckeye playoff teams?
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 Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The Buckeyes have a history to look back to and more to make now that they are officially in the College Football Playoff.

The College Football Playoff committee had no choice, but made the correct decision in the end by selecting Ohio State as the fourth representative. Heading into conference championship weekend, the consensus across the country was Ohio State would be in the playoff with a USC loss. A defeated fan base came back from the dead, and the football program has a new lease on life.

Friday night, USC loss emphatically to Utah in Las Vegas 47-24. This was the decisive moment the Buckeyes needed for an opportunity to right their wrong, and reach their ultimate goal of winning a national title. Ohio State’s resume was poked and prodded for the 36 hours to follow, but this was not the first time. Many people spent time pandering for Alabama, using Vegas odds as evidence, but there was one data point the committee has never overlooked — the fact they have never let in a team with two losses.

At the end of the day, the arguments about the Buckeyes losing 45-23 to their rival were trumped by a 2-1 record against top-25 teams, their 11 wins being by double digits, and once again, only having one loss. Ohio State is now in their fifth College Football Playoff meaning they have now participated in more than half of the playoffs since its inception in 2014.

With a lot of recent history, this Buckeyes team will have its own story to tell, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something we can learn from the past trips and exclusions. The Buckeyes have been here before, but they still have a lot to fix if they’re going to replicate their past successes.

Playoff History


Ohio State has a rich history as the No. 4 seed, once being sacred to modern Buckeye lore and the other being a repressed piece of the modern era. Ohio state is once again playing a Southern power with few backers in their corner. Some people have said this is exactly where Ohio State wants to be. Their other appearances have brought mixed results, but four of the five have resulted in a season-ending loss.

2014-2015

Starting in 2014, the Buckeyes had an early loss to Virginia Tech, but then rode an 11-game win streak into selection day. The final data point was a dismantling of Wisconsin, 59-0, winning the Big Ten Championship. Behind the consistent play of J.T. Barrett throughout the season, the emergence of Ezekiel Elliott, and one of the most talented Ohio State defenses in school history, they were able to jump over TCU and Baylor on the final Saturday.

The difference here is the Buckeyes were peaking at the right time. They showed improvement on a week-to-week basis on both sides of the ball. When the moment came to put it all together, the rest of the team was so locked in that the transition to a third-string quarterback was seamless. The rest is history. Strong defensive performances and an all-time run from the star running back in Elliott running for 696 yards and 8 touchdowns led to a national title.

Ohio State does not have Ezekiel Elliott, but the talented backs they do have will have time to rest up and hopefully be at full strength. The Buckeyes are at their best when they are balanced, and 2014 was an example of how dangerous a balanced offense can be. They dismantled Alabama, going 85 yards through the Heart of the South, and the defense was too much for Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.

If the Buckeyes commit to a balanced attack and the running backs are up to the task, their can be some noise made in Atlanta. They have shown they have the ability to get hot and go on a run.

2016-2017

Ohio State no-showed this time around, and the one man show on offense that was Curtis Samuel was not enough when the facing the Clemson Tigers. Clemson came into the matchup with one of the best quarterbacks in college football history in Deshaun Watson, a loaded group of receivers, and a defensive front with multiple NFL defenders.

Ohio State was overmatched immediately on both fronts, and that Clemson team was built similarly to the current Georgia team the Buckeyes will be facing. Compared to 2016, Ohio State has quite a few more weapons versus the team that lost 31-0, and that should keep this game from ending up with a scoreline like that.

That game set the course for the Buckeyes to find a new identity. Head coach Urban Meyer hired Ryan Day to be his offensive coordinator and committed to modernizing his offense. If a similar 31-0 result happens, Day might not have a job when he gets back to Columbus. But if this game shows any more weaknesses, he might finally make the necessary changes to keep his program in the conversation at the top of the sport.

2019-20

The playoff rivalry against Clemson got another chapter, this time with the Buckeyes having one of the most productive offenses in the country. Led by Justin Fields and J.K. Dobbins on offense, the team was the most balanced in the Ryan Day era. On defense, Ohio State had Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, Jordan Fuller, and more among the loaded cast of defenders.

The season began with the transfer of Fields. The Buckeyes started off dominant and maintained their dominant stature. On both sides of the ball they had game changing stars who could make a play at any time. Young was a Heisman contender on defense, and led the resurgence for the Buckeyes having one of the top units in the country.

Come playoff time, Ohio State had the 31-0 game heavy on their mind, but the Buckeyes came out firing. Unfortunately, an incompletion to J.K. Dobbins set the course of the misfortune Ohio State would have that day. An overturned fumble took a defensive touchdown off the board, and a targeting call on Shaun Wade had a decisive impact on the outcome.

The Buckeyes would have still needed to beat an LSU team that fielded arguably the greatest offense of all-time, but they did not even get that chance.

2020-2021

The most recent success for the Buckeyes was their revenge game against Clemson. For a third act, the Buckeyes finally got it right for four quarters. This game was the reason so many Ohio State fans were confident the Buckeyes would bounce back this year against Michigan. That was unfortunately not the case for Ohio State, but the difference this year is they have a chance to avenge that defeat similarly to how they avenged the loss to Clemson.

In that Covid-shortened season, Ohio State was only able to play six games and was a controversial pick for inclusion for that reason. The committee overlooked that fact and put in the four best teams. The Justin Fields led Buckeyes brought in a chip on their shoulder, multiple NFL receivers, and a defense that had showed flashes of excellence. When this Ohio State team was on, they were hard to beat.

This is what Clemson found out when Fields threw for six touchdowns, Trey Sermon added 193 yards in the ground, and the defense shoved Trevor Lawrence into a locker.

That Ohio State team did not play consistent football throughout the year and left a lot to be desired in their six wins. The defense let multiple teams back into games, but the ceiling was obvious when the Buckeyes put it all together. Once they found Trey Sermon, there was no looking back offensively and they got a hug performance from the defense.

In the national title game against Bama, we all remember the clip of Tuf Borland chasing DeVonta Smith. Need I say more?

The next opportunity


This Ohio State team has lived in its own universe, with a very different identity than the previous teams to get here. They have a top-10 defense and a top-3 offense in the country, but throughout the year this team has had long stretches of average football. The stagnation on offense and the missed assignments defensively have caused problems in the biggest games of Ohio State’s season.

But when comparing this team to past Ohio State playoff teams, there weren’t any teams with this consistent level of dominance throughout the season. Every Buckeye win was by double digits, and there were stretches where opponents saw games slip out of control in a snap. Gus Johnson has called Ohio State an avalanche with the way they just explode on teams.

The lasting impression of Ohio State was Donovan Edwards ripping off two long runs to put a nail in the coffin of Ohio State’s season. The Buckeyes now have a new lease on life and a history to add to, as Ryan Day said this team has a new energy. A possible return of Jaxon Smith-Njigba is looming, and Ohio State has a chance to be healthy. If they can reach the ceiling that many believe they came into the year with, this Ohio State team can recreate some past magic.

Having to beat Georgia and redeem a second loss to their rival is not a path any Ohio State team has taken before, but the final comparison will be drawn when we see the game on the New Year’s Eve. Then we’ll find out which category this Ohio State team will fall into. But for now, the Buckeyes have an opportunity to make history once again. The country expects a Georgia win, so Ohio State gets the rare opportunity to play the underdog.

