Ohio
Overheard at NFL combine: Harbaugh haircut, a ‘household name’, Michigan-Ohio State
The NFL Scouting Combine is underway in Indianapolis, and linebackers and defensive linemen were the first position groups to speak with media during the week-long event.
Michigan has a record 18 players at this year’s combine, and a handful of them took the podium Wednesday in Indianapolis. Not surprisingly, their former head coach, Jim Harbaugh, was a popular topic after he accepted the Los Angeles Chargers coaching job last month.
With defensive line being a position of need for the Detroit Lions, there’s a chance they could use their first, No. 29 overall, to bolster their front.
Overall, dozens of players spoke to reporters Wednesday, with notable quotes highlighted below. Linebackers and defensive linemen will participate in drills Thursday, while tight ends and defensive backs will speak to media.
Michigan edge Braiden McGregor on Harbaugh asking his mom for a haircut at a home visit during his senior year of high school: “It was funny. I don’t think a lot of people have stories like that. My mom, I know she was nervous because, I mean, it’s Coach Harbaugh. He is gonna be on TV the next week. She was excited. He still asked me about it every once and a while, like, ‘Your mom still cut?’ It was just funny. Made me feel like I made the right decision out of high school to go there.”
Penn State edge Chop Robinson, a potential first-round pick, on origins of his name: “I have a household name. It’s actually ‘Plump.’ But outside of there, it’s ‘Chop.’ … I was 14 pounds when I was born, and my mom nicknamed me ‘Pork Chop.’ Then once I got older and started to slim down, and couldn’t have people calling me ‘Pork Chop.’ So I just shortened it to ‘Chop.’”
Missouri DL Darius Robinson, a Southfield native and potential first-round option for the Lions, on meeting with Detroit: “My heart was bumping, man. I’m telling you, it was like a dream just to see all the names (and) faces, growing up a Lions fan. That was a great interview.”
STORY: Violent pass rusher meets with hometown Lions: ‘My heart was bumping, man’
Michigan LB Michael Barrett on funny Harbaugh story: “When he was recruiting me, he came on an official visit to my home. My mom had bought pizza. I think it was like three boxes we had, and he ate a whole entire box while he was there. He was like, ‘I’ve been flying all over the place and I’m kind of hungry.’ That’s the first thing that came to my mind. It’s just says all the stories he has, just random little small things he give on a day to day basis.”
Ohio State LB Tommy Eichenberg on losing to Michigan three times: “I felt like I let down so many people. I mean, especially being a captain, too. That’s a standard is winning that game. It’s very hard for me. But you gotta keep moving forward. They got good. Like, they’re good. They’re a good team. I know from now on the Buckeyes will be good.”
Western Michigan DL Marshawn Kneeland on who he sees himself in: “Just somebody that I’ve noticed that plays a lot like how I play is Aidan Hutchinson. His high motor, high effort. He’s always running to the ball. I looked at the times; some of his times are a little faster than mine, and some of mine are a little faster than his. But I think I’m close to him.”
Michigan LB Junior Colson, who was adopted from Haiti in 2010, on when the NFL became a possibility for him: “Ever since I stepped onto the football field. I always wanted to be the best. Whatever you put your name to, whenever you lay down, you always want to try and be the best at it. Or why try and do it at all?”
STORY: Michigan linebacker believes he can make an instant impact in the NFL
Ohio State LB Steele Chambers on the four animals he’d take to war with him: “I typically go with the elephant. I’m going to mount that — I’m going have a sword with me, so I’m going to be on top of the elephant with that. I’ll have a polar bear or grizzly bear; whatever I’m feeling depending on the climate. I’ll probably go tiger — it’s probably the biggest, fastest big cat. And then I gotta go hippo — just because it’s tenacious.”
Bills GM Brandon Beane on 2018 trade, when the team sent the No. 12 overall pick and two second-rounders to move up to No. 7 and draft QB Josh Allen: “We got criticized for how much we gave up for Josh. And I’m like, if he doesn’t work out, I’m not going to be here anyway. And if he does work out, nobody’s gonna give a (expletive).”
Washington edge Bralen Trice, a top-75 draft prospect, on his dog mentality: “I think it goes hand-in-hand with the killer mentality. Attacking everything you do, you line up on the line and look at the guy across from you, and you’re thinking, ‘I’m putting this guy in the dirt, immediately.’ It’s just showing up every day and giving everything you got, regardless of the situation. Leaving everything outside the door when you walk in, thinking only football. Putting all the fear out, that’s the dog mentality. What plays into that, at UW, a huge part of it is just brotherhood when you’re playing next to the guys who you work with every single day. It’s just I go back to that every single time.”
