Skull Session: Looming Quarterback Controversy, Players Sitting Out Bowl Games, and Greg Schiano a Legit Temple Candidate

By Kevin Harrish on December 12, 2018 at 4:59a

Folks, Chase Winovich is now 0-6 against Ohio State.

ICYMI

Word of the Day: Gauche.

 QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY COMING? It's widely assumed the starting quarterback throne belongs to Tate Martell if Dwayne Haskins does decide to accept his millions of dollars after the season, but it may not be that simple.

See, people forget about noted Ryan Day quarterback recruit Matthew Baldwin.

From Ari Wasserman of The Athletic ($):

But here’s a reality: Baldwin could be Ohio State’s starting quarterback next season.

“I’d love to,” Baldwin said. “I am going to compete as hard as I can, whether Dwayne comes back or not. Who knows? He’s had such a great season and that will be all up to him. But I am going to compete as if I’m the starter and I’m going to prepare as if I’m the starter, and hopefully I’ll win the job.”

Baldwin may feel like an afterthought to the fan base right now, especially considering most thought he was signed as a sort of fill-in in the Buckeyes’ 2018 class. Ohio State had a longtime commitment from four-star quarterback Emory Jones; Jones flipped to Florida late in the process and the Buckeyes wound up with Baldwin.

But there is a subplot: Baldwin, who was a four-star prospect, became Ryan Day’s first choice before Jones flipped to Florida, making him the first quarterback on the roster hand-picked by Day. Ohio State loves his talent and upside, and if you think Baldwin came to Ohio State to be a career backup, take that thought out of your mind.

I think Martell still has the edge, especially given that he's been in Columbus developing for two full seasons and Baldwin doesn't really even have one since he wasn't quite healthy enough to get meaningful reps when he first got to Ohio State.

But I do think it's much more likely Baldwin wins the job now with Day as head coach than it was with Urban Meyer leading the way.

 THE VALUE OF THE PRODUCT! More players are sitting out bowl games this season than ever before, and that concerns bowl game executives, who profit heavily off of the game and can't do a damn thing to ensure the strength of their product.

From Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal:

The growing prevalence of that mentality undercuts the relevance of bowl games whose relevance was already somewhat contrived. Though most of the sit-outs are for less than marquee games—no playoff game has yet been affected—they have become a source of concern even for organizers of the more prominent bowl games.

The Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl between LSU and Central Florida will be missing LSU cornerback Greedy Williams, one of the best players in the country at his position.

“If your customers are seeing that the product is being diluted, it’s going to diminish the value of the product,” said Mike Nealy, executive director of the Fiesta Bowl. “We’re aware of it, and we’re just going to have to deal with it.”

I love how one of the consistent rebuttals to playoff expansion is, "but the sanctity of bowl games!" while the non-playoff bowl games increasingly mean absolutely nothing to the players to the point where they want no business playing in them.

But sure, let's pretend that playoff expansion is the biggest threat to the current bowl system.

Honestly, playoff expansion might be the only way to convince more top-level players to play in these late-season games – bowl games or otherwise, because it's not like these guys are sitting out with national titles still on the line.

Make more games meaningful, and more players will play, it's not rocket science.

Until then, it's going to be increasingly difficult to convince guys months away from becoming millionaires to play in your exhibition game for free, and it's really hard to blame them.

 GREG SCHIANO TO TEMPLE? It's looking like Greg Schiano might be a real candidate for the Temple head coaching job, though not one of the top-two contenders.

But even if he doesn't get it, I wouldn't expect him back in Columbus, because the Bucks are trying to hang on to Alex Grinch.

But there's still a chance the Owls make an intriguing as hell hire that benefits the Buckeyes even if it isn't Schiano.

I never really imagined I'd be this invested in a mid-December Temple head coaching search, but here we are.

 MACK BROWN GOING AIR RAID. Nobody's going to stop 67-year old Mack Brown from innovating. Mack is back, and he's bringing the air raid with him.

My unsolicited #take is that Phil Longo is a shockingly good hire for Brown. Ole Miss was a lot of things this season, but "bad at offense" certainly was not one of them.

Mack just needs to snag one of those moderately-athletic gunslingers that seem to grow on trees in Texas and he's got himself a competitive football team!

 TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE. At this time nine years ago, Ohio State was prepping for the Rose Bowl while Urban Meyer resigned from coaching.

"A shocking loss to Purdue."

Damn, I guess there really is no escape.

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