An Ohio State Sports Blog
… is BACK! This time, with 200% more ACTION! I’m sure everyone remembers this sequence of occurences:
For you forum go’ers (we salute you) here’s a handy avatar version for your next forum post:
(Please right-click, “Save Picture As” this, don’t hot-link it. It’d be greatly appreciated)
We’ve got some great stuff coming up as we hunker down for the winter, waiting patiently for January 7th. There will even be a homework assignment! Stay Tuned!
So as I mentioned earlier, a soft West Virginia team got punched in the gut and could not recover. They’re out. Finished 13-9 by Pittsburgh. Really? Pittsburgh? That’s not right. Missouri is struggling and will also probably be out. So now what?
We know this: Ohio State will be playing for the National Championship. It is absolutely killing people outside of Columbus that this is now an indisputable fact. A few items:
Hey everyone, we’re alive and doing well. Sorry about the lack of content recently but with the holiday weekend, the end of the regular season for Ohio State and my surgery, we’ve been otherwise occupied. But there is still a lot of football left to be played this weekend that directly effects our Ohio State Buckeyes, so what better topic for an open thread than: Possibilities.
OSU’s Bowl opponent is still up in the air, but the choices are relatively slim. So today’s question is: Who would you rather Ohio State played — West Viriginia in the National Championship game or USC in the Rose Bowl?
To seed the discussion, there’s a quote from former el Kaiser man-crush Kirk Herbstreit, wherein he says:
“In my opinion, Ohio State could do more about [improving] the image people have of its program by playing a talented USC team that right now is as hot as any in the country … I promise you, if Ohio State goes into the Rose Bowl, everyone is going to be saying, ‘USC is going to kill Ohio State.’
… Ohio State will gain more respect if it plays USC in the Rose Bowl and wins that game, than if it goes and beats West Virginia and wins the national title. From an image standpoint, Ohio State would score more points going to the Rose Bowl than by going to the national championship game. If you can believe that, that’s the truth. ”
(h/t SMQ)
Herbie has lots of ulterior motives for saying this (ESPN/ABC will broadcast the Rose Bowl, his comments last year about “setting the Big Ten back ten years”, etc) but it brings up a point: Who is OSU better off playing? You can view the question from many different angles. You could look at it from a national reputation perspective. You can argue the merits of each opponent. What about the scary possibility that Ohio State may actually lose the game. Does that change how you feel about it?
I look at it from the perspective of opponents. I’d rather play a confident, fast (yeah, I said fast) West Viriginia team than a healthy, scary good USC. My reasoning is that while they are an athletic and fast team, West Virginia is soft. (Except for that Schmitt guy! He’s broken like twenty face masks! His team scores an extra point for every face mask the man child breaks! [Man, I would love to see Gholston punk that puke in the backfield]) Sure, they’ve got more SEC-speed than most SEC teams, but they lack a true killer instinct. My Exhibit A is West Virginia’s last year loss to Louisville. Watching that game, it really seemed like Steve Slaton, playing through an injury, was completely out of it. I remember more than once the camera panning to Slaton on the sideline during the third quarter, looking dejected and lost. He had been punched in the gut and it really looked like he had given up. Then Exhibit B would be Beanie’s entire season — playing with a bum wheel and a hobbled wrist while he bulldozed a Wolverine defense and carried Ohio State to victory. Boys to men.
I think Ohio State’s defense could come flying out of the gate, pummel White and Slaton a few times and really take the wind out of their sails. I know the Moutaineers are a different team this year, but I have to believe the killer instinct still eludes them.
What say you? What match up do you like? Which outcome is more appealing? Inquiring minds want to know!
[ open on interior, Big Ten Coaches’ Private Pub & Lounge ]
Carr: Hey, do you fellas know a… a guy by the name Vernon Gholston?!!
Tressel: Yeah, I know Vernon Gholston!
Paterno: Best darn lineman in Division I-A!
Tressel: Goes about 7’1″, 265, he does.
Carr: And that’s before he eats breakfast!!
Paterno: He insists on being called THE Vernon Gholston!
Tressel: He scared Gary Danielson out of the press box and all the way to the SEC!
Carr: [ holds glass in air ] To Vernon Gholston!
Together: Vernon Gholston!!
Tressel: Did I ever tell you about the time Vernon Gholston went to Wisconsin?!
Paterno: [ drunkenly confessing ] My third testicle has left me completely sterile.
[ uncomfortable silence ]
Others: …
Tressel: …Anyway… Vernon Gholston decides he’s going to beat the snot out of Bucky Badger! He goes over to the mascot and starts whalin’ and poundin!! Someone stops him and says, “Hey! That’s a girl in that costume!” Vernon Gholston just wiped the blood off his knuckles and said, “Hey. Woulda happened sometime.”
Carr: He breastfeeds Charlie Weis!
Tressel: He’s been dead for three years now. No one’s noticed and I’m not saying anything!
Paterno: Goes about 8’10”, 590, he does.
Carr: His right bicep is ranked 17th in the AP College Football Poll!