MLive’s Kyle Meinke, Ben Raven and Aaron McMann contributed to this story.
Ohio
Ohio Lottery Pick 3 Midday, Pick 3 Evening winning numbers for Dec. 22, 2024
The Ohio Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 22, 2024, results for each game:
Pick 3
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 1-5-0
Evening: 9-0-9
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Pick 4
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 4-6-7-5
Evening: 8-9-5-9
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Pick 5
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 6-8-2-3-8
Evening: 9-9-8-2-8
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Rolling Cash 5
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at approximately 7:05 p.m.
06-26-27-36-37
Check Rolling Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Lucky For Life
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at approximately 10:35 p.m.
04-07-37-43-47, Lucky Ball: 08
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network.
Where can you buy lottery tickets?
Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.
You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.
Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: jackpocket.com/tos.
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After beating Tennessee, Ohio State will finally get its rematch with Oregon
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State players had been thinking about a rematch with Oregon long before the Buckeyes crushed Tennessee in a first-round playoff game.
Their first chance to avenge the Oct. 12 loss to the Ducks looked to be the Big Ten championship game, but that slipped away when the Buckeyes lost to Michigan and gave up their spot in the title game.
Now, by virtue of Saturday night’s 42-17 win over Tennessee, the Buckeyes will see the Ducks again in a quarterfinal game on a grand stage — the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
“It’s going to be a heck of an opportunity for all of us,” Ohio State quarterback Will Howard said. “I think we’ve all been looking forward to this one, another crack at these guys. The way the last one ended didn’t sit right with me.”
In the first game, the Buckeyes led twice in the second half but couldn’t hold it. They were driving in the final minute. After a questionable interference penalty on freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith, Howard scrambled out of the pocket to extend a play and slid as time ran out, ending the 32-31 shootout on a mental error.
It would be the closest game of the season for top-seeded Oregon (13-0).
“We’re looking forward to the opportunity because it was not a great game for us,” Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “And I know, quite frankly, the guys got a little pissed off. They used that game as motivation. So, I’m sure they’re looking forward to another opportunity.”
The Ohio State defense — now statistically the best in the nation — allowed Heisman Trophy finalist Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks to pile up 496 yards.
“You get to watch yourself play, and watch the mistakes that you’ve made, and you see how they attack you,” Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon said. “But also, there’s a lot of football played in between that. They’ve changed. We’ve changed, and we’re just, we’re going to look at what we need to do, and trust the game plan the coaches have, and we’ll go and tackle them.”
Nearly everything was working right inside the frigid Horseshow on Saturday night, the first December college football game in the history of the 102-year-old stadium.
Howard threw two touchdown passes to Smith and compiled 311 passing yards — his highest total since the Oregon game. TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins rushed for two touchdowns apiece. The defense sacked Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava four times and limited him to 104 passing yards, his lowest total of the season.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning recognized the Buckeyes’ ability to be explosive.
“That’s an elite football that we just played,” Lanning said after the October game. “They’re really, really talented. They don’t have weaknesses.”
Other quarterfinal games include No. 6 seed Penn State against third-seeded Boise State on Dec. 31, and on Jan. 1 it will be No. 5 Texas against No. 4 Arizona State, and No. 7 Notre Dame versus No. 2 Georgia.
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Tennessee overwhelmed in humbling Playoff loss at Ohio State: ‘It stings’
COLUMBUS, Ohio — By the time the beating was finished, most of the thousands of Tennessee fans who flooded into Ohio Stadium were gone.
At least two remained — one in a Peyton Manning jersey and another in a coonskin cap — and hovered over the tunnel as the stone-faced Vols walked into the beginning of the end of their season.
They offered encouragement and some high fives in contrast to the derisive “S-E-C” chant coming from the Ohio State student section as the Buckeyes celebrated a cherished Rose Bowl berth that eluded Tennessee.
Ohio State 42, Tennessee 17.
The Vols’ 21-0 hole after the game’s first 12 minutes was too deep to escape. Ohio State’s talent at edge rusher and receiver overwhelmed Tennessee.
Cutting the lead to 11 at halftime offered a brief glimmer of hope until Ohio State forced a punt on the second half’s first possession and followed up with a 65-yard touchdown drive to slam the door for good.
GO DEEPER
Tennessee fans’ orange invasion of Ohio Stadium: ‘Don’t tell us we can’t do that’
“Everybody was just disappointed,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said.
