Skull session: Buckeyes national title odds of some form, fall, college football team size problem and Ohio State graphics team without wasting time

One day, I will tell my kids about when players actually signed their LOIs on the national signing day.

Word of the day: Tactile.

RESISTANT CROWD. Here’s a head scratch – last week Ohio State beat Penn State and beat Michigan State to extend its winning streak to six wins in seven games, giving Buckeye 7th place in the AP Poll ranking.

… and his chances of national title were somehow low.

Yes, last week, the BetOnline.ag sportsbook gave Ohio State 33/1 chances to win the 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. As of yesterday, that number is 40/1.

Now, to be fair, almost everyone’s chances have dropped as well. Only the top four teams and Alabama (who lost their last game by five?) Saw their chances increase. So, basically, bettors are increasingly convinced that one of these teams will win the lottery.

That’s nice. Keep doubting Zed Key and the Buckeyes. Before you know it, they’ll be cutting the nets.

YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. You could easily make a solid list of the top ten of the wildest and completely unprecedented things that happened in college football in 2020.

But my personal favorite is when the NCAA gave each player an extra season of eligibility, without even seeming remotely to consider the long-term roster, recruitment and financial ramifications.

But now, almost six months later, they are realizing that there will be some problems in the years to come.

The sudden increase in transfers is expected to continue into the next year cycle, not only because of the single transfer exception, but as a result of a rule inspired by COVID-19 that grants each athlete an extra year of eligibility. While seniors returning for the next season do not count towards a team’s 85 scholarship limit, players of all future classes do count.

For example, players who were juniors in the fall of 2020 and would normally have graduated in the 2022 season will now have the option of returning as fifth or even sixth year veterans. They would count against 85. In the meantime, some freshman classes in 2021 will be giants: 25 freshmen entering will be accompanied by about 25 freshmen in “COVID shirt” (real sophomores who were freshmen in 2020) for a class of 50 people newbies. This leaves 35 scholarship slots for three classes.

Although teams can have 85 players with scholarships each year, they can only hire 25 new players per year. The 100 signatories over four years leave 15 players room for natural wear and tear. New transfer legislation and the impending wave of COVID-shirter are causing unnatural wear and tear.

In the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles, coaches have one of two options: retain their stock market players and add fewer hires, or withdraw stock market players and sign up for a regular class.

“The biggest challenge is these juniors who are going to be veterans [in 2022], ”Says Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell. “These are going to be difficult discussions.”

The whole piece does a great job of highlighting how there are no longer enough shifts available for children thinking they are going to make transfers, and that before you give each player in at least four classes an extra season of eligibility and allow a single free transfer for all players.

Unless the NCAA does something about the 85 scholarship limit, it will be a complete disaster in a few years and will almost certainly cost some young university degrees they would otherwise have received.

I am totally in favor of giving players extra eligibility – that’s fine. But doing so without adjusting the size limits of the employee list will leave countless children lost.

OBEY YOUR ELDERS. Aaron Craft hasn’t worn a Buckeye uniform in almost seven years and hasn’t even played with Chris Holtmann, but you’d be wrong if you thought he still had no influence in that locker room.

Aaron Craft needs to return to the program as a team manager. I’m sure that studying medicine and being a father is difficult and other things, but priorities are priorities.

THAT WAS FAST. Yesterday, EA Sports announced that it will once again make a college football video game. And the Ohio state graphics team wasted no time in turning this into a recruiting opportunity.

The ABC of Ohio State Football – Always be ‘Crootin.

SONG OF THE DAY. “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller.

NOT SUITABLE FOR SPORTS. A journey on Afghanistan’s deadliest road … The case of the serial sperm donor … Why you should never ‘cancel’ illicit e-mails and spam texts … Psychological tricks to deal with a mid-life crisis age … The building ghosts of Philadelphia “I have a lot to say …

Source