Tuesday Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on September 1, 2015 at 4:59 am
Feed the Kown
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ICYMI:

TYVIS POWELL IS NO JOKE. Tyvis Powell is a joke... off the football field. Not only does 1/2 of Ohio State's comedy duo play well on the field, but he obviously does the little, behind-the-scenes stuff for the team (as evidenced by his selection as a captain).

He's also wise beyond his years.

From USAToday.com:

But what makes Powell a fan favorite is not just his on-field playmaking ability. It's also his outsized personality and off-field banter with roommate and "son" Cardale Jones, a duo who desperately need a reality show to document their heated video game battles, risky forays into cooking and endless stream of one-liners.

"I have a very positive outlook on life," Powell says. "Most people would tell you people are just waiting to screw other people over. I think there are some very nice people in the world. I think everybody deserves a laugh a day.

"There's so many bad things going on in the world that you can get sad about. There aren't enough good things. If I can get you to laugh one time, I've done my job for the day. That's how I live my life."

That's a philosophy that's hard to argue with.

HMMM... MAYBE. Most Ohio State fans would agree Jim Harbaugh is the bigger threat to Urban Meyer's dominance than James Franklin. But what if that weren't the case? What if Franklin is actually the biggest threat to Urbtopia? Well, that'd make you think for sure.

From DailyLocalNews.com:

Meyer’s teams have lost 26 times ... in 13 seasons. Yes, you read the calculator correctly. That’s one less defeat for Meyer in six more seasons of coaching.

It gets worse ...

Harbaugh, in his first three years at Stanford, led the Cardinal to a 17-20 record. That’s three, count ‘em, three seasons ... 20 losses, with zero bowl victories to his credit.

Meyer didn’t lose No. 20 until the sixth week of his TENTH season. By that time, he had already won six bowl games, including two national championships.

It'd be interesting to see how Jim Harbaugh's Stanford reign would've ended if he never landed a prodigy like Andrew Luck, but those are the breaks of the game.

Not saying that Jim Harbaugh's a bum, but stats like those are why I refuse to be worried about Michigan's "return" (that hasn't happened yet). Should I be more concerned with Franklin?

While X’s and O’s are certainly part of the equation, perhaps the greatest reason I see Franklin, and not Harbaugh, being more of a rival and threat to Meyer and the Buckeyes is in the recruiting game. Like Meyer, Franklin sells his program. He is relatable to today’s youth. He’s hip. Or to put it in today’s vocabulary ... he has swagger.

While Meyer and Franklin are storytellers, taking advantage of any and every opportunity to sell their program to recruits — be it social media, radio interviews, television — Harbaugh is locked down in his “submarine,” as if he’s still running an NFL team.

The college game is an entirely different animal than the professional ranks. There is no draft. It is all about recruiting. You don’t select players, you woo them. You can X and O until your markers run out of ink. You can watch film until the reels fall off. But if you don’t have the thoroughbreds in the stable, you are going to be ... well ... 17-20 after three seasons.

The NFL angle will be intriguing to watch, especially if Jim Harbaugh goes 17-20 in his first three years at Michigan (We would need to crowdsource a Brady Home-themed "Miss me yet?" billboard).

That said, I remain unconvinced about James Franklin. He's a great recruiter, but he just strikes me as an average coach come game day; he's a more charismatic Brady Hoke if you will. 

And Harbaugh turned around both Stanford and the 49ers. Just because college and NFL are different doesn't mean the latter can be discredited. Besides, it's not like James Franklin has done anything besides drag Vanderbilt's corpse into mediocrity.

Were those Commodore teams even on the level of Urban Meyer's Bowling Green? I don't think so.

SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE. Sportsbook released its latest conference championship odds, and they're humorous. If you want to make some cheddar on the Bucks winning the B1G, you're going to need a fleet of Brinks trucks.

B1G ODDS
TEAM ODDS
THE OHIO STATE -350
MICHIGAN STATE +781
WISCONSIN +793
NEBRASKA +1400
PENN STATE +1752
MICHIGAN +2003
MINNESOTA +3517
IOWA +5500
NORTHWESTERN +8000
INDIANA +9000
MARYLAND +12500
ILLINOIS +20000
PURDUE +20000
RUTGERS +20000

I assume Illinois, Purdue, and Rutgers are merely Gamblers' Anonymous honeypots to trap the biggest degenerates are among us. 

Alabama (+224), TCU (+170), USC (+225), and Clemson (+215) are the other favorites from the Power 5 conferences. I refuse to see Alabama as anything but overrated until proved otherwise. TCU, well, I have to see their defense in action. USC? OSU has owed them an ass-kicking so I'm cool with that. Clemson? That'll be the day.

D'ANGELO RUSSEL ALREADY HAS LAKERS FANS PEGGED. It's only taken D'Angelo Russell one tweet and a summer to peg Lakers fans.

From DailyNews.com:

“There’s a lot of spoiled Lakers fans. I wasn’t downgrading Kobe at all,” Russell said Saturday in an interview with the Los Angeles News Group. “I was just watching a highlight tape of Tracy McGrady and I got excited. I tweeted and the whole state of California went crazy.”

To be fair to Russell: Tracy McGrady was the GOAT for about 33 seconds.

It looks like the "entire state of California" has forgiven Russell, however. The former Ohio State star threw out the first pitch at last night's Dodger game:


BUCKEYES! HOKIES! IT'S OSU-VIRGINIA TECH ON ABC!. Only six more days:

THOSE WMDs. Death and Life of Atlantic City...  I moved from Silicon Valley to Columbus... Cat takes bullet, saves child... Rise and Fall of a Bitcoin Kingpin... Inside NASA's new spacesuit.

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