Welcome to the Skull Session.
Jeremiah Smith is HIM.
4 is @Jermiah_Smith1 pic.twitter.com/Ju5aTiPBSL
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 7, 2025
Have a good Friday.
TIME TO DANCE? Will the Basketbucks make the NCAA Tournament? How Ohio State performs in its regular-season finale against Indiana could determine the answer.
When the Buckeyes and Hoosiers face off in Bloomington on Saturday (3:45 p.m. on CBS), there will be lots at stake for both teams: An improved résumé on the NCAA Tournament bubble and, with Ohio State and Indiana tied for ninth place in the conference, a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
In the 15-team Big Ten Tournament (the bottom three teams will not attend), the league's top nine teams earn first-round byes and avoid Wednesday's opening round. Therefore, whoever on Saturday at Assembly Hall earns the No. 9 seed and will face either Oregon or Illinois on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, while the loser earns the No. 10 seed and will face the No. 15 seed (which could be like six different teams) on Wednesday.
With it all on the line, Jake Diebler said he and the Buckeyes will be prepared for whatever challenges the team faces this weekend.
"It's obviously a really tough environment to play in, but we've shown we can handle it," Diebler said Tuesday after a double-overtime win that took years off my life. "With how difficult this league is, the quality of opponent night in and night out, I find it really hard to believe that everybody's season is on the line every single game. That's not to diminish how important the game is. I haven't shied away from that. I want our guys to live in the moment, prepare well, put our best foot forward. That's the most important thing."
Whether Diebler believes it or not, Ohio State's season was on the line against Nebraska. Once seen as a virtual lock to make the NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes lost three consecutive games to Michigan, Northwestern (70-49... at home...) and UCLA.. A win at USC put Ohio State back on track, but a loss to the Cornhuskers could have knocked the Buckeyes back off the rails.
Following Ohio State's win over Nebraska, the Buckeyes positioned themselves as one of the last four byes or one of the last four teams in. The Field of 68 also has Ohio State as one of the last four teams in and set to face Xavier at UD Arena in Dayton, which would be quite the spectacle.
“This league deserves a lot of teams in the tournament,” Diebler said. “It does. If you’re hovering close to .500 in this league, you’ve walked away with some impressive wins. We should be having the max of that (type of resume) in the tournament because the quality of teams, quality of wins and quality of wins our league had outside of the Big Ten.”
NEW BEGINNINGS. In December, five-star freshman quarterback Air Noland transferred from Ohio State to South Carolina. The decision surprised me, considering Noland's Georgia ties – I bet someone United States dollars he would transfer to Georgia Tech – and the fact that LaNorris Sellers had an award-winning redshirt freshman season with the Gamecocks.
However, amid Noland's first interview in Columbia, the former Ohio State signal-caller said South Carolina was the perfect fit for him.
"The people here, South Carolina was a great decision as far as the people," Noland said, per Alex Jones of The Big Spur. "Great conditioning program, coach (Mike) Shula. Also, the quarterback room with Dante (Reno), LaNorris, Cutter (Woods) and Luke (Doty) is even in there helping us each and every day. The all-around journey helped me make a decision to go to South Carolina."
Noland then expressed thankfulness toward Ryan Day and Chip Kelly for the opportunities both coaches offered him in Columbus.
“I learned a lot,” Noland said. “I learned the playbook can extend very far as long as you can take on everything that they are giving you. I learned a lot from Chip Kelly. He’s a great coach and I feel like he taught me a lot of knowledge that I needed. Just the people around pushed me every day.”
Now in a battle to backup Sellers at South Carolina, Noland believes the competition will bring out the best in him.
"It pushes you each and every day," Noland said. "It doesn't let you be lackadaisical. It makes you be a better quarterback. Competition brings out the best of you. With a quarterback like LaNorris Sellers, he's a guy that I can push and hopefully just compete with and have fun."
