Brett Ludwiczak
Guest
You’re Nuts: Who in Ohio State sports are you giving an Oscar to?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
On Sunday night, the 96th Academy Awards, or The Oscars as it is commonly referred to, were held in Los Angeles. With the award show being the most talked about pop culture event over the past week, we figured it would be fun to apply some of the awards to Ohio State sports over the last year. While it might be easy to try and use movies to describe some of what we saw from Buckeye sports, that’s not quite what we are going for. We know that losing to Michigan, followed by the performance of the football team in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri made it feel like the world might be ending, much like Oppenheimer made things seem.
Instead, we are talking about the actual award. Best Picture could refer to a favorite game you watched from any of Ohio State’s teams over the last year. Best Actor or Actress translates to an outstanding Buckeye athlete, or Best Supporting Actor or Actress would give proper due to an unsung player or assistant coach. You could even have a little fun with the awards. Best Animated Feature could refer to an Ohio State player or coach losing their cool, or maybe there was a Buckeye uniform that should be given Best Costume Design.
After clamoring for Ryan Day to give up play calling for a couple of years, it looks like the head coach of Ohio State football finally realized it was necessary to let somebody else handle the sticks on offense. It sounded like this might be happening last offseason when there was talk Brian Hartline would be calling plays for the Buckeyes, but it was obvious Day wasn’t ready to give up his control of the offense. Instead, we saw way too many bubble screens and terrible decisions in short-yardage situations from Ohio State in 2023.
Remember after the 2013 season when Urban Meyer made some changes on the defensive side of the football following losses to Michigan State and Clemson to end the season? This has some of that feel, except on offense. Day brought in former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator in January. There was no way Ohio State was going to bring in O’Brien if Day wasn’t going to let him put his stamp on the Buckeye offense. Oddly enough, we never got to see the actual product on the field since O’Brien would take the Boston College head coaching job after former Ohio State assistant Jeff Hafley left for an assistant coaching position with the Green Bay Packers. Makes you wonder if Day made a call to Hafley since he knew how the dominoes would fall if Hafley left Boston College!
After O’Brien was named the new Boston College head coach, Day moved quickly to fill the offensive coordinator position. No offense to O’Brien, but Day actually upgraded at the position, not only bringing in his mentor, but a sitting head coach at a Power 5 school, Chip Kelly. The former head coach wasn’t interested in continuing as the “CEO” of a college football program, while it was necessary that Day moved more into that role. Obviously, there is going to be a lot of comfort with Kelly calling the play for the Buckeyes this fall.
As if bringing in Kelly wasn’t a big enough home run, before the former UCLA coach was in the fold Day already was very active in the transfer portal, with the biggest acquisition on offense is running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss. Judkins will team with the returning TreVeyon Henderson to form the most dynamic running back combo in the country, which will play right into the hands of Kelly. Handing the ball off to those two running backs will be Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard, who is an upgrade over Kyle McCord.
While I know I might be crowning the 2024 Ohio State before they even take the field, there’s no questioning that Day has made the right moves, especially on offense, that should have the Big Ten and the rest of the college football world on edge.
The job of a film editor is to take the raw footage that a director has shot, cut it up, reassemble it into its best version, and deliver a final product that is better than the individual parts. That is exactly what Jake Diebler did over the final month of the Ohio State men’s basketball team’s season.
While his predecessor Chris Holtmann had put together some interesting pieces, what we witnessed before the Valentine’s Day coaching change was less than spectacular. However, with Diebler at the helm, he was able to take what was already there, move some pieces around, and turn it into something compelling. The interim coach — for now — turned up the intensity on defense, inserted more structure and movement on offense, incorporated more young players into the rotation, and seemed to get a better handle on the in-game coaching that often flummoxed Holtmann.
While the team ultimately is unlikely to get the equivalent of a Best Picture nomination — a berth into the NCAA Tournament — it is clear that Diebler has done remarkable work in taking the incomplete pieces turned over to him by Holtmann and putting together a far more compelling and entertaining product.
