Category: Buckeyes Wire

Ryan Day has earned $400,000 in post-season bonuses, so far

Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day has earned a payout of $400,000 in contract bonuses for his success this football season.

College football coaches are often known for their ability to get fun bonus clauses in their contracts. One of the most humorous aspects of this college football season (and last year’s) was the way in which UConn coach Randy Edsall earned bonuses. Edsall is one of the lowest-paid coaches in FBS, and the bonuses cap at $150,000 for the season, but it’s still hilarious to see that Edsall gets a bit of extra money for having better red zone efficiency while losing a game by 40 points.

Many contracts, especially higher-paid ones, have much more traditional incentive structures–things like winning a conference or reaching a bowl game. Our friends at USA Today compiled a list of every publicly-available bonus earned by a head coach for achievements since the regular season ended.

Ohio State’s Ryan Day quite obviously made the list, and he earned a whopping $400,000. Day received $50,000 for being voted Big Ten Coach of the Year by the media. On top of that, Day received an extra $100,000 for winning the Big Ten, and a cool $250,000 for reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Day has additionally received $50,000 for winning the Big Ten East, and would earn another $100,000 if the Buckeyes beat Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl.

Ohio State moves all the way up to No. 2 in USA TODAY Coaches Poll

The Ohio State basketball team continues to impress. It has now moved all the way up to No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

The Ohio State basketball team has jumped all the way up to No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

The move comes after blowing out a top ten North Carolina squad on the road, then following that up with a beat down of a very good Penn State team in-conference. The Buckeyes now sit at 9-0 overall, and 1-0 in the Big Ten.

In what’s becoming an annual tradition, it’s another season in which Chris Holtmann has his team surpassing expectations. Most opinion makers and polls had Ohio State just inside the top twenty to start the season, but it’s clear the depth and talent on this team has been better so far than almost anyone thought.

Louisville is the only team ahead of Ohio State in the latest poll. Kansas (3), Maryland (4) and Duke (5) round out the top five.

Ohio State basketball jumps to No. 3 in AP Basketball Poll

Ohio State has moved from No. 6 to No. 3 in the latest AP Basketball Poll.

The Ohio State men’s basketball team is exceeding expectations once again under Chris Holtmann, and it might just be setting the bar in 2019.

The latest AP Basketball Poll has been released and the Buckeyes are all the way up to No. 3, up from last week when they were No. 6. The only two teams now ahead of Ohio State are Louisville and Kansas — two blue bloods of the sport.

OSU has used a deep team with a balanced mix of veterans and young talent to blow almost everyone out this year. It has wins over Cincinnati, Villanova, and on the road against North Carolina already this year. The Buckeyes have put together one of — if not the best — resumes so far of any team in the country.

Ohio State is next in action against Minnesota on 12/15, and has a big one looming against Kentucky on 12/21.

Every Big Ten voter in the Amway Coaches Poll put Ohio State at No. 1

Six Big Ten coaches had votes in the Amway Coaches Poll this year. All of them put Ohio State at No. 1.

The Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports is decided by 65 FBS coaches. These 65 voters are split up relatively evenly between the ten conferences, to avoid potential bias. Not only is there possibly an incentive for coaches to make their opponents look stronger, but familiarity breeds respect, and coaches are generally most familiar with the teams in their own conferences.

Usually, the ballots for the Coaches Poll are kept private. No one knows which coach voted which way. However, in a tradition that came from the BCS, the poll does release the ballot of each coach for the final rankings. USA Today published those ballots, which contain some interesting nuggets.

An important takeaway, though, is that all sseven Big Ten coaches will ballots put Ohio State at No. 1. The Buckeyes received 14 first-place votes in the final poll, and a full half those 14 came from Big Ten coaches. Chris Ash of Rutgers, Jeff Brohm of Purdue, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Ohio State’s own Ryan Day, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, Penn State’s James Franklin, and Nebraska’s Scott Frost all put the Buckeyes in the top spot. (Even though Ash was fired partway through the season, his vote isn’t transferred to a different school or coach.)

