Skull Session: Emeka Egbuka is Criminally Underrated, Ohio State’s Offense Remains Perfect in the Red Zone and Big Ten Travel Demands Are Taking Hold on the Conference
Oregon is a beautiful, beautiful state. If you ever get the chance to drive to Bend, you should. But the landscape will be littered with the rotting carcasses of dead ducks when the Buckeyes hitch up their wagons on Saturday night and head back east.
To err is human. Really sucking requires having yellow stripes on your helmet.
I don't buy the idea that travel time is some major disadvantage. They're not getting off the plane and suiting up. Inherent in traveling is being the away team. That's it. OSU by 10 this Saturday. Go Bucks!
Exactly. Don't the teams in the NFL travel cross-country, frequently? If the Buckeyes were going by wagon train, I could see where it would be a big disadvantage. They would have had to pack up and move out immediately after the Iowa game Saturday, and they probably wouldn't get there until Friday.
The Buckeyes are going to defy the cross-country travel team odds with a W Saturday night. This team is different.
For clarity’s sake: Wagon trains typically went 2-3 mph and covered about 20-30 miles per day. The driving distance from Columbus to Eugene is approximately 2,437 miles. From noon Sunday to noon Friday, there are 120 hours. If a wagon train went that distance nonstop for 120 hours, it would have to average 20.3 mph.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Look, the penalties should be severe, but I don't know if it's appropriate to hook TCUN to yokes and make them drag wagons all the way across the country. That could be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
Well, it is part of the game. I think we can agree that being the away team is harder than being the home team.
And if being the away team is not nothing, and certainly not an advantage, then the question is whether it is harmful enough to consistently affect the outcome of a game.
There is no absolute answer to this question - since so much depends on how prepared each team. However, with a large enough sample size I'm sure we'll have a better idea of how much cross country travel impacts outcomes.
Or we won't. I don't know. I don't even work here.
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Yeah, seems like a full day of lost prep for travel could be impactful. But...
There simply isn't enough data yet on the B1G travel to speculate intelligently about the impact of cross country travel on outcomes. When has a lack of statistically significant data slowed down speculation about sports outcomes? If Wilner, who was interested enough to write the article, really wanted to bottom this out, he easily could have looked at previous years of long distance travel across different conferences and non-conference play. That would take some effort though.
They do but they have more flexibility in handling their travel schedule as they don't have to deal with class schedules. They also take fewer people due to roster sizes and I am guessing the jets they fly are more catered to giving them as much comfort as possible even if the charter jets for the Buckeyes are nice.
Wonder what their travel schedule is going to be? On the plus side the game time is the same as playing a night game on the East Coast vs what Miami just had to do against California.
To me the Big Ten should make it that if you are flying over two to three time zones no Noon games if played in the East and no 7 PM PST or after games if played out West during the regular season.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
1. I think the sample size of 9 games is in fact way too small. This season may not be enough of a sample but I would at least wait until that point to start drawing any connections.
2. Traveling three time zones didn’t bother Oregon when it kicked our asses in 2021 with a noon kickoff.
3. I think west coast teams traveling east to play earlier in the day (their 9 AM or noon) is overrated. Aren’t these guys accustomed to waking up before dawn to practice?
You are correct they had no issues in 2021. However, their fall semester of classes did not start until September 30th. That game was September 11th. I don't know when they chose to travel but class schedules are not an issue generally in the first 2-3 weeks in September.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
Don't think it's the amount of time traveled that's the issue but rather, crossing time zones where the biological clock/sleeping patters (circadian rhythm) are out of sync.
Michigan. lol.
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Can't wait for Saturday night - our offense will have to stay razor sharp and once the nerves settle down just run the offense and stay creative. I know Chip will be primed and focused for this banger.
Oregon is a great YAC team and IMO we're going to have to minimize them on their slants and keep Gabriel in the pocket.
Always try to look for the positive ........... in the midst of a crisis !!
Across the board, this team is pretty strong, I'm pleasantly surprised with how well the offensive line is performing thus far, and I'm not ashamed to give Frye some credit here, I didn't have high expectations going in, but I'll eat those words I said previously..we are going to have to play mistake free football on Saturday, and in the end, I believe that we have the better team, sure Oregon has some speed and talent, but our team is tough..I mean hard nosed, playing with some dawg in them..I think we (this team) will open a lot of people's eyes this weekend!
Such a nice change of pace with our red zone offense. I used to think every time a big play or turnover ended up inside the 20, "oh crap, here comes another field goal attempt or another missed 4th down conversion." Very impressive to see 100% scoring results this year.
