Keeping things in perspective on a Sunday..

OSU FootballWow…you would have thought that OSU lost yesterday with the negativity flying around the interwebs yeserday and this morning.

First things first…OSU won. A win is a win. I remember a certain team in 2002 knocking off win after win in an ugly fashion. It happens (See UC in 2002). In-state schools will always give OSU their best shot. It is commonplace…like girls reading the “Twilight” series of books (ZOMG…Edward Cullen is so dreamy!!!). It is going to happen and there is nothing that anyone can do about it.

Are there questions going into USC? OF COURSE….This team could have put a whoopin’ on the Ohio University Bobcats and we would all still have questions about the potential performance going into next Saturday’s tilt.

So lets look at it this way…I’ll give you guys three options and tell me which postgame emotional state you would prefer to have this Sunday.

You’ll be familiar with two of the three, but the third one happened yesterday and I was there to see the entire debacle in-person.

Option #1 – Winnarrr!!!

OSU beats OU 26-14, but it is ugly. We are talking 2008 UM Quarterbacking ugly…but Hey? A win is a win right?

Option #2 – Loooser!!!

A little ride on the “way back when” machine to 2004. OSU visits Evanston and loses to Northwestern for the first time in almost 30 years. I think that you guys can remember how Sunday morning felt after that game. I recall puking in my mouth a few times that day. OSU fans almost relived that one yesterday.

Option #3 – PAC-10 Refferrrr and The Gold Plated Plates of Provo Community College

Having tickets to all of the U-Dub Husky games this season, I was able to attend the UW – BYU game yesterday. For those of you that follow college football religiously, you already know what happened. Jake Locker scored a touchdown with :02 seconds left in the game to presumably tie the game after the extra point. Locker tossed the ball over his shoulder and cheered with his teammates (ie no taunting of other players at all…PERIOD). Needless to say Mr. Locker was happy…excruciatingly happy. Jake was so happy that the referees threw a flag on him for excessive celebration. Read that again…they threw a flag on the home team for scoring a touchdown with 2-seconds on the clock at HOME to send the game into overtime. The extra point turned into a 35-yard adventure that was eventually blocked. To make things worse and some insult to injury, a player for Washington suffered what looked to be a serious neck injury on the field after BYU converted on a 3rd and long. You could hear a pin drop in the stadium on the field as the trainers were sprinting over to aid the player. It was a very somber moment in the stadium, so what do the BYU fans do? The start chanting BYU-BYU-BYU over and over again while this kid is on the field and he cant move any of his extremities. Stay Classy BYU fans. It was a great game ruined by classless fans and inept referees. How do you think BYU fans would have been treated in Columbus after that stunt? Do you think that those referees would have made it of Columbus alive? How would Sunday feel after that helping of zebra injustiice with an appetizer of “gold-plated” BYU classiness.

So you tell me Buckeye fans, which option seems more reasonable to you going into the game against USC?

That is what I thought. All of us Buckeye fans can get a little overzealous of the “beauty pageant” that is college football. A win is a win…whether it is a 7-6 game or a Barry Switzer special where you “hang a half hundred” on your opponent.

Again…enjoy each of the games this season. No matter how ugly they get, they will still be remembered as wins…the score is of no consequence.

Comments

  1. I agree a “W” is better than the alternative, but seriously, you cannot compare this team to the 2002 team. Mostly, because this team has not proven it has the talent to play with top flight programs. Saturday is another chance for the Bucks to show they are not a product of the following:

    (1) playing one incredible, once-in-a-lifetime type game in 2002 against an elite Miami team
    (2) beating up on non-elite teams like Ok St., Kansas St., Notre Dame in bowls that followed
    (3) Hiding in a weak and watered down B10 conference

    I used to deny what I was seeing, but I am now a fan that has no faith in this coaching staff to prepare a team and make adjustments against big time talented teams

  2. Chuckles…

    I am not comparing teams at all. Again, I understand your frustration..believe me brother.

    I just think that we (as fans) have grown into spoiled brats as a result of our own team’s success. I almost want the 90’s back where every win seemed to matter more..just because it was a win..not by how much…or if Mark May says it was a splendidly delightful victory showing that OSU is totally crescent-fresh and is, I mean, totally like a national championship contender brah..

  3. No doubt we have become somewhat spoiled” (if being utterly embarrassed on a national stage two straight years is spoiled) … maybe that’s cool with many of you out there that want to rail on ESPN and those that want to pretend that all is well … for those of you that want to reptend somehow that this team has beaten one decent team the last 2 plus years, but for those of us who want to live and win in the real world, it’s pretty upsetting that the same “Tress qualities” keep coming up

    1. playing way down to our competition – no one does it better than Tress

    2. inability to make any adjustments (zip, zero, nada adjustments)

    3. boring and predicable play calling

    for those that want to right-off yesterday to “looking ahead to SC”, at what point do you think they stopped thinking about SC and started thinking about the bobcats? Seriously, halftime wasn’t it; the end of the third quarter wasn’t it … they tried yesterday and failed. that is the ugly truth

  4. My hand (or my living room floor) could not survive another “reffing moment.” It won’t be pretty.

    As unfortunate as the Locker incident was, it was clearly defined in the rules, i.e. if a ball is not given back to the ref directly or thrown in the air, it’s a penalty. I think it a propesterous rule and I really think college kids should be given some way to celebrate, but it is still “The Rule”.

  5. buckeyedude says

    Hey YNBA: did Mark May EVER say anything positive about Ohio State?

