Ohio
Day: ‘Ugly’ win over Irish what Ohio St. needed
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Whereas many outdoors this system have been ready to see No. 2 Ohio State unveil one more potent offense in opposition to an overmatched opponent, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day was ready for this — the sport when the passes weren’t crusing by means of the air with precision and ease to future NFL draft picks, when the offense needed to grind it out with the operating recreation, and the protection made the distinction.
Day bought the ugly 21-10 win in opposition to No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday night time, and regardless of the sluggish offense, he bought one thing else he was on the lookout for.
“That was one thing we spent lots of time within the offseason saying, ‘We have now to have the ability to win ugly on offense, now we have to cease the run on protection,’” Day stated. “All of them rely the identical. And it’s important to determine primarily based on who you are going in opposition to, how do you need to win that recreation? When you have got that versatility, man, it’ll repay down the highway.”
Ohio State’s offense, which was No. 1 within the nation final yr in offensive effectivity, underwhelmed in comparison with the lofty preseason expectations that pegged the Buckeyes as a robust favourite to complete within the Faculty Soccer Playoff. With main receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba sidelined from an harm he suffered within the first quarter, Ohio State struggled early in opposition to a gritty Notre Dame protection.
The Irish, led by in style first-year head coach Marcus Freeman, a former Ohio State linebacker, got here into Ohio Stadium and earlier than an introduced crowd of 106,594 gave the Buckeyes all they may deal with till late within the fourth quarter. Ohio State, which received video games final season by a mean margin of 29.1 factors, was held scoreless within the second quarter and trailed 10-7 on the half.
It wasn’t till lower than 5 minutes remaining within the fourth quarter that Ohio State solidified the win — thanks largely to a 14-play, 95-yard drive that took 7:06 off the clock and gave the Buckeyes the 21-10 lead.
“We have been struggling early on, simply attempting to get a connection, attempting to construct that rhythm, however in the direction of the top, we began to get it, began clicking extra,” stated quarterback C.J. Stroud, who accomplished 24-of-34 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. “It is type of bizarre being on the market once more to be trustworthy, seeing the followers, coping with all the outdoors noise, simply attempting to lock in.”
Within the fourth quarter, Stroud accomplished 9-of-10 passes for 107 yards and a landing. Whereas it wasn’t precisely a splashy Heisman efficiency, he reminded everybody of his playmaking skills.
Ohio State entered this season because the No. 2 staff after shedding to rival Michigan and ending No. 6 largely due to the offensive firepower getting back from a staff that led the nation in scoring and yards per play final yr. The Buckeyes have a number of Heisman hopefuls, together with Stroud and operating again TreVeyon Henderson, however when Smith-Njigba was injured within the first quarter the Buckeyes have been off-kilter early. Final yr, Ohio State averaged 27.2 factors within the first half, probably the most of any staff within the FBS. They’d seven Saturday night time.
“Early video games are a bit bit clunky,” Day stated, “and shedding Jaxon threw us off a bit bit.”
The protection, which was the difficulty spot for Ohio State final yr, was the spotlight on Saturday night time. It was a robust debut for first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who was employed from Oklahoma State. The Irish completed with 253 yards and punted on their final six possessions.
“We have been referred to as mushy all final yr and we needed to sit there and simply eat,” Ohio State defensive again Lathan Ransom stated.
Day stated the toughness was one thing your entire staff was seeking to show.
“We needed to be often called one thing different than simply proficient,” he stated.
Notre Dame’s recreation plan was to carry onto the ball, management the clock and maintain the Buckeyes’ offense off the sphere. They have been ready to try this within the first quarter, however completed with solely 3-of-13 third down conversions.
Day stated he may see extra groups attempting to try this this fall, however he isn’t involved concerning the passing recreation transferring ahead. Finally, there have been different, lesser-known gamers who emerged for Ohio State on Saturday night time, like former walk-on Xavier Johnson, whose 24-yard landing seize put Ohio State up 14-10 late within the third quarter.
“I really like these guys,” Johnson stated, “so with my legs empty, with all that, none of that mattered. It was all for the staff and the glory of God. … I used to be in place to do what I used to be coached to do.”
In the long run all of them have been — even when it wasn’t fairly.
“It has been an enormous emphasis to win this fashion,” Day stated. “And it begins with protection. You may play actually good sturdy protection like we performed tonight, and we will run the soccer — we all know we’ll throw the ball, we all know that — but when we need to go the place we should be and attain our targets, we’d like to have the ability to do these two issues.”