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You’re Nuts: Way-too-early Ohio State-Georgia predictions
Josh Dooley 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

With the game nearly a month away, do we think the Buckeyes can upset the reigning champs?

Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.

In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.

This week’s topic: Way-too-early Ohio State-Georgia predictions

Josh’s Take


Ohio State and its fans received an early Christmas present this past weekend when the Buckeyes were chosen to participate in the 2022 College Football Playoff. We can debate how much they really earned it all day long, but the fact of the matter is, they were the fourth-most deserving team. Now, with a second lease on life according to Ryan Day, it comes down to whether or not they can take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

All of OSU’s team goals for the season are still attainable — including a victory over TTUN. But first they must get by the defending national champions and winners of 27 games (so far) since the beginning of the 2021 season. Easier said than done? That doesn’t even apply here, Gene, because not a single soul in this entire world has even whispered the word “easy” in reference to this matchup. If anything, people are screaming the opposite!

That is because the Georgia Bulldogs, while mortal, do not bleed often. At least not recently. Meaning, they have been the dominant force in CFB , and shown very few weaknesses while running roughshod over top-tier opponents. The ‘Dogs (or Dawgs) have not been ranked outside of the top-3 (AP) since 2021 preseason votes were cast, boast eight victories over top-11 teams during that same timeframe, and generally play their absolute best when the lights are brightest. See: margin of victory over ranked opponents. One could even say Kirby Smart has his ‘Dogs hunting.

On New Year’s Eve, they will get to do so in their own backyard. Played in Atlanta, the Peach Bowl is home sweet home for UGA, but very unfamiliar territory for Ohio State. The Buckeyes, despite appearing in bowl games essentially every year since the beginning of time, have never participated in a Peach Bowl — let alone won a football game in the state of Georgia, as far as I could tell. The chips seemingly keep stacking against OSU, and that is something I believe Gene and I agree on.

What I am not sure we agree on, however, is our initial reactions to this matchup. While we did not take a deep dive into this matchup on Hangout in The Holy Land, we did address the elephant in the room. That elephant being: Georgia is probably the better top-to-bottom team right now. The Bulldogs opened a touchdown or near-touchdown favorites for that exact reason.

But whereas I think my co-host is near the point of no return with this Ohio State coaching staff and certain position groups, I see this game as playing with house money. Few expect the Buckeyes to win this one, which means they can – and should – play with reckless abandon. As a clear underdog, they should throw caution to the win, empty the bag of tricks, do all of that high-risk/high-reward stuff we often chastise Ryan Day for avoiding. This is it, Gene! Scared money don’t make money, and I think Day goes for broke in this one.

My way-too-early prediction for this Peach Bowl is that history repeats itself. There is precedence here for OSU, against a top-ranked SEC team even! You likely already know what I am talking about, but I don’t want to just come out and say it. Instead, I will hit you with some very specific predictions, and put a bow on it and the end.

First off, for one reason or another, I think Kyle McCord starts this game. The Buckeyes have won a natty with a backup quarterback before, so why not try it again? I think the New Jersey native goes something like 18-of-35 passing, but hits a few big ones when it counts. He will also add a running element, forcing UGA to at least consider the possibility of a QB draw or read option keeper. McCord hooks up with his boy Marvin Harrison Jr. for at least one score and earns the nickname 6-Gauge.

McCord will share the spotlight with Miyan Williams, who enters this game finally healthy. I think he gashes an otherwise impenetrable Bulldog front, racking up 230 rushing yards and Peach Bowl MVP honors along the way. His moment – the one which earns him a permanent place in Ohio State lore – will come in the fourth quarter, when after a short McCord conversion, he busts through the line of scrimmage and rumbles for a long, decisive TD. People will say he went 85 yards through the heart of Georgia.

Lastly, I believe the much-maligned OSU defense will force UGA’s Stetson Bennett to throw a few back-breaking interceptions. The otherwise dependable 30-year old QB is surrounded by loads of talent, but he will be forced to try and win this one on his own. After 12 games of borderline ineptitude, Tim Walton’s cornerbacks finally play a solid game, but they are not the players coming away with INT. Instead, two Ohio State safeties turn the ball over, and J.T. Tuimoloau scores on another pick-6. He does so while Steve Miller Band — Fly Like an Eagle blares throughout Mercedes-Benz stadium.

That, my friends, is how history will repeat itself. Reminiscent of the 2014 season, the Buckeyes beat the unbeatable and punch their ticket to a national title game. And I cannot wait to see it.

Gene’s Take


I dont even know where to begin after Josh’s storybook description of Ohio State’s Kyle McCord-led victory over Georgia. I’m not sure which statement is harder to believe — McCord getting the start in the game of Tim Walton’s corners playing their first good game of the season! But I digress...

My podcast cohost already laid out the narrative. Many don’t think the Buckeyes deserve to be here, but they will have the ultimate opportunity for redemption if they can go on to win the national title. This can go one of two ways. Ohio State recreates its 2014 magic with an upset win over an SEC powerhouse followed by a hoisting a championship trophy with a vengeful win over its biggest rival, or the Buckeyes recreate what happened in 2016 where they snuck into the College Football Playoff without a Big Ten title only to be blown out by Clemson in the first round. Which of these two scenarios seem more likely?

Unfortunately, for me it is the latter. While this Ohio State team is certainly much better than the one that was shut out by the Tigers in the Fiesta Bowl, I have zero trust in Ryan Day to prepare for or call plays in games against this caliber of opponent. He can come out and talk all he wants about being loose and aggressive moving forward, but I'll believe it when I see it. He didn’t learn his lesson after being blown out by Alabama in the national title game or after last year’s embarrassing loss to Michigan, so why should I believe this year will be any different?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Ohio State absolutely has the talent to win this game if their head coach doesn’t turtle up again. C.J. Stroud is still one of if not the best quarterback in the country, and the prospect of having perhaps a healthy Jaxon Smith-Njigba to pair alongside Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka as well as a healthy Miyan Williams is a tantalizing thought. Georgia has the best defense in the country for the second year running, but they have not seen an offense quite like Ohio State at full strength this year — given their head coach doesn’t dial up bubble screens and passes to the tight end in critical spots.

On the other side of the ball, Georgia’s passing offense is strong, but isn’t super explosive. The Dawgs’ top receiver is tight end Brock Bowers, and while he is far and away the best at his position in the country, Ohio State has done a good job this year defending tight ends. Georgia also very quietly doesn’t have the greatest rushing attack in the world. It is fine, but not the typical dominant Georgia run game we’ve grown accustomed to. Kenny McIntosh and Daijun Edwards both average a little over five yards per carry, but once again the Buckeyes have been strong against the run.

It looks to be very much a strength on strength battle here, with Ohio State’s dynamic offense — when the play-calling is adequate, at least — against Georgia’s stout defense. I’m not completely writing off the Buckeyes in this one, but after what I saw in Columbus a little over a week ago, I simply can't pick a Ryan Day team to win a game of this magnitude right now. At this current moment, my gut tells me that Ohio State makes it interesting, but ultimately comes up short in a 35-31 type of game.

