The reason Evan Stewart had a good game is because Dillon Gabriel threw the football well, and the reason Gabriel threw the football well is because Oregon's o-line won the LOS. I think his point is that Day has built this program from the outside in, prioritizing the skill positions, but the line of scrimmage is where these games are won or lost, and Ohio State, on defense, lost the LOS... again. Is that Day's fault? It would depend on your point of view, I suppose, but if Knowles and LJ have truly been at odds for nearly 3 seasons now about whether or not to deploy the 'jack,' how to rotate d-linemen, and whether or not 4 guys with hands in the dirt is mandatory, then that would absolutely go back to the head coach for allowing it to happen.

None of which matters now. Just fix it and win out, at least through the B1G championship game.

Stats are for losers, the final score is for winners

-- Bill Belichick 

The correct one is edge. The Buckeyes don't command The Moment. It commands them.
 

Which, imo, brings us back to mental toughness, expecting to win the game, and program culture. The only thing the vast majority of this team knows is losing big games under Ryan Day. That must change - must - and Day is the only one who can do it because he is THE head coach, and he sets the tone for everything in the program. 
 

Edge, toughness, culture… call it whatever you want, but whatever “it” is, Ryan Day lacks it, and as a result, his team, as a whole, lacks it as well.  Beat PSU, ttun, win the B1G, and that’ll go a long way to showing us that Day has found what is currently lost. 

So, NOW Josh Pate thinks Ohio State isn't the physical B1G bully it used to be? This guy has kissed Day's ass since 2019, but now, suddenly, he sees what anyone watching the games has seen since 2020... which was, coincidently, Ryan Day's FIRST team. 2019 was Meyer's team; Meyer recruited it, Meyer built it, Meyer developed it, it was Meyer's CULTURE and had Meyer's PERSONALITY.

Ryan Day has repeatedly failed at developing an o-line that mauls the opposition (altho this year it's noticeably better... thanks, Chip) and enables the offense to grind and eat clock. That has been missing since... 2019. Day has failed at finding a DC who can produce a "Silver Bullet" defense. After one-year Hafley, who had the distinct advantage of walking into a VETERAN defense that Meyer helped build and that had Meyer's culture, Day has had two DCs who are varying degrees of incapable. Coombs was WHOLLY incapable (and Day retained him anyway), while Knowles is more than capable as long as he's not in a talent-match game, but when he is playing a team with like talent, well, he folds like wet cardboard in the 4th quarter. Virtually ALWAYS. 

This year, it's win or go home. Day has EVERY possible advantage at his disposal, including the highest paid staff in college football, but here we are - AGAIN - having the very same annual discussion about Day's program and its lack of 'dogs,' its lack of toughness, its lack of culture which CREATES that toughness and those dogs, and its lack of wins on the biggest stages, under the brightest lights. 10M per season entitles Ohio State to a LOT more than repeated losses in talent-match games, and embarrassing - HUMILIATING - Cotton Bowl shit shows vs the likes of frickin MISSOURI. IMO, if Day doesn't beat PSU, ttun, and win the B1G, then Ohio State should take a long, hard look at the list that "every AD has in his desk drawer," and start gauging interest. 

 We had the hands team on the field specifically for an onside kick.

Why is a Caleb Downs, a safety, on the "hands team"? Why aren't receivers and backs, guys who handle the football a LOT in practice, on that team instead? Downs tried to jump out of the way of the football when it was coming towards him, he didn't try to secure it. Im not knocking Caleb Downs, Im just wondering why...

1) Downs, a safety, is on the hands team to begin with

AND

2) Why he tried to avoid the ball rather than catch and secure the ball

Ryan Day is now 2-6 against teams ranked in the AP top five 

Losses: Clemson, TTUN x 3, Alabama, UGA, Oregon

Wins: Clemson, ND

Wouldn't that be 2-7 Vs top-5 teams, or is there a technicality, like one of those ttun teams was #6 in the AP & 5 in the coaches poll? 

We can continue to talk ourselves into believing that there are good, rational reasons for Day's big-game failures, and maybe there are, but it doesn't change the bottom line. Ryan Day is not getting it done... he just isn't.

A good part of the reason is because he's been F'd over by dog shit defensive performances in six of those seven losses, but he hired, AND RETAINED (Im especially lookin at you, Kerry Coombs), the DCs.

** Jim Knowles' defense has failed to force a punt in the 4th quarter Vs ttun x2, UGA, and Oregon (and Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, although that was from pure exhaustion because the offense played the worst game in OSU history).

