This is when the College Football Playoff gets serious. The quarterfinals feature some of the most powerful brand names in the sport — well, mostly. Georgia and Ohio State have accounted for three of the previous 10 national champions to emerge from the College Football Playoff. Oregon played in the first CFP title game and … Read more
Michael Cohen College Football and College Basketball Writer A little more than five months ago, during the third week of July, the opening soliloquy for Oregon head coach Dan Lanning at Big Ten Football Media Days in Indianapolis lasted nearly nine minutes. It began with a customary expression of gratitude for conference commissioner Tony Petitti, … Read more
Ryan Day will not be fired. It never should have even been an honest talking point among the media and parts of the Ohio State fanbase that ABC’s Kirk Herbstreit labeled as the “lunatic fringe,” Saturday night in a sardonic spiel at the end of Ohio State’s 42-17 curb-stomping of Tennessee in the first round … Read more
Ohio State inspires new catchphrase for Ryan Day in rout of Tennessee Buckeyes suffer no hangover from loss to Michigan. Instead, they come back defiant and strong. Ryan Day and his staff cooked up a masterful plan against the Vols. Will Howard executed it to perfection. COLUMBUS, Ohio – The blowout had reached a crescendo … Read more
Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bw*****@di******.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity. On Ohio State football To Brian: Mike Arace’s column about the madness, insanity or psychosis of many OSU fans about their obsession with beating Michigan every year was excellent. He left out the countless hours spent by students, OSU staff … Read more
Michael Cohen College Football and College Basketball Writer COLUMBUS, Ohio — How different this postgame scene must have felt for Ryan Day, the embattled head coach of Ohio State, who stood in almost the exact same place three weeks ago, on Nov. 30, as everything about his team and his tenure seemed to crumble following … Read more
NEW YORK — The sounds coming outside of the Ohio State locker room at 8:25 p.m. after defeating No. 4 Kentucky 85-65 were boisterous and booming. These Buckeyes needed a win like this. The sounds surrounding the North Carolina locker room a little less than three hours prior, on the other side of Madison Square … Read more
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Are you not entertained? No, you’re probably not. Four College Football Playoff first-round games, four outcomes by at least two scores. Two of those were outright blowouts (in State College and Columbus), a third was a dud made closer with two late touchdowns (in South Bend) and a fourth in Austin featured … Read more
After the College Football Playoff began on Friday with No. 7 Notre Dame handling No. 10 Indiana, Saturday gives us an entire day of action with three games wrapping up the first round of the 12-team format. Penn State took care of business in Happy Valley to start the day, using two early pick-sixes to … Read more
The No. 8 seed Ohio State Buckeyes will try to avenge a loss to Michigan from their regular-season finale when they host the No. 9 seed Tennessee Vols in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday night. Ohio State had only lost one game prior to its setback against the Wolverines, which … Read more