M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Mainevent]

So does that wipe out a road win at Madison?

[Detroit Dan]

So does that wipe out a road win at Madison?

I'm not sure what you are replying to, but the answer is certainly yes. The Buckeyes were lucky to win against Wisconsin, while Michigan dominated against the same team.

Ohio State could easily be out of it already, while Michigan has not been challenged yet. Harbaugh is much better than Urban Meyer, IMO. Even Talent recognizes that and predicts a Michigan win.

Meyer is a great coach, but Harbaugh is even better. Big 2 and little 12 for foreseeable future.

[WM Wolverine]

Urban is best coach in CFB, his resume speaks for itself!

[iam416]

Bucks are very good, but lack crunch time credibility following their collapse against Penn State

LOL.

Michigan wins based upon superior coaching which projects well into foreseeable future

LMAO.

I guess this is the thread to troll on and OP isn't around, but it's a mediocre effort. Way below OP's lofty standards.

[iam416]

Anyway, I sort of like the opportunity UFM has. It's the rare year where M has a decided roster advantage with gads of seniors and 5th year seniors. Plus, they have HARBAUGH!!!! Last year they had the excuse of a significant roster disadvantage to explain away the could have been worse 42-13 loss. That's gone and then some. This year's it's M that has the roster advantage and their Moses.

If UFM can somehow pull off the upset then it will be an absolute nuclear missile to soul of the M fanbase. And, perhaps more importantly, lead to an 0-4 start against OSU and UFM because next year the roster advantage swings back to OSU and they won't likely be at a deficit of any note any time soon.

Talk about a must-win for M.

[iam416]

On the recruiting front, Bolden is all but in -- eh, he's #79 overall so he'll slightly help the average. More importantly, from at least one guy -- one that I trust -- Shaun Wade is way more OSU than I've been led to believe. If they actually hold onto him...wow. Fortunately, he's an EE, so we'll know soon.

Next big weekend is against M. As I said the M Recruiting thread, I think it's a bad weekend for OVs. You just don't get the same time with the coaches. It's nice to showcase what it's like to play for OSU, but I'd rather have way more coach-recruit time. And if you're not a top-shelf priority, you won't even really get noticed as I'm sure they'll have dozens of visitors.

Anyway, the big visitors for that game will be Okudah and Browning. Wilson is supposed to come along with them. Darnay Holmes is supposed to visit. Probably a few more big-time kids, but Okudah and Browning are the key visits with Okudah a lock and Browning starting to drift toward OSU.

[hack]

I think that's all true. This year is a better opportunity than most. I don't know that there's ever going to be a massive talent advantage ever again, but it's certainly going to be a few years before M can stack the talent year-in/year-out like OSU has done. If it's a loss this year that'll suck, but that's the price you pay for incompetence. The gap will only narrow, and the wins will come. It will be nice to have some actual balance in this rivalry.

[iam416]

Hack:

I think the roster advantages will be largely even by 2018. This is M's year with a roster advantage, and next year will be OSU's. By 2018, IMO, it's going to be a non-issue.

So, we agree!

[Mainevent]

I'm not sure what you are replying to, but the answer is certainly yes. The Buckeyes were lucky to win against Wisconsin, while Michigan dominated against the same team.

Ohio State could easily be out of it already, while Michigan has not been challenged yet. Harbaugh is much better than Urban Meyer, IMO. Even Talent recognizes that and predicts a Michigan win.

Meyer is a great coach, but Harbaugh is even better. Big 2 and little 12 for foreseeable future.

So you're saying Michigan lacks crunch time credibility?

[Hannibal]

If UFM can somehow pull off the upset then it will be an absolute nuclear missile to soul of the M fanbase. And, perhaps more importantly, lead to an 0-4 start against OSU and UFM because next year the roster advantage swings back to OSU and they won't likely be at a deficit of any note any time soon.

I have been saying that since the day that Harbaugh was hired.

This is our last chance to win before 2019. Recruiting is really going to catch up with us next year and probably the year after.

[Rocky Bleier]

Anyway, I sort of like the opportunity UFM has. It's the rare year where M has a decided roster advantage with gads of seniors and 5th year seniors. Plus, they have HARBAUGH!!!!

M has the experience advantage, but OSU still has the talent advantage.

[iam416]

The experience factor is objective and clear. I'm not so sure on the talent thing. I think it's reasonably close. That said, I intentionally used "roster advantage" instead of talent because I think M's experience outweigh whatever talent advantage OSU has. M has a ton of seniors/5th year kids playing, and most of these kids have talent. As I said earlier -- OSU's seniors are playing the NFL. That's not intended to be snarky, but rather to illustrate that there's a big difference between talented juniors/seniors and talented frosh/sophomores.

So, that's what I mean by roster advantage.

[Rocky Bleier]

Harbaugh is an NFL coach who knows how to attack and confuse a defense. Maryland had three guys watching just to see which personnel group was in the game before they could make a defensive call. Don't you think OSU's defense is susceptible to Harbaugh's playcalling due to their youth?

[iam416]

I do. I think that is, in part, my point. That and you're more "grown ass man" at 22 than 19.

I mean, Nick Bosa is awesome. He's going to follow in the footsteps of his brother. In 2018, M will have all sorts of problems with him. But this year, he's an 18-year old going up against an OL full of 22-23 year olds.

Rashan Gary, too, is going to be an absolute badass. The most talented kid on their DL. But not yet.

That's why I give the decided roster advantage to M. The only thing going for OSU is that it's a home game and they're a little bit more battle-tested.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Anyway, I sort of like the opportunity UFM has. .....This year's it's M that has the roster advantage and their Moses.........If UFM can somehow pull off the upset then it will be an absolute nuclear missile to soul of the M fan base. ....... Talk about a must-win for M.

I get the roster advantage for M. I think it goes beyond that when comparing the two teams. From a performance standpoint, M has the better offense and the better D. Not sure, historically, we've really had the objective data to support that kind of assertion but its there now. Does that translate to a win in c-bus? No it doesn't but it makes it more likely and that's the first time, objectively anyway, that you can say that in a long, long tiime.

Nuclear missile to the soul? Not mine. This has been a terrific season and regardless of the outcome in this game in particular, I'm pretty satisfied with the M football program under JH. At the start of the season, I said 9-2 and beat either osu or MSU. Both would be nice. To me, beating MSU was the bigger deal but you already knew that. JH has already gotten his team to 9 wins. I'm pretty confident he won't lose more than 1 of the last three. He'll go 11-1 at worst. Count me satisfied with this season. Beating osu would just be the cherry on top.