Welcome to the Skull Session.
Miyan Williams has a message for Ohio State fans.
Thank you Buckeye Nation #ForGranny pic.twitter.com/175UNILif9
— Chop (@okmiyan_) December 13, 2023
Let's have a good Thursday, shall we?
KEEP ‘EM COMIN’. The postseason awards continued for Ohio State on Wednesday.
After the Big Ten announced its conference awards on Nov. 29 and 30 – which included an Offensive Player of the Year award for Marvin Harrison Jr., Tight End of the Year award for Cade Stover, Linebacker of the Year award for Tommy Eichenberg and 21 All-Big Ten honors for the Buckeyes – the Associated Press added on to those accolades last week.
This week, Pro Football Focus announced its All-Big Ten teams.
A Heisman finalist and Biletnikoff Award winner, Harrison was named the PFF Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year after posting 67 catches for 1,211 yards and 15 total touchdowns in the 2023 regular season. He was also one of four Buckeyes to appear on the PFF All-Big Ten team, along with Stover, defensive end Jack Sawyer and defensive tackle Tyleik Williams.
PFFs 2023 All Big Ten Team: Offense pic.twitter.com/0Q74bMgXqY
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 13, 2023
PFFs 2023 All Big Ten Team: Defense pic.twitter.com/BulGpPU3R2
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 13, 2023
In the regular season, Harrison and Sawyer were PFF's highest-graded Buckeyes, with the former receiving an 89.9 grade and the latter earning a 90. As a reminder, here are the top-10 offensive and defensive Buckeyes through 12 games:
Note: Players in bold were named to PFF's All-Big Ten teams.
OFFENSE
- Marvin Harrison Jr. - 89.9
- TreVeyon Henderson - 89.4
- Cade Stover - 77.8
- Kyle McCord - 76.4
- Josh Fryar - 76.4
- Chip Trayanum - 73.4
- Emeka Egbuka - 72
- Xavier Johnson - 69.3
- Donovan Jackson - 69.2
- Carnell Tate - 68
Honorable mentions: Josh Simmons (68), Miyan Williams (66.3), Julian Fleming (61.4)
DEFENSE
- Jack Sawyer - 90
- Jermaine Mathews Jr. - 86
- Josh Proctor - 81.2
- Tyleik Williams - 81
- Denzel Burke - 79.1
- Mike Hall Jr. - 77.5
- JT Tuimoloau - 77
- Sonny Styles - 76
- Ty Hamilton - 75.3
- Cody Simon - 74.8
Honorable mentions: Jordan Hancock (74.1), Lathan Ransom (74), Davison Igbinosun (71), Caden Curry (69.8), Steele Chambers (67.3)
THAT’S INTERESTING. Year in and year out, the FCS creates a 24-team postseason tournament to name its national champion. What if the FBS did the same?
I know. I know.
The BCS was fine. The four-team CFP has been fine. The 12-team CFP, I am sure, will be fine. But we don’t need more teams, dadgummit!
I don’t want more teams in the playoffs. Not now, at least.
No. The point of the question was this: I want you, dear reader, to consider what Scott Dochterman explored in a recent article for The Athletic: A 24-team College Football Playoff to name the FBS champion.
Let’s envision a 24-team FBS playoff bracket this year with four six-team regions. The field includes every conference champion. Teams are arranged based on the CFP selection committee’s final rankings. Every effort is made to avoid teams from the same conference meeting until at least the regional finals. All games are held on campus until the national semifinals.
With eight games in the first two weekends, it’s too much bandwidth for one network to carry it with high-quality broadcasting teams and do it justice. In this case, splitting the tournament among four networks makes sense for the first two rounds. The first two weekends involve two Friday night games plus six Saturday in three separate viewing windows. Each round involves at least one upset.
Does this pique your interest?
Here’s how it could have gone down in 2023 (as Dochterman sees it):
FIRST ROUND
REGION 1
- Byes: Michigan (1) and Oregon (2)
- Games: Oregon State (5) at LSU (4), SMU (6) at Missouri (3)
REGION 2
- Byes: Washington (1) and Ohio State (2)
- Games: Liberty (5) at Louisville (4), Troy (6) at Ole Miss (3)
REGION 3
- Byes: Texas (1) and Georgia (2)
- Games: NC State (5) at Arizona (4), Miami Redhawks (6) at Penn State (3)
REGION 4
- Byes: Alabama (1) and Florida State (2)
- Games: Iowa (5) at Notre Dame (4), Boise State (6) at Oklahoma (3)
REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
REGION 1
- LSU (4) at Michigan (1)
- Missouri (3) at Oregon (2)
REGION 2
- Liberty (4) at Washington (1)
- Ole Miss (3) at Ohio State (2)
REGION 3
- Arizona (4) at Texas (1)
- Penn State (3) at Georgia (2)
REGION 4
- Notre Dame (4) at Alabama (1)
- Oklahoma (3) at Florida State (2)
REGIONAL FINALS
REGION 1
- Oregon (2) at Michigan (1)
REGION 2
- Ohio State (2) at Washington (1)
REGION 3
- Georgia (2) at Texas (1)
REGION 4
- Florida State (2) at Alabama (1)
NATIONAL SEMIFINALS
- Michigan (1) vs. Alabama (1) in the Rose Bowl.
