Wednesday Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on October 22, 2014 at 6:00 am
Dontre Wilson, #squad
128 Comments

Yessir, Jerome Baker! Welcome to the good guys. You will not regret your decision.

It's always nice to get a commitment, but especially so when it means keeping an elite Ohio prospect within Ohio's sacred confines. The flip from the Florida Gators is the icing on the cake.

Speaking of the Gators, here are some of those Go Gata tears [sic'd], via Wilkins0802:

As much as I want to chug this beer I'm drinking and smash the glass against the wall, this is no surprise. This class is going to get ugly... Cheers to hoping the next guy can come in and make quick work of the clean up project.... Damnit...

Sucks. He's really good. oh well.... getting use to bad news now-a-days

This could get ugly for us. This could be one of our worst classes in a long long time when it could have been the best. Thank you Will Muschamp for single handily ruining UF football. Looks like it's our turn for our very own lost decade.

I can't stand the Buckeyes! 
Champ has friggin ruined our team. I mean how the hell can this even happen to us? We're the Florida Gators Dammit! 
It's like a bad dream lol 
what the hell is going on????? 
Can somebody wake me up pls?! Thx

This is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.

Ugh.

u kno i had to hit em with it

HILLIARD CONTINUING FLIRTATIONS WITH IOWA? Normally, I wouldn't have the slightest concern about Iowa — 5-2 freakin' IOWA! — poaching an Ohio State commit, but Justin Hilliard's brother does player there. 

Could this be related to Jerome Baker's commitment? The timing of the reporting is, uh, a bit suspicious. But I don't think it's anything ominous as Hilliard seemed more than open to Baker joining the class:

So, maybe Justin Hilliard just really likes hanging out in Iowa? 

At the end of the day, Iowa isn't even the best team in their own state. I refuse to be worried about losing Hilliard until the Lord of Whispers tells me I need to be worried.

BUCKEYES KNOW SPARTANS LOOM. For better or worse, Ohio State's national title hopes (and J.T. Barrett's Heisman hopes) are pinned on the November 8th primetime clash with the reigning Big Ten champions, the Spartans of Michigan State.

The problem is, Ohio State has two primetime bouts to handle before then. While fans and media are open to speculation and "looking ahead," Urban Meyer is faced with the tall task of keeping his team's eyes on Penn State.

But his Buckeyes still know the Spartans lurk. From the Associated Press' Rusty Miller via The Zanesville Times Recorder:

"It's always in the back of your mind," H-back and punt returner Jalin Marshall said. "You know — Michigan State, Michigan State."

[...]

"You try not to look ahead as far because we've got two big games coming up before that," Marshall said. "But people talk about it and you have to kind of try to stay away from them."

Meyer, for his part, doesn't seem too worried about his team overlooking Penn State because, well, it's a night game in front of 110,000 people:

"I think if you play a really bad team, that happens," Meyer said on Monday. "Going on the road in front of 110,000 people, knowing we didn't play great on Saturday, we expect to play great."

I'm also not worried about Ohio State overlooking Penn State because Urban Meyer knows how important it is to recruiting to keep Franklin and Penn State where they belong: the sewers. But yeah, I'd much rather watch Ohio State play Michigan State this weekend.

CHRIS ASH PUTTIN' IN WORK FOR THE SET. After Ohio State's 2013 defense went up in flames, Chris Ash was brought in to rectify the downtrodden unit. And, so far, the results look good.

From Zach Barnett of FootballScoop.com:

Chris Ash, Ohio State (Previous job: Arkansas defensive coordinator) 
Ash has worked hand-in-hand with Luke Fickell after last year’s late season collapse, especially by the secondary. The Buckeyes have jumped from 84th to 29th in pass efficiency defense, from 57th to 23rd in yards per attempt allowed, and 112th to 16th in passing defense.

I thought this was a solid observation from 11W's Ross Fulton:

Granted, there was only one way to go for the defense, but Chris Ash has the full confidence of this neighborhood blogger.

EVAN SPENCER GETTING THE PROPS HE DESERVES. Remember in the third quarter against Rutgers — before Evan Spencer's (likely) Catch of the Year — when Spencer was targeted three times in the endzone after the senior wide receiver threw a nice block to spring Ezekiel Elliott?

It's because Urban Meyer demanded it.

From Eric Seger of the OZone:

“It's to the point we're trying to find ways to reward him,” Meyer said. “That was the one time we threw to him three times, that was all me trying to reward a person that is selfless.”

That's high praise from Urban Meyer, considering he's said numerous times the destination of the ball depends on the defense, and not a specific player being targeted.

But, Urban Meyer isn't the only coach that loves the dude:

“He's not a guy that lights up the stats sheet because they keep stats on catches and yards,” Smith explained.

“Maybe the media or the national news doesn't because all they care about is touchdowns and catches. He's one of the most phenomenal blockers I've ever seen. He's really functional, a little underutilized in the throw game. He's one of better players I've ever coached.”

Hell, I hope Zach Smith didn't read last week's Skull Session where I said Spencer is prone to swaths of pedestrian play. (It was just a psychological/motivational ploy, I swear it!!!!)

J.T. BARRETT, A BRAXTON CLONE? So says one of the Big Ten's best writers, the Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein

Ohio State's quarterback looked to his left, intending to fire a bubble screen. But a Rutgers defensive lineman blocked his visual path to Evan Spencer, so the quarterback took off. He ran straight up the middle, motoring 33 yards past five defenders in position to make the tackle.

Braxton Miller, you are amazing.

Oh, wait. That wasn't Miller. It was J.T. Barrett.

Hmmmm. *takes a drag on a corncob pipe*

At Utah, Meyer developed Alex Smith into a two-way threat, saying: "He was a 4.6-4.7 (40-yard dash) guy, but it's so much more than speed. It's anticipation. You see an opening, you take it and keep the chains moving. With the quality of defenses and the amount of pressure that you see nowadays, we made a decision: We cannot not have that kind of player."

Meyer said he looks for "a tough guy willing to go get some yards. J.T. is very good at it. Braxton is one of the best I've ever seen at it."

I disagree with Greenstein. Granted, J.T. Barrett is only a freshman, but he doesn't have the wiggle or the shiftiness of the electric Braxton Miller. And that's not a slight to Barrett (you have to qualify these statements for some folks on the internet). Jerry Kill, however, might disagree.

BUCKEYE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK VS. RUTGERS. I love how J.T. Barrett's performance was good enough to earn him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, but he wasn't good enough to earn the same honor within his own team. That's that #UrbanStandard.

Good to see Erick Smith get some love. I think he's going to be a good one for Ohio State.

ABOUT THAT SEC/ESPN CONSPIRACY. I declined to mention it in yesterday's Skull Session, but Bo Pelini had some things to say about the ESPN's relationship with the SEC (but failed to mention ESPN's relationship with every other conference).

Despite ESPN's ubiquity in college football, many readers are still convinced ESPN has it in for the Big Ten. But, consider this tweet from one of the most venerable voices in college football media, ESPN's Chris Fowler:

I trust Chris Fowler. Do you? I mean, it's not like the Big Ten is dominant right now, and if the SEC isn't the best overall conference, what is?

THOSE WMDs. Mack Brown says he'd "definitely" consider an offer to return to the sidelines... I too write my Skull Sessions like this, Hunter S. Thompson...  White rhinos on verge of extinction after one dies, leaving six left on planet... There's running a marathon, and then there's running a marathon through an Amazon jungle.. Original Star Wars storyboards depicting pivotal scenes.

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