** Jim Knowles in top 5 games at Ohio State: 2022 Michigan - 530 yards, 2022 Georgia - 533 yards, 2023 Michigan - 338 yards, 2024 Oregon - 496 yards 1,897 yards & 149 points

Ryan Day sets the tone for EVERYTHING inside the Woody... everything. Ohio State consistently losing the biggest games on the biggest stages since he took over for Meyer goes back to him. We have the EXACT same conversations annually on here... and it is now tiresome. This entire team, minus the true freshman and the transfers, all they know is losing in the biggest games, under the brightest lights, with Day as their HC. That HAS to change. Football is all about momentum and confidence, and this program, under Ryan Day, seems to have none of either in these match-talent games. Changing that starts with Day, and I wonder if he can turn it around. 

Jeff Hafley was not an Urban Meyer hire, and he was only here for one year, 2019. Day hired him.

Im not a Knowles supporter, and Im far from a Ryan Day fan, but let's be accurate. 

STOCK DOWN

Jim Knowles. I don't know how many seasons we have to listen to Knowles say, "Ive got to do better, Ive got to coach better, we've got to put our players in better position to win" after yet another loss in huge game vs a talent-match program, but I've personally heard enough. That the Knowles defense has consistently shined Vs the overmatched programs was a step in the right direction after suffering through the Kerry Coombs experiment, but just as dependable is the Knowles defense folding like wet cardboard Vs talent-match teams. Enough... lose to PSU with another shit-the-bed defensive performance and Knowles will be gone at season's end. Lose to ttun and both Day and Knowles will be unemployed. 

Jim has to do much, much better.  And this shit between him and LJ absolutely better get fixed soon.

I don't know anything about the rumored feud between Knowles and Johnson, so I won't address that... real or fabricated. But the first part of your sentence - Jim has to do much, much better - has now been reiterated for 2.5 years across multiple big games Vs talent-match programs. Knowles himself has REPEATEDLY said as much. I didn't listen to a word of his (or Day's) postgame presser(s), but I would bet everything I own that at some point in that presser he said, "Ive got to do better, Ive got to coach better, Ive got to work harder and put the players in better positions to succeed," or some variation of that. 

At what point does it become obvious to Day, the players, and the fan base that Knowles isn't capable of doing better. His defenses have the same problems year after year after year; get bullied along the LOS in talent-match games, get little to NO pressure from Sawyer and Tuimoloau, almost never get home for a sack, mediocre at best LB play, and a secondary that gives up yards though the air like they're defending the Detroit Lions and not the Oregon Ducks (or UGA Bulldogs, or ttun). The Knowles experiment has grown stale, and I don't think he can produce anywhere even remotely close to a 2-million-dollar result.

I hope Im wrong... I'd LOVE to be wrong... but I just don't see it. 

I like Howard's competitive spirit and willingness to use his size to run the ball when necessary; he's a good, solid player who throws the short and mid-range passes pretty well... but he cannot throw the deep ball to save his life, and that's a problem when you have a freak receiver like Jeremiah Smith who can take the top off a secondary with his speed. Howard has under thrown Smith several times already this season, and last night was more of that. Howard's deep ball is simply not good enough, and in an offense that traditionally likes to take multiple deep shots a game, that's problematic.

Knowles gets paid 2 million per year, and he gets paid that much money to do what he has failed to do, which is to help OSU win the top-5, talent-match games on the schedule and in the playoff. Since Knowles arrived, his defense has folded in the following games Vs top-5 teams:

1) 2022 Vs ttun where he generated zero pressure on McCarthy and was gashed by Edwards

2) CFP semi-final Vs UGA where he couldn't hold a two TD lead in the 4th qtr

3) 2023 Vs ttun where he could not get off the field in the 4th qtr

4) Vs Oregon last night where the defense was a total failure; zero pressure, which is a CONSTANT under Knowles in talent-match games, poor tackling, Denzel Burke

Generating no pressure - never getting home - has become a trait for the Knowles defense in these talent-match games, and last night was more of the same. Sawyer and Tuimoloau (minus PSU in 22) disappear in these kinds of games. LB play has been varying degrees of crappy to meh. Secondary play has been flat-out poor. The secondary play Vs ttun and UGA in 22 and last night Vs Oregon was abysmal.

CHANGE SOMETHING, Jim!!! Holy cow, do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, different from what you've been doing for 2.5 years now. For fuck's sake, do you know HOW to generate pressure with your d-line? Do you know HOW NOT to get bullied on the LOS on defense? The fact that Knowles keeps trotting out the same 4 d-linemen and creating ZERO pressure is maddening. Is a 4-2-5 mandatory? I mean, do you think it's against the rules to change things up and generate pressure somehow? Knowles' job is on the line now; lose to PSU and/or ttun with another shit-the-bed defensive performance, and he's gone and so is Day, so get creative and adapt, because the defense was dog shit - AGAIN - and cost OSU another huge game.