- Georgia (1) vs. Ohio State (2) in the Sugar Bowl.
CHAMPIONSHIP
- Michigan (1) vs. Georgia (1) in the Cotton Bowl.
Soooooooooooooooooooo, what do we think?
Do we like it? Love it? Hate it?
As Dochterman wrote in the article, a 24-team CFP is at least a decade from a potential installation – and that’s even if the CFP heads that direction and expands the 12-team tournament it will install next season.
Currently, the bowls are too embedded in college football. At some point, however, teams receiving byes in the upcoming 12-team CFP will watch on-campus matchups and want in on that action, too.
“Eventually, more teams and playoff rounds will generate more interest and revenue. As with the NCAA basketball tournament, it seems only fair that every conference champion will earn a CFP bid,” Dochterman wrote. “The only question remaining: Would administrators in northern locales prefer cold-weather games filled with logistical challenges but containing great home-field advantages or travel to the current warm-weather environments that become working vacations? A committee to study that proposal has yet to be formed.”
“THAT WAS MY FAULT.” Former Ohio State football head coach Urban Meyer may be out of the coaching business and well into his broadcast endeavors at FOX, but he still loses sleep over the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan State in 2015.
Indeed, eight years later, Meyer, like many Ohio State fans, still has nightmares of the moment Michael Geiger nailed a last-second 41-yard field goal to help the Spartans upset the Buckeyes, 17-14.
In an appearance on the “Bleav in Buckeyes” podcast with Bryant Browning and Chimdi Chekwa, Meyer discussed the current Ohio State team and its 30-24 loss to Michigan on Nov. 25. He compared the 2023 Buckeyes to the 2015 Buckeyes, claiming that one loss changed the course of the season for both squads.
“I get really angry when I look back at the 2015 team we had at Ohio State,” Meyer said. “We lost in a rainstorm to Michigan State. That team would have won it all. That was my fault. Still, it’s been eight years. That still haunts me. That team was so good, but we lost.”
Meyer didn’t lose much at Ohio State. In fact, he didn’t lose a regular-season game to a Big Ten team in almost four seasons as head coach – that is until Mark Dantonio and Co. defeated the Buckeyes in Columbus on Nov. 21, 2015.
Coming off a national championship in the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014, Ohio State spent several weeks atop the polls and looked poised to make a run at back-to-back titles. However, the loss to Michigan State derailed those aspirations. Ohio State ended the regular season with an 11-1 record and a 7-1 mark in the Big Ten. The Spartans had the same record in conference competition and, due to their win over the Buckeyes, represented the East Division in the Big Ten Championship Game.
I mean, how Ezekiel Elliott, one of the best running backs in Ohio State history, only carried the ball 12 times (!) for 33 yards in a top-10 matchup is beyond me. And how the Buckeyes' defense allowed Tyler O'Conner to put points on the board is also beyond me. He was the backup for Connor Cook – the jabroni who disrespected Archie Griffin at the Big Ten championship trophy presentation.
Eight years later, it still hurts.
It probably will forever.
OLYMPIC VILLAGE. This week, the Ohio State men's volleyball team was unanimously selected as the No. 1 team in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association preseason poll.
Ohio State is unanimous No. 1 in preseason 2024 MIVA Coaches poll. Senior Jacob Pasteur selected as preseason Player of the Year. For more, including the four Buckeyes on the All-MIVA preseason squad, go to: https://t.co/odElt0ICyO#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/9pQkE1F8VE
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioStateMVB) December 12, 2023
Ohio State received all nine first-place votes from the league's coaches and accumulated a total of 81 points. Loyola Chicago was picked second with 70 points, followed by Ball State (64), Lewis (46) and Purdue Fort Wayne (45).
The Buckeyes are ranked as the No. 1 team for several reasons. Chief among them, however, is Ohio State has four preseason All-Americans on its roster, including Tommy Poole, Shane Wetzel, Michael Wright, and preseason MIVA Player of the Year Jacob Pasteur.
A Westminster, Maryland, native, Pasteur was a first-team All-American in 2023. Last season, he led Ohio State in matches (32) and sets (119) played. He also paced the Buckeyes in kills (476), aces (40), total attacks (960), digs (204) and points (551.5). Pasteur enters 2024 ranked No. 13 all-time at Ohio State in career kills with 1,103 and eighth in career aces with 99.
In other words, Pasteur is a dog.
And so are Poole, Wetzel and Wright.
The 2024 season starts on Jan. 3 when Ohio State hosts North Greenville at the Covelli Center. For the complete schedule, click here.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Crop Circles”- Jon Bellion.
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