Game Day Skull Session: Get Dumped Then, Maryland

By Chase Brown on November 19, 2022 at 5:00 am
Brutus
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There's only one more game until The Game.

It's time to beat Maryland.

Let's have a good Saturday, shall we?

 BEAT THE TERPS. It's been really, really hard to care about Ohio State playing Maryland on Saturday. I mean, with a potential (and likely) No. 2 vs. No. 3 battle between the Buckeyes and “That Team Up North” next weekend, can you blame me for not being incredibly interested?

This week, Ryan Day made several comments about how “talented and dangerous” Maryland is as a program, especially in 2022, as quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa returned with NFL-level receivers Rakim Jarrett and Dontay Demus out wide and running back Roman Hemby moving the rock on the ground. But through 10 games this season, I haven't seen either of those qualities to be true about the team.

I'll acknowledge that Maryland played Michigan for its closest game this season. A good performance from the Terps in that matchup built some optimism for how the rest of the season would play out. However, it couldn't have taken a more drastic turn toward the contrary.

Tagovailoa hurt his knee in the contest, and many of the Terrapins' struggles followed. Since the injury, Maryland has lost to Purdue, barely beat Indiana and Northwestern, lost to Wisconsin and was blanked 30-0 by Penn State last week. Tagovailoa completed only 11 of 22 passes for 74 yards while looking very uncomfortable and immobile in the pocket against the Nittany Lions.

Perhaps Maryland was “talented and dangerous” at one point this season, but that is simply no longer the case heading into Game 11. Honestly, the Terps are more “talented and wounded” at this point.

Knowing that, I don't expect the Buckeyes to offer sympathy to the Terrapins. I believe Ohio State will run away in this one, adding another blowout win to its resume in the final tune-up before The Game next weekend – the matchup we've all been waiting for.

Ohio State 42, Maryland 17.

 TODAY'S MENU. Imma keep it real with you, chief. This weekend's slate of college football games suuuuucccckkkssssss.

There is a reason ESPN's College GameDay is out in Bozeman for a battle between Montana and Montana State. No disrespect to those programs, as both are having good seasons, but if there were literally any other good games across the country on Saturday, GameDay would be somewhere else.

Still, I think the matchups of TCU at Baylor, USC at UCLA and Utah at Oregon offer some intrigue, as does Illinois at No. 3 Michigan, of course.

Here is a question: Do you want Illinois or Michigan to win on Saturday? I feel like the age-old debate between Ohio State fans is whether or not they want Michigan to lose every week or for the Wolverines to be undefeated when they face the Buckeyes. On what side do you stand?

Matchup Time (ET) TV/Mobile
Navy at 20 UCF 11:00am ESPN2
Virginia Tech at Liberty 12:00pm ESPN+
UMass at Texas A&M 12:00pm SECN+/ESPN+
Duke at Pitt 12:00pm ACCN
Florida at Vanderbilt 12:00pm SECN
ETSU at Mississippi State 12:00pm SECN+/ESPN+
4 TCU at Baylor 12:00pm FOX
Illinois at 3 Michigan 12:00pm ABC
Indiana at Michigan State 12:00pm BTN
Wisconsin at Nebraska 12:00pm ESPN
Austin Peay at 8 Alabama 12:00pm SECN+/ESPN+
UConn at Army 12:00pm CBSSN
Louisiana at 19 Florida State 12:00pm RSN/ESPN3
Northwestern at Purdue 12:00pm FS1
UTSA at Rice 1:00pm ESPN+
15 Kansas State at West Virginia 2:00pm ESPN+
Washington State at Arizona 2:00pm P12N
Houston at East Carolina 2:00pm ESPN+
North Alabama at Memphis 2:00pm ESPN+
Georgia State at James Madison 2:00pm ESPN+
23 Oregon State at Arizona State 2:15pm ESPN2
Boston College at 18 Notre Dame 2:30pm NBC/Peacock
Old Dominion at Appalachian State 2:30pm ESPN+
Akron at Buffalo 3:30pm CBSSN
Utah Tech at BYU 3:30pm BYUtv/ESPN3
2 Ohio State at Maryland 3:30pm ABC
Louisiana Tech at Charlotte 3:30pm ESPN3
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee 3:30pm ESPN+
ULM at Troy 3:30pm ESPN+
South Alabama at Southern Miss 3:30pm NFLN
11 Penn State at Rutgers 3:30pm BTN
24 NC State at Louisville 3:30pm RSN/ESPN3
Miami (FL) at 9 Clemson 3:30pm ESPN
Texas at Kansas 3:30pm FS1
Coastal Carolina at Virginia    
1 Georgia at Kentucky 3:30pm CBS
WKU at Auburn 4:00pm SECN
Iowa at Minnesota 4:00pm FOX
25 Cincinnati at Temple 4:00pm ESPNU
FIU at UTEP 4:00pm ESPN+
Arkansas State at Texas State 5:00pm ESPN3
Stanford at California 5:30pm P12N
Georgia Tech at 13 North Carolina 5:30pm ESPN2
Marshall at Georgia Southern 6:00pm ESPN+
5 Tennessee at South Carolina 7:00pm ESPN
Texas Tech at Iowa State 7:00pm FS1
Boise State at Wyoming 7:00pm CBSSN
New Mexico State at Missouri 7:30pm ESPNU
14 Ole Miss at Arkansas 7:30pm SECN
22 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma 7:30pm ABC
7 USC at 16 UCLA 8:00pm FOX
Syracuse at Wake Forest 8:00pm ACCN
UAB at 6 LSU 9:00pm ESPN2
Colorado at 17 Washington 9:00pm P12N
Colorado State at Air Force 9:00pm FS2
San Jose State at Utah State 9:45pm FS1
Fresno State at Nevada 10:30pm CBSSN
10 Utah at 12 Oregon 10:30pm ESPN
UNLV at Hawaii 11:00pm Spectrum PPV