    I enjoy May’s comments on ESPN, but I think he is very biased against Ohio State, after listening to him for several years.

    I wonder if Ohio State ever played Pitt when May played there, and if so, what was the score? That may give some answers to May’s anti-Ohio State bias.

  6. Turns out, Mark May was drafted in 1981. We didn’t play Pittsburgh between 1954 and 1983, so the answer is “no”. We never directly defeated Mark May.

    However, we did play Pittsburgh 7 times since Mark May left the school and have a 6-1 record against them in those games. The scores were
    1983: 28-23
    1985: 10-7
    1988: 10-42
    1993: 63-28
    1994: 27-3
    1995: 54-14
    1996: 72-0

    He might hate us for those last 4 most recent games. OSU did kinda paste them pretty badly 😉

  7. Yeah the Mark May comments were laced with sarcasm…

    Regardless..this is a huge week for OSU football. Most schools dont get to enjoy these types games even when they make a bowl..

    Let’s have a fun and exciting week. These dont come around very often.

  8. I have to kind of agree with “chuck” about the OSU coaching. I’m a big fan of Tressle’s ideals, but am losing confidence in his coaching ability. OSU was the much better team in last year’s championship game against LSU, but made no adjustments in the second half…never threw to the tight end, and I don’t think he threw any screens or slants.
    Base on that, I don’t see a win at Southern Cal.

  9. A win is a win, even if it’s a hideous win.

    side note: i almost messed my pants/threw up during that game. damn near ruined viewing the bucks for the first time on my new tv. that woulda beena shame.

    maybe we got the bad playing out of the way in time for this week’s game. i hope so, because i’ll be there and don’t wanna hear it from the douchey USC fans.

  10. from the looks of it, since Saturday afternoon, Buckeye fans are either in a state of denial or one of eternal optimism. We have faith in Tressel ball (the other coaches – not so much) or it’s high time we “throw the rascals out. ( I love that line.) The team was looking ahead to SC or the players couldn’t get their heads out of their a** to see the game before them. We’ve stopped drinking the kool-aid or we are making every effort to convince anyone who will listen that the “real” Buckeyes will show up in La-La Land next Saturday night. I could go on and on and I’m not calling anyone out on this because the truth is I’ve been back and forth on all of the above. Guilty! What I hope to see on the 13th is a culmination of everything I read in Tressels book about defining one’s purpose in life that leads to success in achieving one’s goals, on the field and off. If everyone taking the field in the Scarlet and Gray remembers that, I think we could be in for an awakening this Saturday. Go Bucks and God speed.

  11. Allow me an afterthought. Why isn’t Chris Speilman a member of the Buckeye coaching staff? Tressel needs more than people who “bleed scarlet and gray” around him, he needs people who will speak the truth… a “no BS kind of guy”. Thanks for your indulgence.

  12. buckeyedude says

    Just read in the Toledo Blade that Ohio State dropped two spots to #5, and quite frankly, I think they’re lucky they didn’t drop more.

    I think OSU is the most talented and deep team in the country, even more than USC, but the collective mental state of this team is not good. I think the last to NCs have something to do with it.

    Tressel needs to light a gosh dag fire underneath these players butts! I would love to see Tressel yell at these players for once and maybe even use a curse word, aka, Dick Rod. Where is the FIRE in this team? I don’t see it! Why is that?

    They should be so pumped for this game! I don’t get it. Common Buckeyes! Get fired up!!!!!

    Go Buckeyes! (?)

  13. Hey, an ugly win is still a win….

    Can you imagine running the same playbook against YSU and OU that you are planning to use at USC??? Uhmmmm NO. I think Tress went in thinking Don’t give them(USC) any more help. We went through the motions and it ALMOST bit us in the ass…

    As for Beenie – when my toe hurts I don’t grab my leg. I’m hoping it’s just another part of “The Plan”.

  14. Our ranking and our shit-on-ourself performance against OU won’t matter at all…if we win. I realize how obvious that is but it seems that people care about what the nation and bitches like Mark May think. Who cares? If we win, we will be undisputed #1 and have the NCG in our hands. I would rather have everyone telling us how shitty we are, it worked in 2002. Give us respect and we get blown up, don’t give it to us and see a scrappy crew show up a fight to the death. Damn right, don’t show us shit, I’ll take our chances.

  15. @chazz – thanks for the perspective, loved your comment. And don’t worry about Spielman joining the staff. His time will come.

  16. It’s a little late to post here but I agree…a win is a win!!! Let’s just hope they turn it up this week!!

    About Mark May…He’s an idiot. To tell you the truth he acts almost bitter towards Ohio State. Maybe he wasn’t recruited by the Buckeyes or something?(maybe someone has inside knowledge???) I just seems to me that guy has a bad case of Trev Alberts Syndrome…just plain disgust for the Scarlet and Grey!

  17. @Mike – it’s never too late for a post! All comments are welcome.

  18. Brian Talbert says

    Remember when Mark May and Trev Alberts where together on the Game day score board or whatever they called their show. It was awful. It was an OSU bash fest.

    I’m looking forward to the game Saturday. I am not saying they are going to win, but I don’t think the Ohio game was representative of what this team will look like this weekend.

    I live in KY and the posts I’m seeing remind me of UK basketball fans. It’s like the ship is sinking. I know it was a bad game but lets not scrap this weekend or the rest of the season from one bad game. In all my years as a fan I’ve never heard this much negativity out of OSU fans.

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