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Ohio State women’s basketball moves to No. 3 in AP Poll
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Due to a UConn defeat, the Buckeyes move up one more spot

The Ohio State Buckeyes women’s basketball team earned another spot in the AP poll this week. After starting at No. 14 in the preseason, and jumping up to No. 4 two weeks ago, the Scarlet & Gray now sit at No. 3, thanks to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Last week, the Buckeyes played twice. In the first game, in Louisville, Kentucky, head coach Kevin McGuff’s side went down 14 points near halftime, in a game that didn’t look like it’d go Ohio State’s way. In the second half, guard Taylor Mikesell’s 26 points helped the Buckeyes surge past the then No. 18 ranked Louisville Cardinals in a 96-77 eventual rout in the final ACC/B1G Challenge.

On Sunday, conference play began, with the Buckeyes traveling to Piscataway, New Jersey for a date against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Rutgers had a tough season to start the 22/23 campaign but pushed Ohio State to tie the Buckeyes’ lowest winning margin of 12 points, after going up 14 points in the first quarter alone.

Launching the Scarlet & Gray to their first Big Ten win was the scoring of Mikesell and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková. Mikesell’s 30 and Mikulasikova’s 31 propelled Ohio State to an 82-70 win, without All-B1G First Team point guard Jacy Sheldon, out with a lower leg injury. It was the first game of the season where the Buckeyes needed a big performance from two individual players, after seven games featuring fairly distributed performances.

Even so, the Buckeyes moved ahead of the No. 5 UConn Huskies, who occupied the No. 3 spot. UConn, is without star guard Azzi Fudd. The guard went down in the game with a knee injury, Notre Dame won 74-60, in South Bend, Indiana.

Speaking of Indiana, the Hoosiers jumped UConn too, taking the No. 4 spot.

The ranking jump over UConn makes sense if looking at records, but beneath the records, UConn’s had a strong start to the season. They were the first team during this campaign to win three games against top-10 opponents. On the dates they played the Texas Longhorns, NC State Wolfpack, and Iowa Hawkeyes, all three were ranked in the top 10, even though some have fallen over the past two weeks.

Compare that to the Buckeyes, who played one top-10 team in the Tennessee Volunteers, who are now unranked, and an away win against then No. 18 Cardinals. Overall, the standard of play at UConn has been higher, outside of their one defeat featuring an injury for a team who’s already down an injury with Paige Beuckers out for the entirety of the season.

With the new ranking comes new pressure for the Buckeyes. The only teams now ranked ahead of McGuff’s side are No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks and No. 2 Stanford University. The higher the ranking, the larger the target from opponents.

After Thursday’s home game against the University of New Hampshire, the Buckeyes welcome the Michigan State Spartans to Columbus in their first home conference test of the campaign.

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College Football Playoff offers Ryan Day a shot to change his legacy
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

Cracks have appeared in Day’s tenure at Ohio State as he gets further removed from the Urban Meyer era, but he now has a chance to rewrite his legacy’s trajectory.

Ryan Day is in his fourth season at the helm of the Ohio State football program, and after a promising start, some of the luster has come off of his stewardship of the Buckeyes the last couple of years. Despite maintaining a high level of recruiting, the further he’s removed from the Urban Meyer era, the more inconsistently his teams have played — and the more inexplicably odd the decisions and performances have become in the team’s biggest games, especially against the Buckeyes’ biggest rival.

However, with USC’s bad loss to Utah on Friday night and the Buckeyes’ selection to compete in the College Football Playoff, Day has a chance to correct the trajectory of his OSU legacy and move the narrative of his Ohio State career closer to that of Meyer’s than to John Cooper’s.

Things started brightly for Day in Columbus after Meyer’s departure. Day’s Buckeyes went unbeaten in the 2019 regular season, destroyed No. 13 Michigan in Ann Arbor, 56-27, defeated No. 8 Wisconsin by 13 points in the Big Ten Championship, and then got summarily robbed of an almost certain win over No. 3 Clemson due to an unconscionable officiating decision to overturn an apparent fumble forced by Jeff Okudah and Jordan Fuller’s subsequent scoop and score in the Fiesta Bowl.

That loss, which turned largely on a decision to negate a play that was called correctly on the field, was all that kept Day and the Buckeyes out of the national championship game in his first season in charge.

The 2020 season was an odd one due to the pandemic. After the Big Ten almost scrapped the season while other leagues played, conference teams played different numbers of games due to COVID outbreaks within their squads. Day’s Buckeyes navigated their way to the College Football Playoff after a 5-0 regular season, although a nervy home win over Indiana showed some vulnerability.

Day himself showed vulnerability as a head coach and as a play caller in the Big Ten title game against Northwestern that year. The Wildcats were locked in on stopping the pass in that game and did a good job of doing so. Despite some obvious early success on Trey Sermon runs, the Buckeyes trailed 10-6 at the half and steadfastly refused to commit to the ground game.

Once Day finally — seemingly begrudgingly — did that, Sermon turned in an all-time performance, setting a school record with 331 rushing yards as the Buckeyes outscored Northwestern 16-0 after halftime to win, 22-10.

It’s Monday, so why not spend five minutes enjoying those memories:


Day then led an angry Ohio State team against No. 2 Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinal and got everything exactly right, stuffing Dabo Swinney and the Tigers into a locker with a 49-28 revenge victory. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes lost some key players (including Sermon) prior to and early in the championship match-up with Alabama, couldn’t figure out how to cover DeVonta Smith, and fell 52-24. That was a great Crimson Tide team, and a national runner-up season was probably a fair final outcome for the 2020 Buckeyes.

But Year 3 after Urban is when the cracks really started to show. While it’s clear that defensive problems — which were wallpapered over a bit by shuffling the coaching staff deck chairs midseason — created problems for Ohio State, it wasn’t only that side of the ball that was at fault for an 11-2 season and the team’s first loss to Michigan since 2003.

It took a couple of games, including a home loss to Oregon that can largely be pinned on defensive scheme issues, to get first-year starter C.J. Stroud settled in. Those early games were exacerbated by Stroud’s shoulder injury that eventually got better with some rest. But it was the Penn State game when we first saw the Buckeyes play like they were wound far too tightly. The Buckeyes prevailed 33-24 at home, but there were a number of unnecessary mistakes, penalties, and a Jeremy Ruckert fumble that helped the Nittany Lions that day.

The Penn State performance spilled over into the next game when the Buckeyes went to Nebraska and played a bad (ultimately 3-9) Cornhuskers team much closer than expected, scoring just two touchdowns, and only 26 points. Six of Nebraska’s other opponents scored more points against the Huskers in 2021 than Ohio State did.

An easy 56-7 destruction of No. 7 Michigan State had the Buckeyes feeling good going into The Game last year. But then things went very wrong.

The Buckeyes again had to settle for field goals early, ran inconsistently, trailed at halftime, and the defense got steamrolled in the second half as the Wolverines won, 42-27. It was the first time Ohio State had failed to reach the Big Ten’s title game since 2016 and just the fourth time ever that the Buckeyes failed to get there.

Ohio State finished the season with an appearance in the Rose Bowl against Utah, missing high-profile opt-outs that included starting wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, defensive tackle Haskell Garrett, and tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere. The Buckeyes showed some resilience to rally back to defeat the Utes, 48-45.

The 2022 season provided a chance at a fresh start for Day, with some changes to the coaching staff that were supposed to fix the issues of 2021, particularly on defense and along the offensive line. For the most part, the changes to the coaching staff did what they were supposed to do until the rivalry game.