 MY PICKS. It was a tough week for My Picks in the Indiana Skull Session. Illinois couldn't beat Purdue to clinch the Big Ten West and Louisiana State only beat Arkansas by 3 points with a 3.5-point spread. Luckily, Penn State came through with a 30-0 win over Maryland to cover its -10.5 points.

So, after consecutive positive weeks picking games, I went 1-2 last Saturday. Brutal. But the good news is that I can make more picks today. Woohoo!

2022 RECORD: 15-15

  • No. 1 Georgia (-22.5) at Kentucky: I'm not sure I will ever understand why there was so much hype around Will Levis this season. He is this year's Spencer Rattler. Levis threw for 98 yards and three interceptions against Tennessee earlier this year and last week completed 11 of 23 passes for 109 yards in his team's loss to Vanderbilt. Uhhhhhh... Bulldogs by a billion.
  • Iowa (+2.5) at Minnesota: Don't look now, folks, but either of these teams could be the Big Ten West champion at the end of the season. This matchup is one of the deciding factors. Minnesota is 7-3 this season, but its losses have come to Purdue, Illinois and Penn State. As Desmond Howard might say, “If they play a team with a pulse, they struggle.” I'll take Iowa's defense to win the game and cover the spread for the Hawkeyes.
  • No. 7 USC (-2.5) at No. 16 UCLA: I had to make a pick on the Battle of Los Angeles. I just had to. This game will likely be a shootout, as neither team has a defense. I feel it will end somewhere in the 40s or 50s, with the Trojans closing it out in the final moments. Caleb Williams will have a huge game and keep himself in the Heisman race with the win, making things interesting in the last games around the country next weekend.

 BACK TO THE BUCKEYES. I'm about to shameless plug here because I can, so buckle up. Earlier this week, Ramzy Nasrallah wrote a long-form feature on Kamryn Babb and his career as a Buckeye. It was titled "Unbreakable".

Of all the stories written at Eleven Warriors during my brief tenure here, it was by far the best. And that is not to say all our other works haven't been fantastic – of course, they have. This site is the best place to read, watch and listen to all things Ohio State football, men's basketball and many other sports. But Ramzy's work in this story was phenomenal. It was so good that it should be included in the press kit of Babb's nomination for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award.

If you haven't read Ramzy's story yet, please carve some time out of your Saturday (or a future day this week) to take it in. Fair warning: It's a big boy with over 3,500 words, but I promise it will be worth it.


That's it for me on this fine Saturday. Let's have fun watching the Buckeyes demolish the Terrapins in the late afternoon. Make sure to return to the website shortly after the game ends (approx. 7 p.m.) to participate in the first moments of Hate Week. I'll have an article ready where everyone is welcome to spread their vitriol toward the Michigan Wolverines and the Khaki Man.

 SONG OF THE DAY. “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins.

 CUT TO THE CHASE. New measures for size, as world’s people surpass 8 billion... Qatar bans sale of beer at World Cup stadiums in about-face... Ned Rorem, a prize-winning composer and writer, dies at 99... Buffalo could see 4 feet of snow this weekend amid a lake-effect snowstorm... Tim Allen talks about "The Santa Clauses" Disney+ series, Jay Leno, etc.

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