Skull Session: Eddie George Praises 2018 Squad, Suggesting the End of “Zone 6,” and Paul Finebaum Says Urban Meyer's Underperformed

By Kevin Harrish on August 21, 2018 at 4:59 am
Robert Landers wants the rock in the Tuesday Skull Session.
Ohio State Athletics
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I somehow missed this on Saturday, but it appears Dwayne Haskins and his GOATness, Demario McCall, have a handshake.

Can we just give them both the Heisman?

ICYMI:

Word of the Day: Cavort.

 BEST TEAM OF ALL TIME? Eddie George took to TMZ on Monday to discuss the domestic violence allegations, Urban Meyer's status, and what he believes should happen going forward.

George's response was undeniably newsworthy. He's one of the biggest names in Buckeye football giving his #take on the biggest story in Buckeye football, and we wrote about it. But what he said about the situation – he condemns domestic violence and trusts the investigators will arrive at the right decision – wasn't all that shocking.

However, a comment he made towards the end of the video did raise my eyebrows a bit, when the Buckeye legend said the 2018 Buckeyes could be the best Ohio State team of all-time.

Transcribed from his video interview with TMZ:

"I believe this could be potentially the best team that we've seen at Ohio State, given the depth, the talent. We have tremendous tight ends, we have tremendous receivers, we’ve got a great backfield. Potentially speaking, I believe they have a great chance to be one of the best teams in Ohio State history."

George, of course, was a member of the 1995 squad widely considered the most talented Buckeye team of all-time, top to bottom – at least until 2015. Needless to say, I trust Eddie's evaluation of talent and am intrigued to see how it plays out.

For what it's worth, he wouldn't go as far as to predict a national championship, saying that anything can happen in the four-team playoff, but he did make one prediction:

“I definitely believe a big ten championship is in the making.”

 BAN "ZONE-6." Zach Smith is no longer Ohio State's wide receivers coach, but his termination may not have been enough to kill the nickname have gave to his unit years ago.

Interim receivers coach Brian Hartline tweeted a video earlier this week including the hashtag #NewZone6, meaning the nickname will presumably live on, at least in a sense.

But maybe it shouldn't. Maybe Zone 6 should die.

From Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com:

So drop the name he helped bring to Ohio State football, back when Smith was an assistant coach in constant need of attention. Since that 2014 season, his receivers haven't performed to the level of Kerry Coombs' cornerbacks or Larry Johnson's defensive ends or Tony Alford's running backs. 

But Smith still made his receivers separate.

Alford has dubbed his running back room Tote Nation, and the secondary has used the letters BIA - for Best in America. The defense as a whole has claimed a Silver Bullets nickname that dates back decades, but no small unit group bought into a name like the receivers.

...

Do you want that 20 years from now, Ohio State receivers still going by Zone 6, someone asking where the name came from, and a Zach Smith tale emerging?

I'm all aboard this #take. While Doug suggests the unit have no nickname, I am personally pro-nickname, but there are much better names out there that aren't tied to a fired position coach.

 YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING. It's been a wild couple of weeks, but folks, I give you the surest sign that things are heading back to normal: Paul Finebaum is now criticizing Urban Meyer's ability to coach football.

Here's what the Duke of Dixie had to say about one of the all-time greatest coaches.

Originally from The RoundTable on WJOX, and transcribed by SaturdayTradition.com:

Urban Meyer has underachieved at Ohio State, and I know that Ohio State fans will naturally react to that, but Ohio State fans react to the wind blowing if they don’t like the direction it’s going.

You factor in his entire record, and yeah, he was dealt somewhat of a bad hand by Gene Smith…they pulled it off in 2014 but in 2015, not winning the national championship was one of the bigger choke jobs of the modern, College Football Playoff era. They had the best team in the country in 2015 and Urban couldn’t see it through his gall to give the ball to Ezekiel Elliott on a rainy day in Columbus against Michigan State…I think you can figure it out since then.

The troll lord is back, baby!

You never know how much you appreciate your everyday enemies until life leaves you citing Facebook reports from unemployed sportswriters and blogging about a terminated receivers coach's affinity for sex toys and office coitus.

My man is really out here calling Meyer an underachiever because he only won a single national championship, and I'm loving everything about it.

Meyer is one of just four active coaches to win a national title and has won over 90 percent of his games at Ohio State. Finebaum's take is so irresponsibly atrocious it makes me tear up a little bit.

Damn, I missed this.

 BASKETBUCKS TO THE WINDY CITY. Last season, Ohio State took on Minnesota in Madison Square Garden, for some reason.

This year, it would seem the Buckeyes are continuing their tour of large, cold, northern metropolises as the team will reportedly travel to Chicago to face Illinois as part of the Big Ten's early December games.

Last time, the Buckeyes were pretty solid in their December Big Ten games, drilling Wisconsin 83-58 and mounting a huge comeback to beat Michigan. They were also solid in their neutral site game against Minnesota, winning 67-49.

Combining them both sides like a solid plan.

 DEVELOPED HERE. I love seeing all the former Buckeye teammates get together for a photo following their games at the next level, and it's always crazy to me how they seem to surface after nearly every game, because well, there are usually Buckeyes involved on both sides of any given game.

 

Buckeye Brothers

A post shared by Ezekiel Elliott (@ezekielelliott) on

Man, these group photos just keep getting bigger and bigger.

 THOSE WMDs. Why a terrible internship may be the most important one of all... Stark dividing line between rich and poor in the world's most unequal cities is laid bare in aerial images... How college football fatalities became normalized... Gore, porn, and opera: Cincinnati's original penny arcades... How 25-year-old Charlie Weis Jr. earned Lane Kiffin's trust...

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