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

[iam416]

Your life is worse than this thread. It may be time wasted, but it’s better than the alternative.

[Detroit Dan]

Wow! And I thought PEMDAS was gonna be some badass insult.

[iam416]

I was 14. I was fully immersed in OSU football and The Game by then. It was a rough year, losing several close games that turned another 8-3 season into 5-4-1 going into The Game. And Earle had been fired. It was a needed change, but there's not much need to dwell on that today.

This would be his last game against M. His players lined up behind him before kickoff, all donning "Earle" headbands, as was the fashion of the day, and he was resplendent in a full suit and fedora, as was the fashion of a bygone day. And they played their fucking ass off. An improbable 70-yard TD pass from Tom Tupa to Carlos Snow was immense. And basically, they wouldn't let him lose. Against all, or at least some, odds, Ohio State beat M, 23-20 concluding the season at 6-4-1 and giving Earle 5-4 record against M. It meant everything to him and you can see it in the moments as he's carried off the field in the video below. It remains one of my 5 favorite OSU games of all-time.

RIP Earle.



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Wu7hSGivs"]Final seconds, celebration - Michigan 1987 - YouTube[/ame]

[drok]

Thanks for that Talent. As much as I loathe losing to OSU, I've always loved the story of that game. It helps that I'm young enough that I don't have a direct memory of it, so it would necessarily sting less. But I think I love that story because it's a quintessential college football story. The headbands, the fact the coach still got to coach even though he was fired, the back drop of a rivalry, how the players knew that that specific game was all that mattered and how meaningful the 5-4 record was. It's all SO college football.

There is a neat story on the Mgoblog message board about Earle Bruce:

Passed this morning at 87.* FWIW I met coach Bruce several years ago when I got invited to play golf in the Scarlet & Grey golf classic.* I was wearing a Michigan polo (so I was obviously loved by all the OSU players that day) and on one hole coach Bruce and I were waiting to tee off and we both were having a beer while we waited.

I told him "hey coach - I was at your last game rooting obviously for Michigan.* You were down 14-0 and came back to win.* I thought you got hosed by OSU so it didnt bother me as much that we ended up losing that day."

He looked at me for a second and then barked loudly.* "IT WAS 13-0.* I REMEMBER EVERY GOD DAMN PLAY OF THAT GAME."* *Then he stopped for a second and said softly "you know - Bo told me that was the only game he didnt mind losing to OSU.* I've never forgotten that."

He was our rival but I respected the hell out of him.* RIP coach Bruce - say hi to Bo for us today.



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[iam416]

When Bo passed away in 2002, Earle gave a little talk to whatever event was at -- it might have been the day of The Game. Earle was always emotional. And he very choked up and said just a few things, but they were deeply sincere. He was a good guy -- by all accounts.

But I think I love that story because it's a quintessential college football story. The headbands, the fact the coach still got to coach even though he was fired, the back drop of a rivalry, how the players knew that that specific game was all that mattered and how meaningful the 5-4 record was. It's all SO college football.

I think that's a really good way to say, drok. Nicely done.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Sucks about Earle. It's been a while since I had heard anything about him so the fact that he had Alzheimer's was a surprise. He was still doing radio and showing up to events just a few years ago. I'm a little too young to remember him as coach but he always seemed like a real good guy. RIP

[AlabamAlum]

He was the only man who ever fired Nick Saban.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Earle must have hated cheaters.

[iam416]

Bruce fired Pete Carroll, replaced him with The Nick, then fired him and hired Don Capers.

[WingsFan]

This was on the OZONE, thought you would get a good read:

A HS Coach in Cincinnati said that he believes the days of Ohio being a football producing powerhouse are about over and that tOSU (and other northern schools) will struggle if they don't move to a national recruiting model. He gave some reasons that I thought the board might find interesting.

1. We will be playing 7 on 7 football within 10 years at most Ohio high schools, outside of D1, simply due to participation numbers.

2. The top talent in the state will begin to move to the football factory schools around the country as HS football continues to take on the basketball strategy of sending the best kids to Oak Hill Academy and other similar schools.

3. Ohio not having Spring Football hurts the kids so much around here by putting them almost a full year behind in development when you add up the weeks over a high school career.

4. As many as 30% of the schools that play football today in Ohio, will not field a team by 2030. I just found this all incredibly depressing as a football fan of all levels.

5) Cleveland (Northern Ohio) has dropped behind Columbus and Cincinnati.

[iam416]

I don’t think it’s quite that dire. But I think it’s glaringly obvious that OSU has ALREADY moved national. They take maybe 6-9 kids from Ohio now. Tresses may still be taking 18, but that ain’t UFM.

There are gads of counterpoints to be made. For example, small schools just don’t produce talent, especially the ones on the verge of dropping the sport. Losing those schools matters not at all for recruiting. Also, Cleveland has definitely flatlined, but Columbus talent is rising sharply. I can tell you that OSU would make ch rather recruit a Columbus kid than a Cleveland kid.

There’s much more to say about it, but I think the overall point about declining Ohio was aren’t is correct. I mean, in the early 70s OSU would have 90% Ohio kids and M would have 50%! Those days are long, long gone. But OSU is recruiting better than it ever has, so it doesn’t seem to be a big problem.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Tomato cans Buffalo and Akron added to future schedules.

More significant is the note at the bottom. The future Texas series has been bumped out to 2025-26...previously had been set to play both ND and Texas in the same years. Now 2025 we'll play both Washington/Texas and BC/Texas in 2026

http://www.fbschedules.com/2018/05/ohio-state-host-buffalo-2020-akron-2021/

[THE_WIZARD_]

Fear the Zips

[WingsFan]

[iam416]

So, Ohio State has received some verbals from kids that could be good and missed on some kids that could be good. This won't be a vintage UFM recruiting class, but hopefully things will be back on the rails for 2019.

Dwayne Haskins will start. The DL should be decent. The LBs should be poo. The DBs will probably be good, but I'm sure they'll miss Coombs. Dobbins/Weber is a nice tandem assuming the OL can block anyone and the WRs will probably continue to struggle to get open against the likes of Entropy, let alone make plays against B10 DBs.

So, probably a down year all around.

Life in the shadow.