From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.

Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.

In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.

Today’s Question: What Is Your Most Unreasonable Unreasonable Expectation for the Ohio State Football Season?

Jami’s Take: Will Howard will be a Heisman finalist

Will Howard saw a lot of playing time at Kansas State, and as Ohio State’s starting quarterback job is still very much up for grabs, there’s been a lot of talk about whether he can actually fill that role for the Buckeyes now that he’s transferred.

And while we probably shouldn’t throw out the tapes from Kansas State altogether, I also don’t think they’re indicative of his potential as a Buckeye. In fact, I don’t think we have any idea what he’s capable of yet.

So my first expectation for this season (a not-at-all unreasonable one), is that Howard will be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback.

My second expectation — a far more unreasonable one — is that he will be a Heisman finalist (I know that’s pretty unhinged even for me. I’m leaning in, though).

In large part, a quarterback is only as good as the players around them, including the offensive line and the receivers. And with no disrespect to Kansas State (ranked 18th in the final 2023 AP Poll), Howard certainly didn’t have players of the same caliber around him in Kansas as he will in Columbus.

At Kansas State, he was surrounded largely by some very talented three-star players. There is nothing wrong with being a three-star player! You’re batting above average, you’re definitely better than me! I am not knocking three-star players! But in Columbus, that rating largely bumps up to four or five stars.

Not only does this mean he will be set up for more success (both in terms of the quality of receivers he needs to connect with and in terms of how much time he’ll have to throw the ball), but there’s also a strong possibility that playing with better players will force him to elevate his own game. The guys around him will make him look good, yes, but they will also make him better.

Even if, by some mystery, he plays exactly the same, we know the Heisman committee loves a quarterback, and we’ve seen finalists in recent years who weren’t even the strongest guys on their OWN offense, let alone in the country. But because the other guys on their offense were so strong, their job at quarterback looked easy. And making it look easy is very convincing to the Heisman committee.

It’s deceptive, but it happens often.

And this year, with better weapons and a higher bar, I believe Howard will have a breakthrough season that puts him in the same ballpark as Quinn Ewers at Texas (currently the preseason favorite to win the Heisman) or Carson Beck at Georgia. With receivers like Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate, plus an offensive line powered by guys like Donovan Jackson, expect Howard to surprise everyone.

He doesn’t have to be the best player in the country to be a Heisman finalist. He just has to be one of the best, and with the right people around him, I believe he has what it takes to nurse the Buckeyes’ wounds from last season and make an impression with the Heisman powers-that-be.

Matt’s Take: Ohio State will have the Big Ten’s Offensive, Defensive, Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver, Defensive Lineman, Defensive Back, and Coach of the Year

Look, the idea for this prompt was to go way overboard, like even more overboard than normal, so I did just that. The Ohio State football program has had some dominant runs when it comes to Big Ten awards, but that was the old Big Ten when it was just a 14-team league and the Buckeyes were really the only serious team in the conference.

Now, we are coming off three straight seasons of That Team Up North winning the league title and the Corn and Blue are now the defending national champions (sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit). Not only has OSU been dethroned as the league’s only dominant team, but the Powers That Be have added four West Coast-based teams with loads of football prowess and pedigree of their own. This fall, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington will be Big Ten members, meaning that Ohio State will have to contend with even more competition for the conference crown as well as post-season awards.

However, in my most unreasonable of unreasonable expectations, I do think that Ryan Day’s squad can walk away with both the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, as well as the quarterback, running back, wide receiver, defensive lineman, and defensive back awards. And, in what might be the most unreasonable expectation of all, that Day himself will win the B1G Coach of the Year honor… outright! Day shared the award with Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck in 2019, but before that, a Buckeye coach hadn’t won the award since Earl Bruce in 1979.

Obviously, if Jami’s Will Howard prediction comes true, I will take him as the B1G QB of the year, but the beauty of this unreasonable expectation is that on all of the others, I have options. Like with the Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year, that could legitimately be either TreVeyon Henderson or Quinshon Judkins. The Richter–Howard Receiver of the Year could be Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate, or even Jeremiah Smith; Smith–Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year… J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams; Tatum–Woodson Defensive Back of the Year… Denzel Bruke, Caleb Downs, Lathan Ransom.

I know that the voters like to spread these awards around, but with how stacked this roster is, I could see it being a case where they have no other choice than to just give all of the awards to the boys in scarlet and gray.

Let us know who you are agreeing with:

Survey results indicate nearly two-thirds of South Dakota public school educators are teaching the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings, but the number of respondents is lower than the last survey.

The essential understandings are a set of standards approved in 2018 for teaching students about Native American culture and history. “Oceti Sakowin” is the collective term for Lakota, Dakota and Nakota speaking Native Americans, many of whom live in South Dakota. There are nine tribal nations within the state.

About 62% of teachers are using the standards, based on a survey conducted by the state Department of Education in 2023 — a “remarkable increase” from 45% in 2021, said Fred Osborn, director of the Office of Indian Education, which is under the supervision of the state Department of Tribal Relations. He presented the survey results to the Indian Education Advisory Council earlier this month.

Use of the standards is optional. The survey is used to understand how the standards are being implemented, and to help state officials encourage statewide adoption.

