MotSaG’s West Coast Bunker Commentary – UM Owns Big10 Countdown Clock Started by Cowherd

I say hit the snooze bar for about two years…

I am not sure how many people within the Buckeye Nation can actually stomach a full Colin Cowherd radio program, but he let out a few ratings-grabber craptastic statements this morning about the state of UM Football program’s competitiveness next year and going forward…

A couple of semi-accurate paraphrased quotes…

“Rodriguez is a great offensive coach, and all he needs is another good recruiting year to get a defense which can stand up to Ohio State.”

“Rich Rodriguez will be Tressel’s Worst Nightmare.”

Now all of us know better than to believe these shenanigans (at least in the short term). However, it does raise an interesting point once UM starts getting some recruiting gems to come in and play under DickRod’s system.

How will OSU respond? Eventually, UM will get better. I am not convinced it will be this year or next, but 2011 seems to be a decent target for a decent defense and a more dynamic offense with proper personnel.

As a Buckeye fan, I would welcome this improvement in the UM squad. Not for the typical reasons you would normally hear suggested (ie. If UM is good, the conference is better..BULLSHIT…if OSU could beat Michigan by Eleventy-Billion every year, I might pee my pants with joy annually in late November). The main reason is that the more diversity in the conference (offensively), the better for OSU. Let’s face it. OSU has never been known for it’s offensive prowess in the past. Sure, they have had some impressive offensive years in the past with the likes of Joe Germaine and Bobby Hoying running the show in the mid-90’s, but this isnt the cornerstone of Ohio State’s team approach. Yes, they want to score points, but the defense has been the OSU “bread-and-butter” since like forever…and now we can throw the ‘punt’ in there as well.

With that in mind…here is some time machine action for OSU against the UM offense…

You can see the progression that OSU is going to be able to take with the UM offense over the next couple of years.

2008

Last year, Tressel basically faced a scout team down in Columbus when UM came calling. While UM was able to have minimal success, it was the equivalent of OSU scout team players trying to play in Navy’s offense. It just doesnt work and the results were obvious last year for UM.

2009

This year Tate Forcier comes in and the UM offense is a little better. He isnt Pat White, but he is an obvious upgrade over Sheridan and whatever athletic training staff member was his back-up last year. This year, OSU and it’s defensive coaching staff will have another shot at RR’s offense with marginally better offensive personnel (still not convinced Forcier makes it to November, but that is another story for another day) and an added bonus of playing in the Big House. See folks…baby steps for the OSU defensive coaches.

By the time 2010 rolls around, one of two things will have happened…

1. RRod has been fired…doubtful at this point.

2. UM will have a nice amount of experienced offensive players to bring to Columbus in November 2010

If you guys can read the ‘tea leaves,’ this bodes well for OSU on two fronts.

If Tressel can iteratively adapt the defense to handle this style of offense with the opponent having appropriate and good personnel, UM will not dominate the conference, but it will win it’s fair share of games and the rivalry will become competitive. I dont really give a flip about the competitive part (as in UM winning games ever), but by default competition breeds improvement and OSU will have to adjust it’s approach to the UM style of offense when the personnel gets better. What UM brought to the table last year (2008) was not competition, it was a sacrificial lamb on it’s way to the slaughter.

Also, this type of offense is really the only type of offense, besides the old “Tiller’d Purdue Basketball-on-Grass” offenses, that has given OSU any problems when equal talent is matched up across the ball. Seeing this type of offense within the conference on a yearly-basis will only help OSU in the OOC portion of it’s schedule and in bowl season. You dont think the SEC has gotten better defensively with Florida changing it’s offensive scheme after Meyer arrived? Crazy talk. They have definitely gotten better defending this type of offense when they see it out of conference. The difference is that the Citadel, Furman, and The College of Charleston dont have the athletes to scare anyone (btw…I have no idea if these schools run this type of offense, but I just love referring to The Citadel and the SEC teams scheduling them whenever I can).

So the bottom line for OSU fans, enjoy the next couple of years (unless a miracle of epic proportions occurs and UM wins one of the next two OSU-Michigan games) and see how the OSU defensive brain-trust goes about handling RRod’s ever-improving toy offense. UM improving is a good thing for OSU…not the conference. We are not SEC fans and I wont claim UM’s 1997 National Championship anytime soon.

~YNBA~