Willyville Guy

OSU owes USC an ass whopping. Hope this is it.

Watching Haskins on the zone read against Michigan was kind of comical. Even when the read plainly called for a QB keeper, Haskins was all "nope." He is there to throw the ball (and occasionally run) -- not get destroyed by Urban's offense the way Braxton and Barrett were.

Urban sounds like he's riding with JT no matter what (shocker). My guess is that JT will start the game on a short leash, and the coaches will just see how it goes.

Among the many unexpected events of 2017, Lane Kiffin rising to my favorite Twitter account ranks right up there. He's a savage.

But he saw what happened when he fed Braxton instead of Hyde in the 2013 B1G championship. He saw what happened when he fed JT instead of Zeke in 2015. He saw what happened when he insisted on the JT runs down the stretch and into the playoff last year. He saw the Oklahoma game this year. He knows as well as anyone that the book on JT is to cover the RB on the RPO and force the QB to keep it. And after all that... even after he said he recognized the problem of having JT getting more carries than his RBs and issued a mandate to his coaches to fix it, there it was again against Michigan. Barrett left the game in the third quarter yet still ended up with as many carries as Dobbins and more than Weber. I don't understand why Urban calls that offense his "safety blanket" when it has a horrible track record in big games. Maybe it will work this time against Wisconsin--I truly hope it does if that's what he's going to do--but the thought of Barrett slamming into Bucky's D line all game gives me anxiety pains. Is there any chance he starts Haskins and tries to catch lightning in a bottle like he did in 2014? I think it's highly unlikely.

As this week goes on and I imagine Urban once again in a tight game calling JT runs to the left and right, I'm beginning to believe that OSU can easily lose to Bucky and all of the playoff talk will be for naught. I cannot understand--after all the losses, all the pain, all the "mandates"--why he went back to that against Michigan instead of just giving the ball to his tailbacks. It leaves me struggling to find optimism, but I guess that's just part of being a fan of this team.

Hung 40 on Georgia. Edit: sorry, misread it. LSU beat Auburn.

Auburn deserves all the credit in the world for the incredible late-season wins. I wonder how much stronger they are right now compared to when they lost by eight points to Clemson on Sept. 9.

Yep. Mack is looking more and more like the second coming of Anthony Gonzalez.

Ah, so I just commented on this in the Ohio State thread without seeing this thread first. I like Schiano and hope he stays at Ohio State. This was vetted before he was hired to his current positions, and assuming OSU wants absolutely no part of the PSU filth on its program, I'm trusting the prior investigation absent additional information. Since the Vols are so intent on disassociating themselves from anyone based on third-hand hearsay, I wonder what they have to say about the Manning accusations?

Another intense and thrilling rivalry win. The "cameraman" situation is just bizarre and I don't know what to say about it. Haskins was so clutch: splitting the defense on the crazy Mack play, and putting the ball perfectly on the hips of his receivers in stride on the crossing patterns we've been hearing so much about since Kevin Wilson arrived. Seeing Haskins and Dobbins in the backfield for the comeback made me, and I'm sure many others, wonder "what if" in a year when the Bucks probably won't make the playoff. The combination of O'Korn and Harbaugh was just hilarious down the stretch. I will never understand what Harbaugh was thinking letting that QB throw deep when they miraculously got the ball back after an untimely high snap by the Bucks on third down during what should have been the dagger drive. It was the most critical possession of the season and needed to be handled super carefully -- and Harbaugh decided to just SEND IT? Incredible. Okudah caught my eye on special teams. He looked NFL fast as a gunner but also undisciplined on a bad penalty. He's an intriguing talent. The bottom line for me: two years in a row UM started strong and grew weaker as the game developed, while OSU started slow and finished strong (thanks, Coach Mick). That dynamic is deeply satisfying. I was a student at OSU during the 90's and watched UM crush my dreams as a young man time and time again. My feeling was that it would take a solid decade of Buckeye dominance to make up for how miserable that team up north made me. I think we're getting close to redemption...but the Wolverines do not quite yet have my permission to die As for the CFP, my view is that the 2017 Buckeyes blew their chances at Iowa. At this point, I'd be happy with a B1G championship and the Orange Bowl against Miami. But... I'm not sure they beat Bucky this weekend. Separately, WTF is going on with Tennessee and Schiano? I was driving back to Chicago from Buffalo all day, and heard in fits and spurts that the Vols had surprisingly hired Schiano, and then the fans and state politicians (?!) went nuts because of the PSU connection, and then the university withdrew from a signed Memorandum of Understanding? And now he wants compensation for the broken MOU? Crazy - but hopefully he sticks with Ohio State. I remember this being an issue when the Buckeyes hired him. It was taken seriously and cleared by the school, so I'm going with that conclusion unless I learn something solid to the contrary. Go Bucks!