I would have loved to see Noland stick around in Columbus to compete with Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair, but I also understand his decision to look for better opportunities. Each time I interviewed him for Eleven Warriors – which was a handful of times last offseason – he was polite and respectful. He also had a quiet confidence about him, one that inspired me to believe he had a bright future ahead of him with the Buckeyes. Instead, that future will occur with the Gamecocks, and I wish him the best of luck.
WIDE RECEIVER U. Matthew Golden impressed scouts at the NFL Combine last week. The Texas wide receiver, who collected two catches for 51 yards in his team's Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State, has average size (6-foot, 195 pounds) but ran a blazing 4.29-second 40 with a 1.49 10-yard split.
After the combine, an NFL coach texted Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and shared that he's "a big golden fan."
Why is he a big Golden fan?
Well, because Golden reminds him of the pass catchers Ohio State has sent to the NFL since Brian Hartline took over as wide receivers coach in 2019.
One NFL coach texted me saying he is a big Golden fan and was hoping he wouldn’t run that fast because he thought Golden was being undervalued in the draft community: “He’s razor-sharp getting in and out of his cuts and he plays a lot bigger than his size. I like him more than their two WRs last year (Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell). He’s the best route runner in this draft. He looks like one of those Ohio State (receiver) products.”
Yeah, Ohio State is Wide Receiver U.
There's no debate.
ON THE MAT. This weekend, the Wrestlebucks will compete at the 2025 Big Ten Championships. While No. 7 Ohio State will be hard-pressed to contend for a conference title behind No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Iowa, I'm looking for Tom Ryan's squad to compete with No. 5 Nebraska and No. 6 Minnesota for third place.
Here are the 10 wrestlers Ohio State sent to Evanston, Illinois:
125 - Brendan McCrone
- Seed: No. 7
- Season Record: 19-7
- Career Record: 48-24
- Accolades: N/A
133 - Nic Bouzakis
- Seed: No. 9
- Season Dual Record: 17-6
- Career Record: 50-18
- Accolades: N/A
141 - Jesse Mendez
- Seed: No. 2
- Season Record: 23-1
- Career Record: 72-12
- Accolades: NCAA Champion (2024), Big Ten Champion (2024), All-American (2023, 2024)
149 - Dylan D'Emilio
- Seed: No. 4
- Season Record: 17-3
- Career Record: 95-50
- Accolades: All-American (2023)
157 - Brandon Cannon
- Seed: No. 9
- Season Record: 13-2
- Career Record: 19-2
- Accolades: N/A
165 - Paddy Gallagher
- Seed: No. 9
- Season Record: 14-5
- Career Record: 43-21
- Accolades: N/A
174 - Carson Kharchla
- Seed: No. 2
- Season Record: 11-1
- Career Record: 63-16
- Accolades: All-American (2022)
184 - Ryder Rogotzke
- Seed: No. 8
- Season Record: 6-6
- Career Record: 26-16
- Accolades: N/A
197 - Seth Shumate
- Seed: No. 9
- Season Record: 13-9
- Career Record: 31-16
- Accolades: N/A
285 - Nick Feldman
- Seed: No. 4
- Season Record: 14-6
- Career Record: 43-14
- Accolades: All-American (2024)
According to the experts at FloWrestling, Ohio State has a championship favorite, championship contenders and championship sleepers in the tournament.
Defending champion Jesse Mendez is a favorite at 141, with Penn State's Beau Bartlett as a close second.
All-American Carson Kharchla, who has overcome two torn ACLs in his Ohio State career, is a contender at 174. So is Nick Feldman at 285, though Feldman will – and I write this with complete respect for the sophomore standout – need divine intervention to beat Minnesota's Gable Steveson and/or Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet to win a title.
Brendan McCrone, who pinned Penn State's Luke Lilledahl in the regular season, is a sleeper. FloWrestling also called McCrone a "landmine" that could mean trouble for Purdue's Matt Ramos, Nebraska's Caleb Smith and Lilledahl, the top three seeds at 125.
Best of luck to the favorite, the contenders and the sleepers at the Big Ten Tournament. Bring home some hardware.
SONG OF THE DAY. Stadium Series Performance - Twenty One Pilots.
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