Wednesday Skull Session

By Chad Peltier on October 17, 2012 at 6:00 am
54 Comments

Good morning, Buckeyes and welcome to your mid-week Skully. 

I've been thinking about the whole Zach Boren to linebacker move and how many are (maybe correctly) critical of the linebacking corps for allowing a senior fullback to come in and grab a starting spot. 

It's reminded me of something I read a long time ago about Urban Meyer ever since the rumors began the night before the Indiana game, but I couldn't put my finger on it. 

Finally I remembered - the Gator blog Our Two Bits' "What you should know about Urban Meyer", which they wrote for Buckeyes shortly after his hire. 

Part of the article describes how Urban changed players' positions: 

Joe Haden was a 2007 signee that was a Quarterback and Wide Receiver from Maryland when he signed with the Gators. In 2007, the Gators were stacked at WR with Percy Harvin and 5th year senior Andre Caldwell amongst others. Gators needed some skill, speed and strength on defense, so Urban and Charlie Strong moved Haden to cornerback...(That same year, Freshman Mike Pouncey moved from guard to defensive tackle because the team was so dreadful defensively. Mike Pouncey later became a 1st round NFL pick at Center). Recruits you were excited about at one position, playing another. Possibly on the other side of the ball. Cornelius Ingram was Mr. Football in the state of Florida as a QB. He was drafted to the NFL as a Tight end. Urban will not hesitate to move his talent and use his talent and strengths where they fit best.

Buckeye example A: Zach Boren. Before we criticize the move too much, maybe we should remember that Urban has some experience with these kind of position switches.

THE GAME MATTERS... According to Bruce Feldman, and he knows what he's talking about. 

According to Bruce's review of the top 10 games remaining in the season, the Ohio State-Michigan game is the tenth most important on his list of "showdowns with national title implications" - even though neither team has any chance of a national title (or bowl game for the Buckeyes).

He writes:

Braxton Miller has blossomed under Urban Meyer and despite a shaky defense, the Buckeyes are undefeated. If they can get past two decent road tests (at Penn State, Wisconsin), Ohio State could come into this game 11-0. Can the Wolverines ruin the Buckeyes' imperfect perfect season and make it two in a row after being dominated for so many years?

Let me answer that: NO. 

 DEFENSE: NOT SO BAD? Stats master Brian Fremeau just updated his Fremeau Efficiency Index (more commonly known as FEI, which measures opponent-adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency) for week 7, along with his projections for week 8.

Before scrolling on down to the next item because UGHHHHH NUMBERS BORING (I often think they’re boring too) - these are pretty important: the Buckeye defense isn’t actually that bad.

Adjusted for the difficulty of Buckeye opponents, the Buckeye defense is ranked 26th - far better than their defensive scoring rank of 54th (including 107th in passing defense). This is because the Buckeye offense has actually played some solid offensive teams and has been fairly efficient in doing so. Unfortunately Michigan comes in at 27th, so we’re still not really in good company.

The offense comes in at 14th, neighboring Notre Dame and... Iowa?? Must be the Weisman Certainty Effect. What's interesting to me is that Ohio State would actually be a bit higher rated if not for its poor special teams' efficiency - 65th in the country, which is measured on "the scoring value earned by field goal, punt and kickoff units measured in points per average game." That definitely makes sense considering Basil has more tackles than field goals this year. 

Fremeau's computers are bullish on Ohio State's chances against Purdue, with the projected win expectation at 96.7% for OSU and a projected score of 37-9. That's right - the stats dude is predicting that the OSU defense will hold Purdue's spread offense (the kind that OSU has had trouble with this year) to 3 field goals (or a touchdown and a safety, I suppose, or...you get the idea). 

WHAT I CAN'T GREYSHIRT IN THE NFL??? Imagine this as a Browns polo instead..

 BRAX GETS SNUBBED, ROBY AND HANKINS HONORED. Ok, snubbed for a totally meaningless distinction, but still. CBS Sports (an organization that I respect immensely) just released their mid-season All-America Team, which left Braxton off, but included Hankins as a first-teamer and Roby as a second-teamer. 

I can certainly get behind Roby and Hankins, who have both met and exceeded high expectations, even though the defense as a whole has not. 

Geno Smith and Collin Klein make up the top two spots on CBS' list, so we can assume Braxton would be their third-stringer. Another CBS article says that the three of them should "get their tuxes ready for New York" and that Braxton is "sitting pretty for next year". 

 SABAN AND THE BROWNS. What if Saban got another shot at the NFL - with the Browns? Lost Letterman has a piece that speculates on whether Saban might consider redemption in the NFL after a so-so time with the Dolphins.

Would you Browns fans out there be ok with Saban as your head coach? I don't know if either party would give this even a moment of consideration, but it would be quite the coup for sure. Especially for the SEC.  

 LINKED IN. This Week in Schadenfreude has some pretty hilarious Texas fan comments from the RRR... Apparently Cardale Jones isn't the only one... As unlikely as the Saban move is, this is so, so much more unlikely...I  can't get enough of these meltdowns... Obligatory cfb memes... The shape of frozen water is interesting? Maybe?

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