Day led the Buckeyes to a 21-10 win over No. 5 Notre Dame on opening day, but things didn’t look crisp. While it seemed like that might be due to the Fighting Irish being a good team, Notre Dame went on to suffer an embarrassing home loss to Marshall the next week and struggled to win some close games over the next several weeks, losing at home again to Stanford on Oct. 15. The Irish righted the ship after that and had a decent year, but Ohio State’s struggles against the Notre Dame defense seemed odd at the time and after the full regular season, they don’t seem any less strange.

But that was just the first salvo fired at Day’s reputation in 2022. There were first-half struggles against Iowa and Penn State, with some curious play-calling and a lack of any adjustments until halftime, and the team again seemingly played too tightly and looking unsettled at times. Ohio State trailed midway through the fourth quarter of that game before finally taking control, starting with a long TreVeyon Henderson touchdown run.

Then the trip to Northwestern showed an outright stubbornness on Day’s part to adjust to clearly difficult weather conditions and commit to running the football. A bad Wildcats team went into the locker room visibly excited to be tied 7-7 with the Buckeyes, and Ohio State managed only two more scores in the second half to win 21-7. Fans and pundits were again questioning the Buckeyes’ toughness and ability to play up to their talent level after that game, as they had done following the 2021 loss to Michigan.

The team went on the road the week before The Game and again struggled through the first half against a Maryland team that had lost its previous two games. Day’s Buckeyes couldn’t get much done offensively in the first half and trailed 13-10 at the break. Ohio State took control in the third quarter, but struggled again in the fourth as the Terrapins climbed back into the game, cutting the lead to three points with less than 10 minutes to play. Day’s offense added a field goal, but it was a defensive play that helped the Buckeyes put the game away with just seconds remaining.

Ohio State got off to a good start in The Game in 2022, but then suffered from the same issues it had all season. They all came to a head in one game. The team played tight —despite a good start — fell into play-calling ruts, had pre-snap penalties, and busted coverage regularly. Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles put his cornerbacks — a position group that struggled all season — on an island repeatedly in the first half and that allowed the Wolverines to bust some big plays and settle into the game after a jittery start.

None of Ohio State’s halftime adjustments worked in The Game, with the Buckeyes scoring just three measly second-half points. With Knowles’ defense uncharacteristically giving up two huge touchdown runs late, the final score wasn’t even close as the Wolverines prevailed, 45-23, winning in the Horseshoe for the first time in 20 years. Credit to Michigan, but it’s hard to imagine the team going gently to that goodnight under Meyer or Jim Tressel.

Despite an insanely good overall record, fans and some media outlets suggested (strongly) that Ohio State should replace Day as head coach. Public perception is that Day is trying to do too much and should turn over play-calling duties rather than trying to serve as both offensive coordinator and head coach. There’s plenty of ammunition for those critiques, with the Buckeyes laboring all season to do basic things — like getting the snap off before the play clock expired — and repeatedly calling plays that the team struggles to execute anywhere near satisfactorily (wide receiver screens, anyone?).

Though Day had few detractors over his first couple of seasons, and any criticisms of him seemed to come mainly from a vocal minority of a spoiled fanbase, the 2022 season — for the first time — made the suggestions of replacing him sound reasonable. It seemed there might be some credence to accusations that Day “doesn’t get” the rivalry with Michigan after two straight lopsided losses in The Game. And there was certainly plenty of evidence that Day refuses to change elements of his game plan that aren’t working or to adjust play-calling to throw out things that clearly aren’t working or stick with things that are.

Friday night, the Buckeyes got a major break, with USC getting housed by three-loss Utah in the Pac-12 championship. The Utes, who previously nipped the Trojans earlier in the year, destroyed USC in front of the entire nation in the rematch. After a season that included some close USC wins against average teams, in which a special player like quarterback Caleb Williams made all the difference, the Trojans had their second loss and that cracked the door open for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes got word Sunday that they’ll be going to the College Football Playoff after all. Their reward is a New Year’s Eve matchup with No. 1 Georgia — perhaps the best and most complete team in college football in 2022. Ohio State enters as the underdog, which is a role the team has not found itself in all year. There’s a chance to salvage a season that easily could have ended in a meaningless bowl game with several top players, including Stroud, sitting it out.

But now Day has a chance to rewrite an OSU legacy that has been showing more and more cracks as the time since Meyer’s departure grows. The Bulldogs will be tough and physical. Georgia’s defensive backs can run with Day’s celebrated receiving corps. And Kirby Smart’s offense can both run with power like Michigan and pick apart defenses through the air. Georgia made LSU look like a 2-10 team in the SEC championship. Avoiding a lopsided loss is imperative or Day’s critics will only get louder and Ohio State’s days of getting any benefit of the doubt will be over.

However, if Day and his staff can create a successful game plan to upset Georgia and get the Buckeyes to execute that plan with few (or no) mistakes, it will quiet some of the criticism. It will also likely set up a rematch with a team that has gotten the better of him two years running.

A win over the Bulldogs will probably — not certainly, but probably — set up a rematch of The Game on the biggest stage in college football. If Day can learn from his past mistakes and get revenge on Michigan in that iteration of The Game, it would shut just about everyone up and completely change the trajectory of his Ohio State coaching career. This would have to include working with Knowles to improve a dumpster fire of a game plan from the team’s most recent outing, but Day hired Knowles, so his destiny is tied to his defensive coordinator.

If Day were to lose that game, it might be a spiral from which he would be unable to recover. There is always pressure coaching at Ohio State. The next game — or two — will show how Day can handle it at its most intense.

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Why is this News? All the articles and tweets Buckeye fans need for December 5, 2022
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

All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.

Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.

Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.

You’re welcome!

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(Editor’s Note: Normally our Why is this News? column focuses on all things Ohio State athletics, but today, we are zeroing in on just the College Football Playoff, for obvious reasons)

After the Announcement


Ohio State sneaks into the College Football Playoff at No. 4
Gene Ross, Land-Grant Holy Land

What Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Georgia’s Kirby Smart said after being matched up in Peach Bowl
Patrick Murphy, Bucknuts

Injury updates on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Buckeyes running backs
Andy Backstrom, Lettermen Row

Watch Ryan Day’s full post-CFP announcement press conference:


Snap Judgments: National title hopes alive as Buckeyes head to Peach (paywall)
Austin Ward, Dotting the Eyes

After ‘awful’ week, re-energized Buckeyes entering ‘new season’ in CFP (paywall)
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row

Ohio State Took “A Hard Look in the Mirror: Following Michigan Loss, Then Turned Page to Preparing for College Football Playoff
Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors

Ohio State energized by College Football Playoff invite: ‘Time to go to work’ (paywall)
Cameron Teague Robinson, The Athletic

Ryan Day thinks an Ohio State vs. Michigan rematch in the national championship would be ‘historic’
Stephen Means, cleveland.com

Social Media Reaction from Ohio State Players, Others as the Buckeyes Earn a College Football Playoff Berth Against Georgia
Garrick Hodge, Eleven Warriors

If he’s back close to 100%, it’s a completely different situation for the Buckeyes


Underdog role could help Ohio State find its best in Playoff (paywall)
Bill Landis, Dotting the Eyes

Ohio State football envying Georgia, chasing Michigan and living the underdog life
Nathan Baird, cleveland.com

For the Ohio State Buckeyes, College Football Playoff karma comes around
Doug Lesmerises, cleveland.com

Buckeyes must simplify and play loose to reach ultimate goal
Rob Oller, The Columbus Dispatch

Not. Done. Yet!


