Oller's Second Thoughts: Does Ohio State win enough? Washington AD says no. Is he right?

Another day, another mouth cracking on Ohio State football for coming up short. It’s tough being the giant in a world of stone throwers.

We’ve already picked apart Lou Holtz’s comments about the Buckeyes’ lack of physicality. Holtz was right except where he was wrong.

Now along comes Washington athletic director Troy Dannen, who on Monday took a shot at Ohio State (and Texas) for not winning enough, despite spending more on football than most programs.

“If budgets won championships, Ohio State and Texas would win everything – and they haven’t won much lately,” Dannen told a Seattle sports radio station.

Yikes.

At first glance, Dannen’s cheap shot seems ridiculously off key, not only in substance but because his comments surely will be used as bulletin board material by the Buckeyes when they visit Washington in 2025.

But begin to parse the AD’s exact wording and, like Holtz, you find grains of truth.

The key words are “much” and “lately.”

Let’s begin with the much. Winning is objective – you either come out on top or you don’t – but how much you win is subjective. A matter of degree. Is it the number of wins? The quality of wins?

Ohio State ranks third in number of wins (116) over the past 10 seasons, behind Alabama (126) and Clemson (121). The Buckeyes also have five Big Ten championships and five playoff appearances in that span, including a national title in 2014. By any measure, that resume deserves more than a “much.”

But then we get to lately. Ohio State is 22-4 over the 2021-22 seasons, good for ninth best nationally. In neither of those two years did the Buckeyes win the Big Ten, and they are 1-1 in bowl games since then, defeating Utah in the Rose on Jan. 1, 2022 and losing to Georgia last Dec. 31 in the Peach Bowl.

Was Dannen completely wrong? Maybe not when combining much and lately, depending how one defines time and degree. If national championships are the measuring stick, then quite frankly OSU has disappointed. One CFP/BCS national title over the past 20 seasons is not nothing – and is one more than Washington has – but still fewer than Alabama (6), LSU (3), Clemson (2), Florida (2) and Georgia (2).

If beating your rival is the litmus test, then “lately” again comes into play. Ohio State was 15-2 against Michigan from 2003 to 2019 – COVID canceled the 2020 game – but is 0-2 since 2021.

Still, it was a silly and insulting for the AD at Washington to call out Ohio State for not winning much lately, even if it was meant in the context of big-budget programs. Put it this way: Washington fans would trade records with the Buckeyes in a heartbeat.

Official World Golf Rankings delivers body blow to LIV Golf

Golf historians may look back at this week as the moment LIV ceased to live, for all intents and purposes.

The Official World Golf Rankings board made a bigger-than-people-realize decision Tuesday to deny LIV ranking points, based on LIV operating as a closed shop in which players get paid no matter how poorly they play.

The ruling further damages LIV’s legitimacy, if not automatically delivering a death sentence, because OWGR points dictate automatic invitations to all four major championships as well as other high-money signature tournaments. Higher rankings also help players secure sponsorship deals.

LIV CEO Greg Norman promised players who jumped from the PGA Tour they eventually would receive OWGR points, but if such is not the case then LIV will have a harder time luring current tour players.

Since joining LIV, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau have fallen from the top 100, and after the ruling many LIV players will have to go through qualifying tournaments for the U.S. Open and British Open.

The funeral music is only getting louder for the Saudi-funded league. What a shame. Not.

Listening in

“My skin is curling when you say, ‘Just drop back and chuck it deep no matter what.’ I don’t even know what you’re saying. It’s like you’re speaking from Mars.” – Penn State football coach James Franklin, responding to a reporter’s question whether it might help first-year quarterback Drew Aller to make more deep throws no matter the situation.

Off-topic

I’m addicted to golf. There, I said it. I probably need an intervention, but it needs to be between nines, or else I don’t have time. It’s to the point where I’m binging golf instruction videos on the web like other people binge “The Office."

Over the past several months I have tried tucking my right elbow to my side, extending my backswing and teeing the ball at multiple heights. None of it has turned me into Rory McIlroy. Friends and family shake their heads. “Just find something and stick with it,” they implore.

But I’m a compulsive can't-leave-well-enough-alone golfer. And now with cold weather approaching, what to do? Indoor simulators? Golf trip? I need help. Feel free to reach out, unless you think it might contribute to my addiction.

roller@dispatch.com

@rollerCD

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Is Washington AD correct about Ohio State football not winning?