If I Was In Charge: A potpourri of necessary changes

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 what we would do if we were in charge of our favorite position group, team, conference, or sport. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”If I Was in Charge” articles here.

Anyone who knows me, or has followed me on Twitter for any length of time is well aware that I’m a curmudgeon. That’s why “If I Was in Charge Week” is perfect for me since I certainly have OPINIONS AND IDEAS! Since I’m a big ball of hate, I couldn’t pin down just one thing I’d change if I had the power, instead I came up with four.

Cut down on shotgun snaps on short yardage and goal line situations

Whenever I see a football team lining up in the shotgun on short yardage situations, I start seeing red. I know the game of football has changed dramatically from when I started watching as a kid 30 years ago. Short passes are being used more now and running the football isn’t quite as popular as it used to be. It’s understandable why teams do this with the increased size and athletic ability of defenders, along with how the rules favor receivers.

I just don’t get why on a 3rd & 1 or when teams are at the 1-yard-line, they line up in the shotgun. To me it makes no sense to start farther back when you need to gain a few feet. Some will argue that running short yardage plays from a shotgun formation will give running backs more momentum, or allow quarterbacks to get a better view. Stop trying to make things so complicated! If you’re Ohio State, you should have players with superior size and speed than the majority of your opponents. Muscle up and push them back a few feet and move the chains or get into the end zone. Show you want it more.

I’d have no issue with teams lining up in the shotgun in short yardage situations if they were able to execute. It feels like so many times over the last few years we’ve seen the Buckeyes line up when they needed just a yard or two and Ryan Day calls a bubble screen that results in no gain or a loss. Want to know what would make me happy? Never seeing Ohio State run another bubble screen again.

Cutting down on how many times College Football Playoff rankings are released

If it was up to me, the College Football Playoff rankings would be released twice. The Tuesday of the conference championship games, and then when the final rankings are revealed. Everything else is overkill. We don’t need to know what the playoffs would look like in the middle of October if the season ended at that time. There’s a good chance those rankings aren’t going to look anything like the first few rankings since there is so much of the season left.

In the end, all they are doing so many revealings of the rankings for is television. We know the teams that are deserving of being in the playoff, and those that shouldn’t be included. I don’t need to see or hear the talking heads saying a team is ranked too high or too low when they still have four or five games left to play in the regular season. By the time the regular season is over, things will likely have evened out, and teams will be ranked where they should be. It is pretty rare where the committee gets the four playoff teams wrong, since by the first week of December things have become pretty obvious.

Another thing I hate about so many playoff ranking reveal shows during the season is how bent out of shape Ohio State fans get about them. This turns into talk of conspiracy and how much ESPN hates the Buckeyes. Why get so worked up over it? Just worry about what the team does on the field. You’ll know the years they are deserving of a spot, and the years when they weren’t one of the best four teams in the country. There may be outliers like 2015, but that is the exception and not the norm. Relax. Save the rage for the truly important things. Like hating Michigan.

I wouldn’t have gotten in business with FOX

I know a lot of people hate ESPN because Buckeye Nation thinks the World Wide Leader has it out for Ohio State. I’m on the opposite end. I can’t stand it when Buckeye games are on FOX. Not only is there a good chance Ohio State games are going to be at noon, I also can’t stand when Gus Johnson is on the call. Noon games are by far the worst, and I’m so sick of listening to Johnson scream through games. I get being excited about college football, but not every play needs to sound like it’s the final play of a one-score game. Less is more sometimes.

It’s not just Gus Johnson that is terrible to listen to. Numerous Ohio State games feature Tim Brando, who is a dope. Don’t even get me started on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff Show. I think any football pregame shows are terrible, but the one on FOX is miles worse than College GameDay. While Urban Meyer might still have Ohio State supporters, I certainly am not one of them. Thankfully most of my Saturday mornings leading into college football have some sort of European soccer on, so I don’t have to worry about watching either trainwreck pregame show.

Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The frequency of games that are on FOX that start at noon is also something I can’t stand. Aside from the Michigan game, which I wouldn’t hate moving to 3:30 p.m occasionally, it just seems like Ohio Stadium lacks juice for noon kickoffs. Attending noon games is even worse, since it feels like you have to get up at the crack of dawn to get to campus to tailgate, and you’re still feeling rushed. To me, 3:30 is the perfect start time for games, and you do get some great views as the season goes on and the sun starts setting earlier.

Get rid of Value City Arena/Schottenstein Center

If it was my decision, I’d bulldoze the Schottenstein Value City Arenacenter tomorrow. I cannot stand going to events there. I cringe whenever there is a musical act that I’m itching to see and they come to Columbus but it is announced their concert is at Value City Arena. I get the appeal of having a venue on campus, but whoever designed it did terrible work. The arena looks even worse when you see Nationwide Arena just a few miles away.

At least with Nationwide Arena, there is plenty to do around the venue before a concert or sporting event. The Schottenstein Center/Value City Arena is in the middle of nowhere pretty much. Far too many times I’ve made that walk across the bridge over the Olentangy River on a cold winter night following an Ohio State basketball game. The walk is even tougher if the Buckeyes ended up losing.

There definitely isn’t a ton of space to build a new arena anywhere around campus, so I get Ohio State is stuck with what they have. It’s just sad there isn’t any better options in the near future since the arena is so BLEH inside and out. About the only thing that might change the atmosphere a little bit is if the basketball teams get hot. The women’s team did their part for most of the year, but it has been a bit since the men’s team has done the same.