Why CFP committee kept Buckeyes below TCU in final rankings
Joey Kaufman, The Columbus Dispatch

Five Things to Know About Georgia Before Ohio State Takes on the Defending National Champion in the College Football Playoff
Griffin Strom, Eleven Warriors

Michigan football: Ohio State rematch ‘would be truly a blessing,’ J.J. McCarthy says
Robbie Weinstein, 247Sports

How much Ohio State coaches are seeing in bonuses from CFP berth
Joey Kaufman, The Columbus Dispatch

Here for all of this!

Before the Announcement


‘Ball Hell Broke Loose: Championship Week chaos abounded
Jami Jurich, Land-Grant Holy Land

Ohio State has likely made the College Football Playoff, and the internet is mad about it
Gene Ross, Land-Grant Holy Land

While this was our CFP announcement preview show, there’s some good discussions in here about the Buckeyes’ matchup with Georgia, and potentially against Michigan:


Ask LGHL: Should Ohio State fans want the Buckeyes to make the College Football Playoff?
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land

LGHL Asks: Do Ohio State fans want the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff?
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land

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Game Notes: No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball laments poor win at Rutgers
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State University athletic department

A win’s a win for the Buckeyes, but there's a lot of lessons in their first Big Ten game of the season

Sunday, the Ohio State Buckeyes women’s basketball team traveled to Piscataway, New Jersey for their first Big Ten conference game of the season. What began as a Buckeyes rout stalled, becoming a close game that the final scoreline doesn’t necessarily support. Here’s what to take away from the 82-70 Buckeyes win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

No Jacy Sheldon


Following the Thursday game at No. 18 Louisville Cardinals, starting point guard Jacy Sheldon, who played 38 minutes, scoring a season-high 22 points, said she felt great.

The guard played great on the court against Louisville, but Sunday she was out again. Again listed as day-to-day, no Sheldon was evident on the court. How long will the injury stay day-to-day? Will Sheldon return for the Buckeyes' next Big Ten game, Sunday against the Michigan State Spartans?

Michigan State, on paper, gives Ohio State more of a challenge than Rutgers. Since Sheldon’s injury surfaced, the games she’s missed have been against teams that shouldn’t challenge the Scarlet & Gray, with Sunday’s closer win being the nerviest result of the three.

Rebeka Mikulášiková and Taylor Mikesell Save the Day


Scoring 74% of all Buckeye points on Sunday was forward Rebeka Mikulášiková and guard Taylor Mikesell.

From the tip, Mikesell was dangerous, but into the second half, Mikulášiková began hitting layup after layup in the paint and surpassed the guard in points in the fourth quarter. With Rutgers surging near the end of the second quarter and moving into the third, the Ohio State duo scored all 18 third-quarter points to keep the Buckeyes lead.

“We played good pick and roll together,” said Mikulášiková. “And find open options for either of us.”

The two complimented one another, each hitting a three in the third. Outside of their lone shots from beyond the arc, Mikesell hit floating layups outside of the paint and Mikulášiková used moves under the basket to find space and hit impressive layup after impressive layup.


It wasn’t a situation where one was pushing the other or trying to one-up each other, but a situation where it was all Ohio State had, offensively.

Of Ohio State’s 39 second-half points, 31 were from either Mikulášiková or Mikesell. The rest of the Buckeyes shot 3-for-11 from the floor.

Diagnosing the Issue


So what was the problem on Sunday? The game started in Ohio State’s favor, going up 14 in the first quarter and allowing only eight points for the home side in the first 10 minutes. Rutgers began the game slowly, hoping to limit the number of Buckeye possessions, and Ohio State battled through it, sped up the tempo of the game, and broke away.

“Great start overall but not a great performance overall,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “We have to get a lot better than today.”

Coach McGuff cites a lack of effort throughout the entire 40 minutes as a symptom of Sunday’s performance. Without Sheldon, Ohio State’s press wasn’t nearly as effective, forcing 21 turnovers for Rutgers.

That sounds like a pretty good day for most teams, but the Scarlet Knights came into Sunday averaging 20.9 turnovers a game. The defensive full-court press was effective in small sprints, but not close to games like Tennessee or Louisville.

In terms of shooting, Rutgers' defensive zone allowed for Ohio State to send passes into the low block early. As that adjusted, only Mikulášiková had success getting up shots near the basket. The rest of Ohio State’s shooting was forced, settling for bad looks or attempts into traffic.

“Coming in on the road, you can’t walk into an arena, or a place like this, and play the way we did and win most nights,” said Mikesell. “And we know that. We’re going to get better and practice and be ready for the next game.”

Guards Limit Mistakes


A positive is in Ohio State’s turnovers. The Buckeyes had only 10 and in that total, zero came from guards Mikesell and Madison Greene.

Greene, who played all 40 minutes for the first time since returning from injury, didn’t have an active shooting night. She took six attempts, hitting half. However, Greene added seven assists and three steals, along with not giving up the ball once.

Those six points were impressive though.


If sloppiness hit the guard duo, the Buckeyes 8-0 record might be 7-1.

Big Ten Begins


Ohio State starts its 18-game conference season with a victory, albeit one with a lot of lessons to learn.

Even so, a game against Rutgers, even a side that’s rebuilding, is what happens in conference play. Teams up their game, especially Sunday on a day when they honored legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer, and that energy is going to line Big Ten games leading all the way through the end of the season.

Outside of Tennessee and Louisville, Ohio State’s had a genuinely easy walk through the season, to this point. Sunday’s closer win, still double-digits but tied for their lowest point margin of the season, could help push this team to a level fitting of their No. 4 AP poll ranking.

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I-70 Football Podcast: Two B1G teams in the College Football Playoffs
JordanW330 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

For the third time in nine seasons, one conference has two teams in the College Football Playoffs — but for the first time, it’s the Big Ten and not the SEC.

Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s I-70 podcast. On this show, we talk about all things Big Ten football and basketball. After every week of action, we will get you caught up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players that you should be paying attention to in the next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.

Listen to the episode and subscribe:


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The Michigan Wolverines are your 2022 Big Ten Champions. Under Jim Harbaugh’s leadership, Michigan has won back-to-back Big Ten championships for the first time in over two decades. The Wolverines will now turn their sights to winning a national championship for the first time since 1985. Michigan, the No. 2 seed, is joined in the playoffs by bitter rival Ohio State, who claimed the No. 4 seed after USC lost to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Michigan will face No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, while Ohio State travels to Atlanta to face Georgia in the Peach bowl.

In this episode of the I-70 Football Show, the guys discuss the importance of the Big Ten having two teams in the playoffs, which has only ever been done by the SEC. Collectively this was a down year for the B1G with only three teams ranked in the final top 25, but it was top-heavy as Penn State finished at No. 11 and will take on Utah in the Rose Bowl. Overall, nine Big Ten teams reached a bowl game, as Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin joined the other three in the postseason.

The guys get into their favorite matchups this bowl season and what a 12-team playoff would look like today. Dante and Jordan also discussed some of the recent news in the Big Ten, such as Jim Leonhard staying on at Wisconsin while former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara is transferring to Iowa. Lastly, Jordan won the picks competition with a final record of 82-24, as Dante ended in a close second with a 79-27 overall record.