I see a lot of Oregon twitter posts chirping about how the buckeyes have never played in an atmosphere like their stadium.
it will be rocking for sure. But news flash to them: this ain’t our first rodeo.
I think there is a good chance we see stuff on offense and defense we have not shown yet.
Right. Playing in front of 110,000 at tcun or 107,000 at night on a White Out at Penn State is a snooze fest.
The Oregon stadium capacity is 54,000. 54,000! I am sure it gets loud but come on. A NYT article this year has it ranked #8 of toughest stadiums. The Shoe came in 4th, Penn State #3. EA Sports doesn't have it in the top 10 (comes in at #11) but The Shoe #4 again, Beaver Stadium is #6, Camp Randall #7.
I think we have played in tough stadiums.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
Many of our offensive starters have not played in any of the loudest stadiums. IMO, the OL play will be most susceptible to poor play/false starts based on the loud environment.
Our QB and center have both played in conference championship games, center in playoffs and loud SEC venues with crazy atmospheres. That is the key communication IMO. Our RB's and WR's will be fine.
Hickory,NC Buckeye......."Because I couldn't go for three!"
For some reason KISS came to my DIII school (2,250 enrollment) in 1976 and put on a concert in the comparatively small gym. To say it was an awesome and up-close experience is an understatement. They then came and partied at my frat house for a short time afterward.
The campus was not prepared for the influx of people from the surrounding areas, but it all worked out though the admin were upset by the number of burn marks left on the gym floor by doobies.
I hate saying it, but there won’t be a more undervalued win than Ohio State over Oregon this weekend. I believe we will thoroughly handle business, and then everybody will forget that Oregon was number three when we played. Oregon is a funky team that has always kind of sort of been good but pretty much always been found to be fraudulent. Nobody respects them. Yes, they managed to come out of Columbus with a win a couple years ago, and I would argue that was the greatest win in their history. One win out of 10 tries. Everybody wants them to be an elite team, but they just never show it. And they haven’t looked great this year either. Dylan Gabriel has certainly not played up to expectations. We will see. We will beat them and we will be number one. But you wait and see how little people care that we beat Oregon on the road in another couple weeks. Oregon will have two or three losses by the end of the year.
I think its less to do with Oregon and more to do with the SEC lust that the media has. It won't take long for them to prop up more SEC teams and downplay other conferences. The SEC demands this treatment and worked hard for 50 years go set this deck. The bastards.
I believe a good solution to the cross country treks for all sports is for the B1G to purchase land and build or purchase existing/developed campuses on the west coast and heart of B1G’s eastern footprint that would have training/practice facilities, dormitories and virtual classrooms. These facilities could allow teams to travel early or allow them to remain in the same area (for back-to-back game). The billions CFB is bringing to the super conferences, could fund these facilities.
I thought I read they were flying out Friday. No need to adjust their body clocks, just use the same schedule as they would for a 7:30 pm eastern game while out there. Who cares where in the sky the sun is?
For my work I traveled internationally constantly. Had a Dr tell me once it takes a day for each time zone traveled to normalize the body clock. I feel the coaches probably start tinkering with the player’s body clocks early in the week to be ready for whatever is game time independent of the time zone. With 54,,000 people screaming (“those are rookie numbers …” I can’t imagine the boys won’t be jacked for this one. Not too worried about the travel tbh
I remember reading years ago that execs traveling internationally from some companies (IBM, Boeing, can't recall?) were not allowed to do any business at their destination for the first 24-ish(?) hours, until they had some time to acclimate. Jet lag is also much worse when traveling East.
My aim, then, is to whip the Weasels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom. - William Tecumseh Sherman (with apologies)
Everyone seems to think it’s cool to keep adding extra teams to the conference. Now we have this geographical mess, crazy travel, and trying to figure out tiebreakers since teams barely play half the other teams in a given football season.
I miss having 12 teams with a Midwest focus. It’s like, as long as there’s more TV money, everything else be damned.
The Pac-12 was fine. It just needed better leadership and a better TV deal.
Wonder if the players and coaches will spend at least :30 minutes walking in the grass, barefoot, shortly after they settle in to their hotels to allow the grounding effect to help align themselves with the new time zone.
Michigan. lol.
PSA: grayed out comments get read the most. Thanks!