2 MILLION per for the defense to collapse in virtually every huge game Ohio State has played since Knowles arrived.

1) 2022 Vs ttun (got ZERO pressure on McCarthy and got gashed by Edwards)

2) 2022 CFP Vs UGA (could not hold a TWO TD lead in the 4th qtr)

2) 2023 Vs ttun (they could NOT get off the the field in the 4th qtr)

3) Oregon last night (gave up 500 yards offense, got ZERO pressure)

Jim Knowles is stealing money from OSU; that they look good when the talent isn't even remotely comparable isn't why they choose to pay Knowles 2 MILLION DOLLARS per season, winning the HUGE games - the-biggest-stages-and-brightest lights games - is the reason Knowles gets that kind of money... and he has failed IN TOTALITY in that regard. 

There are jobs on the line now, and Ryan Day's is one of them. This season is FAR from over, but there is no more room for losing.

Ryan Day is THE head football coach at Ohio State and he makes 10mil per for the privilege, so everything comes back to him... everything. And now that Day has Day'd his way to another big game loss on a national stage in front of the world, the pressure will be more crushing than it's ever been. This season is far, FAR, from over, but Ryan Day selling that to a program which has grown accustomed to losing when on the biggest of stages and under the brightest of lights could start to become difficult for him. At some point, the troops stop believing the words because the actions and results are always the same. The VAST majority of this team, all it knows is losing when playing in the biggest games: ttun x3, UGA, & Oregon x2, all in the past 4 years. Day did win a Rose Bowl thanks to Stroud and JSN literally setting Rose Bowl records that day, so credit to him there, but this 'losing huge games' thing is a definite trend, not a one-off, or even a 50/50, and it all goes back to the guy to whom OSU has given generational wealth. That's just the way it is. 

Burke is having an all-time dog shit performance tonight. Cant cover, can't tackle...horrible.

some announcers were suggesting that Alabama would not miss Nick Saban at all, and that their new coach might just be an improvement. 

I didn't see any of the Bama game broadcast, but if "some announcers" actually intimated or implied that DeBoer, 5 games into his Alabama tenure, will be an improvement over a 7-time title winner, then "some announcers" are imbeciles. Holy shit, that is an absurdly stupid insinuation for a professional college football analyst to make. Wow.

3. Seat spacing-man it's tight, and I'm not a big guy.

Have you ever been to Ohio State Vs TTUN in AA? If you think the seating at Ohio Stadium is tight, you should go experience that shit hole; 2x4's covered in plastic and enough width between seat numbers for a skinny 10-year-old girl's body... maybe. 

There's no way - NO WAY - he does any of that bullshit if Saban were still leading that program.

DEI and Kirk Herbstreit.

Any dude who believes Howard adds more to that broadcast than David Pollack did is either related to Howard, or he's Kirk Herbstreit.

QB1 Art Schlichter (I know, and his disease and POS way of living life were not taken into account here).

RB Archie

WR1 Cris Carter

WR2 Garrett Wilson

Slot JSN

TE John Frank

I view all analytics "with a grain of salt." 

"Stats are for losers, the final score is for winners."

- Bill Belichick

ultimately this is all nitpicking a defense that's No. 1 nationally in scoring, No. 2 in total defense, No. 3 against the run and No. 9 against the pass.

True, but the defense achieved those lofty rankings based at least in part, maybe large part, on the quality of opponents they've faced so far this year. 

Iowa can run the football, they are well coached (as always), they have maulers on the o-line, and they have a good RB, so the Buckeye LBs - Styles in particular - will have to be much improved this week, or this game could be interesting. The LBs are the weakest link on this team, and by a wide margin, so Laurinaitis and his room need to step it up.

RIP Peter Edward Rose

Watching the Big Red Machine in the 1970s as a kid in Ohio was a joy, and Pete Rose was a central cog in that machine.

MLB vindictively carried on your banishment long after your debt had been paid. If at some point in the future the powers that be in Cooperstown want to enshrine you posthumously, I hope your family tells them to go fuck themselves. 

Great tribute to a GREAT man. Woody Hayes is the G.O.A.T. at Ohio State; he's the foundation for all that we enjoy today in the Ohio State football community, and he's inarguably one of college football's all-time greatest head coaches. 

The Buckeye defense was getting GASHED in the first half. Spin it however you want, but in August everybody was talking about how this defense would be "generational," and what Ive seen so far is not even remotely generational. Yeah, it's early, but slow starts by the defense is getting old, and so is waiting until halftime for Knowles to figure it out. Are there concerns about how this defense matches up Vs UGA, Bama, Texas, or even Oregon? For me there absolutely are. Caleb Downs, Lathan Ransom, and Denzel Burke look good... but they need the other 8 to be as CONSISTENT as they are to be the generational defense we all thought and hoped they'd be. 

Some college football officials are disgraceful in their arrogance. To throw a flag on that kick - the player was NOT off sides - when it was not a clear penalty is pathetic. No one on this planet wants to see you throw a flag, motherfker, not one person.