Connect with us on Twitter:

Jordan: @JordanW330

Dante: @DanteM10216

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Tut from LSU here wishing you well against the Georgia Bullfrogs. Also due to some serious breaches of commonly accepted conduct I encourage your coaches to reach out to CBK at LSU for all our tapes and info on Georgia, we did score 30 on them with missed FG and forth and inches at 5 we screwed up. So should have been 40. I think you wiIl find Tennessee willing to help you out too. Bullfrogs have gotten too big for their britches as we say down here and deserve a good ass kicking

‘Ball Hell Broke Loose: Championship Week chaos abounded
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 Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The conference championships have been decided, and the Buckeyes aren’t out yet

The Buckeyes’ playoff fate hung in the balance heading into this weekend coming off last week’s loss to Michigan. But as it turns out, enough chaos unfolded in the last 72 hours that not only did our beloved Bucks make the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, but there is the possibility of vengeance against TTUN in the biggest game of the year.

Stop to consider – what if The Game were the National Championship game? (I think I personally deserve this as the Natty is on my birthday mere blocks from my apartment, so I will need OSU to do me a favor and beat Georgia in the first round).

How did we go from outside looking in to back on the inside without setting foot on the field? Let’s unpack this week’s conference championships.


Utah v. USC — Pac-12 Championship Game

Buckeye fans like myself were face first in a bowl of guac thinking our playoff hopes were all but over. There was no way USC would lose to Utah AGAIN right? RIGHT?

Utah decided to throw us a bone and curb stomp the Trojans, 47-24, to become the Pac-12 Champs. USC took an early 17-3 lead, and then Utah’s defense found its groove, rattling the Trojans and tying it up before heading into the half. By the end of the game, Caleb Williams was basically hobbling around after being smacked around for two quarters. He’s not a Heisman contender for nothing though – he was still in it to win it. But USC as a whole never really got its mojo back after the half, and Utah’s hunger proved too much.

I do still think Williams will win the Heisman, but maybe take my predictions with a grain of salt, because I would have predicted that USC would be out for blood on Friday, both to avenge their Oct. 15 loss to the Utes and to seal a playoff berth. Instead, they cracked the door for the Buckeyes.


Kansas State v. TCU — Big-12 Championship Game

The chaos continued, and the Buckeyes’ playoff door opened wider when the Horned Frogs – who went into this game undefeated – lost in overtime to Kansas State, 31-28. That’s right, the three-loss Wildcats handed the Horned Frogs their only loss of the season.

It came down to inches — six to be exact. That’s how short TCU fell in its attempt to punch in an overtime touchdown. To be honest, it’s remarkable that such a small margin made the difference when TCU had been basically tossed down a well earlier in the game. Even with the loss, these Horned Frogs proved they deserve to be in the playoffs if for no other reason than they clawed their way out of that well to tie it up. Max Duggan rallied his team when it wasn’t looking good, and even though they didn’t come away with the win, it made it hard to ignore this team.

And knowing what we know now, that this TCU team is Michigan’s next opponent, aren’t we all Horned Frogs fans at the moment?


Clemson v. North Carolina — ACC Championship

This game was boring. As expected, Clemson won, 39-10. They are still not a playoff-caliber team, especially after losing to South Carolina to pick up their second loss of the year. Next.


LSU v. Georgia – SEC Championship

Oh sweet LSU. I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. And you really did try. But this game was pretty much all Georgia all the time, with Stetson Bennett leading the undefeated Dawgs to a 50-30 victory with a season-high four touchdown passes. LSU didn’t do itself any favors. There was a messy missed field goal that Georgia returned for a touchdown because the Tigers didn’t realize the ball was live.

Then Christopher Smith, who had already returned that missed field goal for a 96-yard Bulldog touchdown, deflected an LSU pass off the helmet of an LSU receiver, leading to an interception.

By the time LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injured his ankle late in the second quarter, Georgia had already established dominance. Backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier did everything he could to keep the Tigers in the game, but it wasn’t enough, with the Dawgs proving why they hold the No. 1-seed going into the playoffs.

The bad news for them? The Buckeyes are hungry for a rematch against TTUN, and they have to go through Georgia to get it.


Purdue v. Michigan – Big 10 Championship

When TTUN wins, we don’t acknowledge it here in Buckeye Country, except for how it pertains to us. This time, their 43-22 win over the Boilermakers means that with one more win apiece, the Buckeyes could potentially rematch the Wolverines for THE most important game: The Natty.

Beyond that, we don’t discuss Wolverine wins, so I won’t be adding anything further.


Honorable Chaotic Mention:

This insane post from ESPN that drags Alabama in the pettiest way, and FOR WHAT? Made my whole day. Still laughing. Hope you are too.


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Hangout in the Holy Land Podcast: Ohio State set to take on Georgia in the College Football Playoff
Gene Ross 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

Welp, Buckeyes are back...

The latest episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s flagship podcast ‘Hangout in the Holy Land’ is here! Join LGHL’s co-managing editor Gene Ross alongside his co-host Josh Dooley as they cover everything from football to basketball to recruiting and more!

Listen to the episode and subscribe:

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


Despite appearing like Ohio State’s season came to an end last weekend against Michigan, the Buckeyes got some much-needed help and have actually snuck into the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed, where they are set to take on Georgia in the Peach Bowl on New Years Eve. With Clemson and Tennessee both suffering loses to South Carolina and USC getting blown out by Utah in the Pac-12 title game, it opened the door for the Buckeyes to make the CFP as the only remaining one-loss team with a good enough resume. Ryan Day and his team now have a chance at redemption.

“Hangout in the Holy Land” will be posting two episodes per week during the regular season, with an episode before and after each Ohio State game to give you all the preview and recap content you may need. Be sure to download and listen in wherever you get your podcasts, and leave us a review on Apple to let us know your thoughts and how we can make things even better!

You can also follow us on Twitter @HolyLandPod, where we will want to hear from you guys even more! If there’s anything you’d like us to talk about on the show, @ us and let us know!

As always, Go Bucks.


Connect with the Podcast:
Twitter: @HolyLandPod

Connect with Gene:
Twitter: @Gene_Ross23

Connect with Josh
Twitter: @jdooleybuckeye

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No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball holds on to beat Rutgers 82-70
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State University athletic department

In a game that looked like a blowout, Rutgers battled back but two Buckeyes came up big

Sunday, the Big Ten calendar began for the No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball team. On the schedule was the lone regular season match-up against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. It was a momentous day for Rutgers off the court, celebrating legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer, who led the Knights from 1995-2022.

On the court, Ohio State went ahead big early, but Rutgers fought back to make it interesting. In the end, Buckeyes still pull out the 82-70 win.

Before any of the ceremony began, Ohio State had a storyline of their own develop when news broke that senior guard Jacy Sheldon was not in the starting lineup this afternoon. She was out with a lower leg injury, the same one that kept Sheldon out for the two games leading into her start against No. 18 Louisville Cardinals. In her place was junior guard Madison Greene.

It was Greene who started the scoring for Ohio State too. After a slow few minutes for both sides, Greene hit a layup that was the cornerstone of the Buckeyes first quarter offense. Of the Scarlet & Gray’s 20 first-quarter points, eight came inside the paint. Ohio State adjusted to Rutger’s zone defense and began to throw passes under the basket for higher-percentage looks.

