It's another Saturday morning and I ain't got nobody. Well, that's not quite right. It's only Saturday morning and I doubt very much that Sam Cooke should expect that anyone should have a date for a Saturday Skull Session.
Although...
Well, anyway, here's some talking points for this morning.
KICKERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. You have all seen this by now. I know you have. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it.
Ohio State opened its first spring practice to the media, which was well attended by all the major outlets as well as Eleven Warriors. It was Eleven Warriors' camera on the scene, in particular, that picked up this fantastic exchange that resonated around the college football landscape.
Buckeye fans that saw this immediately smiled and affirmed, "that's our Kerry Coombs." This was just the latest outburst from the only assistant coach we have that we can comfortably say drinks gasoline for breakfast. We still do not know for sure if he breathes fire at his adversaries and other people who have wronged him. Reports vary.
It also made the national rounds. For example, USA Today ran with the video and the headline "Ohio State coach berates kicker because he's a kicker". Now, the country is aware of Kerry Coombs and delighting in his antics accordingly. It feels good to have reports about an Ohio State coach reach the national media and to have it be hilarious.
And that's what this is: hilarious. Kerry Coombs' outburst entails four very simple sentences. Two of them are really one sentence, separated only by an exclamation mark to admonish the subject that A) the kicker is stretching, and B) the subject is a kicker. The other two sentences are questions, asking the subject — recognized by Coombs only as a kicker whose name, as far as Coombs knows, is "Sunshine" — what exactly is his justification for water during a period of stretching. This invited a follow-up query by Coombs if the subject, Sunshine, was tired from stretching.
The answers from Sunshine were not clear. We can only infer that Sunshine rescinded his claim to water and was not necessarily tired from stretching based on observed behavior. For a basic, simple outburst confined to four (or three) sentences, there exists a rich subtext that touches on issues of intersubjectivity and our basic physiological needs.
It's also hilarious. Do you think Kerry Coombs' former kickers at Colerain all have a support group for each other?
THE FORCIER IS STRONG IN GUNNER KIEL. Remember the Forcier clan? You may remember Robert "Tate" Forcier, the former Rich Rodriguez quarterback who won the September Heisman while playing for that team in Ann Arbor in 2009. He lost his job to Denard Robinson at the beginning of the 2010 season and ultimately transferred. He was supposed to land at Miami, before taking a circuitous route to San Jose State. He left San Jose State without ever playing for the Spartans.
I did this at Our Honor Defend. I have to share it again.There were actually more Forciers. The eldest, Jason Forcier, also started his collegiate career in Ann Arbor before transferring to Stanford. The middle Forcier, Chris, enrolled at UCLA before transferring to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
And now, we may have an honorary Forcier in Gunner Kiel. Kiel was a five-star quarterback in the 2012 recruiting class, and the top player from Indiana. The Columbus, Indiana, prospect was originally committed to Indiana (where his brother plays) before flipping to Louisiana State. An early enrollee, he flipped to Notre Dame on the eve of enrolling at Louisiana State.
Now, he's transferring from Notre Dame.
Kiel redshirted his freshman year at Notre Dame. He was also the scout team quarterback in preparation for the 2013 BCS Championship Game. He will have four years of eligibility left, though will likely burn one of those in order to play at a FBS program.
Don't be surprised if he lands somewhere on your radar. Indiana may be interested and we all know Bert loves the quarterback transfers.
BRACKET-WATCHING. Can we peek ahead to the NCAA Tournament?
Nothing is set in stone. Teams that are on the "bubble" now have enough time, but shrinking opportunity, to play themselves into the field. Ohio State is on no one's bubble, comfortably in the NCAA Tournament with a high seed. The biggest knock on Ohio State was (and this is true) that Ohio State was overrated. They had beat everyone they were supposed to beat, but had no signature win. Its best road win before the Indiana game was at Purdue or at Nebraska. Neither are signature wins. We have one now, thanks to the upset in Bloomington on Indiana's Senior Night.
There are three different "bracketology" services for college basketball fans to consider. Joe Lunardi has the most prominent one (at ESPN). Jerry Palm at CBS Sports also has his bracketology prediction. SB Nation also has theirs.
Lunardi projects the Buckeyes into some favorable opening round games. He has the Buckeyes as the #3 in the West Regional, opening in Dayton against Valparaiso. The winner would play the winner of the 6-11 game between Saint Louis and Colorado.
Jerry Palm has the Buckeyes as a #4 in the South Regional. The Buckeyes would open in Austin, Texas, against the winner of a play-in game between Tennessee and Iowa State. The winner of that game would get the winner of the 5-12 game between #5 UNLV and #12 Akron.
SB Nation's projections have Ohio State as the same seed and in the same regional, without accounting for a play-in game. Ohio State would play Akron in the 4-13 game with the winner playing the winner of the 5-12 game between #5 UNLV and #12 Temple.
What should Ohio State fans find most preferable? Honestly, I'm partial to the location of the opening round games more than I am about seeding. Lunardi's projection looks delicious, but not because he has us seeded higher. A trip an hour west from Columbus for the opening round games would be a treat. It would allow Ohio State's team to play in front of the most friendly crowd possible.
Should Ohio State advance from Dayton in the West Regional, it will pack its bags for Los Angeles. Does it really matter if regionals are in Los Angeles or Arlington? If Ohio State can't swing themselves into the Midwest Regional, which does have a 3 seed playing in Dayton, then the exact location of the regional doesn't concern me much.
MISCELLANY. Dana Horsewomen... NCAA says Boise State can go all-blue after all... Luke Joeckel drew quite the crowd at Texas A&M's pro day... The Carolina Panthers seem to be doing fine... The Panthers did release Chris Gamble, though... Richard Sherman goes knives out after Skip Bayless, but forgets the only way to defeat a troll is to not feed it... Big East: it's my money and I want it now... The new targeting rules from the NCAA may invite problems in their application... Seriously, where in the hell does this ref come from?
