Why This Loss Is Good For Ohio State

We here at MotSaG received this post from one of our loyal readers Cyndi Travis she is a fellow blogger who writes her own food and lifestyle blog linked below and she can be found on Twitter @cyndic88. Cyndi thought this post would work well for our site and we couldn’t agree more.

I was so worked up this morning I wrote this. It’s not really appropriate for
my site (which is about recipes and lifestyle) but I thought that it might work here…

Why this loss is good for Ohio State?

Losses can be good, they build character. They provide experience. They make
you hungry.

Don’t get me wrong, that one hurt a little bit. As a lifelong Buckeye fan and
alumni I hate an ugly loss, especially at home. But, I think this one will be
good for us. See I try to walk a thin line between being realistic and being a
fan at heart. I didn’t believe the hype of this team, even when Braxton was
healthy. I have been telling everyone for weeks, we need to get through
Virginia Tech before we celebrate anything that is going to be a hard game. All
I heard in response? Virginia Tech, no problem. Well, we have a problem now
don’t we.

The pressure that was on this team to go undefeated was tremendous. Local and
National media, either we were overrated or we were going to live up to the
hype. Fans added pressure. Coaches added pressure. Now the only pressure they
should feel should come from the inside. The pressure to right the wrong. The
pressure to prove that you are as good as you say.

Let’s be honest, we weren’t going to win a National Championship this year.
Did I want us to? I sure did, but the realistic part of my brain said that we
just didn’t have the experience to get it done. What we had in the pre-season
is what we had last night. A young OL that would have made it impossible for
even Braxton to make anything happen. A weak secondary that proved if you throw
against us you will have success.

I heard a lot on social media last night about how we don’t have much of a
playbook. In my opinion we could have had a playbook as big as War and Peace
and we would not have been about to execute any of it. The core of an offense
starts with the line, not the QB, protection equals the ability to make big
plays. They will get there. I think we have one OL lineman with more than 3
starts. One. We have young running backs which are tentative to provide extra
block protection. It will get better.

The defense, well it has a lot of potential. The secondary is young but shows
flashes of potential greatness. The penalties are a symptom of youth. They
will calm down, they will learn what they can get away with and what they
cannot.

Where do we go from here? Well, now that we have lost some of the bandwagon
fans, we do what we always do. We cheer. We support our team, and we support
our coach. We go into each game with the knowledge that these players are
growing with each snap.

This loss will be good for a young team. It will build their character. It’s
not fun walking off the field in front 107,000 fans that came to support you and
watch you win. It will leave that taste in your mouth, that chip on your
shoulder. It will drive you to do better in the weight room, on the practice
field.

So if you were one of those “fans” that tweeted about “when does
basketball season start” last night, good luck to you, this team doesn’t
need you. We need supportive fans in times of loss and victory. We will see
you next August as you climb back on the bandwagon.

Comments

  1. I am a PROUD BUCKEYE !!! We will be PROUD of this TEAM ! We make mistakes ! We will have a GREAT SEASON !!

  2. Cyndi – great post, and I agree. In preseason, I was chastised for not expecting double-digit wins and NC aspirations. As I said then, OSU’s goals this year should be to set themselves up for a good run in 2015. Spend this season learning, gaining experience, and finding an identity on both sides of the ball. Then pounce.

    Having said that, what I find most disturbing about recent OSU games, going back to last season, is an apparent pattern of coaching failure. It could be a bad streak of a half-dozen games that just appears to be a pattern, or it could be the real thing. Time will tell, but when it comes to the coaches, we should all be critical.

  3. Chuck Nelson says

    This seemed pretty self serving to me. She toots her own horn about how she’s a better prognosticators than anyone and then she says she’s a better fan. Awesome for you. . . But this game was winnable. . .and it’s okay for us lesser fans to point out how.

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