Just over halfway into the first quarter, forward Cotie McMahon grabbed an impressive assist. Attacking the basket herself, McMahon found a wide open Taylor Thierry who easily put in one of her two shots made in the first 10 minutes of today’s game.

On Rutger’s end of the court, they did what they could to slow the game down and limit turnovers. The home side went deep into their shot clock and their roster, playing all eight players in the first quarter alone. While the game slowed, the Buckeyes still forced turnovers, grabbing six in the first quarter.

Ohio State didn’t take their time scoring in the second quarter. Within two minutes, the Buckeyes scored 10, shooting their lead up to 20 points thanks to guard Taylor Mikesell and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková. Both hit two shots apiece, with both shots from Mikesell were from distance.

To the home team’s credit, their game lifted in the second quarter in front of Stringer. Rutgers didn’t let the Ohio State lead increase after the early push. The Scarlet Knights started moving the pace a bit faster, and found quick passes to break out of Ohio State’s full-court pressure.

The Buckeyes’ defense stayed strong, and the defensive play of the quarter came at the hands of McMahon and Greene. Rutgers forced a turnover and they went on a two-player break. McMahon used her court-shortening speed to catch up and force a pass. On that pass, Greene was waiting, stopping guard Abby Streeter from getting a layup off.

Leading the scoring in the second quarter was Mikesell. Of her 19 first half points, 12 came in the second where she put the Buckeyes offense on her back. Mikesell was perfect in her three three-point attempts, going 5-for-6 overall in the quarter. Ohio State entered halftime up 43-28.

At the end of the second quarter, Rutgers guard Kaylene Smikle hit a buzzer-beating three and the Scarlet Knights kept that momentum moving into the second half. Head coach Coquese Washington’s side extended that three into a 14-7 run into the second half of the third quarter, bringing Ohio State's lead down to nine, their first single-digit lead since the first quarter.

Although Rutgers stifled the Buckeyes a bit in the third quarter, Mikesell and Mikulášiková kept Ohio State in the game. The two accounted for all 18 of OSU’s points in the third quarter, with the rest of the team shooting a combined 0-for-7. Mikesell and Mikulášiková split the points down the middle with nine each in the 11:16-minute stretch of game minutes where only the two scored.

Part of that third quarter was a potential injury concern three minutes into the quarter. Thierry went up for a rebound and Smikle was fouled by the Buckeyes forward, going to the ground. Smikle landed on Thierry’s arm, and she didn’t react negatively to Smikle landing on her, but left the court soon after the fall for precautionary reasons. Fortunately for Ohio State, Thierry returned and so did their double-digit lead, entering the final quarter up 61-49.

The Mikulášiková and Mikesell show continued into the fourth, scoring nine of Ohio State’s first 10 points of the quarter.

Maybe it was the the emotions of the day, but Rutgers didn’t look like the team they’ve been entering Sunday. The home side kept up the scoring with the Buckeyes and never allowed Ohio State to put their foot slightly off the gas like they did against the Cardinals.

With 2:22 left in the game, center Kossandra Brown hit her second three of the game. This time, in the fourth quarter, it put Rutgers back within eight points.

Ohio State needed a response, and going into the timeout Greene did that, hitting a layup running through defenders in the lane to put the lead back up over 10 points.

The Buckeyes were able to hold on, and it was with forcing turnovers. After attacking the basket and hitting free throws, Ohio State held on to win, 82-70.

Taylor Mikesell Rises Above


Each game this season, a different Buckeye’s had their chance to make a lasting impact on a game. Mikesell is always in the conversation, and each game seems to create moments that push Ohio State forward. On Sunday, Mikesell didn’t have moments — instead, the whole game was her moment.

Mikesell’s stats were above her season averages, but off the stat sheet her play lifted teammates. Not only was Mikesell scoring and hitting shots from deep but creating space for teammates, increasing the defensive pressure, grabbing the ball away from Rutgers under the basket and leading Ohio State on the court in leadership and scoring.

Mikulášiková Keeps Up with Mikesell


It’s difficult to keep up with Mikesell when she’s firing on all cylinders, but on Sunday Rebeka Mikulášiková did just that.

The forward was hitting her shots within the paint, making moves under the basket to score 31 points, a new career high after scoring 23 against North Alabama a week ago. Even eclipsing Mikesell who scored 30 on the day.

Honoring C. Vivian Stringer


Although she wore a different scarlet than the Buckeyes, legendary NCAA coach Stringer was the focal point before the game Sunday. On a day they named the court after the famous coach, the first black coach to achieve the illustrious 1000-win mark, the three-time coach of the year and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, received an ovation from home fans and Ohio State on Sunday.

It was an ovation for someone worthy of such recognition. Rutgers University honored her with a court design replica using a piece of the actual court before the tip.

In an emotional halftime speech, Stringer began talking but couldn’t find the words, overcome with emotion:

“I think my team always knows that when I’m overwhelmed, I just cry,” said Stringer. “I love you.”

What’s Next


No. 4 Ohio State (8-0) plays two games in the next week, both at home. Up first is the University of New Hampshire in an early 11:00 a.m. ET game on Thursday. After the brief break from conference play, the Buckeyes welcome the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET. Ohio State’s game against MSU will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

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Begrudgingly hailing the Big Ten champions
David M Wheeler via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Reflections of a Buckeye fan on championship weekend while the Bucks sit idly by.

Championship weekend


I must say that I wasn’t really looking forward to this weekend. After the second half of last week’s game, about the only thing that I was looking forward to was next season. But then, on Friday night, the Trojans couldn’t hold their playoff spot, getting stomped by Utah 47-24, and it appeared that the College Football Playoffs selection might be chaotic enough to give Ohio State one more chance.

I had been traveling all week, so it was good to sit in front of the tube and take in a full day’s worth of sports, starting with the World Cup. Defensive lapses cost the U.S. that one, and it was on to the Big 12 championship. It was a game that left me wondering why TCU head coach Sonny Dykes would choose to try for the touchdown on fourth down of his overtime possession, rather than take the field goal. And, given that decision, why he didn’t run a play for quarterback Max Duggan, who had brought the Frogs back into the game. Bad decisions. Kansas State 31, TCU 28.

I live in Savannah, smothered by UGa flags, bulldogs, and obnoxious zealots. But we all know that Georgia is good – really good – and has been for several years now. LSU played a decent game, but this one belonged to the Dawgs all the way. During the matchup, I texted my brother in Columbus, asking him if he’d like to see the Buckeyes taking on Kirby Smart’s boys. His silence was all the answer I needed.

At last, the Big Ten Championship game


Dinner was over. The dishes washed and put away. A couple of ACC teams were playing on another channel, and I was hoping against hope that Jim Harbaugh would take a loss. As TTUN scored on its first possession, I realized that I didn’t care all that much. If OSU didn’t win the B1G, then it didn’t matter who did. But I was committed to watching it. Eighteenth-century Irish philosopher Bishop George Berkeley argued that the only way we know something, with “certitude” (his word), is to perceive it with our senses. (Yes, yes, the tree falling in the woods.) I figured I’d better keep the game on, or it wouldn’t exist.

When I woke up, it was halftime, and the sound had been thoughtfully muted. Michigan led, but only by a point, 14-13. For a brief time, I was rejuvenated.

