Ohio Against the World
The Key for the week of January 21, 2025
Ohio Against the World..
Who would have seen this coming after Ohio State’s loss to Michigan? A little more than a month ago, Buckeye fans were on their calculators, trying to figure out how much they had to raise to buy out Ryan Day’s contract (It’s $37.2 million, if you’re curious). Today, they’re raising their glass to the coach they wanted out. Ohio State’s commanding victory over Notre Dame is the poster child for NIL deals. According to Ross Dellinger of Yahoo! Sports, Ohio State’s athletic director, Ross Bjork, revealed in 2024 that the number from the university’s NIL collectives and brand affiliates was “around $20 million.” The future of the collectives, of course, is in limbo with student-athlete revenue sharing just around the corner. But for now, OSU takes home the trophy and Ryan Day is beloved—until next year’s Michigan game, at least.
So what does this mean for the Bengals?
The Bengals have made no secret they’re interested in Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator Al Golden to take the vacant DC job in Cincinnati but had to wait until after the title game. He’s no stranger to the Men in Stripes—he was hired as the Bengals linebackers coach in 2020 before he joined Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman in South Bend. He’s also been the head coach at Temple and at the University of Miami. In the regular season, Notre Dame’s defense ranked first in team passing efficiency defense, was tied for first in turnovers gained (28), first in defensive touchdowns (6), third in scoring defense (13.6), third in passing yards allowed (157.9), fourth in interceptions (17), tied for seventh in fumbles recovered (11) and ninth in total defense (296.8). Despite the Irish defensive struggles in the national championship game, Golden remains a hot property to return to the Bengals.
Oh, the drama down under
The tennis tours always seem to lean toward the dramatic, but it seems even more so this year as the season starts at the Australian Open. Let’s start with Australian broadcaster Tony Jones, who had to apologize to Novak Djokovic and his fans from Serbia after Jones said Djokovic was “overrated” and “a has-been” and he should be kicked out of the tournament—a reference to his Australian Open ban for not being vaccinated during covid protocol. Djokovic said he wouldn’t talk with the broadcaster until Jones issued a public apology, which he did. Jones also crossed verbal swords with American Danielle Collins, after Jones said she was a “brat” for calling out Australian fans.
(By the way, the Joker isn’t done yet, as he looks for a record 25th Grand Slam title by defeating Carlos Alcaraz in a 3 ½ hour, four-set quarterfinal classic.)
If Djokovic gets through his semifinal match with Zverev, he could face top seed Jannik Sinner, who had his own unexpected drama. During Sinner’s match with Holger Rune, each player had to take a medical time out under 90-degree heat, then got an unexpected break when a Sinner serve dislodged the net and it took 20 minutes to fix. Despite the challenges, the top seed and defending champion moved into the quarterfinals after disposing of Rune in four sets. On the women’s side, third-seeded American Coco Gauff was ousted in the quarterfinals by 11th seed Paula Badosa, mainly from unforced errors (41, to be precise, including six double faults).
Ben’s best bet…
Sinner remains the BetMGM favorite on the men’s side to take the Australian Open crown, but with second-favorite Alcaraz out, Djokovic moves up as the next favorite. For the women, top-seed Aryna Sabalenka is the favorite, with Iga Swiatek the next-up favorite for the singles title. In opposite brackets, the top two seeds could meet in the finals. Ben says the favorites should win, but if you’re looking to spend an extra quid or two, Djokovic could be an upset winner to take home his 11th Australian Open trophy.