this wont help our recruiting either

 

The problem, in part, is that you play a joke schedule for more than half the year and the jump in talent is too much. The SEC plays a pretty tough schedule all year, they're battle tested. What does the Youngstown St and Kent Sts prepare you for? These loses dont just make OSU look bad, they make the entire Big Ten look bad imo.

there's really no reason to get blown out the way you guys have. You have good recruiting/talent, good coaches but you arent even really competitive in these games. I have to believe the shedule is playing a part.

 

don't worry about recruiting. Ohio State will always get the top notch players in Ohio, and have a very good recruiting class coming in (although most are OL, they have a very good WR comng in)

As I said in another thread; OSU gets the most out of the 3 star recruits and not much out of their top notch recruits. You had good football players going up against LSU, but they have much better athletes.

Also I think the LSU game showed that you don't have great WRs. Robiskie had a very good year (but I think a lot of that had to do with people focusing on Wells), as did Hartline, but they are no where near the level of WR that Jenkins,Carter,Holmes, Ginn, or Gonzo were. Those guys had elite speed and demanded attention. I don't see either Hartline or Robiskie doing that (but Posey might).

If we get Pryor, it's because Mallett is leaving.

Oh and just to talk about Michigan for a sec. The one thing I am pumped for is a new S&C program. We had no free weights on campus, and Rich Rod already ordered $9,000 worth of new equipment. You guys might still own it, but we'll look good being owned damnit:thumbup:

 

No free weights lol...wow...

 

In the Big 10's defense, guys like JoePa and Carr have been using outdated techniques on and off the field. Both teams have great talent that can roll with anybody but they were so stubborn in how they ran their offenses and defenses it hurt the team, but if they tried something new they could succeed (See PSU during the 05-06 season or Michigan vs. Florida this year).

That's one of the reasons I'm so excited for RichRod, a new attitude to the Big 10. Tressell brought a different attitude to OSU and it has showed, Zook has done the same in Illinois(though that is a tougher rebuild than OSU), and I believe Brewster has the right mindset in Minny (this year alone he's got more 4* recruits than Mason had in the last 5 years combined)

 

A month off at the end of the year doesnt help either. Hard to keep in game shape during that time. Definately hurt you guys loads against Florida.

However, OSU is a young team. Ive heard many times that you guys made the BCS a year to early, that your big year was gonna be the '08 season. If you come back again next year that will be huge. Hey, you might loose the games badly, but you get there at least :)

 

its hard to justify losing again like that, but this year for the Buckeyes was handed to them by all the other teams in the top 10 losing their hearts out. It kinda reminds me of the year Green Bay is having in the NFL. They weren't expected to be where they are, but it will hurt just as bad when they lose. Nobody wants to see their team get embarrassed on national television 3 times in one calender year in national championship games. And it doesn't help that all three losses were at the hands of the (self restraint used) SEC.

 

up there with USC's class really just depends on your personal taste.

If Pryor comes, awesome, if not... sucks to lose out on him and lose Mallett, but Steven Threet was a pretty highly recruited QB as welll.

sad but true, our S&C program was really outdated and is a huge reason why a lot of the players we recruited got slower after coming to Michigan. The Wolverines that were able to stay in shape did show by working out with Braylon and his Dad (who is respected S&C coach and has openly criticized Michigan's program). In the past, the guys we recruited who were S's became LBs, and eventually DEs. Brandon Smith (6'2 220) is going to stay at S.

depends on who OSU loses. If any combo of Jenkins/Little Animal/Gholston leaves the team takes a bit of a hit, those 3 were their defense (though Freeman,Grant, and Hayward all all very good), but losing those 3 would be almost catastrophic(especially Jenkins who is a ballhawk). They also don't have the vertical game if they get behind. Robiskie and Harline are good, but they are not difference makers

 

it is karma for the 03 Miami game in which the canes were cheated out of the championship

 

we had 59 other minutes to win that game.. no whining in Hurricane football

 

That makes sense. I've read some PSU boards with them complaining about JoePa in a similar fashion, and using that as a reason for them losing out on Deion Walker.

 

JoePa is just lucky that LJ Sr. owns Maryland (seriously, look how many players they got from there). If you look at PSU's classes, they'll get some top LBs, some decent PA/MD/NJ/NY kids, and that's about it.

Walker is kind of complicated, I've heard rumors he wants to go there, but his family pushed him towards ND. Rumors going around right now is that Walker might not end up at ND since his heart isn't there, but who knows.

On that topic, some parents have the wrong idea in controlling their kids recruiting (Ronald Johnson's mom who probably hurt her son's long term future by pushing him to USC) while other kids probably should listen to their parents (Broderick Green who's mom understood he could've started at PSU as a true freshman but he decided to go to USC. He's transferring now)

Anyways, back to what I wanted to say. Look at Michigan's recruiting class over the last 5-6 years. They're always pulling in above average classes, but a lot of the guys never fully develop. From what I've heard from a lot of the Michigan players is that they're really excited about the changes Rich Rod is bringing in.

