Happy Thanksgiving, friends and foes, and welcome to a feel-good holiday Skully coming to you just two sunrises from The Game.
Now isn't the time to fret over a 3-spot in the BCS standings. Now is the time to celebrate, to be thankful, to indulge, in all that is right in your world.
I'll start. I'm thankful for serious stuff like great family and friends. It is with those delightful people that I get do things like extol the virtues of sundress season, soak in the sounds of live music whether it be family, local or floor seats at the Garden on NYE, and share in the euphoria that accompanies another convincing win over Michigan.
While you and your family are still preparing the Thanksgiving spread and pretending parades on television don't suck, the Ohio State football family will have been busy cranking out an early morning practice and Senior Tackle. Which reminds me, if Urban Meyer really loves us, he'll find a way to make that thing public again. After that, the players and coaches will get a chance to celebrate the day since the short drive to Ann Arbor doesn't depart shove off until tomorrow afternoon.
Then, we're less than 24 hours from watching Ohio State put their national-best 23-game winning streak on the line, looking to make it 11 of the last 13 against Michigan, led by a man who is 33-3 in November since 2003.
Thankful, indeed.
LEAN ON GREEN. Fresh off a pesky 11 carry, 23 yard performance in last week's loss at Iowa, Brady Hoke confirmed freshman Derrick Green will be the primary tailback for the nation's 100th best rushing offense this Saturday. Green inherited the starting gig two weeks ago in place of Fitz Toussaint, who suffered a concussion in a loss to Nebraska back on November 9th and responded with 79 yards on 19 carries in the overtime win at Northwestern. Last Saturday, both saw action in the loss to Iowa though Green's gaudy stat line trumped Fitz's six carries for 12 yards.
Still, I suppose it can be argued Green's increased presence has given the running game a boost as he's racked up 102 yards on 30 carries with no touchdowns, good for 2.94 yards a pop, on a team averaging 2.3 yards per carry in conference play.
In all seriousness, I expect Green to become a fine running back in the years to come. You certainly can't judge him too harshly this year behind an offensive line that could make Barry Sanders look like B.J. Sander.
IF IFS AND BUTS WERE CANDY AND NUTS, BRADY WOULDN'T BE HUNGRY. Though he was probably just doing what he should be doing, Hoke defended the state of things during a radio interview yesterday when asked if his 7-4 outfit, losers of three of the last four, is a good team:
If you squint your eyes just right, Hoke is RichRod's doppleganger “Yeah, I do. Those kids are 10 points away, to be honest with you, from winning 10 games. That’s a block, a dropped ball, a missed kick, maybe a play call that could have gone differently or a tackle. Whatever it is. That’s the one thing that, talking to our players, that’s why the execution is so critical, and how you prepare every week to play your best football.”
Hoke also took a second to slightly back-pedal from his rule that a kid is no longer considered a committed prospect – thus UM would look to recruit another kid for that positional spot – if a recruit gives a verbal pledge but then chooses to take official visits elsewhere in the wake of verbal commit Jabrill Peppers saying he intends to kick the tires on a few schools. Instead of clinging to the policy, Hoke suggested that "with every kid, there are different situations" while also sounding confident adding, "we'll just see how what happens."
At this point, there isn't much reason for the head coach to worry as Peppers clearly stated he intends to be at Michigan as long as Hoke will be there when he arrives and AD David Brandon just gave Brady the dreaded vote of confidence yesterday.
HE STILL SAYS "WE," WHICH IS AWESOME. ESPN's Adam Rittenberg went long form on a profile of Jim Tressel. This surprises nobody, but he's killing it in his new role as Akron's vice president for student success.
It's not a cushy job to get a famous name on campus. Tressel oversees areas like admissions and recruitment, academic support, retention, financial aid and the career center.
He made major changes to the way Akron attracts, admits, educates and advises students. As of last week, Akron had received about 3,000 more freshman applications than it had the previous year, an increase of 52 percent. Tressel moved the career center from a far-flung location to the middle of the student union. He set up the Roo Crew, which connects alumni and others around the university community with current students to assist with job placement. More than 700 alumni are part of the group.
Rittenberg spoke extensively with Tressel, as well as former assistants, including Mark Dantonio, Darrell Hazell and Tim Beckman. All were asked about Tressel returning to the sideline and all three seemed to think he will or, at the very least, college football is a better place with Jim Tressel coaching.
Tressel, in typical fashion, demurred.
"It would take me coming to the conclusion that that's the best way I can serve at the moment," he said. "I tell young coaches all the time when they're thinking about their aspirations and their goals that what's most important is who you're working with and not necessarily where it is. I know that's easy to say because I've been at all levels and I had the visibility of being on the largest stages.
"It would take something pretty earth-shaking to get me out of the mode I'm in."
The whole piece is fantastic. If you haven't read it, it will likely be the best thing you read today.
SHAMEIS JAMEIS. Though we're still at least two weeks away from learning whether or not Jameis Winston will face charges stemming for an alleged sexual assault, the story continues to spread.
Yesterday, the Tallahassee Police Department released to the public a timeline of their investigation which drew the ire of Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen:
"We are deeply troubled that the Tallahassee Police Department is putting on their webpage a timeline of the events in this case, which is an ongoing investigation, which contains some information which violates my client's rights to a fair resolution of his case, including the tainting of a potential jury pool. There is no reason whatsoever for that timeline to be on a public web page at this time."
The report among other things, reinforces the fact it took 10 months for TPD to obtain DNA from Winston after the accuser identified him as the suspect seemingly because doing so would "alert Winston and the matter would go public." Additionally, legal eagles are dumbfounded at how the TPD readily shared case information with Winston's attorney and didn't give the State Attorney's Office the same treatment.
In short, a timeline meant to defend the police department's handling of the case, only fuels the flames for those alleging the TPD is, at worst, flat out shady when it comes to looking out for star FSU players or, at best, full of derp when trying to execute police procedures.
Proving he's no one trick pony, Winston was also involved in two other incidents involving police within the last year. Both were nothing in comparison to alleged sexual assault but they still speak to pathetic decision-making. Last November, Winston and some teammates decided to hold a BB gun battle against each other, breaking out a bunch of windows at an apartment complex in the process. The situation went away when an FSU athletic department official told the apartment manager the players would pay for the damage.
In the other incident, Winston was used ketchup cups at a restaurant to jack some soda before eventually asking for a water cup and repeatedly filling that with soda. Big deal by itself? Of course not. Would you approve of your own 18-year old acting like a dumbass in public? Me neither.
SICILIANO SIGHTING. Nick Siciliano, former Ohio State football video coordinator-turned quarterback coach, has applied for the top job at the University of North Dakota. Siciliano is one of 19 applicants seeking to replace Chris Mussman, canned after a 3-8 season. (H/T @bryanwx)
#BEATMICHIGAN LINKS. BOLLMAN-HENGE!... Top-selling vehicles by state... I haz a sad if this is real... Jimmy Fallon on Justin Boren and other NFL dudes... Black Friday Death Count... 12 Proposed Movie Sequels That Thankfully Never Happened... What happens when you don't wear a seatbelt... ET flirted with a triple-double and Sully had 23 and 12 last night... Sounds delicious... Ohio State Crowd Quiets Down As Marching Band Forms Pentagram... Adult obesity rates by country, 2009... Brother of Baylor's Art Briles dies of head injury... Grand Finale: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
