But, when I rationally examine this season, I simply don’t see a lot of reasons (outside of attrition) that OSU should be #1. I don’t like that, but it’s what I see.

Anyway, good stuff. One of the better OSU-related articles I’ve seen in a while.

Very good point, sir. Well said. I see where you’re coming from now.

JTin – LSU has already proved they can beat top-tier teams this season (VTech, Florida, Auburn, Alabama). Oregan has also (destroying Michigan, USC)

I guess there must be a sport equivalent to “ethnocentrism,” where it’s hard to see someone else’s viewpoint through the glasses created by your own culture. While I’m complaining that the OSU “naysayers” don’t see things from my perspective, sometimes I forget that I’m not seeing things from theirs. Perspective is often reality, that’s a flaw in the system for which there is no answer.

Example: above you wrote “LSU has already proved they can beat top-tier teams this season.” VTech, Florida, Auburn, and Alabama are no more “top-tier” than Michigan, Wisconsin, or Illinois. It’s ESPN that has created and encouraged the myth that these teams are “top tier.”

All of those teams have humiliating marks on their schedule. UM’s embarrassment. Wisconsin’s victory over the Citadel might as well have been a loss, the way everyone views it. But Alabama lost to Florida State. Auburn lost to two teams that won’t finish above .500. Etc., etc.

To me, it doesn’t make sense to use imaginary vagaries to compare teams (“LSU’s schedule is tougher than OSU’s”), when there are legitimate, empirical ways to compare them (“OSU is better than Kentucky, vis a vis a common opponent, and Kentucky beat LSU without even having its starting tailback”).

To an SEC fan, no amount of proof or reasoning is going to convince them of their conference’s overall mediocrity this year.

All they remember – out of their trend toward mediocrity, bowl losses, poorer recruiting each year, exodus of coaching, and a host of other failures – is their one shining moment last January 8th, and they are desperate to convince the country that this aberrant performance represents the norm. “We have always been at war with eurasia.”

Most people in the country are upset that ANYONE is #1 by “default.” Folks like their teams to be #1 without any questions… like the Patriots or Yankees or the WBC Heavyweight champion. I guess that’s the inherent flaw in a subjective ranking system…

However, I just can’t point to an OSU victory over a top ten caliber team this year. I want to, but I can’t. Purdue? Nope. Penn State? Nope. Michigan State? Nope. Wisconsin? Nope. All of those teams are decent and, in my opinion, could win bowl games against middle of the pack SEC teams (your Georgias, Tennessees, Auburns, Arkansases – the very same mediocre teams that LSU has fattened up perceptions by beating). However, none of those victories jumps out at me. There is no Texas victory this year. There’s no win that really says to me, “These guys mean business.”

I know that smacks of schedule bashing. I can’t help that, I know the schedule is made ahead of time (this year’s schedule would probably have been made around the time that The Vest came to OSU, actually). There is no conceivable way that anyone could have the prescience to compose a weak schedule to prop up the Bucks after a bad bowl loss. That’s the perception, and it’s wrong.

As a fan, I want my Buckeyes ranked #1 and in the BCS championship game. As a sports fan, I have to ask myself who the best teams really are this year. Ohio State could be the best team (I want to believe they are), but I’m just not convinced. I can come up with a mountain of reasons against ranking anyone #1 right now (Oregon, LSU, or OSU). I have a hard time coming with reasons TO rank someone #1. And, when it boils down to it, there are fewer reasons to rank OSU #1 than LSU or Oregon. #1 shouldn’t be achieved by attrition, and that’s the thing that weighs most heavily in favor of OSU right now.

Things may change by the end of the regular season. Who knows? I’m just giving my $0.02. Believe me, I HATE having anything nice to say about LSU and the SEC in general. I hate those illiterate gap-toothed yokels. But, this season is what it is, and that’s how I see things.

But being ranked at the top is a lot different than being the best team. THAT is where the questions come in – and rightfully so, until they prove it. LSU has already proved they can beat top-tier teams this season (VTech, Florida, Auburn, Alabama). Oregan has also (destroying Michigan, USC). OSU has not – yet. Luckily for the Bucks, they have the opportunity to do just that.

Oh, and on the “bye week” scheduling – it’s hard for me to take the Big 10′s side in that argument, when most of the other power conferences (the Pac 10 being a notable exception) play the conference championship game. That is almost certainly a tougher game than a 3rd in-state rival that OSU schedules (Kent State, anyone?)

I don’t mean to attack this post or the Buckeyes – I’m a big fan of both. But we have to look realistically at the truth, and not just “yeah-but-OSU-gets-no-respect-their-schedule-is-really-tough”, when it’s pretty clearly the weak point of this team.

Thanks for the insight.

I feel a lot better about those teams. I have a sense that, while they may not have more raw talent than this year’s Bucks, they have played tighter games and passed through the fire… Really, all that says is that OSU is better than the Akrons and Purdues that litter their schedule this year.

Those teams all have a loss to weak competition. Again, I ask: why is OSU’s dominance over weak competition a reason for question, where another team’s LOSS to weak competition “good?”

If LSU’s loss was to Oklahoma or Oregon, then the “yeah-but-OSU’s schedule…” naysayers would have a point. But LSU’s (and OKs, and USCs, etc.) losses were to the “Akrons and Purdues” on their schedule. OSU took care of business. LSU/USC/Oregon/Oklahoma did not. They should not be rewarded for losing to weaker teams.

My beef with the schedule arguers is twofold: (1) Don’t knock OSU’s weak schedule if you can’t even beat the weak teams on your own schedule, and (2) Grow a pair and start scheduling teams on your bye weeks, like the Big Ten does. (SEC has one bye week, the PAC 10 still has two.)

Another crazy thing that wasn’t around last time OSU lost? OSU blogs. MotSaG was just a sparkle in my eye back then. I think only Keith and maybe Around the Oval can claim “they were there!”

However, after seeing a team like Oregon or LSU get tested every single week [note here: not necessarily tested by the finest competition - i.e. LSU has beaten a lot of overrated mediocre SEC teams this year], I feel a lot better about those teams. I have a sense that, while they may not have more raw talent than this year’s Bucks, they have played tighter games and passed through the fire. Is OSU better than LSU or Oregon? I couldn’t say. As an OSU fan I feel strongly that they’re the equal of any team in the country. But what I feel and what I’ve seen are different. OSU has played a weak schedule and blown out every single opponent. Really, all that says is that OSU is better than the Akrons and Purdues that litter their schedule this year. Yeah, I know the schedule is made in advance, and I’m not knocking the schedule for being weak. I’m saying that given the lack of a top flight opponent this year and no apparent challenges on the schedule (outside of Michigan, who while being a shitty team this year IS a rivalry game), it is hard to tell just how good this year’s team is.

In conclusion: Have the Bucks been good for past 3 years? Hell yes. Possibly the best in 1A football over that span. Are they good this year? Yes, it appears so. Are they better than LSU or Oregon THIS YEAR? Not sure. I can’t say before I see the rest of the season and bowl games to know.

Then again, it’s a good thing for the #1 Bucks to have a chip on their shoulders.

It just makes me pray even harder for a redemption shot at the SEC (LSU) in the title game just to shut those people up.