Ohio State beats Michigan: Five Thoughts

Ohio State beat Michigan 14-3 in the 104th edition of College Football's greatest rivarly. Here are my first five thoughts.

1. This was the complete antithesis of last year's supposed classic. As sloppy of a game as you will see all season. Fumbles, drops, tackling and 60% of Chad Henne's passes intended for Yao Ming. If you watched that fantastic HBO documentary and tuned in for the first time to see College Football's greatest rivalry expecting either an offensive display like last year or a physical fundamentally sound war like Woody and Bo coached in during the 70's you were disappointed. But then you remembered in 1950 these two teams combined for 45 punts and you figured this game was at least better than THAT.

2. We often hear about how rivalry games bring out the best in players, but rarely hear about how they bring out the worst. To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park "Your people spent so much time wondering whether or not they could they never stopped to think whether or not they SHOULD". Mike Hart and Chad Henne should've sat this game. But of course as seniors in their last Ohio State-Michigan game after being 0-3, we knew there was no way they weren't going to play. Their complete ineffectiveness (Hart 2.4 yards per carry, Henne 32% completion percentage) is not how they wanted to go out, I'm sure.

3. All the NFL players and other famous people that went to Ohio State and LeBron James announces their lineups? For this game couldn't ABC get someone that actually went to the school for something other than an exhibition high school game?

4. I haven't heard any quotes from Mike Hart. Did he say "There's nothing special about our offense?"

5. Of course this was the last edition of this game for Lloyd Carr, but then again we already knew it would be (more on this later).

Projected Postseason Top 25: #11 The Ohio State

I love Ohio, where everyone is Buckeye Born, Buckeye Bred, and when they’re buried they’ll be Buckeye Dead (for some literally). I’ve been there for a football game more than once or twice. My brother went to Ohio State as an undergrad and graduate student and now lives out there working for the university’s physical therapy center. Columbus is the type of place that makes you a college football fan. Seeing how Buckeye football runs that town makes me feel great about not only The Ohio State (I wish the athletic department would use this name in all references to the school, sounds unique and intimidating) but the sport I choose to love. That said Columbus is a little sheepish after their football team, dominant through the regular season was dominated in the BCS National Championship to Florida 41-14. A lot has to go right for the Buckeyes to return to the National Championship game, but one of those, a win over Michigan, has been par for the course as of late.

Projected Record and Bowl Result: 11-2 Lose to #3 in Fiesta Bowl

Who they’ll beat: Youngstown State (Home), Akron (Home), Washington (Road), Northwestern (Home), Minnesota (Road), Purdue (Road), Kent State (Home), Michigan State (Home), Wisconsin (Home), Illinois (Home), Michigan (Road)

Who’ll beat them: Penn State (Road), #3 (Glendale, AZ)

When they Pass: Gone are Troy Smith and “7-11”, Todd Boeckman (who is actually a year older than Troy Smith) takes over what should be a more conservative passing attack. Brian Robiskie, Brian Hartline and Ray Small are more than able to make big plays when needed however.

When they Run: If the Buckeyes are going places in 2007 Chris “Beanie” Wells is taking them there. He will have to be cured of his Freshman fumblitis but Wells is more than capable of taking the lions share of the carries and is more talented than Antonio Pittman ever was. The offensive line will also be a strength as like many things linemen just grow in Ohio.

When their Opponents Run: Vernon Gholston and James Laurinaitis lead one of the most athletic front sevens in the country. Mike Hart might think “there’s nothing special about that defense” (don’t think that’s not up on a bulletin board somewhere) but he might come around by November 18.

When their Opponents Pass: Malcolm Jenkins is among the best the Buckeyes have ever had, its shoring up the rest of the secondary which has been suspect the last few seasons that is the task for Jim Tressel and defensive coordinator Jim Heacock

When they Kick: Aaron Pettrey continues a recent streak of outstanding Buckeye kickers.

When they call Timeout: Jim Tressel and his sweater vest are royalty throughout the state of Ohio, even if he looked outclassed by Urban Meyer last January. There were other disadvantages The Ohio State had in that game besides game planning and Tressel beats Michigan which is almost as important. Tressel holds one of the most prestigious jobs in the entire sport of football and he isn’t letting go of it anytime soon.

The Big Ten's Worst Case Scenario

In 2007 it’s easy to picture the Big Ten having a controversy much greater than trying to get its network into Comcast homes. In this top-heavy conference it isn’t hard to imagine the scenario TP&TP predicts.

-Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State coast through relatively easy non-conference schedules.
-All three teams beat Wisconsin (home against Michigan, at the other two teams) and the rest of their Big Ten schedules
-Michigan beats Penn State in Ann Arbor on September 22
-Todd Boeckman does what Troy Smith did in Happy Valley two years before only ten times worse
-Jim Tressel does to Lloyd Carr what Jim Tressel always does to Lloyd Carr

This would create a three-way tie for the Big Ten Championship with teams with equal overall records (10-1) and a 1-1 record against the other two teams. The Big Ten would break this tie by its ridiculous tiebreaker 6e which states:

“If the three teams are tied, and all three teams have the same winning percentage of all games played in the traditional 11/12 game schedule, the most recent team representing the Conference shall be eliminated, and the two remaining teams shall revert to the two team tie procedure.”

This would mean:

-Ohio State would be eliminated because it represented the Big Ten in the BCS National Championship last year (Michigan went to the Rose Bowl as an at-large team)
-Michigan would go to the Rose Bowl over Penn State because of their win on September 22

Once again Michigan would go to the Rose Bowl after losing to Ohio State because it didn’t represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl the year before. Make sense? To me neither but its how it would play out and the controversy would embarass the conference.

You would have to believe this would restart the search for a 12th member to add to the conference with a championship game to be scheduled after.

The Banner

The banner you see on top is my own creation using my very novice Photoshop skills.

From Left to Right:

Ernie Davis, Syracuse's only Heisman Trophy winner wearing the trademark '44' jersey which Syracuse used to give to only an elite group of Running Backs before throwing away the tradition and any kind of recruiting leverage it could have had by retiring the number in 2005. Syracuse is my alma mater and I will write my first team post about SU before focusing on programs in college football which are actually relevant.

Script Ohio, Ohio State's classic ritual of it's "Best Damn Band in the Land" to spell out "Ohio" with a tuba player dotting the i. Ohio State is my brother's alma mater, he invites me once a year to Columbus to watch REAL college football. It is only the school I know of where the band members have a decent chance of getting laid. Traditions like this are part of the "Pageantry" that lures me to college football as much as the game itself.

Florida Quarterback Chris Leak holding the BCS National Championship Trophy, this one hurts my brother and hurts me too but Florida is the king of our mountain going into 2007. The controversial system which the trophy Leak is holding up represents is always on the mind of anyone who covers college football and rightly belongs in the center of everything.

Georgia Quarterback Matthew Stafford holding an Empty Keg as if it WAS the National Championship Trophy, some may take this to represent the difference in goals between the Gators and the Bulldogs. That is unintentional. This mildly controversial picture of Stafford represents the sort of harmless and humorous news that will come on this blog from time to time providing amusement to all fans nationwide.

Ian Johnson taking the Statue of Liberty to Beat Oklahoma, the end to the Greatest College Football Game of All-Time. Yes, I'll say it. Not just for the trick plays and miracle comeback but for what it represented. The endless possibilities that arise every Thursday or Saturday when two teams representing universities get together.