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

[iam416]

If you're gonna beat us, oblitera Al Borges' freakin offense please to the point where Hoke can't keep him. But, not this year. You're goin down this year.

Eh, it's on Denard. If plays well, M will score plenty.

Stick Urban Meyer with a Steven Threet or a Nick Sheridan and see what he does.

OSU already endured Bausermann starts. So, kindly STFU. Not sure how UFM would handle a debacle like that. I suspect he would find a way to best use their talents; I doubt he'd be damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.

Anyway, he's still woefully short playmakers. They've done a nice job with Hyde and especially Rod Smith, who has was teetering on oblivion for awhile. Now it looks like can reliably take carries.

Next year will be interesting. The lose the converted TE off the OL, but his backup really pushed him for time in camp. And they lose Boren, but he's already lost, sort of. Other than that, I think everyone else is back.

Also -- the Boren thing was a pure UFM move. And, oddly enough, he's adjusting to the position. I mean, he still isn't particularly good, but he hasn't been a disaster

[THE_WIZARD_]

Gonna take a little poll here...who would mind if I kill Talent?

[madootra]

In a painful way?

[Paul L]

I'll provide the rusty shears and blowtorch

[iam416]

OSU has had the good fortune of having their worst games come against their weakest competition (UAB, Purdue, Indiana). Or is that just good coaching/gamesmanship? If you play like dogshit in half of your games, but you win because those games are against your worst competition, are you lucky or are you well coached because you get the job done when it counts?

Of their dogshit games, and there have been a few, Purdue was the one they were lucky to win. They sucked against UAB, but that outcome wasn't ever really in doubt. They played an atrocious 2nd half of defense against IU, but, again, that result wasn't seriously in doubt -- IU neded 18 points + 2 onside kick recoveries in the final 2 minutes to even tie it.

They've played their best games against @MSU, vs UNL and @PSU. It's interesting. UFM is a "big game" coach, maybe. Even when he won national titles, he still managed to lose at home to a mediocre Ole Miss team and on the road against Auburn. Tressel was a bit of the opposite. He routinely ground lesser teams into dust. In his final 6 seasons, I think of maybe one game against shit teams that they lost. I think almost every one of his losses in those seasons came against teams going to BCS Bowls.

[hack]

Eh, it's on Denard. If plays well, M will score plenty.

Denard seems to me to be remarkably consistent. He's going to make terrible decisions when pressured on passing downs. He's going to get every bit of yardage available on running downs. To me, it's not on Denard. Give him holes and he'll hit them. It's on the OL, it's on Borges, it's on mistake-free ST, and it's on the defense to do more than its part.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Of their dogshit games, and there have been a few, Purdue was the one they were lucky to win. They sucked against UAB, but that outcome wasn't ever really in doubt. They played an atrocious 2nd half of defense against IU, but, again, that result wasn't seriously in doubt -- IU neded 18 points + 2 onside kick recoveries in the final 2 minutes to even tie it.

They've played their best games against @MSU, vs UNL and @PSU. It's interesting. UFM is a "big game" coach, maybe. Even when he won national titles, he still managed to lose at home to a mediocre Ole Miss team and on the road against Auburn. Tressel was a bit of the opposite. He routinely ground lesser teams into dust. In his final 6 seasons, I think of maybe one game against shit teams that they lost. I think almost every one of his losses in those seasons came against teams going to BCS Bowls.

Listen here assrammer...nobody gives a shit.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The loss to Purdue in 2009 is the only loss to a total crap team that I can remember Tressel having post-2004

[hack]

Not your only losses though. Complete and total losses of dignity and honor in the mix as well.

[Hannibal]

It's on the receivers now too. Re-watching the first half of that Nebraska game, I'm struck by how well Denard throws the ball. Michigan's receivers almost never catch anything that's even slightly hard to reel in, and they have dropped a lot of perfectly thrown passes this year.

[iam416]

Denard seems to me to be remarkably consistent. He's going to make terrible decisions when pressured on passing downs. He's going to get every bit of yardage available on running downs. To me, it's not on Denard. Give him holes and he'll hit them. It's on the OL, it's on Borges, it's on mistake-free ST, and it's on the defense to do more than its part.

Fair enough. I was talking more M offense, but the additinal offensive points are legit.

From OSU's standpoint, they have to boss the LOS and Braxton has to have a really good day.

[Hannibal]

A fully healthy OSU looks pretty even with a fully healthy Michigan to me this year. The three differences that I see are:

1. Miller makes about one third the dumb throws that Denard makes
2. Michigan's defense looks much better coached
3. OSU's skill players suck less than Michigan's

Offensive lines look similar. That's a disappointment for me, as that is one area where I would have expected ours to be way better this year. QB's are remarkably similar in running and shitty completion %.

[iam416]

Not much to quarrel with. I think OSU is a better power running team. I think Hyde and now Smith give them some quality RB and Braxton is really good in between the tackles. I think M, via Denard, is far more likely to break a long TD run.

I think OSU uses their run game to set up 3-5 "big play" opportunities every game. Their last 3 games, they haven't really converted, either with Braxton missing a wide open deep ball or Devin Smith dropsies.

[iam416]

Last season:

Ohio State rushed the ball 563 times for 2485 yards.

Ohio State's leading WR had 14 receptions and 294 yards.

This season through 9 games:

OSU has rushed the ball 409 times for 2231 yards.

OSU has receivers with 23 and 41 catches and 2 WRs with 400+ yards. And Stoneburner is finally coming around.

Good god they were horrid last season.

[THE_WIZARD_]

So were you...Still are