“The key is there’s improvement,” Osborn said. “It’s not perfect yet. There’s still work to be done, but we’ve come a long way from 45% of teachers. We hope that increases every year.”

Osborn added that the Office of Indian Education provided 10,000 copies of books on the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings through a Bush Foundation grant since the first survey, and sent out education packets for all grade levels last fall.

Fewer survey responses

Only about 385 educators took part in the 2023 survey, compared to 554 in 2021. 

The 2023 survey also does not list how many public school districts were represented in the survey, whereas 2021’s survey had responses from 125 of the state’s 149 school districts. The school district identification question was changed between 2021 and 2023, said department spokesperson Nancy Van Der Weide. The department does not have any data to determine how many school districts were represented in the latest survey.

Removing the school district identification question allowed participants more anonymity, Van Der Weide told South Dakota Searchlight.

Navajo leaders outraged after a Lakota student’s tribal regalia was removed at graduation

Neither Osborn nor any members of the council addressed the potential impact of fewer responses on the validity of the survey results. The survey was voluntary and available for one month, Van Der Weide said, with a notice placed in a newsletter sent to teachers throughout the state. 

“Those educators who did respond provided informed recommendations,” Van Der Weide said in an emailed statement. “Some of those were educators who already incorporate a lot of OSEUs in their classrooms, while others were those who wanted to make them a part of their instruction and responded with ideas for tools that would help them to incorporate the standards into their classrooms.”

Advisory council member Sherry Johnson, tribal education director for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, helped shaped the standards and is participating in the standards update. She doubts the survey is an accurate representation of how the standards are being used in the state.

“We have pockets of the state that are doing well, but it’s not pervasive. It’s not required,” Johnson said. “If nothing else, there should be direct teacher training and a mandate to have this Indian education for all.”

Megan Deal, a second-grade teacher in Pierre and a member of the advisory council, said her school participated in a pilot program to help create lesson plans for standards at each grade level, but not all teachers incorporated the teachings into their classrooms.

“I don’t think they’re being taught at very many schools around the state at this time,” Deal said.

Council member Brian Wagner, tribal education director with the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said he is concerned about the lack of “teeth” with the standards. Lawmakers have introduced bills to require use of the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings in classrooms, but those efforts have failed in the Legislature.

“Knowledge is power,” Wagner said. “If people don’t learn about history, then we risk repeating it, and unfortunately the history repeating would be the racism and the discrimination that many tribal members have experienced because people don’t understand tribal sovereignty or the treaties and the treaty rights.”

Impact expected from social studies standards

Though the standards are optional, said Secretary of South Dakota Department of Education Joseph Graves, the new social studies standards that will be implemented by 2025 will include references to the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings. Those will encourage more teachers to use the cultural standards, he said.

“We’re going to find more Native American history and culture being taught in the schools than ever before,” Graves said. “This is actually a move forward, not a move back. I think the social studies standards have gotten an unfair black eye, and I think once you see these in place you’ll find we’re teaching more of it rather than less and, I think, from an enlightened perspective.”

States were adding lessons about Native American history. Then came the anti-CRT movement

The social studies standards controversy started in 2021 because the department removed more than a dozen references to the Oceti Sakowin from a committee’s draft revision of social studies standards. After Gov. Kristi Noem formed a new work group and ordered the process to start over, the group produced standards that drew criticism for an emphasis on rote memorization over inquiry-based learning.

Graves added that the department plans to provide teachers with weekly materials to help them utilize the social studies standards and encourage them to use the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings.

According to the 2023 survey results, about 84% of educators said they were aware of the standards, and 77% said it is important to implement the standards in every classroom. Only 55% of teachers said they knew the concepts well enough to teach them, but that was an 18 point increase from 2021.

Nearly 40 administrators took part in their administrator survey in 2023, compared to 164 in 2021. The 2023 survey does not list how many public school districts were represented in the administrator survey.

Nearly 80% of administrators said it’s important to implement the standards in every classroom, but two-thirds of administrators indicated a lack of confidence to implement the standards in their schools, while 56% reported an uncertainty about how to integrate the standards and 44% cited a concern for the appropriateness of the content — an increase of 28 points from the 2021 survey.

The survey does not address how using the standards affects Native American student achievement, but Osborn said it would be “interesting to cross analyze” that.

The crash happened about 7:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of State 54 and Washington Street.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – One person is dead following a motorcycle versus vehicle crash Friday evening in Wisconsin Rapids.

The crash happened about 7:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of State 54 and Washington Street. According to the initial investigation, a vehicle was traveling north on State 54 at Washington Street and was attempting to turn left onto Baker Drive, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Rapids Police Department. The motorcycle was traveling south on State 54 and hit the passenger side of the vehicle, which turned in front of the motorcycle, the release said.

The driver of the motorcycle suffered serious injuries and was transported by ambulance to Marshfield Medical Center where he later died from his injuries, the release said.

The occupants of the vehicle were treated by Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department EMS and released at the scene.

The police department said it is not releasing the names of those involved at this time.

‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’: Wisconsin Rapids-area cranberry grower discusses ‘spectacular’ experience on Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’

More local news: Wisconsin Rapids Walmart will undergo ‘Store of the Future’ remodel. What changes will shoppers see?

Editor Jamie Rokus can be reached at jrokus@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Jamie_Rokus.