College Football Christmas Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on September 3, 2015 at 4:59 am
Braxton Miller cooks a Michigan Man in 2013.
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Well, folks, we did it. We did the dang thing. We survived enough consecutive days on the hard knock streets of America to see more big-time college football.

And while today's slate doesn't feature The Ohio State University Battlin' Buckeyes, it offers the second best thing: A chance to watch Michigan get disemboweled on national television.

Time (ET PM) Matchup Favorite TV
6:00  NORTH CAROLINA at SOUTH CAROLINA USC (-3) ESPN
8:30 MICHIGAN at UTAH UTAH (-4½) FS1
9:00 No. 2 TEXAS CHRISTIAN at MINNESOTA TCU (-17) ESPN
1:00 (a.m.) COLORADO at HAWAII COLO (-7) CBSSN

Sure would be swell if Minnesota can tip Texas Christian on the banks of [insert the name of the nearest one of Minnesota's 10,000 shitty lakes here] as well. (It's a tragedy this game wasn't scheduled for November.)

ICYMI: Cardale Jones was rushed to the hospital Wednesday night due to a migraine. No. 12 got some meds and spent last night resting. I wish the Iron King well in his convalescence. 

IT'S A LOT LIKE NOVOCAINE. Ohio State spreads its offense across the field, but make no mistake: It has no problem busting down the door and punching somebody in the mouth.

From ESPN.com:

Ohio State's run scheme is simple but effective. Warinner lists only four plays: inside zone, power, outside zone and counter -- "The four core runs they run in the NFL." It's no mystery, Warinner adds, why Ohio State had three rookie offensive linemen -- Corey Linsley, Jack Mewhort and Andrew Norwell -- start games in the NFL last season.

"What we do translates much better to the NFL than people want to say," Warinner said.

The only difference between Ohio State and more conventional offenses is its base formation -- quarterback in the shotgun, receivers spanning the width of the field. Warinner thinks the spread provides "cleaner looks" to diagnose potential matchup advantages, and increases the threat of long passes through play-action.

"When I was recruited by Coach Meyer, he made that pretty clear that you're not going to come in here and use smoke and mirrors as an offensive lineman," Decker said. "You're going to do what linemen do, and that's move people and block people and protect.

Tressel opened it up for Troy Smith and Terrelle Pryor, but definitely not to the level Urban Meyer did. I still remember the surreality of watching that first spring game under Meyer; "Holy hell, this is actually happening."

Looks like everything is going to plan.

HERE COMES TECH. Here's a look at Virginia Tech's Monday night get-up:

Odds just went from "little" to "none" on the Buckeyes not being the crispiest team on the field on Labor Day.

URBAN KNOWS HOW TO PICK 'EM. Recruiting rankings matter, by and large. An offer from Urban Meyer means more though.

From 247Sports.com's look at the recruiting profiles of OSU's offense:

QB J.T. Barrett, Class of 2013 
• 4-star prospect 
• No. 137 overall No. 3 dual-threat QB 
• No. 17 player in Texas 
• Ranked behind Asiantil Woulard (UCLA, USF) Max Browne (USC), Christian Hackenberg (PSU), Shane Morris (UM), Cooper Bateman (Bama), Kevin Olsen (Miami, Garden City CC), Brice Ramsey (UGA), Troy Williams (Wash.), and Cody Thomas (OU)

[...]

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Class of 2013 
• 4-star prospect 
• No. 69 overall 
• No. 4 all-purpose RB 
• No. 1 player in Missouri 
• Ranked behind Derrick Henry (Bama), Thomas Tyner (oregon), Kelvin Taylor (UF), Keith Ford (OU, TAMU), Derrick Green (UM), Alex Collins (Ark), Alvin Kamara (Bama, Hutchinson CC, Tenn.), Greg Bryant (ND), Ryan Green (FSU), Altee Tenpenny (Bama, UNLV), Ty Isaac (USC, UM), Taquan Mizzell (UVA), and Tyren Jones (Bama)

[...]

WR Michael Thomas, Class of 2011* 
• 3-star prospect 
• No. 1,067 overall 
• No. 125 WR 
• No. 111 player in California 
• Ranked behind almost every receiver in the class 

(I know Thomas wasn't recruited by Meyer, but he's been developed by him.)

I wouldn't take any of those superiorly-rated prep players over the ones Urban Meyer/Mark Pantoni brought into the fold. I almost feel like being a Buckeye fan is cheating at this point.

REMEMBER MEG? ONLY 2012 KIDS WILL REMEMBER THIS ONE.

From Cleveland.com:

The recruiting writers and football fans tuned in online and showed up in person for Kyle Dodson and news of whether the elite offensive lineman from Cleveland Heights would choose Ohio State or Wisconsin on National Signing Day three years ago.

Meg Lentz's lacrosse coach at Cleveland Heights didn't care. So he talked about Meg. And talked. And talked. Football players weren't the only athletes signing with colleges that day, and Dodson had been saved as the grand finale. So Lentz's coach introduced Meg to the college football world, his speech turning a Stanford-bound Olympic sport star into a football message board Internet sensation of the moment.

Waiting for Kyle, fans got a load of Meg.

People were furious of course, because people are bad and impatient. Ironically, Lentz went onto have a more prestigious collegiate athletic career than Dodson, who was medically disqualified last December.

Lentz landed at Stanford, where she thrived:

Always a goal-scorer, she was moved to defense as a junior as she earned that captaincy. A political science major, she knew she wanted to get away from home for college, and athletically and academically she found a fit on the other side of the country, chasing a career in international relations that could land her across an ocean after graduation.

And that, my friends, is how the cookie crumbles. Wild, isn't it?

MEKKA DON'S NEW VIDEO. Mekka Don, a former OSU walk-on turned rapper, released a new Buckeye anthem on Wednesday called Undisputed. The video features Eddie George and Buster Douglas looking menacing:

Now let's go watch Michigan get its ass kicked.

THOSE WMDs. A glimpse into the controversial world of youth MMA... Yankees Suck! The drug-addled, beer-fueled punks who created Boston's most popular t-shirt... Aggressive donkey captured in Mt. Juliet... American chess may be starting to emerge from the shadow of Bobby Fischer... Scientists discover slow-melting ice cream ingredient... Photo: Incredible Launch! 

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