God, it’s just starting to hit me that I won’t be going to Indianapolis this weekend. It’s hilarious how Indy in December is a swell time if it involves an Ohio State game.
Indy in December, involving a game between Michigan and Purdue, sounds like an unlocked circle of Hell. Suppose you’re an Ohio State fan who purchased B1G championship tickets and accommodations before the season. In that case, you’re rich enough to eat the financial loss by refusing to sell your tickets or lodging to a Michigan Man.
It’s better to go bankrupt and survive on the street with honor than profit on a Michigan Man’s happiness.
- WHEN MAMA CALLS
The big news this morning is Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, a proud alumnus of the local agricultural school, cooperated with a soft profile that might as well have been a billboard about his desire to coach the Buckeyes.
From Joe Rexrod of theathletic.com:
This probably won’t come until a year from now, after Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan throttles Ryan Day’s Ohio State for a third straight season and the fury of a fan base becomes the charge of an athletic director.
But it will come, if Ohio State AD Gene Smith has an any sense for where things are headed in Columbus and what’s been happening in Nashville.
Mike Vrabel’s Ohio State. Get used to the idea.
It’s more than an Ohio State fan fantasy — by the way, OSU loyalists, if at least half of your message board threads right now don’t have “Vrabel” in them, what are you even doing? — and it should not inspire scoffs of dismissal from Tennessee Titans fans. It should inspire reviews of the liquidity of the financial assets of Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk. Keep that checkbook handy.
I’m starting to get the impression that some of the old guard at Ohio State think Ryan Day is a chump. I can’t imagine Vrabel participating in this article if he had any sort of respect for Day considering the first paragraph condemns him to an ass-whipping in Ann Arbor next season.
I’m not as red-hot with Day as I was after The Game since learning of the botched fake punt Day called that would have altered the course of the game. But I would still replace him with Vrabel in an instant.
Anything else is asking Day to become somebody opposite of who he has been his entire career at Ohio State. It could happen! But it ain’t likely.
- HARTLINE HOTLINE ACTIVATED
Day is back in the same spot he was this time last year. Only this time, he needs to re-work the offensive side of the ball. That might have to happen without the staff’s best offensive recruiter.
From John Brice of footballscoop.com:
While several additional candidates have emerged for the Bearcats’ head job, sources on Wednesday told FootballScoop that there has been a gain in momentum for star Ohio State assistant coach Brian Hartline.
Sources told FootballScoop that Cincinnati’s formal interview with Hartline was expected to take place in the near future, perhaps as soon as Thursday.
Hartline should take the job if he wants it. Because if he ultimately wants to coach Ohio State, the days of the Buckeyes hiring a coach without head coaching experience are probably over.
I’d be surprised if Cincinnati offers Hartline since they’ll probably want head coaching experience, too. But Hartline has Ohio ties and is a proven recruiter, which is precisely the recipe Fickell used at Cincinnati. We know he’ll interview, too.
Hartline leaving was always expected to leave at some point. If he does, it’s not as if Ohio State won’t have a litany of intelligent, talented men who want to work with the current stable of receivers—even if Jaxon Smith-Njigba turns professional.
- HERE COMES THE HOME PLAYOFF GAMES
The day of home playoff games are upon us:
I’ve wanted Ohio State to play an SEC team in the Horseshoe in December for as long as I can remember. This isn’t the full dream as that would only come with Ohio ranked fifth or lower. But it’ll do.
I understand why people would be skeptical of this (they hate change), but this was always inevitable. Go ahead and make it 16 teams for all I care. I’d much rather watch a 1 vs. 16 game than the Cheez-It Bowl.
- OH, NO… NO ROSE BOWL?
From Stewart Mandel and Nicole Auerbach, who probably shit themselves with happiness after writing this report:
Should No. 5 Ohio State (11-1) fail to reach the College Football Playoff this weekend, the Rose Bowl is strongly considering taking No. 8 Penn State (10-2) instead of the Buckeyes to avoid a repeat appearance coming off another deflating loss to their rival Michigan, according to multiple people with knowledge of the discussions.
There seems to be a contingent of college football fans who think the Rose Bowl picking Penn State would somehow send Ohio State fans into a meltdown.
Look, everybody loves Pasadena in January. It’s almost as scenic as Indianapolis in December if you squint hard enough.
But no Ohio State fan is going to get emotional about missing the Rose Bowl. I speak for most of us when I say we’d rather watch Dabo Swinney get stuffed back into his pine box.
At least Clemson employs a bigger fraud than we do.
- JON KITNA’S SON POPPED FOR CHILD PORN
I’ve seen college players arrested for a lot in my near decade of covering Ohio State athletics.
From mycbs4.com:
Gainesville — According to the Gainesville Police Department (GPD), they and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) served a search warrant at 2308 SW 38th Drive #6.
GPD says they received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The tip says that a Discord user distributed an image of child sexual abuse material.
After further investigating it was revealed that two images were shared from the residence of UF quarterback Jalen Kitna’s Discord account.
Police spoke with Kitna. They say he recalled sharing two images but, thought they were “legal” since he discovered them online.
No, it’s actually not legal to possess child pornography no matter how you discovered it. I can already see Kitna’s lawyer shaking their head when they read that defense after being given the right to remain silent.
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