Now, with Diebler likely to be in completely in charge moving forward, we just have to hope that he will be able to create a masterpiece from start to finish in 2024-25.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
On Sunday night, the 96th Academy Awards, or The Oscars as it is commonly referred to, were held in Los Angeles. With the award show being the most talked about pop culture event over the past week, we figured it would be fun to apply some of the awards to Ohio State sports over the last year. While it might be easy to try and use movies to describe some of what we saw from Buckeye sports, that’s not quite what we are going for. We know that losing to Michigan, followed by the performance of the football team in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri made it feel like the world might be ending, much like Oppenheimer made things seem.
Instead, we are talking about the actual award. Best Picture could refer to a favorite game you watched from any of Ohio State’s teams over the last year. Best Actor or Actress translates to an outstanding Buckeye athlete, or Best Supporting Actor or Actress would give proper due to an unsung player or assistant coach. You could even have a little fun with the awards. Best Animated Feature could refer to an Ohio State player or coach losing their cool, or maybe there was a Buckeye uniform that should be given Best Costume Design.
Today’s question: Who in Ohio State sports are you giving an Oscar to?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Best Production Design | Ryan Day
After clamoring for Ryan Day to give up play calling for a couple of years, it looks like the head coach of Ohio State football finally realized it was necessary to let somebody else handle the sticks on offense. It sounded like this might be happening last offseason when there was talk Brian Hartline would be calling plays for the Buckeyes, but it was obvious Day wasn’t ready to give up his control of the offense. Instead, we saw way too many bubble screens and terrible decisions in short-yardage situations from Ohio State in 2023.
Remember after the 2013 season when Urban Meyer made some changes on the defensive side of the football following losses to Michigan State and Clemson to end the season? This has some of that feel, except on offense. Day brought in former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator in January. There was no way Ohio State was going to bring in O’Brien if Day wasn’t going to let him put his stamp on the Buckeye offense. Oddly enough, we never got to see the actual product on the field since O’Brien would take the Boston College head coaching job after former Ohio State assistant Jeff Hafley left for an assistant coaching position with the Green Bay Packers. Makes you wonder if Day made a call to Hafley since he knew how the dominoes would fall if Hafley left Boston College!
After O’Brien was named the new Boston College head coach, Day moved quickly to fill the offensive coordinator position. No offense to O’Brien, but Day actually upgraded at the position, not only bringing in his mentor, but a sitting head coach at a Power 5 school, Chip Kelly. The former head coach wasn’t interested in continuing as the “CEO” of a college football program, while it was necessary that Day moved more into that role. Obviously, there is going to be a lot of comfort with Kelly calling the play for the Buckeyes this fall.
As if bringing in Kelly wasn’t a big enough home run, before the former UCLA coach was in the fold Day already was very active in the transfer portal, with the biggest acquisition on offense is running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss. Judkins will team with the returning TreVeyon Henderson to form the most dynamic running back combo in the country, which will play right into the hands of Kelly. Handing the ball off to those two running backs will be Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard, who is an upgrade over Kyle McCord.
While I know I might be crowning the 2024 Ohio State before they even take the field, there’s no questioning that Day has made the right moves, especially on offense, that should have the Big Ten and the rest of the college football world on edge.
Matt’s answer: Best Film Editing | Jake Diebler
The job of a film editor is to take the raw footage that a director has shot, cut it up, reassemble it into its best version, and deliver a final product that is better than the individual parts. That is exactly what Jake Diebler did over the final month of the Ohio State men’s basketball team’s season.
While his predecessor Chris Holtmann had put together some interesting pieces, what we witnessed before the Valentine’s Day coaching change was less than spectacular. However, with Diebler at the helm, he was able to take what was already there, move some pieces around, and turn it into something compelling. The interim coach — for now — turned up the intensity on defense, inserted more structure and movement on offense, incorporated more young players into the rotation, and seemed to get a better handle on the in-game coaching that often flummoxed Holtmann.
While the team ultimately is unlikely to get the equivalent of a Best Picture nomination — a berth into the NCAA Tournament — it is clear that Diebler has done remarkable work in taking the incomplete pieces turned over to him by Holtmann and putting together a far more compelling and entertaining product.
Now, with Diebler likely to be in completely in charge moving forward, we just have to hope that he will be able to create a masterpiece from start to finish in 2024-25.
Continue reading...