Pacific Division Preview
October 12, 2008Ground Control To Major Tom…
October 13, 2008
At least in the circles I have, no Buckeyes fans have really been talking about the Michigan State Spartans. Everyone I know seems to jump straight ahead to the chance Ohio State has to make a name for themselves against Penn State on October 25th. This is a big mistake. Let’s hope Jim Tressel hasn’t overlooked the Michigan State Spartans in any way shape or form. Plus, a team that beats Purdue without actually scoring an offensive touchdown shouldn’t be allowed to overlook anyone on the schedule.
Michigan State is a good football team. They haven’t really played anyone of note since losing by a touchdown to Cal in week one. They also beat Notre Dame 23-7 and you can consider that win however you like. The bottom line is this. The Spartans have a good record 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten. Michigan State also has Javon Ringer, senior running back. Already this season Ringer has over 1000 yards and 14 touchdowns. You read that right. 14 touchdowns.
Also in Buckeyes fans heads should be just how mediocre the Buckeyes have looked the last few weeks. We thought the win over Wisconsin was huge. Maybe the Buckeyes softened the Badgers for Penn State, but then again maybe not. If you missed it this weekend, the Nittany Lions obliterated the Badgers 48-7 to give them their third straight loss. You will remember that this Wisconsin team is the same one that Ohio State barely squeaked by 20-17.
I don’t want to be overly negative here. The Buckeyes have a lot of young players in key positions. At the same time, the way this crazy season is shaking out, the Buckeyes have an early loss when their star player (Beanie Wells) was out injured. They have top seeded teams seemingly falling every week in front of them. They have an opportunity in their conference against a Penn State team that is currently ranked 3rd in the nation. The Buckeyes aren’t technically out of national championship contention. Then again it is hard to imagine the Ohio State team that we have been watching on the field rising up and playing another big game on another big stage. Then again, it really won’t matter if Ohio State doesn’t show up to play against a tough Michigan State team next week in their house.
6 Comments
I would like to think that tOSU won’t be caught looking ahead, but nothing I’ve seen this season remotely indicates any teamwide ability to focus. For all the grief Buckeyes fans (myself included) gave Henne, Hart, and Long for staying around their senior year only to fade from contention, we are seeing even worse from our “vaunted” senior class: no big performances when it counts and no evidence of leadership on the field or in the locker room. Penn State is for real, the Spartans are dangerous, and Illinois has the spread offense that Senator Tressel just can’t seem to get a handle on. Now is the time for this team to redeem itself, or this season could get very ugly.
The Buckeyes won’t be sniffing a title game this year–even if they do win out. Look at the polls for the past couple weeks: no matter how many top teams have been going down, Ohio State is essentially hovering in place. Pollsters are tired of what they’ve seen from Tressel’s boys on the big stage, and are voting accordingly. The computers might help, but we still have to win.
I laid this out last night … Ohio State needs to stop paying attention to the polls and worrying about “hovering” in place around No. 11 and No. 12.
I’m tired of this team and the same first down run to Beanie, second down quarterback draw, third down short pass offense. They stink. I’d be shocked it they go 10-2. 9-3 seems far, far more likely and 8-4 ain’t out of the question.
Still, IF they win out … they’d need two of the following three to happen:
1. Have USC lose again. (unlikely)
2. Have a two-loss SEC champion. (likely)
3. Have a two-loss Big 12 champion. (not impossible)
That’s all OSU fans should be worrying about. And we should also worry about the most vanilla play-calling ever.
Michigan state is gonna beat us if we play like we have the last few weeks. Our defensive line does nothing and the opponents offensive line is able to block our linebackers wit success. We don’t deserve to move up in any polls cuz we not doing nothing. I watched the penn state vs wisconsin game and thought to myself “penn state is gonna kick our ass”. Tressel has got to stop being so damn conservative offensively. If he doesn’t trust pryor to make big plays then put todd in for a few plays
Does anyone think that OSU is one of the 2 best teams in the country? 5 best? I didn’t think so, we should not be even considering National Title because this team isn’t near good enough. If OSU started the season ranked 20 instead of 2 or whatever it was, they would probably be ranked in the bottom of the polls right now. The biggest thing that shocks me is how we have struggled to stop the run. Tressel led teams always stop the run, but not this year. Usually teams that line up in pro formations struggle against OSU because OSU is so good at stopping the run in that formation, but against USC and Wisconsin OSU could not stop the run. The defensive line does a pretty terrible job at taking up blockers to free up the LBs to make plays, which really hurts
That said, how many times has OSU been caught looking ahead with Tressel as their head coach? Not very often. If they lose to MSU it won’t be because they overlooked them, it will be because MSU is better.
And I’m not even going to talk about PSU. They are a national title contender, and they scare the crap out of me
Dude to me ohio state not even top 25. in the words of jim mora…. Title game? Title game? Don’t talk about a title game! I just hope we can score a offensive touchdown. Ha ha
[…] and had a ridiculous 282 yards in a game against Florida Atlantic earlier this season. This will not be a very easy road game at all for Ohio State, and they must be able to get their offense back on track if they are going […]