This is not too unexpected. The trends for years have indicated that teams are slightly overrated (relative to the rest of the poll) by coaches in their own conference–which is why the bias is spread out the way the poll does it. Still, it’s noteworthy that the Big Ten coaches all think that Ohio State is the best in the land, while the vast majority of others had the Buckeyes at No. 2. A few coaches did have Ohio State at No. 3 behind both LSU and Clemson, but no one had the Buckeyes lower. In fact, astonishingly, every single coach (and every single AP voter) had the Oklahoma Sooners at No. 4–not a single voter had them higher or lower.

J.K. Dobbins and Jeff Okudah agree, this Ohio State team is special

After come-from-behind win to seal the Big Ten Title Game, both Jeff Okudah and J.K. Dobbins agree; this may be the best buckeyes team yet.

When looking at all-time great teams in Ohio State history, it’s hard to look past this 2019 squad. While there were tremendously talented teams back earlier in the decade, this team’s resume speaks for itself.

A dominant win over Michigan in Ann Arbor, a come-from-behind victory to clinch the Big Ten Title, and a perfect 13-0 record are what they’ll take into the College Football Playoff.

But, the resounding theme is that this journey is far from over.

However, there’s no denying the talent on this team, and a few upperclassmen think this team could be the best one they’ve been on.

“For me, yeah, it is. It’s a really big part of this journey,” said Jeff Okudah following the team’s 34-21 victory over Wisconsin. The junior is the team’s best cornerback and easily the most-coveted NFL prospect among secondary players in the country.

He’s been a leader on this roster for three years and has turned in performances that have allowed it to maintain that unblemished record. But, he wasn’t the only one that had something to say on this Buckeye team.

J.K. Dobbins, who arguably should have received both the conference’s best running back award and the title game MVP, also believes this may be the best team he’s been on in his three years in Columbus.

“Yeah, definitely,” Dobbins said when asked if this was the best Buckeyes’ team he’s played on. But, there’s still one central theme, and it’s that this is just the beginning.

But to be the best, the Buckeyes will need to beat the best. With a place in the December 28th Fiesta Bowl against the undefeated defending champion Clemson Tigers, they’ll have a shot to show everyone else what those on the team believe.

Then, if Ohio State can down LSU or Oklahoma, we’ll be talking about whether or not this is the best Buckeyes team in the program’s history.

What the College Football Playoff Committee said about Ohio State after the final rankings

Ohio State is controversial the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff. Here’s everything the CFP Committee said about Ohio State.

Despite being on top of the College Football Playoff Rankings last week, the Buckeyes were jumped by LSU and finished the rankings at the No. 2 team and must now play No. 3 Clemson out in the desert at the Fiesta Bowl.

At least there wasn’t a whole lot of drama concerning the Buckeyes getting into the CFP this year, but moving them down after the body of work they have put together was not without controversy. Now, Ohio State must play the game as they say, and beat the best to be the best.

After each set of rankings, the College Football Playoff Committee holds a teleconference with select media members to be as transparent as possible, and to field questions about the ranking process.

We’re a part of those and we’d like to pass on what the Playoff Selection Committee Chair Rob Mullens had to say about Ohio State after the final set of rankings. So, here goes after the last one of 2019 …

Next … General remarks and the Ohio State vs. LSU debate

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Ohio State Football: Game time, date released for Fiesta Bowl

Ohio State Football, after being relegated to the No. 2 seed despite being undefeated, will play in the Fiesta Bowl. Here’s the start time.

The Fiesta Bowl, which tag teams with the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl as the two College Football Semifinals, will be taking place in Glendale, Arizona. This season, it will be Ohio State and Clemson, two conference champions, battling it out in the hot southwest, but on an air conditioned venue.

Ohio State is coming off a victory over Wisconsin in which they were down 21-7 at the half. They looked flawed, but the Buckeyes still found a way to win the game after finding themselves in the second half, scoring 27 unanswered.

Clemson has just the opposite. The Tigers blew through Virginia. It’s 13-0, but it’s partially because the ACC is such a weak conference that the Tigers were given no respect as a top-two team in the nation.

