Greetings to all – freeloaders and patrons alike. Today is “Charity Thursday,” where my online words are gifted to you all, free of charge.
Of course, I personally think your life would be greatly improved if you would just simply subscribe to our website where you can get the daily ramblings of me and my partner D.J. Byrnes along with a treasure trove of other college football content for less than $0.50 per day.
But you’re the only one with the plastic card in your wallet that can make those dreams a reality.
In any case, here are some thoughts on the Local Team in which I don’t mention the upcoming opponent even once because that’s how much this game matters.
- WHO NEEDS THE BEST RECEIVER IN PROGRAM HISTORY?
I feel we’re all collectively just glossing over the fact that Ohio State lost the best receiver in the country earlier this season – probably the best receiver in program history! – and it’s just been… perfectly fine?
This is a guy who we pretty widely considered as the best overall player on this absurdly loaded roster before the season. He set single-season records in catches and receiving yards last season as a first-year starter. In his last full game, he set school records with 15 catches for 347 yards.
And without him, it’s somehow just still the best offense in the country.
From Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors:
Missing the star that set single-season Ohio State records for both receptions (95) and receiving yards (1,606) a season ago could have been quite a problem for Day’s offense. It has been anything but that so far. The Buckeyes are tied for the most touchdowns in the Football Bowl Subdivision (27) and are averaging 8.25 yards per play (best in the nation) and 558.8 yards per game (second-most in the FBS). Stroud’s 305.5 passing yards per game (12th in the country), 16 passing touchdowns (T-1st), 207.5 passer rating (2nd) and 15.5 yards per completion (4th) have made him the early Heisman Trophy favorite.
…
“(Stroud) has gotten into a rhythm a little bit with the offense,” Day said on Tuesday, “Having Marvin and Emeka and now Julian, Xavier Johnson, that’s a whole different group than he had last year … I think what we’ve done is we’ve built the offense around those guys now which is a little bit of a different feel. C.J. has embraced that and he’s gotten some chemistry with those guys over time and those guys have settled into some roles which have really been the blessing, the silver lining, not having Jaxon here for some of these games.”
As Ohio State fans, we like to suck all potential joy away from ourselves by simply *expecting* shit like this to happen. That way, we don’t adequately appreciate it when things magically turn out fine, and we get unreasonably upset when it all goes south.
We love embracing that “Next Man Up” mantra to a grossly unhealthy degree. And to be fair, it usually works out! We watched a third-string quarterback win a damn national title! But sometimes it doesn’t.
Back in 2018, Ohio State lost a generational pass rusher to injury in the third game of the season and everyone was all like “he quit on his team!!!” instead of “our pass rush is fucked!!!”
I’m not going to pretend that defense would have been anywhere close to *good* if Nick Bosa played all season, but I do know it would have been much better because you saw it in those first two games.
In a wild turn of events, the Buckeyes actually missed having the best player in college football that season. That hasn’t been the case this year, and it’s hilarious that this has become the expectation.
- SMASH THROUGH TO VICTORY, ETC.
Speaking of the best offense in college football, this ain’t new. The Buckeye offense was the nation’s best offense pretty much across the board last season, too. But if there was any criticism, it was that Ohio State had too much trouble finishing drives and moving the chains in short-yardage situations.
Shit, there were times last year when I felt more confident that the Bucks were going to score from 40 yards out than I did from 4. But through four games, the Bucks are looking much, much better in that department.
From Joey Kaufman of The Columbus Dispatch:
The Buckeyes have the fourth best red-zone touchdown percentage in the Football Bowl Subdivision, crossing the goal line on 18 of their 20 trips (90%) inside the 20-yard line.
Over the second half of last season, their drives often stalled as they approached the end zone, and they finished the year with a red-zone touchdown percentage of 64.4% that ranked 45th in the FBS.
It cost them points in tight games, including in a crushing loss to archrival Michigan. In that game, they twice settled for field goals in the first half to remain behind at halftime.
…
“We’re trying to be diverse and do different things, so teams can’t gang up on what we’re up to,” Day said. “At the end of the day, it’s execution, but hopefully some of the different looks are giving us a little bit of an advantage.”
A lot of this comes down to C.J. Stroud and the receivers simply executing better in tight spaces, but Ohio State’s also been able to reliably run the ball even when everyone in the stadium knows they’re going to run the ball – which has been a very cool development.
But also, as we’re about to learn, there are probably far too many times when everyone in the stadium knows they’re going to run the ball.
- HEY RYAN DAY, PLEASE STOP TIPPING YOUR HAND
Let’s go back and read the first sentence of that Ryan Day quote from the previous section.
“We’re trying to be diverse and do different things, so teams can’t gang up on what we’re up to.”
*Extremely Maury Povich voice* And the lie sector test determined that was a lie!
Do you want to look like an absolute genius to your friends next time you’re buzzed and watching the Bucks together? Whenever Ohio State lines up in the pistol, announce to everyone that it’s going to be a run play. You’ll be right more than 90 percent of the time!
From Bill Connelly’s advanced box scores:
This is obviously problematic because if I – the guy with a Twitter account and a Coors Light tower at Ledo’s – know that Ohio State is going to run the ball when they line up in the pistol, you know damn well that Jim Leonhard and Co. knew that Ohio State was going to run the ball when they line up in the pistol.
On one hand, that makes it all the more satisfying that Wisconsin still couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. On the other hand, good lord, please stop doing this.
The wild thing about this 91.3% number is that it’s actually an *improvement* from last season, when it was 100% for most of the season, including the loss to Michigan.
I’m praying that Ryan Day is aware of this trend and that he’s playing the long game to ruin a secondary with play-action out of the pistol late in the season. But that’s what I hoped for last year, too. Instead, I just had to watch a running back get stuffed on 3rd-and-2 in the Big House five too many times.
- PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: DON’T CALL HIM JTT
Before he inevitably wins the Nagurski, it’s probably important that everyone learns what he wants to be called – and it ain’t JTT.
For those who haven’t pieced it together, “J.T.” stands for “Jaylahn Tuimoloau.” So “JTT” doesn’t even almost make sense. Frankly, neither does calling him “J.T. Tuimoloau,” but that’s not my department.
EAT ARBY’S. A man is caught on video urinating on his ex-wife’s grave almost every morning… A man is accused of stealing from and living with his dead roommate for the past 4 years… The improbable true story behind “The Greatest Beer Run Ever”… Computer chips are the new oil… Everybody is leaving Iowa…