Paterno: He singlehandedly fought back thousands of Persian warriors at Thermopylae! Two thousand years later, they go to make a movie about it, and called it “1.” But once in post-production, they decided the story sounded too far-fetched, so they made up a story about an army of Gholstons. Three hundred of them, to be exact.
Carr: I remember that!! It did pretty good at the box office.
Tressel: [ thrusting glass in the air ] To Vernon Gholston!
Together: Vernon Gholston!!
Carr: Did I ever tell about the time Vernon Gholston came to play Michigan?
Tressel: [ drunkenly confessing ] I’m wanted on indecent exposure charges in seven states.
[ uncomfortable silence ]
Others: …
Carr: …Anyway… During halftime, he went up to one of our wolverine mascots, grabbed its head and screamed “Say, ‘I’m a faerie ballerina!!’ SAY IT!!” Then he squished its head in such a manner that it made a sound like “imafarybulreena.” It wasn’t exactly like it, but it was pretty good for a wolverine!!
Tressel: He cured Parkinson’s during his final exam in intro biology!
Paterno: He’s 713 years old!
Tressel: He tutored Greg Oden in the third grade!
Carr: Goes about 9’3″, 720, he does.
Paterno: He’ll eat an SEC team for breakfast and poop out a MAC team approximately six hours later.
Carr: [ almost tossing glass into the air ] To Vernon Gholston!
Together: Vernon Gholston!!
Paterno: Hey, did I ever tell you about the time Chad Henne dared Vernon Gholston to stare straight at the Sun?!?
Carr: [ drunkenly confessing ] I cry myself to sleep every night of OSU week.
[ uncomfortable silence ]
Others: …
Paterno: …Anyway… the Biceps turned and stared straight at the Sun. He didn’t blink or take his eyes off it! He stood there all day like a statue, until sunset, until the Sun’s rays burned a hole! Straight. Through. His. Skull!! Then he turned to Hart with a huge smoldering hole in his head and said, “You look like crap, Fatty McSucksicle! Now fetch me a beer, and tell your girlfriend it’s time to give me another backrub!!”
Carr: His pant cuffs have never been wet!
Paterno: Goes about 10’1″, 850, he does.
Tressel: In 1985 he had a bowel movement. He called it Troy Smith and it went on to win a Heisman!
Carr: He once tackled the Sousaphone player running to dot the I in script Ohio, thinking he was Mike Hart!
Paterno: To Vernon Gholston!
Together: Vernon Gholston!!
Big Booming Voice: [ comes from extremely tall figure in upper camera angle ] I’M Vernon Gholston!! WHO WANTS A DRINK?!
[ the guys get excited and raise their glasses in the air towards Vernon Gholston]
Together: VERNON GHOLSTON!!
by el Kaiser & sportsMonkey
Some will blame injuries for Michigan’s lack of offensive production. Some will blame the weather conditions. Others will blame Carr’s playcalling. Still others might blame the Michigan WRs who dropped pass after pass.
But here’s the real reason why Michigan laid an egg offensively:
End of 1st Quarter
UM 3, OSU 0
UM is not stopping Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ inability to handle the weather conditions is what’s stopping OSU. They’re stopping themselves with slips, fumbles, etc.
So long as the Buckeyes calm down, I’m not worried about the rest of the game. Protect the football, place your feet surely, and good things will happen.
End of half
OSU 7, UM 3
Uh-oh – Evil Boeckman is here. Underthrown balls. The difference between this game and any other this year is the lack of the vertical passing game. That plus some extremely questionable offensive play calling makes this game aberrant, even considering the loss last week. Again, UM is not playing well; it’s OSU’s offensive mistakes and coaching that’s keeping the game close.
Officials – As we feared, in addition to a great UM team, and some pretty horrible weather, once again OSU is being to play against the officials this week. No other crew would have the guts to deliberately ignore that intentional grounding play on Henne, or the blatant missed PI in the first quarter.
Historically, nobody makes second-half adjustments like Tressel (with the exception of last week). So you’ve got to think that the fact the game is still close favors Tressel.
End of 3rd Quarter
OSU 14, UM 3
Both RBs are playing hurt, but OSU’s line is actually helping Beanie. Disappointing to see three Buckeye drives stop just shy of FG range (wasn’t the second one in range for Pretorius, yet Tressel punted anyway?)
THE GAME IS FAR FROM OVER, PEOPLE. All Mallet’s heard all week is just how much he stinks. But Michigan doesn’t recruit quarterbacks that aren’t talented. Make no mistake – Mallet could win this game for UM. It’s up to the OSU offensive line to keep drives going, score or not, to keep UM off the field.
Oh, and PI for UM, but ball is “uncatchable,” so no call. Minutes later, an uncatchable throw by UM, but PI is called. Still no balance to the officiating.
End of Game
OSU 14, UM 3
What can you say? Game balls to Beanie and Gholston.
Earlier this week, we listed reasons why Michigan would beat the Buckeyes. Because UM has no statistical advantage, most of the content of that post covered “intangibles,” like the Hart/Henne/Long saga.
But it turns out that OSU has a few intangibles on its side, too:
That’s it for the intangibles. If you want tangible data, head over to this weeks Data post.
Enough talking! Time to play. Check back in tomorrow for analysis and review of the game.