Hurts really impressed me with the leadership he showed in the Miss. St. game a few weeks ago. I’ve come around on him and think he will be the difference in a Bama win today.

Agreed. The LBs will be tested again - hopefully that situation is fixed with Borland in the middle. There is no chance that Urban reverts to the “JT show” on offense after what Weber and Dobbins have done over the past two weeks. Both teams are coming out angry, fully motivated, and hell bent on running the ball. Is it noon yet?!?

You’re probably right, but I was too enamored with how nice his passes looked to notice footwork, ball handling, awareness, etc. He makes throwing the ball look so easy. When was the last time we saw a perfect back-shoulder throw?

It is the most important day of the year.

Not surprised. Thanks for the context.

I just saw that Terry Glenn died in a car wreck this morning. Awful. I was a sophomore at OSU when Glenn had his breakout year in 1995. There was a lot of uncertainty heading into the season about who would replace Joey Galloway, a legend who had just helped the Buckeyes defeat Michigan the previous year for a rare win over the rival during the Cooper years. During the first game of the season, against Boston College in the Meadowlands, Terry answered the call by making a spectacular diving catch along the sideline. He stood right up, took off his helmet and held it in the air. Buckeye fans everywhere went absolutely crazy. We had found our man. I'll never forget jumping up and down, screaming with my buddies. I thought about that moment pretty much every time I saw him make a play for the rest of his career. Rest in Peace.

Uh, oh - weather!

Yes, it makes not only last week hurt more, but every loss taken by the Bucks in recent years where they needlessly got away from the running game. But I try to separate that from the pleasant surprise of seeing Weber breaking two big ones, Dobbins getting so many touches and generally being unstoppable, Victor showing heart in grabbing a TD ball and breaking a tackle, the Dline finally get some sacks, Worley and the young LBs making plays (let the kids start next week too - right?), and so many other parts about that game that I liked. So while wondering “what might have been” is definitely part of the story of 2017, I’m pretty pumped up and hope they get through next week with no injuries, and then go friggin drill the rival.

Well, that was satisfying.

I'm not ready to say that beating MSU can be season-saving like beating UM or winning the B1G, but there is no question that OSU-MSU has been marked by a unique intensity in recent years (I kind of consider 1998 a fluke). Billy Price called it the Five Year War yesterday. I see the Sparty game as a lose-lose because of the unquestionable talent gap between the two programs. OSU gets no real credit for winning because they are always a big favorite, and when they lose they get killed for not getting it done against an undermanned team that shows up with more toughness and a better game plan. row_33: totally agree about the Rose Bowl - everything is dictated by tv ratings/revenue now. The bowl-game decision makers don't seem to care about traditional rivalries anymore.

Ohio State still has a chance to accomplish most of it's traditional team goals: beat the rival, win the old conference, and go to the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is hosting a playoff game so that's probably out, but I heard this week that the Orange Bowl against Miami is a possibility. I'm not a "national championship or bust" kind of guy, so I'd be fairly happy with that scenario. This upcoming game will be fun to watch because for the past five years OSU/MSU games have been slugfests. Plus, it will tell us a lot about whether this team is as "mature" as Urban says it is following a blowout loss. Definitely watching!

File that under a sentence I never ever expected to see or hear. I'm almost ready to move on to MSU, but one relatively unimportant thing is still on my mind from Saturday: is Weber really the best option for KOR? He's a good hard runner, but there are much faster options on the roster, and Weber hasn't been the type of playmaker I normally see on kick return duty. Whatever. Beat Sparty.