Ohio
Mark Pope explains what went wrong on defense against Ohio State
Kentucky dropped to No. 61 in the latest KenPom defensive efficiency ratings after allowing Ohio State to score 85 points on 56.6 percent shooting overall and 68.4 percent from two. It was an abysmal effort on that end of the floor — and that’s with the Buckeyes going just 4-15 from three after entering the matchup shooting 41 percent from deep as one of the best in college basketball.
Mark Pope said the team’s magic number to open the season was 39 percent, hoping to hold teams to that hit rate defensively throughout the year. After hitting that mark in the first six games of the year, the Wildcats have done it just once in the last six. They’ve regressed in a major way and the staff is now looking for answers during the time off with SEC play coming in January.
What is Pope’s best assessment of what went wrong in New York City?
“Defensively, we gave up 15 points on rejects alone,” the Kentucky head coach explained Monday evening during his call-in radio show. “It’s just so uncharacteristic for us, just going away from where we’re leading the ball screen, right? I had made a huge emphasis about pushing our bigs up to try and get a little bit more of a presence at the point of the screen. When you let teams reject, it’s the worst thing to do, to push up the bigs.
“Out of seven possessions, it was 15 points — all twos and an and-one, a perfect field-goal percentage. There was a lot we didn’t do well. A lot of things that are going to help us get better, and get better faster.”
He actually liked the way things started against the Buckeyes, holding firm in the first 10 minutes — plenty good enough to stay competitive while waiting for the offense to figure itself out. Then it was a disaster finish before halftime, then more of the same after the brea.
“It was interesting. We started the game well, we gave up an early three, but we were pretty solid-ish in the first 10 minutes, and then it started to get away from us,” Pope said. “There were a couple of real issues that we were struggling with. We were really struggling with — you know, it was very uncharacteristic of us, but we give up 15 points on rejects of high ball screens, which is exactly the opposite of what our defense is designed to do. That was really surprising. We took a bunch of different paths, but some of that — this is some that’s on me, some of that is my responsibility — is trying to solve some other things and push up our bigs. It gave us less security. And I was really surprised that we were having the issue we did.”
There were a number of reasons for it, not just one glaring weakness or culprit. You could call it an all systems failure on that end.
“We were getting beat going under on ball screens as the game went on. We threw out some zone, we blitzed some ball screens, but I was really surprised by that,” he said. “You’re just very much surprised that the issue actually arose. And it’s probably a bunch of stuff.
“It’s a little bit personnel, it’s a little bit us getting a little extended, it’s a little bit maybe being distracted by other things, maybe some foul issues, but that was clearly — ball screens was an issue for us throughout the night. (Bruce) Thornton was a major issue for us, for sure. And so those are two things that we were trying to address personnel-wise, and dedication-wise, this game-wise.”
Fortunately for the Cats, they have plenty of time to go back to the drawing board and get this thing right.
“We just have to come up with the right answers in the right amount of time.”
Ohio
Vance’s home town in Ohio does little to celebrate its famous son’s success
Ordinarily, the home town of an incoming vice-president of the United States ought to be awash with pride, vigor and celebration one month out from their big day.
But across Middletown, JD Vance’s home town in south-west Ohio, you would hardly know.
Its streets and shop fronts are full of festive cheer; sign after sign points drivers in the direction of the city’s famed Christmas lights display.
There’s little indication that, in a matter of weeks, this town’s most famous son will become second in line to the presidency of the most powerful nation on the planet.
Such is the apparent indifference in Middletown, that Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, felt it necessary to attend and speak at a recent city council meeting to plead for her son to be better recognized.
“I still live here, and his sister still lives in Middletown. [JD has] got two nieces who live here and I just think it would be nice if we could acknowledge that this is his home town and put up some signs,” she said.
The City of Middletown waited a full month before publicly acknowledging Vance and Trump’s election success on its Facebook page. One council member who supports Vance called that “unacceptable”.
City council members declined to respond to Vance’s mother’s request at that time, though the city has since said it was discussing plans to mark Vance’s new position that include erecting street signs.
Other Middletown residents say reasons for the lukewarm response to what should be one of the city’s proudest achievements are not difficult to figure out.
“When I look around and want to see what this quote-unquote financial heavy hitter has done for this community, I’m still looking,” says Dr Celeste Didlick-Davis, the head of the Middletown branch of the NAACP.
“Other individuals, a variety of people who have done substantial things, have supported growth and transformation [in Middletown]. To know what [Vance] has done for this community, I’d have to really, really research and I shouldn’t have to really, really research.