I travel between the West Coast and the East Coast multiple times a year. While I think the travel that the Big Ten now has to endure is significant. I can’t buy the idea that jet lag is affecting a bunch of 20 something year-old players when it doesn’t bother me and I’m way older than that. To experience real jet lag you have to go somewhere where the time zone difference is at least 7 to 8 hours. Nonetheless, I think the Big Ten will have to address the travel issues. The Friday night games may have to go the way of the dodo and more games should probably be scheduled between teams in the far Midwest and West Coast as opposed to trips between Rutgers and UCLA on a regular basis. I’m not buying that the distance between Iowa city and Eugene is that much different than the distance between the University of Washington and the University of Arizona, two teams that used to play each other in the Pac 12. It’s simply something the Big Ten’s going have to work on.
EE is definitely underrated in the whole scheme of things .obviously most of us are aware of who he is and how good of a player but I still think he's very underrated and he's the receiver that is more the glue to the team than anybody else and I'm very happy he's a Buckeye!
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Oregon is a beautiful, beautiful state. If you ever get the chance to drive to Bend, you should. But the landscape will be littered with the rotting carcasses of dead ducks when the Buckeyes hitch up their wagons on Saturday night and head back east.
To err is human. Really sucking requires having yellow stripes on your helmet.
of Zach Roloff fame?
Leave no doubt
Apparently not, since I have no idea who that person is.
To err is human. Really sucking requires having yellow stripes on your helmet.
Leave no doubt
I don't buy the idea that travel time is some major disadvantage. They're not getting off the plane and suiting up. Inherent in traveling is being the away team. That's it. OSU by 10 this Saturday. Go Bucks!
Exactly. Don't the teams in the NFL travel cross-country, frequently? If the Buckeyes were going by wagon train, I could see where it would be a big disadvantage. They would have had to pack up and move out immediately after the Iowa game Saturday, and they probably wouldn't get there until Friday.
The Buckeyes are going to defy the cross-country travel team odds with a W Saturday night. This team is different.
I'm squeamishly optimistic.
For clarity’s sake: Wagon trains typically went 2-3 mph and covered about 20-30 miles per day. The driving distance from Columbus to Eugene is approximately 2,437 miles. From noon Sunday to noon Friday, there are 120 hours. If a wagon train went that distance nonstop for 120 hours, it would have to average 20.3 mph.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Use cheetahs instead of horses.
and planes instead of wagons.
Michigan. lol.
PSA: grayed out comments get read the most. Thanks!
Look, the penalties should be severe, but I don't know if it's appropriate to hook TCUN to yokes and make them drag wagons all the way across the country. That could be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
TCUN hitch their wagons to cheetahs…
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Heh, heh, heh. The cheating cheetahs.
So I was in the ballpark, Iowa? Lol.
I'm squeamishly optimistic.
I'd be lion if I said you weren't.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Well, it is part of the game. I think we can agree that being the away team is harder than being the home team.
And if being the away team is not nothing, and certainly not an advantage, then the question is whether it is harmful enough to consistently affect the outcome of a game.
There is no absolute answer to this question - since so much depends on how prepared each team. However, with a large enough sample size I'm sure we'll have a better idea of how much cross country travel impacts outcomes.
Or we won't. I don't know. I don't even work here.
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I'm pretty sure the benefit has been studied and being the home team in CFB is worth about a 3 point advantage.
Yeah, seems like a full day of lost prep for travel could be impactful. But...
There simply isn't enough data yet on the B1G travel to speculate intelligently about the impact of cross country travel on outcomes. When has a lack of statistically significant data slowed down speculation about sports outcomes? If Wilner, who was interested enough to write the article, really wanted to bottom this out, he easily could have looked at previous years of long distance travel across different conferences and non-conference play. That would take some effort though.
Easier just to speculate.
They do but they have more flexibility in handling their travel schedule as they don't have to deal with class schedules. They also take fewer people due to roster sizes and I am guessing the jets they fly are more catered to giving them as much comfort as possible even if the charter jets for the Buckeyes are nice.
Wonder what their travel schedule is going to be? On the plus side the game time is the same as playing a night game on the East Coast vs what Miami just had to do against California.
To me the Big Ten should make it that if you are flying over two to three time zones no Noon games if played in the East and no 7 PM PST or after games if played out West during the regular season.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
1. I think the sample size of 9 games is in fact way too small. This season may not be enough of a sample but I would at least wait until that point to start drawing any connections.
2. Traveling three time zones didn’t bother Oregon when it kicked our asses in 2021 with a noon kickoff.
3. I think west coast teams traveling east to play earlier in the day (their 9 AM or noon) is overrated. Aren’t these guys accustomed to waking up before dawn to practice?
This. It's a very small sample size so far and not statistically significant.
Oregon could have traveled 10 time zones and still beat us with Coombs as our DC.
Michigan. lol.
PSA: grayed out comments get read the most. Thanks!
