Friday Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on October 24, 2014 at 6:00 am
Darron Lee hauls down Rutgers' Gary Nova
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Jason already summed up my thoughts on Virginia Tech succinctly:

(As a Marionaire, that tweet hits a little too close to home.)

This week's NSFW ANTI-WORK #BANGERS:

THE J.T. BARRETT BUBBLE. It's a storyline Columbusites know well: J.T. Barrett is a damned fine quarterback. But it's a storyline starting to gain a national traction, and yesterday, young J.T. Barrett got the Grantland treatment.

From Matt Hinton:

How soon is too soon to anoint a young quarterback the face of a program? How fast is too fast? I’m asking on behalf of Ohio State fans. Does national hype after just six games seem like a rush to judgment? Is that a case of “irrational exuberance,” as they say? Because a half-dozen games into his career as the Buckeyes’ quarterback, J.T. Barrett is generating a level of enthusiasm that’s threatening to outrun common sense.

Admittedly, this is a good problem to have, especially given the alternative. When Barrett was promoted to the starting lineup in August in place of injured senior Braxton Miller, the reaction fell somewhere between panic and grief. Miller was 22-2 as a starter and had been named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2012 and ’13; Barrett was a redshirt freshman who, due to suffering a major knee injury as a high school senior, hadn’t taken a snap in a real game since October 2012. Expectations were adjusted accordingly. Enthusiasm over Barrett’s potential was deliberately curbed. The same day Barrett was named the starting quarterback, Vegas oddsmakers cut Ohio State’s chances of winning the national championship nearly in half, from 10/1 to 18/1. Miller took a medical redshirt, leaving open the option of a return in 2015; in the meantime, the word for Ohio State in 2014 has been patience.

Rather, patience was the word. That was true in August and through most of September due to an early setback against Virginia Tech (more on that below). However, as we approach the final weekend of October, the optimism in Columbus has shifted back to its standard setting: full throttle. As of this week, Barrett is a Braxton Miller clone. Unless, of course, you’re one of the people who think he’s actually a superior version. Barrett skipped the dark-horse phase of the Heisman chatter and ascended directly into the thick of the race in a year when no other underclassman is even on the board. The same site that downgraded the Buckeyes’ chances of winning the national championship two months ago now lists their odds at 10/1, exactly where they were prior to Miller’s injury. Barrett’s Heisman odds recently leapt from 50/1 to 20/1 in a matter of days. At 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, no. 13 Ohio State’s fate in the B1G conference standings and the playoff pecking order rests in the palm of his hand.

I've followed Hinton on Twitter for years now, and the guy always keeps it 100. (And I'm not saying that  The article is lengthy but it's recommended in full, because what else are you going to do on a Friday morning... work?

Penn State has a good defense, and their crowd should be rabid (for the first quarter, anyway), so I'm expecting a stiff test for young J.T. 

J.T.'s ascension makes me madder about Braxton's injury, because regardless of what happens in 2015, there's going to be a dynamite quarterback who loses snaps. It's a good problem to have, but it's also not fair to either J.T. or Braxton. (Life isn't fair, yadda yadda yadda.)

Don't ever let me catch you in these streets, Tendon God, because I swear on Marion I'm swinging when I put eyes on you.

"[OSU] COULD HANG WITH THE TOP SEC TEAMS." So says "an AFC team executive" in this NFL.com article. Although, the praise seems a little backhanded (emphasis mine).

The scoop: An AFC team executive likes what he's seeing from Ohio State this season. "After they lost to Virginia Tech, everybody forgot about Ohio State," the exec said. "But their young quarterback (J.T. Barrett) is really starting to play at a high level. They don't have any high draft picks on their roster, but they are really well-coached and I think they could hang with the top SEC teams right now."

I guess this AFC team executive isn't too high on defensive tackle Michael Bennett.

I'd like to think this executive is talking about draft-eligible players, because otherwise he has a radically different opinion of Joey Bosa than everyone else who has watched the guy. Ohio State is a ridiculously young team, though.

And I do agree: I'll take Ohio State's chances against any team in the country. I've watched a lot of SEC football this year, and even the Mississippi schools don't seem unbeatable (I can't believe I just unrionically typed that).

Unless this is all a mirage, I don't think any team in America will want to draw The Ohio State Buckeyes if OSU makes the playoffs. They'll be able to drop points on anybody. (And their defense might be underrated too.)

PANDEL SAVIC'S RIDICULOUS LIFE. Ohio State has produced plenty of players with a litany of pasts and stories... but somehow, I don't think anyone will ever match former quarterback Pandel Savic. 

Here's a sampling of Savic's wild ride, from the venerable Jeff Svoboda of BuckeyeSports.com:

When he started at the age of 9 his ambitious trek from his home in Macedonia to his eventual landing spot of Girard, Ohio, young Savic – who spoke not a word of English at the time – couldn’t have had much of an idea of what to expect in northeastern Ohio.

When he enlisted in the Marine Corps to fight in World War II, he had no idea if he’d return to the United States alive from his combat position in the Pacific Theater.