That said, Ohio State Football, after being relegated to the No. 2 seed despite being undefeated, will play in the Fiesta Bowl. The game, which will take place on December 28, just released its start time.

Let’s hope this game ends better than the last time these two teams met.

BREAKING: Ohio State receives No. 2 seed in College Football Playoff, will play Clemson

Ohio State now knows its fate for the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. It received the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 Clemson.

All the waiting is over. All the guessing, predicting and conjecture is now set in stone as Ohio State has received the No. 2 seed in the last College Football Playoff Rankings. It will face Clemson in what we assume will be the Fiesta Bowl. That will be confirmed later.

Unlike previous years, the four teams that would be included in the CFP weren’t up for too much debate. The conference championship games all pretty much held to form, and it was a fairly easy pick of Ohio State, LSU, Clemson, and Oklahoma.

But what was at stake was the No. 1 seed, and a path that would avoid having to play defending champion and potential No. 3 seed Clemson. Of course its great just to get a ticket to play the game, but you’d love to have the easiest path possible to New Orleans.

The game will take place December 28. Get your tickets and set your recording now.

Ohio State stays at No. 2 in final regular-season Amway Coaches Poll

The Ohio State Buckeyes held on to the No. 2 spot behind the LSU Tigers in the final regular-season Amway Coaches Poll of 2019.

The Ohio State Buckeyes stayed at the No. 2 spot in the final Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports of the 2019 regular season.

The margin to No. 1 LSU increased a little this week. Last week, the Buckeyes received 17 first-place votes and trailed LSU by only 29 points. The voters were apparently more impressed with LSU’s domination of Georgia than with Ohio State’s comeback win over Wisconsin, as the Buckeyes received only 14 first-place votes this week, and trail LSU by 43 points. One of Ohio State’s first-place votes went to No. 3 Clemson, which picked up five first-place votes.

Despite the lopsided loss, Georgia only fell one spot, from No. 4 to No. 5. Oklahoma, the clear choice for No. 4 of the CFP selection committee as well, came in at fourth in the poll.

Wisconsin fell one spot, from No. 10 to No. 11, for its loss. That drop was only due to Pac 12 champion Oregon jumping all the way to No. 6. The Badgers stayed ahead of No. 12 Penn State, which bodes well for Wisconsin’s Rose Bowl dreams–especially if the selection committee does the same.

No teams fell out of the rankings this week, as Virginia managed to hold on to the No. 25 spot even after being demolished by Clemson.

The Big Ten leads the way with six ranked teams, followed by the SEC with five. The Pac 12 and American Athletic Conferences each had three ranked teams, while the ACC, Big 12, and Mountain West each had two. One Sun Belt team (No. 20 Appalachian State) and one Independent (No. 14 Notre Dame) were also ranked.

Ohio State is the best basketball team in the country according to KenPom

The Ohio State Buckeyes are now the top team in the country according to the widely-respected Pomeroy rankings.

According to the widely-respected Ken Pomery ratings, the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team is the top team in the country. The Buckeyes were No. 2 behind Louisville after thumping North Carolina last week. Now, though, after another decisive victory over a solid team (KenPom has the Nittany Lions at No. 26 currently), the Buckeyes are the top team in the country.

Pomeroy has the Buckeyes as the fifth-best offense in the country (opponent-adjusted efficiency) and the second-best defense. The Buckeyes are the only team in the Top 5 in both metrics, and trail only overall No. 10 Virginia in defensive efficiency. (It should not surprise anyone that Virginia is the best defense in the country, and by a decent margin.) It’s might be a mild surprise to Ohio State fans, but KenPom does think that the Buckeyes play one of the slowest paces in the country–as his ratings have Ohio State outside the Top 300 in opponent-adjusted Tempo.

The Buckeyes still trail Duke in ESPN’s BPI ratings, though that should change shortly as well. Ohio State was No. 6 in the human rankings coming into this week, but it will be shocking if the Buckeyes are anything less than No. 2 (potentially behind Louisville) when the new polls come out in a few days.

Ohio State’s next major test is against KenPom No. 7 Kentucky in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 21st.