The prodigal bloggers return, with a healthy dose of pessimism and doubt. All season long, something has been off. Last season, the second trip to the MNC game against LSU was supposed to be a year early. This year was supposed to be the year. But after an injury to Beanie’s Toe and a disastrous showing in Southern Cal, this season has taken on a feeling of almost desperation. Fans are grabbing onto positives and try to ignore the cold hard truth — this team has its problems. A team with much potential, but not a lot to show for it. They are untested. How will they do against one of the best teams in the country? The facts say: not so hot.
Allow us, for a few minutes, to be negative and speculate on some reasons why Ohio State will lose to the Texas Longhorns (don’t worry, we will only allow the pessimism to last for so long)
Offensive firepower – Let’s get this one out of the way. Texas has offense weapons like whoa. While they’re runnning game doesn’t scare me much (but should it? They did average 176.9 yards/game), the combination of Colt McCoy, Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley is dangerous. We should have a healthy fear of this. They averaged 476.4 yards/game, 301.3 yards through the air/game and 43.9 points per game. All in the top ten in the nation. Ohio State does have one of the better defensive backfields, but Texas can (and will) score at will.
Passing is the name of their game, but Colt will tuck and run. They run an efficient offense with a huge O-line. This has been giving me day- and nightmares.
Texas’ MNC snub – This could go either way but I think will harden their resolve. There’s no debating that Texas felt they deserved a spot in Thursday’s Championship game. Chip on their shoulder, something to prove, all that.
After Utah’s huge upset of LOLbama, the Monkey and I are thinking that Mack Brown will point his team to that outcome and Texas won’t be coming out asleep. They are hungry and want to show the nation that they deserve to be in the conversation again. Look for aggressive passing and play-calling early on. They’ll be going for the jugular.
Colt McCoy Heisman snub – Speaking of snubs, an argument could be made that Colt McCoy will also have something to prove. He is the focal point of the offense and he can and will do damage.
He’ll also be looking to exact revenge after he got smacked around in 2006. Remember when he looked like a scared 12 year-old with Laurinaitis breathing down his neck? Now he looks like a 14 year-old with chin stubble.
Ohio State Vanilla Offense – As mentioned earlier, Texas has a potent offense. Ohio State really doesn’t. If this becomes a shoot-out and Tressel is not sampling flavors at the ice cream counter, this will be ugly. There is no way we can hang with Texas in a barnburner.
I haven’t mentioned Texas’ defense at any point yet, but they do have a very good defense. The line anchored by beastman Orakpo (candidate for coolest name ever) and linebacker extraordinaire Kindle will cause havoc on Ohio State’s lackluster offensive line. If Tressel and Bolman aren’t calling plays to counter their aggresiveness, no amount of Stiff Arms of Justice™ will make a difference.
I’ll be on the bridge, ready to jump, if we line up in a power formation with Maurice Wells in the I. Seriously, I will take my own life. Or at least scream at the TV and embarrass myself in front of my friends and family.
BCS Burnout – This one be more about the fans than the football team. As Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg famously said “I know this music.” Buckeye fans are getting tired of seeing our team smacked around in front of millions on national TV. Surely the seniors on the team are equally tired. But will the motivation be there? This team has lacked leaders all season long. Will tomorrow night be any different?
Let’s hope so.
So those are a few things that are making me nervous. What worries you?
[…] Warriors, Dotting the “I”, and Our Honor Defend. Men of the Scarlet and Gray gives five reasons OSU will lose, and 5 reasons they will win. I’m not sure which I find more convincing, though I’ll […]