When he did come back and headed to Ohio State to play quarterback, he likely had no idea he’d lead the school to its first-ever victory in the Rose Bowl.

Uh, yeah, granted World War II is in the history books.. but, barring something calamitous, I don't think we'll ever see a combat veteran take the reins of Ohio State's football team.

Props to Pandel Savic; I wasn't familiar with his legend until last night... but his life is not only what makes Ohio State football great, but America as well.

SPEAKING OF HEISMAN TROPHIES AND QB CONTROVERSIES. Troy Smith, Ohio State's last Heisman winner, is probably my favorite Buckeye ever. (I burned my Montreal Alouettes jersey when they cut him.)

I didn't realize this, but yesterday was the tenth anniversary of Troy Smith's first career start, which came on October 23rd, 2004, against mighty Indiana.

Doug Lesmeries of Cleveland.com had a fantastic write-up commemorating it, and this is my favorite passage:

Later on the drive, Smith got the lucky break that was the key to the game. From his own 41, he gunned the ball late and high to former Glenville teammate Ted Ginn Jr., an Ohio State freshman. It was at the least an interception, and likely a touchdown, for Indiana, except cornerback Buster Larkins didn't catch it cleanly. When the ball deflected into the air, Ginn yanked it down, swiveled away from one tackler, cut back and left another with his arms wrapped around nothing, got a block to avoid a third and outran everybody else.

Tressel, seldom a live wire in the interview room, was moved to call the play "electrifying."

"I am," agreed Ginn, "pretty electrifying."

Long live Teddy Ballgame, but even more amazing than Teddy Ginn is the fact there were real people who thought Justin Zwick was a better quarterback than Troy Smith. Although it seems these people all suddenly died in 2005... I promise you, they were a real thing.

OSU (-13.5) CONSIDERED THE LOCK OF THE WEEK. The ship has already sailed in most sportsbooks on Ohio State (+13.5). (It was already the largest home underdog line Penn State has faced in 20 years, but the line up to (-14) and climbing.)

CBS Sports' writer Jerry Hinnen, however, is high on the Buckeyes' chances of rolling Penn State on Saturday night:

Hinnen: Ohio State (-13.5) at Penn State - Let's take just a moment to consider if there could be a bigger mismatch in Power 5 football than Ohio State's defensive line -- Joey Bosa, Adolphus Washington, Michael Bennett -- going up against Penn State's offensive line, which has "paved the way" for the Nittany Lions' 121st-ranked FBS rush offense. Oh, and J.T. Barrett's playing so well he's started showing up in Heisman polls. Oh, and Penn State's last home game ended in a 29-6 loss to Northwestern. Oh, and the Penn State-Rutgers-Michigan round-robin showed that Penn State is basically about the same team as Rutgers, who lost to Ohio State just last week 56-17. I've been wrong before, God knows, and I've been really, really wrong when it comes to taking road favorites in this spot. But every part of my football brain is telling me this is a blowout.

I agree. If Ohio State goes 14 points or more within the first quarter, that's curtains for ol' Penn State. The only way this is close is if 1) Penn State's defense is truly elite or 2) J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes get sloppy with the ball.

If I were a Penn State fan, I wouldn't feel too good about either scenario. 

TAYLOR LEWAN AIN'T TOUGH. I almost miss Taylor Lewan because he was truly contemptible. A classic fake-tough guy, we may never get a package of Michigan failure like that ever again. (Although, if Kyle Kalis goes 0-4 against Ohio State...)

People think they want to take things to trial, until the time comes to roll the dice on a jury of strangers. Taylor Lewan is the latest person decidedly not about that life.

From Dan Murray of ESPN:

Tennessee Titans rookie Taylor Lewan plans to settle rather than go to trial to fight three misdemeanor assault charges from last December, his lawyer said.

Lewan, a four-year starter at the University of Michigan, was charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of assault and battery stemming from an altercation outside of a bar in Ann Arbor last winter.

Jury selection for the trial was scheduled to begin Monday but was canceled during a settlement conference Thursday.

True story: I was with the Ohio State fan (and his bullhorn) in the aftermath of Ohio State's victory, but before he got knocked out by Lewan. I don't want to victim-blame, I was not surprised a Michigan fan got trolled to the point of throwing a punch. I also wasn't that surprised (more bemused) to learn it was a rage-case like Taylor Lewan throwing the punch.

I'm sure that troll got paid though, and props to him. That's how you turn an L into a W at the expense of a Michigan Man. It's a classic ruse.

#FLASHBACKFRIDAY. I mistyped yesterday when I said my biggest regret was not attending Ohio State during The Fake Lantern's reign. My biggest life's regret is that I didn't know a damn thing about partying when this happened:

Happy Friday, y'all. LET'S BE GREAT TODAY.

THOSE WMDs. The people who look at awful stuff online so you don't have to... Nick Saban wasn't high on Tom Cruise as a samurai... 50 of the scariest short stories of all time... How a doctor, a trader, & billionaire Steven Cohen got entangled in a vast financial scandal... If the Word ‘How’ Is Trademarked, Does This Headline Need a ™?

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