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Changing the Ohio State-TCU series to a single matchup was ‘a good business plan’

Plus, a Buckeye freshman claimed a hat trick in the latest women’s soccer win and more fall sport updates.

By Alexis Chassen
Goodyear Cotton Bowl - USC v Ohio State Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Originally, Ohio State and TCU were supposed to host each other in a home-and-home series over the next couple of seasons. It didn’t work out that way, and instead, the teams will face off in Week 3 of the 2018 football season at AT&T Stadium.

Now, to say that the Horned Frogs don’t have some kind of home-field advantage is ludicrous, given the trip to the Arlington home of the Dallas Cowboys is just 22 minutes. However, it’s also a place where the Buckeyes have enjoyed quite a bit of postseason success over the past few years, so it’s not exactly a completely unfriendly environment either.

Not much has been made up to this point about why the home-and-home series was changed to a single matchup, but TCU head coach Gary Patterson admitted on Friday that it was his decision.

It’s hard to argue that back-to-back games against the Buckeyes — including a trip all the way to Columbus — “wasn’t a good business plan.” With the Big 12 conference missing out on having a team in the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014-15, TCU, like every other college, became very aware of what kind of metrics they would need to pay attention to in order to earn one of the coveted CFP berths.

So, instead of playing the Horned Frogs twice, Ohio State will make one trip to Texas and call it a day. Can’t blame Patterson for being honest with this one.

“Behind a hat trick from Emaly Vatne and a pair of goals from Alyssa Baumbick, the Ohio State women’s soccer team topped Morehead State, 8-0, on a record-setting Thursday night at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.”

-Ohio State Athletics

After opening the season 0-2, the Buckeyes are now 2-2 heading into Labor Day weekend, and continue their good luck streak on their home field. The Buckeyes’ eight goals on Thursday night is tied for third-most in a single game in school history.

Emaly Vatne not only scored her first goals as a collegiate soccer player, but she pulled off a hat trick performance, making her just the 15th player in school history to accomplish the feat.

“This is all really exciting,” Vatne said. “I was happy to score my first goals at home but this was a really good result for us as a team. It was good to have hour home opener finally. This result is great but we’re looking forward to our next opponent. Notre Dame is a great team and it should be a lot of fun.”

Vatne quickly became the third freshman in OSU history to nab a hat trick, and her seven points against Morehead State was the second-most in a single game in program history.

Four games in, and the soccer star is already adding her name to the record books. The Buckeyes should be pretty exciting this season with the young addition.

“The definition of “open” in Ohio State’s passing game is going to change. Haskins’ arm allows him to fit the ball into windows that Barrett couldn’t, and he’s clearly less wary of throwing the ball into contested situations.”

-Bill Landis, cleveland.com

During the tenure of J.T. Barrett at Ohio State, a lot was made about his up and down connection to his receivers. Whether it was because he didn’t get as many snaps with the ones while he was competing with Cardale Jones, or ushering in an entirely new class of wideouts, or a wide receivers coach who regularly seemed to show up late to practice and meetings, there were a lot of factors that went into the poor chemistry.

Ultimately, one of the things that Ryan Day emphasizes — and has done so throughout his short time with the Buckeyes — is coming up with a better definition as to what it means for a receiver to be considered “open.”

Landis does an excellent job of breaking down how Day improved OSU’s offense last season, and how Dwayne Haskins can take that foundation and really develop into a much more efficient passer than we’ve had in Columbus the past couple of years.

And that’s not to knock Barrett, the holder of a gazillion school, Big Ten, and college football records, but there was definitely room for improvement, and Haskins has the skills to be better. He’s already forcing the receivers to be more aware on each and every play as the new quarterback learns to work through his progressions.

One thing is for sure, the Ohio State offense should be very exciting with Haskins as the starter.

NFL roster cuts

Teams have until Saturday at 4 p.m. to get their final rosters down to 53, and that means several Buckeyes are going to see themselves looking for a new team over the Labor Day weekend.

There have already been a few big names released, including Braxton Miller and DeVier Posey.

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