Same with Minny. They had a horrible year, and the national media said they should not have fired Mason. Just look at Brewster's recruiting class (top 20 according to rivals) there should be a huge improvement because he's getting his guy (just to note, he was one of Mac Brown's top recruiters at both UNC and Texas names he was the main recruiter for; Vince Young, Julius Peppers, Ronald Curry,Ryan Simms,and Derrick Blaylock)

Also an interesting note completely out of nowhere: Glenn Mason was almost hired to be the Buckeyes coach, but Tressell was so impressive in his interview they hired him. I wish they would've hired Mason

 

dont worry, it cant be as bad as the situation my noles are in. i guess we are now shifting to a 15-year rebuilding plan

 

I've heard similar rumors about Walker favoring PSU and that his parents forced him into ND. I've heard this from PSU boards though so it's hard to know if it's legit. ND fans read his response to his declaration as how much he loves ND, PSU fans read it as how much he doesnt want to go to ND. Signing day cant come quickly enough.

 

when he commited my personal opinion was that he did not want to commit because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. That's coming from a Michigan fan.

 

plus 2 OTs

 

i wouldnt call it karma, that would insinuate that the Buckeyes were involved in foul play during that game. but i have thought that maybe we made a deal with the devil to win that game, and this is our price. i hope we're even now, i cant handle anymore sports related pain right now. The Phins suck, my buckeyes are embarrassing, the magic are doing their normal mid season meltdown, and Kevin Smith declared for the draft. Not much good going for my teams right now.

 

Could be something with playing cupcakes half the season and not being challenged until the title game. But I wouldn't worry, I doubt the voters will give OSU the edge when there's a toss up for the NC now.

 

cupcakes? oh you mean like Western Kentucky, Troy, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, FAU, and Florida State? cupcakes like those?

 

South Carolina and FSU are stretches to call cupcakes. Every team has some cupcakes on their schedule, some make up for it with a tough conference schedule, others dont.

 

Hey, I'm not refuting that. However, Vandy, Ole Miss, and South Carolina are SEC teams.

I'm not a Gator fan by any means for the record.

 

my point exactly. the buckeyes played Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois, and Michigan all back to back. And they were being picked lose all of them. Just because OSU plays all their easy teams first doesnt mean that they play an easier schedule. Also, these schedules are made like 3 years in advance, its hard to tell who will be a tough opponent that far in advance. The past 2 seasons OSU had Texas as an out of conference game, and next year they have USC. Im tired of hearing about cupcake schedules. Neither LSU or UF had one good opponent outside of conference play. Unless Eastern Tennessee and Western Kentucky are extremely underrated.

 

no matter how you stack things up, this year was proof that one game shouldnt decide the champion. I wouldnt be opposed to realigning the entire division. Make two conferences of 30 teams each. The top 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs. Win or go home. But that would ruin rivalries, and bowls. We cant have that, its tradition.

 

I agree you make the schedule in advance, and it's hard to predict how good a team will be. That's why you cant bash a team for scheduling an FSU when FSU has a down year, they could just as easily be in the top 10. I can bash a team for scheduling Akron, Youngstown St and Kent St though. Also, OSU was not expected to lose to Illinois, Wisconsin, PSU and UM. I'd be willing to bet they were favored in all of those games. And none of those teams were all that great this year.

SEC teams havent had a lot of tough out of conference games, but their conference matchups are harder than anything that anyone else has to face. They should still stay away from the Western Kentucky's but it isnt as great a sin when you then face Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, UF etc etc. If you look at strength of schedule SEC teams are always near the top, despite a weak out of conference schedule.

Perhaps OSU gets more crap for this than they deserve but the beginning of their season was a joke, and with several Big Ten teams not being as good as people thought they could be (Wisconsin for example) it just piles on.

 

Take a look at UGA and UF's schedules next year.
Brutal.
The didn't need to make those changes, but they still did.

 

Hey now, no need to rip Akron even if it wasn't meant directly.

 

:001_rolleyes: Give me a break the OOC schedule excuse is overplayed. The fact is, the in conference schedule more than compensates.

LSU played VT this season, not good?

UF plays FSU every season, plays UM 2 out of the next 3 years, starts off the season next year with Hawaii, Miami, and Tennessee. They also had the #1 ranked schedule in the nation last year in route to a NC.

Most of those teams you listed as cupcakes are bowl teams.

Thats bull as well, traditional powers rarely change. Up and coming teams pop up every now and then but thats a weak excuse.

 

i don't like how you guys fault the spread offense of the SEC teams as what kills you - you also fall apart on offense. Last year Florida's defense SMOTHERED Troy Smith and that offense did nothing. Same thing this year, except for that last-minute garbage-time touchdown, this game would have been a blowout.

their offense gives you guys problem, but their defense is what kills you. If you could put more points up, at least the game would be close.

 

and you walked away with half the points, and how many turnovers in the redzone? Offense includes protecting the ball, and directly results in putting points on the board - neither of which OSU did this game or last year's game. The SEC defenses wreak havoc for you guys.

 

Means nothing if you can't put it in the endzone.

 

That light at the end of the tunnel is a train.

What Les Miles said made sense. LSU plays several "big" games a year. Against big strong teams that can beat anyone. Most SEC teams lost most of their games to mostly SEC teams.

LSU played a lot of games right down to the wire.

 

:up:
That's the crux of it. As hard as it is for an SEC team to get through the season and still ranked in the top two, once there, they're battle tested. You can't compensate for something like that.

 

youre right, Kentucky and Illinois have been good for years. Whats their bowl records over the past 10 years again?