Mailbox: As some traditional powers falter, Ohio State football rolls on

Posted by author January 5, 2025 Football

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Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.

On Ohio State football

To Brian: In 2020, for a seventh consecutive year, three from the four of Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Clemson were always in the four-team playoff. That firm grip of dominance has subsided. Three of those schools combined for 15 losses this year and none of those three were close to finishing in the top four. But the Buckeyes are still dancing after beating Nos. 3, 5, 7, and for the sixth time in school history, No. 1, so far with No. 3 Texas up next.

A devastating loss at season’s end is impossible to reconcile, but there is mitigation to Ryan Day’s record in that series by remembering that Michigan used COVID as an excuse not to play in 2020 and then miraculously turned their program around using an enhanced scouting technique the NCAA is apparently letting them get away with. Go Bucks!

Dennis Singleton, Dayton

To Brian: One Mailbox writer suggested Ohio State needs to loosen up vs. Michigan. My contribution:

1. The Buckeyes call a play based on a form of vehicular musical chairs. It would take four players scrambling around the backfield changing positions simultaneously. Once set, they would stop and do a few slap-and-clap drills with a “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” rapidity. The fans wildly join in. By now distracted, Michigan would lose sight of Jeremiah Smith.

2. Coach Ryan Day comes out of the locker room at halftime wearing a clown costume a la Red Skelton, jogs through the marching band maze and, like the Stanford-Cal finish of1982, scores a touchdown (trousers falling). Maybe not.

Yes, I needed a diversion. Weekly speculation on college football has journalism at tabloid level. Nick Saban returning? Nah. But I’m joining Bill and Joey for the win over Texas.

Larry Cheek, Dublin

On ESPN’s College Football Playoff broadcasts

To the editor: Am I the only one who finds ESPN’s “Megacast” of the CFP games a pain to watch? It’s overkill with the TV screen cluttered by all the multi-view, Skycast, Statbar, kitchen sink overload they’re producing. Seems to me the actual football game is getting lost in the shuffle of ‘Can ya outdo this.’ Or maybe I’m just one of those grumpy old people that longs for simpler times.

Leah Hanesworth

To Leah: I take your word for it that it’s annoying, but … Why don’t you just switch over to the regular traditional broadcast on ESPN?

Ryan Day discusses Ohio State’s rise back to dominance after beating Oregon

Just weeks ago fans and pundits were calling for Ryan Day’s job at Ohio State and now the Buckeyes are headed to the semifinal after beating Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Sports Pulse

On college athletics

Dear Editor: Everyone seems to be talking about the changes in college sports brought about by the new transfer portal rules and the NIL money, although the payment of players in some form or another has gone on for decades. Just under the table. Wink wink! College sports are now really professional sports, just at a bit lower level than the NFL or NBA. So what’s the next big change coming down the road? I will predict in the not too distant future that the “student” part of the college “student-athlete” will all but disappear.

As it is now, a great many of the college athletes take just enough “online” classes or “make-believe” classes to retain eligibility. These are classes often open only to athletes and grades to keep the athletes eligible are all but guaranteed with little or no work or attendance. Every major college has them. The question then becomes why require classes at all? The ruse of the “student-athlete” is a sad joke. Big-time college athletics is a full-time job and has been for some time. A day will come that no major college athlete will be required to take classes. Let’s all stop kidding ourselves.

Chet Ridenour Sr., Worthington