Random Thoughts: college football, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

This week’s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Ohio State football, a team that gave up three points all season, the Glenville mess, the expanded College Football Playoff and the leap from high school to college football.

The reality

Hear me out on this, but a down year like this was going to happen at some point. It was inevitable.

Why? If for no other reason, top recruits out of high school, especially on defense, who wanted playing time sooner instead of later knew they weren’t stepping in and displacing the likes of Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese etc. So they went elsewhere.

The transfer portal you say? Let’s face it – the transfer portal is very hit or miss. Sometimes it works out – Caleb Downs for instance, but more often than not, it’s not a huge difference maker. For every one big impact at Ohio State or any other major college program, there are probably 10 that didn’t go as planned.

I hear and see people screaming about starting Tavien St. Clair at quarterback. “He’s a former 5-star guy!” they proclaim. Here’s the thing – a 5-star rating isn’t the end-all be-all. Sometimes those rankings are inaccurate. Sometimes the talent is there but another part of the player’s game is missing. There’s a reason he’s not playing and it’s not “the coaches are too dumb to play him.” Come on now.

Every major college program has a down cycle. For some it’s brief and for others, it’s not. Ryan Day and his staff, whatever that may look like after this season, have some work to do. There will be plenty of positions up for grabs both on offense and defense.

Coordinators

Ohio State special teams coordinator Robby Discher is gone. He was fired on Monday. That won’t be the only change but I believe it’ll be the only change during the regular season.

Despite the defense’s struggles, I think defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is safe for now. He may leave on his own but unless the defensive collapse gets worse the next three Saturdays, I think he’s safe.

I’m not so sure about offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. This hasn’t been a good fit since Day No. 1. “A square peg in a round hole” is what I called the fit earlier. When you look back at Saturday’s game, Ohio State actually outgained Oregon in total yards but some of that came when the Ducks sagged back and kept everything in front of them. It’s the play calling and the tempo that’s concerning. Smith seems to favor a rather bland NFL-style of offense, conservative, don’t make mistakes etc. The tempo is best described as plodding. Some of the play calls, especially in key situations, are baffling. As I’ve pointed out before, look what Chip Kelly did and continues to do – always exploiting mismatches with creative schemes.

Anyway, I’m not sure Arthur Smith makes it to a second season in Columbus.

75 million reasons

For the fire Ryan Day crowd – it’s not going to happen. Why not? A $75 million buyout, that’s why, not counting the buyouts for his staff.

Forgiveness

These last three games are winnable for Ohio State. The last one, obviously, is the most important. I can’t help but think most will be forgiven with a win over Michigan.

3 vs. 45

Drew Pastuer of fantastic50.net pointed this out.

Cincinnati North College Hill (Division IV Region 16) went 9-0 during the regular season and gave up a total of three points in those nine regular season games. Three. The Trojans outscored their opponents 503-3. What happened in their first playoff game? They surrendered 45 points and lost to Urbana 45-38.

Glenville mess

Thank goodness the Glenville mess is over.

Not that anyone asked but here are my thoughts. It should have never ended up in court. Not just one court, but two. It was a waste of courtroom time. The judge who issued the injuction admitted he had no authority over who was in or out of the playoffs, then what did he do? Ordered Glenville in the playoffs. The Eighth District Court of Appeals quickly reversed that ruling, which ended the matter.

Membership in the OHSAA is voluntary. You don’t have to join. Of course if you don’t, you won’t be competing in any of their tournaments. When you do join, you agree to follow the rules established by the majority of OHSAA member schools. For those who don’t quite get it – the majority of schools agreed on the rules. Even if you don’t agree with them, you agree to abide by them when you join.

By the way, it’s my understanding that the Ginn Academy students attending Glenville but should have been attending other schools could have done so legitimately, but via open enrollment. Through OHSAA’s competitive balance formula, that would have likely resulted in the school being placed in Division I.

Expanded playoff

So it’s official – a 24-team College Football Playoff will begin next year.

I’m a little torn here. On one hand, tell me a year where 24 teams had even a remote shot of winning a national championship. Some years there weren’t four teams capable of winning the national title. On the other hand, no more conference championship games. I despise conference championship games. They’re simply made for TV, both for college football and college basketball. Good riddance.

What could go wrong?

It appears North Carolina State is on the verge of hiring Phillip Rivers as its next head football coach.

Rivers was a fine NFL quarterback and has enjoyed success as a high school coach. But the jump from high school to Division I college? Good luck.

Let’s review some past high school to major college head coaching hires?”

• Trent Dilfer, UAB – that was a disaster.
• Tony Sanchez, UNLV – was the head coach as high school powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. Went 20-40 at UNLV.
• Todd Dodge, North Texas – coached a powerful high school team in Texas, went 6-37 at North Texas.
• Gerry Faust, Notre Dame – perhaps the best known of this bunch. Built Cincinnati Moeller into a high school power. Went directly to Notre Dame and went 30-26-1. Not horrible but not up to Irish standards.

The last high school coach to make a successful transition to major college football? Probably Paul Brown, who went from Massillon Washington to Ohio State in the early 1940s.

This is not a knock on Phillip Rivers, but history shows this is not going to end well. The powers at NC St. should know that.

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above topics, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.