“You’ve had two years as a senator – have we had one visit that benefits someone?”
Vance first shot to fame as the author of the 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy, in which he portrayed his Appalachia-rooted childhood, life with a mother struggling with addiction in Middletown and a grandmother who played a major role raising him and his sister.
In the book, he delved into life in the blue-collar city of about 50,000 people, which has struggled with the fallout of manufacturing offshoring, the Great Recession and the opioid epidemic. Vance has since formulated a political career off the back of claiming to come from a working-class family and city, while banking on support from billionaire conservatives to help him win elections.
Trump picked Vance as his running mate in July, despite the Ohio native being seen as a relative political novice and being unknown for being involved in any aspect of public life in his home town.
Locals say that may explain why in Middletown 38% of voters chose candidates other than the Trump-Vance ticket in last month’s election. Voter turnout across many Middletown precincts ran in the 40-50% range – as much as 20 points below the national voting turnout rate.
“He comes back when he needs to make a political speech,” said Scotty Robertson, a member of the local Democratic party.
“If someone would take me to one thing that JD Vance has made better in Middletown, I’d retract everything I’ve said about him.”
Vance’s rhetoric and political positions, which includes calling for the mass deportations of immigrants, has turned many in the largely blue-collar town off.
“I’m hearing from people who are concerned that their grandmom is going to get deported. That is really sending chills up people’s spines,” said Adriane Scherrer, a business owner who helps people, including immigrants, launch and run non-profit organizations.
“There is no sign on the part of [Trump or Vance] that they understand the importance of immigration in our country. What worries people the most is that there’s no recognition of the damage that deportations would do.”
Some residents say that people in the local the LGBTQ+ community have reached out to family overseas to talk about leaving the US if the environment under the incoming administration worsens.
However, others believe Vance and Trump will do great things for this Ohio city.
“Politically he’s the most famous person to come out of Middletown. I always feel like we could do more,” said Savannah Woolum, a Vance and Trump voter who manages a bar in Middletown. “It’s opening a lot of eyes to realizing that you can come from a small town like he did, and make it as far as he has.”
She said it gave people here hope, but realized that naming a drink or dish after the vice-president-elect could be problematic.
“Maybe the city [officials] are a little scared of embracing his achievements because of the people that didn’t vote for him.”
Middletown high school’s marching band and cheerleaders have been invited to Washington DC for next month’s inauguration parade, with the city of Middletown contributing $10,000 to covering that expense.
Middletown’s mayor, Elizabeth Slamka, said that adding signage around the city acknowledging Vance’s achievement was in the works.
But others are concerned that if Trump and Vance follow through on their promises of cutting education funding and vaccination programs, it could be devastating for many Middletown residents.
“I just see my community being overlooked and underserved,” says Didlick-Davis.
Ohio
‘Six Triple Eight’ Netflix movie tells the true story of Ohio woman
One of the top trending movies on Netflix this holiday season is ‘The Six Triple Eight’, which tells the true story of an Ohio woman who made history during World War II.
In the movie Kerry Washington plays U.S. Army Maj. Charity Adams Earley, a trailblazing officer of the Women’s Army Corps.
The 6888th Central Postal Battalion was assigned to sort through a three-year backlog of undelivered mail that amounted to 17 million pieces to and from soldiers and their families.
Adams Earley, who was born in 1918 and grew up in South Carolina, came to Ohio to attend Wilberforce College to study math, Latin and physics. She returned to South Carolina to be a schoolteacher but in the summers she took graduate classes at Ohio State University, according to her biography published by the National Women’s History Museum.
In 1942, she joined the Women’s Army Corps and became a member of the first officer candidate school. In 1944 Adams Earley was picked to be the commanding officer of the first Black WAC unit sent overseas.
The Netflix movie, directed by Tyler Perry, tells the story of Adams Earley and her battalion’s grit and resourcefulness during the mail sorting assignment.
She left the service in 1948, having achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. Adams Earley returned to Ohio State University to finish her graduate degree and later work for the Veterans Administration in Cleveland.
She moved to Switzerland where her husband, Stanley Earley II, was studying to become a doctor. The couple returned to the states in 1952, settled in Dayton and had two children.
Adams Earley became active in Dayton civic affairs, serving on the boards of Sinclair Community College, American Red Cross Dayton chapter, Dayton Metro Housing Authority, Dayton Opera Company and Dayton Power & Light Co.
The Charity Adams Earley Girls Academy in Dayton is named after her.
Adams Earley died in 2002 at age 83 in Dayton.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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