The offensive line struggled to provide quarterback Nico Iamaleava with clean pockets. Tennessee’s receivers couldn’t find space in the secondary, forcing Iamaleava to hold onto the ball and try to create an offense built from scraps of quarterback scrambles.
The secondary struggled to cover Ohio State’s stellar receivers and even when they did, freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith and NFL-bound senior Emeka Egbuka hauled in contested catches anyway.
“They made some plays. That’s gonna happen against a good team,” Heupel said. “What we didn’t do is come back and find a way to get on the right side of it. That’s defensively, offensively, it’s everybody.”
Nico Iamaleava on his 20 carries: “I didn’t expect to run that many times.”
Josh Heupel said some of those were him scrambling.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) December 22, 2024
Injuries, Ohio State’s defense and the early struggles forced Tennessee to try to morph on the fly into a team it isn’t.
Dylan Sampson, the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year, suffered a hamstring injury late in the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt and aggravated the injury early on Saturday. Tennessee knew entering the game Sampson would be limited, but he was barely available and couldn’t continue after briefly returning in the second half.
He carried the ball at least 19 times in every SEC game this season. He carried the ball twice on Saturday.
Iamaleava hadn’t run the ball more than a dozen times all season. Between called runs and scrambles, he had to carry the ball 20 times. The Vols’ longest passing play of the day was just 21 yards. Iamaleava finished with a season-low 104 passing yards despite throwing the ball 31 times, just the third time this season he’s topped 30 attempts in a game.
“It sucks to go out that way,” Iamaleava said. “That’s not who we are, man.”
He averaged 8.3 yards per attempt during the regular season, good for 21st nationally. He averaged 3.3 yards per attempt on Saturday.
“When we’re not creating explosives, whether it’s poor calls or execution, it puts you in a phone booth,” offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said. “We didn’t stretch them enough. We didn’t force them to respect us going by them enough to make them change up what they were doing. When you let them play comfortable and play in their game plan and don’t make them change, it creates long nights like what happened tonight.”
The defense gave up 311 yards through the air to Will Howard, a quarterback who had just one 300-yard game this season. Tennessee had surrendered 300 passing yards in just one other game this year, to Carson Beck and Georgia.
The Vols lost by 25 in a game in which they won the turnover battle, 1-0.
“Their skill on both sides of the ball was as good as you’ll see,” Heupel said.
Defensive coordinator Tim Banks said the Buckeyes offense didn’t do much the Vols hadn’t prepared for on film. They just did it well and consistently won 1-on-1 matchups.
A breakthrough season crescendoed to the program’s first College Football Playoff bid and arguably the biggest game for the program in at least two decades.
Tennessee fans flooded into Ohio Stadium by the thousands. Instead of witnessing another breakthrough, they were forced to shiver through a breakdown on the sport’s biggest stage and a game that was barely competitive, just like the three first-round games that preceded it.
The only matchup of Big Ten and SEC teams in Round 1 produced the most lopsided result of the opening weekend of the expanded Playoff, with the Big Ten team’s players parading around their home field with roses between their teeth.
Tennessee has looked the part of a good team all season, but losses to Georgia and Ohio State laid bare the reality that the Vols have yet to ascend into the sport’s upper crust and aren’t ready to chase the kinds of titles that have eluded the program since 1998.
Ohio State’s offensive game plan showed aggression and a desire to stretch the field early, making it clear that Tennessee would not be facing the same Buckeyes team that lost a brawl at the line of scrimmage against Michigan three weeks ago.
The Vols came up against one of the nation’s most talented teams. For 60 minutes, the Buckeyes looked the part, flexing at Tennessee’s expense.
“It stings losing like that,” linebacker Will Brooks said.
It was tough to swallow for Heupel, who used the word “disappointed” 10 times in his 14 minutes with reporters after the loss. Multiple times, he was left shaking his head.
He saw the same thing that the thousands of fans in orange witnessed, too.
“Disappointed in our performance for our fans,” Heupel said. “People that have watched us, it wasn’t our best football tonight.”
But it’s the football Tennessee will be left to ponder as it enters an offseason that started earlier than anyone in orange hoped. As Heupel addressed his team, he began by using that word, acknowledging the disappointment of Tennessee’s first trip to the Playoff before pointing to the future after closing a stretch of 30 wins in three seasons.
“Everybody better let that soak in,” Heupel said, “and it’s gotta propel you to whatever’s next.”
(Photo of Nico Iamaleava: Saul Young / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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