You are correct they had no issues in 2021. However, their fall semester of classes did not start until September 30th. That game was September 11th. I don't know when they chose to travel but class schedules are not an issue generally in the first 2-3 weeks in September.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
The 2021 contest was a one-score game (7 points); hardly an ass-kicking. Ohio State had 2 chances in the 4th quarter to tie the game.
Clarification: Our defense got its ass kicked.
“If the Buckeyes were going by wagon train…”
That could make for an interesting Mel Brooks movie. ;)
Right! Correlation does not equal causation.
Don't think it's the amount of time traveled that's the issue but rather, crossing time zones where the biological clock/sleeping patters (circadian rhythm) are out of sync.
Michigan. lol.
PSA: grayed out comments get read the most. Thanks!
I think this is overrated to some aspect for western teams traveling east. The inverse however when playing late games could be a factor.
I think ichigan sucks no matter where they play.
Go Bucks!!!
David Peck
Emeka Egbuka has been a pleasure to watch play his entire career at The OSU.
The injury last year was painful (pun intended) for both Emeka and fans.
It is absolutely crazy to think of the list of receivers that he has played with.
Not sure how to quantify, but he may be the player that has played with the best players at his position, in the history of the team.
Can't wait for Saturday night - our offense will have to stay razor sharp and once the nerves settle down just run the offense and stay creative. I know Chip will be primed and focused for this banger.
Oregon is a great YAC team and IMO we're going to have to minimize them on their slants and keep Gabriel in the pocket.
Always try to look for the positive ........... in the midst of a crisis !!
Cheerish every single day
Across the board, this team is pretty strong, I'm pleasantly surprised with how well the offensive line is performing thus far, and I'm not ashamed to give Frye some credit here, I didn't have high expectations going in, but I'll eat those words I said previously..we are going to have to play mistake free football on Saturday, and in the end, I believe that we have the better team, sure Oregon has some speed and talent, but our team is tough..I mean hard nosed, playing with some dawg in them..I think we (this team) will open a lot of people's eyes this weekend!
We're talking EE (yes) and red zone supremacy. Pack that up to the PNW...it's going to be a show Saturday night.
My (very) early years celebrated Ohio State football and KISS.
I wanna rock and roll Saturday night (and sleep in on Sunday if I can... :))
Go Buckeyes.
Did you check over your post before hitting save? Opinions only matter with clear titles and full details.
Reloaded my signature at a good clip, while consulting a magazine. Go Buckeyes.
Part of every day
Not worried about travel.
this a business trip.
OSU ALUM
I wish I had this kind of foresight when it comes to the stock market:
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Such a nice change of pace with our red zone offense. I used to think every time a big play or turnover ended up inside the 20, "oh crap, here comes another field goal attempt or another missed 4th down conversion." Very impressive to see 100% scoring results this year.
I see a lot of Oregon twitter posts chirping about how the buckeyes have never played in an atmosphere like their stadium.
it will be rocking for sure. But news flash to them: this ain’t our first rodeo.
I think there is a good chance we see stuff on offense and defense we have not shown yet.
OSU ALUM
Right. Playing in front of 110,000 at tcun or 107,000 at night on a White Out at Penn State is a snooze fest.
The Oregon stadium capacity is 54,000. 54,000! I am sure it gets loud but come on. A NYT article this year has it ranked #8 of toughest stadiums. The Shoe came in 4th, Penn State #3. EA Sports doesn't have it in the top 10 (comes in at #11) but The Shoe #4 again, Beaver Stadium is #6, Camp Randall #7.
I think we have played in tough stadiums.
I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan!
Many of our offensive starters have not played in any of the loudest stadiums. IMO, the OL play will be most susceptible to poor play/false starts based on the loud environment.
It is helpful that the leader of the OL has played plenty of games in raucous environments.
Elliott dots the eye, on this national championship win.
Nope, that'd be the players the furthest from the ball..the receivers.
Leave no doubt
Nope. WRs look at the ball through the snap. The tackles and to a lesser extent the guards are at the mercy of the crowd noise.
Our QB and center have both played in conference championship games, center in playoffs and loud SEC venues with crazy atmospheres. That is the key communication IMO. Our RB's and WR's will be fine.
Hickory,NC Buckeye......."Because I couldn't go for three!"
It won't be loud for long
Fraudbaugh
that is hilarious
MtWashBuckeye
KISS at Veterans Auditorium was my first concert in 75 or 76. 6th row. Couldn’t hear for 3 days
For some reason KISS came to my DIII school (2,250 enrollment) in 1976 and put on a concert in the comparatively small gym. To say it was an awesome and up-close experience is an understatement. They then came and partied at my frat house for a short time afterward.
