Ohio State's men's basketball team used a late second-half surge to topple Northwestern on the road, 65-56, on Wednesday night.
The women's team, winners of its last six games, hosts Indiana tonight at 7 p.m. on BTN Plus.
2013's LEGACY. The 2013 recruiting class came to Columbus without a fancy hashtag and left with the first ever College Football Playoff Trophy. (BTW, Ohio State is still the defending champion for a few more precious days. Feel free to milk that.)
As Ramzy pointed out yesterday, the 2013 class served as the bedrock of a team that drew historical comparisons without playing a snap.
It gained immortality, but do its members believe, like fans, there could have been more?"
From cleveland.com:
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- "If we don't win two or more championships, we didn't get our jobs done." -- Eli Apple, January 2015
[...]
"I think we did what we were supposed to do," Marshall said before the 44-28 win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. "I think we didn't do what we wanted to do, which was win another national championship and become one of the best teams ever.
"But I think we did well."
(That story is recommended in full.)
I consider the 2013 class to be the greatest ever. It's shitty—no other word is more apt—it got caught in the perfect storm that was the Michigan State game this year.
REMINDER: ZEKE DIDN'T EARN FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN HONORS. Blocking is usually what prevents rookie running backs from seeing the field at the next level. That won't be the case for the running back we all came to know and love.
From profootballfocus.com:
Ezekiel Elliott was able to complete the perfect pass blocking season as a running back. He didn’t allow a sack, hit or even a hurry on 103 pass blocking snaps.
That's ridiculous.
I have Zeke as my No. 3 Ohio State running back of all-time, but that may be too low at this point.
START THE DAY RIGHT: WITH A BOWL OF IRISH TEARS. Showtime aired some Notre Dame post-Fiesta Bowl loss footage during its weekly propaganda broadcast.
Ohio State reduced Brian Kelly to "We gave it our all, guys!" My favorite frame, however, comes in the first few seconds of the clip:
That's the look of a man who will be haunted by Ezekiel Elliott until the day he dies.
WITHERS ON THE MOVE. Old friend Everett Withers is back in FBS football, baby!
#JMU head coach Everett Withers has accepted the head coaching job at Texas State. He was 19-7 in 2 seasons at JMU. #TXST
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 7, 2016
*pencils in the Bobcats as a 2017 playoff dark horse*
MENSA FOUNDER SUFFERS A RARE LOSS. As my writing lays bare, I'm a fan of Tom Herman, the founder of MENSA and head coach of the Houston Cougars.
But a friend is only valuable if they're quick with unsolicited advice when you're goofing. Yesterday, Herman goofed.
It started in December when CBS Houston's John Lopez reported Tom Herman met with Texas A&M transfer Kyle Allen in Dallas.
Herman went on Houston radio to confront Lopez on his own radio show. Herman conceded he talked with Allen, but on the phone and not in person.
He spent the next 20 minutes arguing the point with Lopez and his co-host:
Some will see this is as Herman nuking two schlubs. I disagree.
The newsworthiness of the story is Herman and Allen's co-interest. Herman didn't dispute that they talked, rather that they met in person. Though Herman said it wouldn't have been a violation to meet with Allen at that time, he clearly did not want that conversation made public.
Lopez admitted he got details wrong, but not the story. Herman used flawed analogies in his rebuttal.
Herman also mentioned he considers the guys who cover him to be friends. I didn't graduate journalism school, but that sounds like a conflict of interest for those on the beat.
An example: Herman says his friend, Houston Chronicle's Joseph Duarate, knew about the conversation because he fact-checked with him. Lopez asked why Duarte didn't then report the news. Herman refused to speculate because it was obvious he told his friend to keep it under wraps.
As a consolation prize, Duarate got to break the Allen to UH story earlier this week.
Not faulting Herman, though. It's easy to beguile sportswriters; all it takes is a good quote and a few timely scoops, and it's easy to see what he's doing. It's all in an effort to control the narrative, which obviously Herman is used to doing by now.
The "How old are you? 19?" shot at the 31-year-old co-host Nick Wright was down right petty, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh at his "Absolutely not" response to Wright's invitation to lunch.
MARIONAIRE LIFE LESSON: Don't engage in pedantic public arguing, especially if you're a successful college football coach with 98% of the media in the tank for you.
THOSE WMDs. New Haven's Special Victims Unit... Just Desserts: On an east Texas fruitcake embezzler... The Eyes Have It by Philip Dick... Investigation into murder of an heiress at her horse farm uncovers years-long scheme to steal hay... An intro to analytics for Browns fans.
