Archives for November 2006

Here are a few uncommonly known facts about Troy Smith and the legend he is building.

1. When you open a Can of Whoop-Ass, Troy Smith pops out.

2. If you can see Troy Smith, he can see you. If you can’t see Troy Smith, he is in the locker room celebrating his defeat of you.

3. Troy Smith is NOT hung like a horse, horses are hung like Troy Smith.

4. Troy Smith sleeps with the light on, not because he is afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of him.

5. It is often thought, “what came first: the chicken or the egg?” In fact the real question is, “What came first: Troy Smith or awesomeness?”

6. Troy Smith’s handshake grip is so strong he once inadvertantly turned a man into a diamond.

7. Troy Smith’s poop is considered currency in Argentina

8. When Troy Smith does push-ups, he does not push himself up. He pushes the Earth down.

9. We dropped the Nukes on Japan because it was more humane then sending in Troy Smith.

10. Troy Smith can touch MC Hammer.

It’s hard to believe, but OSU/UM week is already upon us. I can’t remember a season that seemed to fly by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that OSU started the season at number one. It also seems like just yesterday that UM had its annual bowl loss. Now, our lil’ rival is all growed up, and the clown cars are being gassed up for Friday’s trip to Columbus.

Of course, the best news for OSU fans this year is that Lloyd managed to cobble enough wins together to keep his job for the foreseeable future. This ensures that Buckeye fans will continue to benefit from Tressel’s 80%+ victory percentage against the village idiots from Ann Arbor.

But even though we know UM is nothing more than one long expectoration, history dictates that, on occasion, those children-of-siblings from that state up north find a way to eke out victories against their superior foes to the south. With that in mind, we’d be remiss if we didn’t honestly consider every advantage — tangible or otherwise — that the grooming monkeys from Michigan might have over OSU this Saturday.

Not that we toot our own horn here at MotSaG, but to refresh your memories, it was us who predicted on August 15th:

[We] believe that this is the season when we really find out who coach Carr is… Our personal prediction is that UM “returns to form” this year. We wonder what state of chaos the national title picture would be in if UM and OSU met on November 18th, both undefeated…

Amazingly, that’s precisely what’s going to happen.

Later this week we’ll discuss why OSU will beat UM; but for today, let’s drink the Kool-Aid and list some reasons:

Why OSU will Not beat UM
UM will be healthy, with Ecker and Manningham back (who were not playing during UM’s sloppy mid-season games). The fact that Ecker and Manningham have been out (1) gives OSU less film to work with regarding the plays designed for those two players, and (2) is advantageous to UM because Arrington and Breaston have become much better in the meantime. UM will be entering the game with more depth & experience at receiver than they’ve had all year.

Conversely, OSU is as banged up as it has been all year. For the past few weeks, Sweatervest has been juggling the offensive line to account for the injuries to one player or another. Also, Smith has been battling a hand injury, apparently (see below for more on the subject).

UM’s front four will probably stone any iso play. Rushing yards will have to depend on the speed of the OSU backs going around the end, something that’s happened here and there, but not consistently. Beanie’s style of play will not be as successful against the Blue Wall, so it’s not likely he’ll have a good game. That leaves Pittman and Smith to carry a bigger rushing load than usual, or more time will have to be given to the underachieving, but speedy, Maurice Wells. Aside from that, Tressel will have to depend on a lot of screens… and even though UM is horrid at defending them, relying on them too much can be dangerous. (Remember OSU’s loss to UM in 1997 was largely due to a bunch of poorly executed screen plays… UM ate those plays for breakfast that day.)

OSU’s two-back rushing option plays probably won’t be successful (see above). Expect to see the three-back or two-back/one-WR option in its place. Sending enough players downfield to make a toss threat leaves fewer in the backfield for protection during the sweep, however.

Statistically, a UM victory is long overdue. The teams are 50/50 over the past 60 years… and Carr is on the short end of a 20/80 ratio against Tressel.

UM is playing better away from home this year than in the Big House.

Carr’s usual chokie-ness has been mitigated a bit by the new coaching staff.

UM’s seniors only have one victory over OSU, and that was at home in 2003, when most were freshmen and not even playing as backups. They’ve never beaten OSU as starters, and they’ve never won in the ‘Shoe. And after losing to the Bucks in the final minute of the game last year, this year’s matchup carries an extra revenge factor for the UM players.

OSU’s young defense, having performed above expectations all year, will still face a pressure/environment they haven’t seen before, one that even very experienced veterans find hard to deal with.

Big Ten officiating. OSU’s opponents are the least penalized in the Big Ten. This is not opinion, but fact. This doesn’t mean that OSU commits more penalties, it means that when OSU plays another team, the other team “magically” stops committing the penalties it’s been charged with all season long. It’s unfair, but for some reason Big Ten officials tend to ignore offenses committed by OSU’s opponents. If this year was the only aberration, so be it… after all, someone has to be last. But this has been the case year after year. So, clearly, opponents of OSU will always have an advantage with the officiating. What does this mean for the game? UM will probably be allowed to hold the OSU linemen all day long.

If the game comes down to FGs.