The campus was not prepared for the influx of people from the surrounding areas, but it all worked out though the admin were upset by the number of burn marks left on the gym floor by doobies.
I hate saying it, but there won’t be a more undervalued win than Ohio State over Oregon this weekend. I believe we will thoroughly handle business, and then everybody will forget that Oregon was number three when we played. Oregon is a funky team that has always kind of sort of been good but pretty much always been found to be fraudulent. Nobody respects them. Yes, they managed to come out of Columbus with a win a couple years ago, and I would argue that was the greatest win in their history. One win out of 10 tries. Everybody wants them to be an elite team, but they just never show it. And they haven’t looked great this year either. Dylan Gabriel has certainly not played up to expectations. We will see. We will beat them and we will be number one. But you wait and see how little people care that we beat Oregon on the road in another couple weeks. Oregon will have two or three losses by the end of the year.
Round on the ends and "HI" in the middle. O-HI-O.
I think its less to do with Oregon and more to do with the SEC lust that the media has. It won't take long for them to prop up more SEC teams and downplay other conferences. The SEC demands this treatment and worked hard for 50 years go set this deck. The bastards.
I believe a good solution to the cross country treks for all sports is for the B1G to purchase land and build or purchase existing/developed campuses on the west coast and heart of B1G’s eastern footprint that would have training/practice facilities, dormitories and virtual classrooms. These facilities could allow teams to travel early or allow them to remain in the same area (for back-to-back game). The billions CFB is bringing to the super conferences, could fund these facilities.
Sorry, I'm a little slow. What's so funny about what Texas has the potential to do?
We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order. -Margaret J. Wheatley
Beat Georgia and then lose to Vandy the following week.
Thinking Texas will easily win the Red River
Shootout(oops can't say this anymore. Must say SHOWDOWN) on Saturday.You never know though, they could be Vanderbilted.
I wonder what day they will travel to stay up later a few times to minimize the time zone effects often called jet lag.
Self crowned Eleven Warriors humble-off champion.
Day said they are flying out Friday and are going to stay on eastern time.
TG Proud Buckeye alumnus.
I thought I read they were flying out Friday. No need to adjust their body clocks, just use the same schedule as they would for a 7:30 pm eastern game while out there. Who cares where in the sky the sun is?
For my work I traveled internationally constantly. Had a Dr tell me once it takes a day for each time zone traveled to normalize the body clock. I feel the coaches probably start tinkering with the player’s body clocks early in the week to be ready for whatever is game time independent of the time zone. With 54,,000 people screaming (“those are rookie numbers …” I can’t imagine the boys won’t be jacked for this one. Not too worried about the travel tbh
I remember reading years ago that execs traveling internationally from some companies (IBM, Boeing, can't recall?) were not allowed to do any business at their destination for the first 24-ish(?) hours, until they had some time to acclimate. Jet lag is also much worse when traveling East.
My aim, then, is to whip the Weasels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom. - William Tecumseh Sherman (with apologies)
Everyone seems to think it’s cool to keep adding extra teams to the conference. Now we have this geographical mess, crazy travel, and trying to figure out tiebreakers since teams barely play half the other teams in a given football season.
I miss having 12 teams with a Midwest focus. It’s like, as long as there’s more TV money, everything else be damned.
The Pac-12 was fine. It just needed better leadership and a better TV deal.
Wonder if the players and coaches will spend at least :30 minutes walking in the grass, barefoot, shortly after they settle in to their hotels to allow the grounding effect to help align themselves with the new time zone.
Michigan. lol.
PSA: grayed out comments get read the most. Thanks!
I travel between the West Coast and the East Coast multiple times a year. While I think the travel that the Big Ten now has to endure is significant. I can’t buy the idea that jet lag is affecting a bunch of 20 something year-old players when it doesn’t bother me and I’m way older than that. To experience real jet lag you have to go somewhere where the time zone difference is at least 7 to 8 hours. Nonetheless, I think the Big Ten will have to address the travel issues. The Friday night games may have to go the way of the dodo and more games should probably be scheduled between teams in the far Midwest and West Coast as opposed to trips between Rutgers and UCLA on a regular basis. I’m not buying that the distance between Iowa city and Eugene is that much different than the distance between the University of Washington and the University of Arizona, two teams that used to play each other in the Pac 12. It’s simply something the Big Ten’s going have to work on.
EE is definitely underrated in the whole scheme of things .obviously most of us are aware of who he is and how good of a player but I still think he's very underrated and he's the receiver that is more the glue to the team than anybody else and I'm very happy he's a Buckeye!