Monday Skull Session

I think I'm done caring about polls (the Buckeyes are #4 in the first BCS rankings of the year) or whether Ohio State will play for a championship. Ohio State is 19-0 since hiring Urban Meyer, and really, I think this statistic has almost become underrated at best and taken for granted at worst.

I'd much rather enjoy the ride. The Big Ten sucks, and there's nothing Ohio State can do about it. Whatever. Bring on the Nittany Lions.

11W READER GETS HIS ZAPRUDER ON. I'm not one of those guys who's like OHMIGOSH JUST GIVE EM FLAGS NEXT TIME OUT when it comes to hits that could speed along the mental degradation that already comes with football, but I did think Roby's ejection was a bit soft; even if it did fit within the letter of the targeting law. (He could've, for example, just rocked him in the midsection.) 

That's where my opinion pretty much ends. Some, however, are blinding us with science.

The head is heavy (~10lb), the receiver is wearing a helmet (2-3lb), and the head will rotate roughly around the base of the neck in response to an external force. If the head was struck first, the head would rotate backward. If the receiver was struck in the chest, the head would rotate forward. In fact, I found that the head rotates forward for 3 frames after contact, or about 1/10 of a sec at the 30hz rate that I have set in Premiere. (the Hawkeye logo on the helmet makes a great measurement target) The only possible cause for this when looking at the sum of the moments (rotational forces) is a hit at, or below the rotational axis of the head; the base of the neck. Roby had to have made contact first with his shoulder pads near the shoulder joint of the receiver. This makes sense because Roby's head is clearly above the rotational axis and would have caused the head to rotate backward if he had made initial contact with his helmet.

However, the receiver's head then does rotate backward. And this is where things get a bit murkier from a viewing perspective. It looks to me like the receivers helmet rotates forward until it hits Roby's helmet. However, it could be argued that Roby's helmet is moving forward, causing the same rotation. But we do have another clue....the rotation of the receiver's body. At that point, the rest of the receiver's body is rotating backward at a lower rate. This was caused by the initial contact by Roby's pads

In summary, Roby hit him in the upper chest first, and then the receiver's head rotated forward and hit Roby's helmet. By that time, the receiver's body was rotating backward from the initial hit, making it tough for the officials to understand.

That dissertation, is courtesy of LeftCoastBuck, LCB, BSME, BSEE tOSU and Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Engineering, putting in film work.

KODI WHITFIELD HAD A SPORTSCENTER TOP ONE CATCH. This will probably end up being the touchdown catch of the year. What's even more impressive is he's going horizontal when he makes the catch:

The GIF of the Year. So much going on in this. 

WILL MUSCHAMP LAYS IT OPEN. Florida got ripped by Missouri this weekend. It's odd, the farther Florida gets from Urban Meyer's terrible reign, the worse Florida gets. Will Muschamp, who has taken his fair share of shots at Urban Meyer (but probably has no problem showing recruits his two crystal balls), was actually quite candid in the aftermath of the loss:

“We’re just not a good football team, certainly not today, and it falls on my shoulders,” he said. “We’re inept offensively. We have a hard time running it and certainly can’t protect very well. It showed today against the front we played against.

“I’m just very disappointed that we haven’t made more positive strides offensively this season. We regressed again from last week. We’ll go back and work extremely hard to get those things corrected. Defensively, too many big plays.”

Asked about finding solutions, Muschamp didn’t have any answers, yet.

“Well, we’re gonna find some, because we need to,” he said. “It’s not very good right now. We struggle to do anything we try to do. We try and spread it out, try and throw it, and we can’t protect the quarterback. We try to grind it out, we’re not creating enough explosive runs."

Sorry, but this is my only reaction to this: LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Will Muschamp isn't a good football coach. Sure, Florida has been ravaged by injuries, but it's not like Florida was anything spectacular prior to that.

TROY SMITH GETTIN BIZZY IN MONTREAL. Troy Smith is one of my favorite Buckeyes ever, and unless the Browns management really is trying to tank the season, he'll be starting for the Browns in Kansas City this weekend. All Smith did in his first start for Montreal of the CFL is go 17/35 for 247 yards and three scores.

EL GUAPO SUPERMANS THESE SCRUBS. Roll. Damn. Hyde.

[Kirk Irwin photo]

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