Tuesday Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on July 7, 2015 at 4:59 am
Cameron Johnston
133 Comments

ICYMI:

  • J.T. Barrett was "spinning it" as a counselor at the Elite 11 camp in Oregon.

CAMERON JOHNSTON'S AUSSIE ROOTS. We know Cameron Johnston hails from Australia, but I still enjoyed this look at the Aussie punting academy that produced him.

From The Associated Press' Neil Frankland

No one watches them practice on a chilly Melbourne day. Soon, they hope, almost all of them will be showing off their skills in front of crowds of more than 100,000 while punting at powerhouse college football programs 10,000 miles away.

Experienced Australian rules football players for many years have considered punting in the National Football League after their pro careers at home. Now more young Australians are training with the Prokick Australia academy with plans to bypass the Australian Football League entirely and go straight to the states for a college scholarship.

[...]

Director Nathan Chapman says it's the education, not the lure of the NFL, that is prompting the latest batch of young Australian rules footballers to switch sports.

I make no bones about the fact I openly discriminate against #teens — the most dangerous creature on Earth. I don't know if I'm getting older and my heart is growing colder, but Johnston's swagger has me starting to discriminate against American punters (even Alabama's).

Yes, I know Ohio State's 2016 commit, Drue Chrisman is the nation's No. 1 punting prospect. The problems are these services don't rank Australians, and Chrisman wasn't raised on a diet of kangaroo ribs (which a rib aficionado told me this weekend are the best kind of ribs on the planet).

Is this wrong? Maybe. Am I angling for a free PR trip to Australia? I'm not even going to apologize for that. 

LET THE WORLD BURN. Ohio State, collectively, had a historic athletic season.

From Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com:

For today, though, Ohio State is the alpha male and female. Smith's program is this year's winner of CBS Sports' Best In College Sports.

We assigned a point value based on the success of each school's football, basketball (men's and women's), baseball and a wild card spot.

Ohio State beat out No. 2 Louisville in the BiCS standings with an athletic year for the ages.

This does not mean Gene Smith, the man behind Ohio State's scarlet curtain, is a man without worry.

“The financial model that we have is not sustainable for the populous at large,” Buckeyes athletic director Gene Smith said. “Over the next 5-10 years, you're going to see schools change what they do locally, whether it's the elimination of sports or tiering.”

In essence, the financial pressures on a broad-based athletic program are going to make it less likely to have a broad-based athletic program.

[...]

“Tiering” is an industry term describing how sports can be cut back without being cut. A minor sport might go from nine scholarships to five. Competition may be limited to a 500-mile radius with no air travel.

I don't care about "populous at large," especially when said schools are outside of Ohio's fiefdom. I realize it takes two teams to play a game, but I'll swap Western Michigan for Alabama any day of the week (and twice on Saturday).

It was never intended to be, but college athletics are a multibillion dollar business. Feel free to deny it if it assuages your cognitive dissonance, but If a boutique shop at Polaris goes out, it's not up to an anchor store to put them in the green. That's just how we do in these American streets.

I know massive organizations move at a snail's pace, but I look forward to the day when the Power 5 leaves the NCAA entirely. Ohio State has Armageddon cash, so in the mean time I'll just keep sipping this delicious tea while watching the world burn.

OSU: STILL A FOOTBALL SCHOOL. Granted, the men's team was mediocre last year and the women's team didn't light the world on fire, but these numbers aren't good:

My excuse is the legally-sound theory of, "It is what it is."

Ohio State fans will show up and support a winner. If the team isn't winning, well, it's a lot more comfortable (and cheaper) to take an ass-whooping from the comfort of your own couch. (You can also cuss with impunity, which is a big plus.)

[Full attendance numbers.]

VIRGINIA TECH ON ITS GRIND TOO. Virginia Tech's senior defensive end seems quite high on this year's Hokie squad:

Virginia Tech sounds hungry, and I'm sure they've been hearing all summer how they're going to get they're going to get fried on their home turf. That's a dangerous combo. Sleep on the Hokies if you want, but not me — the man who won't be playing a snap.

SATAN'S MINIONS WOKE UP FROSTY. FSU blue-chip freshman QB De'Andre Johnson punched a woman, and thankfully for Justice's sake, it was caught on camera

As it turns out, punching a woman and then running like a scared little baby-man is enough to get you kicked out of Florida State's crime family:

Should've been done before the video leaked, but this is Florida State we're talking about. I guess we should be thankful Jimbo's statement didn't mention "letting the legal system run its course."

THOSE WMDs. GoPro on a sea turtle in the Great Barrier Reef... Hacking Team breach shows global spying firm run amok... Lumberjacks are people too... The Endless Fall of Suge Knight... Let's not forget about the guy who drove a drone through fireworks... The Monkey That Won't Kill.

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