Troy Smith’s thumb. (I don’t care what the “official” line is about his throwing hand being fine. Troy hasn’t been able to throw the deep ball for three weeks now, the same number of weeks he’s had his thumb and wrist taped. He’s underthrowing every deep ball, forcing Ginn to slow down to get under it, effectively removing the weapon that torched OSU’s opponents for the first half of the season.)

Troy Smith’s feet. Smith’s mobility has been the bane of UM’s defense for the past two years. This year, however, Tressel has reigned in Smith’s scrambling and made him more of a pocket QB. Of course it’s likely that his running & throwing skills are still there, but whether or not Tressel turns him loose is unknown at this point.

Mike Hart.

If bad weather occurs.

Okay, you’ve seen why OSU will lose to Michigan. Now read why OSU will BEAT Michigan.

And trust me, they will beat them.

Talk about making a statement. Ohio State came into Ryan Field and, from the kick-off to the final whistle, absolutely dominated the Northwestern Wildcats. Starting with the Laurinaitis caused-fumble-that-wasn’t to the Boeckman QB draw for the final touchdown, it was all Buckeyes.

This game was a HUGE statement by the Buckeye D. With five take-aways, the defense came out and man-handled the Wildcat offense. Couple that with a huge game from Troy Smith and Ohio State reminded the nation why they’re ranked #1.

Everyone that played looked solid. Pittman got his thousand yards for the season, Beanie Wells almost broke a hundred and dispelled any doubts that he was in the doghouse, Mo’ Wells played solid clean up time, picking up 50 total yards himself. Brian Hartline is a jack-of-all trades, one week blowing things up on the special teams, this week catching three passes for two touchdowns. And what more can be said about the way Troy Smith played? Passing 12 for 19, 4 TDs and running at will. Ohio State’s offense definitely shook off last week’s poor performance to score seven touchdowns on their way to the showdown next week.

Thankfully, Michigan did not have a letdown against Indiana, setting up the game of the century.

So yeah, there’s this game next week in The Horseshoe. You might have heard of it — Ohio State versus Michigan. You might want to tune in. (You’ll also want to tune in to Men of the Scarlet and Gray, as we’ll be serving up the Michigan smack all week).

The last speed bump before The Showdown in the ‘Shoe is finally here. Northwestern has had an extremely tough season this year, tragedy and all. They haven’t played exceptionally well and they draw the unfortunate lot of being OSU’s last opponent before the Michigan game. We weep for Northwestern.

So what about previews? What can we expect from Northwestern? The guys at Buckeye Planet have their preview up, along with the hardest working Ohio State on-line writer, Tony Gerdeman, has his game preview up at The O-Zone where he points out that history hasn’t been kind to Northwestern when OSU is ranked #1.

While I writing the rough draft for this post, I found I was mentioning Michigan more than Northwestern, but I realized there isn’t much to say about Northwestern. They’re having a down year, OSU is on top of the college football world. Northwestern has struggled mightily against the Buckeyes and this week shouldn’t be much different. In the end, we stand here and can clearly see Michigan in the distance and Northwestern is nothing more now than an afterthought. That’s not to disrespect the Wildcats, but let’s be honest here. OSU is in need of a tune-up after the lackluster game against Illinois and Northwestern is going to be a tackling dummy for OSU to scrimmage one last time. That hasn’t stopped the fans, though, as this game is a sellout. I would wager that OSU will be adequately represented by its fans at Ryan Field.

The odds makers put favor the Buckeyes by 23 points. What say you?

What about the offense? Is Tressel going to open the play book this week, or play it close to the vest again (I love saying that)? How many yards will we see OSU roll up on Northwestern? (o/u 450)

Speaking of offense, Pittman needs a good game to get back in the groove for next week. How many yards does he chew up NW’s defense for? (o/u 150)

Little Animal needs one more INT to tie the OSU record for INTs by a linebacker. Does he do it yet again?

How many times is November 18th/Michigan mentioned by the broadcast crew? (o/u 18 times)

el Kaiser’s predictions
Final score: OSU: 31 NW: 6 (Tressel shows compassion)
OSU Offense: over, 451 yards
Pittman: over, 220 yards (I’m hoping that Pittman is huge in this game)
Little Animal: No INT tomorrow, he ties and breaks the record next week.
Broadcast Crew: under, 8. I have a feeling they’ll be told to keep the hype to a minimum until the fourth quarter.

sportsMonkey’s predictions
Final score: OSU: 38, NW: 0
OSU Offense: under, 425 yards (Tressel will play it quite conservative, but still have plenty of success)
Pittman: under, 130 yards
Little Animal: Yes, the Butkus finalist will tie Chris Spielman’s season record (6) with at least one INT.
Broadcast Crew: over, 132 times.

Sylvester Yon-Rambo’s predictions
Final score: OSU: 56 NW: 0
OSU Offense: over, 621 yards
Pittman: under, 118 yards
Little Animal: 2 INT’s Breaks the record and dedicates 1 pick to Spielman.
Broadcast Crew: OVER they jst repeat it over and over the whole game and dont utter another word the whole game……63,179 times