Skull Session: Expect Empty Seats in the Shoe, Turning Over the Turnover Problem, and Sparty QB Brian Lewerke

By D.J. Byrnes on November 9, 2017 at 4:59 am
Jamarco Jones smiles for the November 9th 2017 Skull Session
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Thursday... the utensil shiv cache grows. Later, we dig ditches in preparation of the impending invasion. 

ICYMI:

Word of the Day: Soubriquet.

 IT'S HAPPENING. Though Ohio State mounted an historic comeback against Penn State, empty seats smattered the Horseshoe. After getting undressed in Iowa and a noon kickoff, it's going to be the least attended November game in the Urban Meyer Era.

Ohio State is in the middle of an affluent city with over 550,000 alumni, but even it can't get away with charging top tier prices without national title expectations. 

This week is quite the storm. Forty degree day. Noon kick robbing fans that robs hours from tailgating and other pregame activities. Tickets are going under face value on the secondary market and social media is rife with Buckeye fans (especially students) looking to offload tickets.

I'm not calling 25% empty seats, but it's not going to be rocking at kickoff. Ohio State cannot afford to spot Michigan State an early lead. It could smother the atmosphere. 

NOTE: FIGHT THE TIDE OF ENNUI BY ATTENDING THE DUBGATE VII AND RAISING MONEY FOR A GOOD CAUSE.

 ANOTHER THING. Since I'm dispensing advice to the local team from my kitchen in iconic Piqua, Ohio, here's another thing Ohio State must avoid Sunday: Turnovers.

They're never good in any game, but the defense of Jim Tressel's dark apprentice thrives on them. The team is at least aware of the issue.

From Edward Sutelan of The Lantern:

Through nine games in 2017, Ohio State has forced 13 turnovers.

It took five games to reach that milestone last season. Through nine games in 2016, the Buckeyes had forced 14 interceptions alone. They had 18 turnovers total.

[...]

“You know last year, the big thing was, you know, we put an emphasis on that in practice,” redshirt senior linebacker Chris Worley said Tuesday. “We probably have a period or so where we focus on taking the ball away multiple times. We’ve done the same thing this year, it just hasn’t happened.”

Last year, the big thing was, you know, the employment of Luke Fickell. If the linebackers keep looking lost in the sauce, would Urban Meyer whack the best man at his wedding? I wouldn't believe it until I saw it.

 HERE COMES ANOTHER GRIT STAR. After getting air raided by Iowa's Nathan Stanley, another three-star pro-style quarterback is on deck, and this one has thrown for 400 yards in his past two outings.

He can also make plays with his legs, if Ohio State falls asleep in coverage.

From Bruce Feldman of Sports Illustrated:

“He’s different than what he had here in the past,” Michigan State co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner says. “He’s a more willing runner. He’s not gonna hesitate. The best threat he has is when things aren’t there and he just locks the ball away and goes with it.”

Penn State’s defensive staff had noted Lewerke’s athleticism, but the Nittany Lions’ coaches were also struck by how he looks to throw downfield as he scrambles and how well he can zip the ball in on throws to the far sideline. Two other things that have impressed Warner: Lewerke’s quick release and his temperament. “He’s about as calm and cool as they come,” Warner says. “Things just don’t rattle him.”

Lewerke also has done an outstanding job of spreading the ball around. Even though rangy junior Felton Davis has emerged as a star with eight touchdown catches through nine games, he’s one of three Spartans wideouts with 25 or more receptions. 

I don't bet, but I still want an explanation on why the spread is so large. If Lewerke can get rid of the ball quick or he gets an Iowa-like performance from his offensive line, he seems like just the QB that has given the secondary problems this year.

 LEGENDARY MOMENT. College football coaches can be quirky characters when it comes to motivating their players. Former UCONN coach Bob Diaco created this monstrosity to attempt to create a rivalry with... Central Florida:

Oh, it gets better.

From Jeff Jacobs of courant.com (in an article that deserves to be read in full):

In June 2015, when you were unveiled via Twitter, you were nationally ridiculed. The New York Post called you the worst rivalry in sports history. Did I defend you? No, I wrote that you made UConn a laughingstock and you probably would be found in somebody's garage in Willimantic in five years.

In October 2015, I was given a formal audience with you. I was the first of the unwashed media to be photographed publicly with you. You told me I'd written hurtful things. We talked. I went in for the makeup hug. I said you were lighter than I imagined and away from that tacky locker room gizmo counting down the days, hours, minutes, seconds to the next UConn-UCF football game, you were far more elegant.

[...]

"My understanding is the trophy was designed and paid for by Bob [Diaco]," UConn athletic director David Benedict said. "I haven't seen it since he left."

They need to track down the Civil Conflict and put it in the Smithsonian. Also, I can't believe James Pumpkin and and Penn State didn't think of an idea like this first to spring on Ohio State during its biannual white out, which I hate and think is a terrible tradition.

 THEY EAT SOMETHING. I haven't been to the WHAC in over a year and I still want to get this tweet crocheted and put on my wall:

Another moment for the Office-like mockumentary about the Ohio State football beat that I will fund after winning the Mega Millions.

 THOSE WMDs. The Cavs' defense makes them vulnerable... Names for pet frogs and toads... The secret lives of live mascots... Fake friends for hire in Japan... A child genius raised in poverty.

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