The second half


Then came the second half, a half that we had seen before against the Buckeyes. Michigan has been a second-half team all season. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the halftime adjustments of the coaching staff, and that might be the case, especially with their defense. The offense, on the other hand, seems simply to wear down opposing defensive lines as the game progresses, gaining more and more yards on the ground, exploding for big plays, breaking the foes’ wills.

The Wolverines put up 29 points in the second half, including a two-point conversion on the third TD. The Boilermakers managed three scores of their own – all field goals. Final score: 43-22. Very much a replay of their win at The Shoe.

Purdue’s Aiden O’Connell, a very good passing quarterback, had a pretty big night. Despite being sacked four times, he hit 32 of his 47 passes (68%) for 366 yards. But there were no touchdown tosses, and he was picked off twice. The Boilermakers, in fact, had more total yards than UM – 456-386 – and more first downs. They had the ball longer, by more than seven minutes. But they lost the game. And it wasn’t close.

Michigan’s formula for victory was the same as the week before. Prevent big plays from the opponent. Hold them to field goal attempts, rather than touchdowns. And create some big plays of their own. Purdue had six drives that resulted in points. But there was only one touchdown, to go with the five field goals. While the Boilermakers did have a number of plays for longer than 20 yards, the longest being a 32-yard pass play, they didn’t go all the way. There was always a blue-clad safety, and he always made the play.

On the other side of the ball, there was Donovan Edwards carrying the ball. He didn’t break the 200-yard mark, as he did against the Buckeyes, but he racked up 185 yards on his 27 carries. Quick through big holes, then turn on the jets. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy again was solid, without being spectacular. As a passer, he’s no C.J. Stroud. Nor is he an Aiden O’Connell. But he reeled off a 9.5-yard average for his 17 passing attempts, threw three TD passes, and had only one interception. This balanced offensive attack moved the ball down the field and put it over the goal line. Michigan, too, had six scores. But, in their case, they were all touchdowns.

The playoff picture on Selection Sunday


So now we know. With USC’s devasting loss, the Buckeyes are in the playoffs, facing Georgia on New Year’s Eve. The team deserves the slot, and I relish the opportunity for the Bucks. Beating the Bulldogs in Atlanta won’t be easy, by any means. But remember 2014? The Buckeyes seemingly “stole” a spot to get into the playoffs, got seeded No. 4, and beat No. 1 Alabama on the way to the national championship. It could happen again.

And, of course, we get to see C.J. Stroud for at least one more game. Maybe TreVeyon Henderson and even Jaxon Smith-Njigba. We haven’t really witnessed a full-strength OSU team all year. LSU moved the ball through the air fairly easily yesterday. And the Buckeyes have far more firepower. New Year’s Eve offers an opportunity for redemption and for achievement. Let’s get it done. Go Bucks!

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Ohio State sneaks into the College Football Playoff at No. 4
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Buckeyes aren’t dead after all...

Well, well, well...

After Ohio State fans spent the last week picking up the pieces from the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan and trying to figure out what comes next, it turns out there is still meaningful football left to be played. On Friday night, USC suffered its second loss of the season in a beatdown at the hands of Utah in the Pac-12 title game, opening the door for C.J. Stroud and company to get another shot at redemption and backdoor their way into the College Football Playoff. With two losses, few real signature wins and one of the worst statistical defensive units in the country, the Trojans have been superseded by the Buckeyes in the season’s final rankings.

As a result, the College Football Playoff will officially look as follows:

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. TCU
4. Ohio State

Ohio State now has a chance to set up the biggest edition of The Game in the storied history of the rivalry if the two teams meet in the national title, but they will first have to get past the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs. Despite losing a ton of talent to the NFL Draft after last year, Georgia once again features the nation’s top defense, allowing just 11.3 points per game to lead all of FBS. The Buckeyes will be hoping to get healthy over the next month in the lead up to the game, and getting guys like Miyan Williams, TreVeyon Henderson and maybe even Jaxon Smith-Njigba back on the field could go a long way in beginning Ryan Day’s redemption arc.

The other game will pit Big Ten Champion Michigan against Big 12 runner-up TCU. The Horned Frogs were undefeated heading into their conference title game against Kansas State, and despite the best efforts of Heisman candidate QB Max Duggan, fell just short to the Wildcats in overtime by a score of 31-28. The Wolverines, now officially without star RB Blake Corum the rest of the way, defeated Purdue in Indianapolis to secure their second-straight B1G title after knocking off the Buckeyes in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. J.J. McCarthy and Donovan Edwards will look to lead UM to its first national title since 1997.

As of Sunday morning, here were the betting odds for the College Football Playoff, courtesy of the DraftKings Sportsbook:

To win the National Title

• Georgia -130
• Michigan +300
• Ohio State +330
• TCU +1500

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

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Buckeyes are in the playoffs, and will have to knock off the defending champs in Atlanta to have a chance at TTUN.

We’ll talk about this later: The Fyre Festival of basketball tournaments
Meredith Hein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

Your dose of lighthearted takes from last week.

Each week, we’ll break down something that happened during the Ohio State game (and occasionally other games) that we’ll be talking about for a while—you know, the silly sideline interactions, the awful announcing and the weird storylines that stick with us for years to come. We’ll also compare each of these happenings to memorable moments in pop culture, because who doesn’t love a good Office reference?

If your favorite basketball team went to something called the “Las Vegas Invitational” featuring elite women’s hoops programs from across the country, you might expect a little glitz and glamour that comes with hosting an event in such a city. You might even envision, in this era of sports betting and NIL, some sort of promotions around the players present at the tournament. In a year when the Las Vegas Aces won their first WNBA title, you’d also expect that there would be some pageantry associated with this historic event.


At a minimum, you would expect the barebones required to play a basketball game: a court, a scorer’s table, a scoreboard and a ball. And probably that it would take place in a room built for a sporting event.

Well, they had a court, a scorer’s table, a scoreboard and a ball at the Las Vegas Invitational, a women’s basketball tournament featuring nine Division I women’s hoops teams over Thanksgiving weekend. But that was about it.

And it took place in a ballroom.


The photos are absurd. It looks like the organizers rapidly shifted from an orthopaedic surgery conference to a basketball tournament, complete with the never-show-dirt carpet and tray ceilings. It’s certainly not the arrangement one might expect for a team like Indiana, a top-5 ranked undefeated team which traveled across the country for this.

Organized by Bryce McKee, this was sold as a high-end event. McKee is a former women’s basketball assistant coach who was accused of making sexual advances toward multiple players. For a horrifying example of an assault on women in action, check out this article. It is terrible and beyond the scope of this piece, but had to be mentioned.

However, the event was poorly organized, had limited attendance for fans (because, again, it was a ballroom with two rows of folding chairs for seating) and even required players to bring their own towels.

With all the promises and absolute underwhelming results, the Las Vegas Invitational was the Fyre Festival of basketball tournaments. A classic example of over promise, under deliver.


As Thomas Costello and I discussed on the Play Like a Girl podcast last week, the tournament was a failure for other reasons that impacted player safety. At one point, Auburn Tigers forward Kharyssa Richardson was injured. The organizers took nearly 40 minutes to get her medical attention.

Indiana head coach Teri Moren did not mince words on what she thought of the tournament, so we’ll end with her thoughts:


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