It’s been a wild offseason in college football as NIL and eligibility issues have dominated the headlines. And now they season has started and we’re back to some great football and amazing finishes. Here are some observations from week 1:
Tag: Ohio State (Page 1 of 13)
Ryan Day took quite a beating last year in the media and with certain fans after laying an egg against Michigan. Of course, he shut up many of his critics as the Buckeyes played angry and went on an epic run in the College Football Playoff to win Day’s first National Championship.
Still, four straight losses against Michigan hung over Day’s head. This year, Day and the Buckeyes entered the game as the better team, just like last year. But it was clear from the beginning that Day wasn’t going to play conservatively. Julian Sayin came out throwing, but he tossed an interception on his second pass of the game.
But the Buckeyes didn’t buckle under the pressure after falling behind 6-0. Sayin threw a touchdown to Jeremiah Smith and then later threw a TD bomb to Carnell Tate. The running game was also working with Bo Jackson and the other Ohio State backs. Ohio State outgained Michigan 419-163 as they controlled the game in a 27-9 victory.
Meanwhile, Bryce Underwood, Michigan’s $10 million freshman QB, finished the game going 8-18 with just 63 passing yards!
In the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes went to the ground game as their offensive lines just dominated the Michigan defense.
After the game, the Ohio State players celebrated of course, but they didn’t bother planting a flag. They know they expect to win this game, and Day was clear he wanted them to win with humility.
It was quite a weekend for college football, as many of us who love the game saw the crowds return and bring back the magic of the game. Yes, we still have issues with this top-heavy sport with Alabama and a few other dominant teams, but the traditions, crowds and games themselves make this an irresistible sport. No, NIL won’t ruin it. It will just continue to evolve, and likely in a better way.
As for the games this weekend, Ohio State and Minnesota kicked things off on Thursday night, as the Gophers came out to play and made things interesting for the first half. The Gophers have a monster offensive like in front of star running back Mo Ibrahim, and the Buckeyes have a young defense that clearly needs some more time to gel.
Meanwhile, C.J. Stroud was making his first start at quarterback and struggled in the first half. He had trouble throwing accurately on the run and couldn’t consistently get the ball to Ohio State’s talented receivers. That changed in the second half as Ryan Day schemed the receivers open and Stroud hit them in stride. The Buckeyes showed how Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and the rest of the Buckeye receivers will torch opponents all season. And they have running backs as well, as Miyan Williams and true freshman TreVeyon Henderson both scored on long touchdowns.
That was hilarious! Pretty much everyone agreed that Bret Bielema came across as a bumbling fool when he tried to rip Ohio State’s schedule and then proceeded to have his over-hyped Razorbacks crap the bed against Toledo.
Bielema is a blowhard and also an overrated coach. He hopped aboard the Wisconsin train and basically just kept the same formula. He had some success while Michigan was down and Ohio State had to go through the Luke Fickell transition season until Urban Meyer restored order to the Big Ten.
Bielema parlayed that record to a monster contract at Arkansas, where suddenly he had to do real coaching in order to turn around a program and compete in the tough SEC.
Arkansas was the favorite sleeper pick of many experts, but now big mouth Bielema has become a laughingstock instead.
Let’s see if he can redeem himself with some wins in the SEC.
Pat Forde does his usually excellent job summarizing the Rutgers dumpster fire and the mess this has created for Jim Delany and the Big Ten.
But he also throws in an interesting nugget that explains some of the motivation behind targeting Rutgers in the first place. Big Ten dictator Jim Delany IS FROM NEW JERSEY, and his obsession with getting the Big Ten exposure in the New York market led him to the mediocre program.
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