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

[iam416]

I never fully appreciated Clarett's situation. More to the point, I wonder how much Clarett affected the wa.way Tress handled TP.

[hack]

I too am looking foreward to Youngstown Boys.

I also happen to think that OSU basketball is a really good team, and possibly a National Champion.

Really? How come?

[WM Wolverine]

They look like a really good B10 team, as does Sparty...

M has a lot of developing to do before they can play at the level of those two and arguably Wisconsin too.

[hack]

Hmm. They lost their best player and replaced him with nothing significant in this year's lineup. One wonders what their secret is.

[Hannibal]

Enjoying the Buckeye uproar over Fickell being a shitty defensive coordinator. Let's face it -- he is one. I can sadly say that I have become somewhat of an expert on the subject and I can recognize one only too well after all of the years of defensive ineptitude that I have been forced to swallow. 1000+ yards and 75 points in two games against two putrid offenses should get a coordinator fired. Especially since in both of those games, those were legitimate points gained by driving the field. I'm very intrested in seeing now whether Meyer will do this. I know that Hoke probably wouldn't, and it took Carr a long time to finally push Jim Hermann out the door. Unfortunately for OSU, the window for shunting him off to some mid major for an unsuccessful stint ala Mark Snyder is probably closed. It means that you are either stuck with the nitwit or you have to fire him. This is uncharted teritory for OSU. You guys haven't been in this spot since the 1995 Biakabutuka game.

[iam416]

It's the dominant question of the day for OSU fans, even ahead of recruiting. My personal hunch is that he will be back, but he will not be DC.

There is absolutely no justifiable reason for the erratic performance of the defense this season.

[iam416]

It's so bad that OSU fans blame Herman and UFM for the MSU loss. Granted, the play-calling was not one of their finest efforts. The final two play calls on the last drive that mattered were infuriating. BUT, they rushed for nearly 300 yards against a supposed super defense and scored 24 hard-earned points. The defense let MSU go 90 with the game on the line (granted, Armani Reeves is a trainwreck -- when Roby got hurt, they immediately went after Reeves with great success). But people don't blame the defense b/c they have accepted that the defense just isn't particularly good. That's bullshit.

[Hannibal]

Yup. Been there with the RichRod era. The offense could go out and score 28 or 31 points against an above average defense and people would complain that it wasn't good enough.

[iam416]

The positive is that after some time to reflect, the focus is very much on the erratic defense. The thing that's so frustrating about that defense is that the talent is mostly there. Yeah, there's a hole or two, yeah there's some young 'uns, but overall it was a top 20 ranked defense. They by and large manhandled bad teams with sheer talent. When there was more talent parity, they were, at times, shredded. That's fucking coaching. And almost every OSU fans knows and UFM knows it.

In other news, OSU avoids M's fate with Hand and lands Raekwon McMillan. Alabama pushed hard, but IMO it was always going to be OSU. Kudos to McMillan for actually creating suspense for a decision I think he made months ago.

[iam416]

OSU fans also know how f'n good the offense was. That's part of the frustration with the MSU game. Herman and UFM had built a hellacious offensive war machine from total rubble in the space of 2 seasons and generally wailed the shit out teams. So to see them drop off a bit in play-calling was hugely frustrating b/c we know they're way better than that. I mean, on 3rd and 2 -- the play that preceded the 4th down stop -- Hyde wasn't in the game and it was a straight Miller lead. I don't mind that play call if it's a read-option keep with Hyde, but for F's sake, they told MSU exactly what they were going to do. With Miller and Hyde, you have to really F up not to get 2 yards on 2 plays. Bah.

[Hannibal]

Yeah Charles Davis (Fox color guy) stated a couple of times how obvious the Miller draws were.

[Hannibal]

I was actually disappointed that OSU lost. MSU vs OSU -- there's no question about who I hate more. And that was before Dantonio was coaching them.

And I would have to say that the MSU victory hurts UM more. Dantonio can now tell recruits that he has won a conference title. Hoke can't.

[iam416]

MSU is going to kill it in the state of Michigan recruiting next season. Hoke already has two superstar OoS kids, but MSU will probably get 5 or 6 of the top 6 or 7 Michigan kids next season. And I still think they could snag McDowell.

I've been reading for roughly 3 years now about how MSU won't survive or how they'll fade into oblivion. It should be abundantly clear to M fans by now that Dantonio's Spartans are going to be a solid team most years. I do think they'll have a very hard time getting back to the CCG and that may eventually take it's toll, but Dantonio can coach and he's getting good enough players that dismissing MSU should be out of the question.

[iam416]

MSU is also going to get LJ Scott, I fear. I think OSU may get two OoS kids they like better at RB. Scott is a stud, though. I can easily see him becoming a great TB for Dantonio. And it will annoy me.

[hack]

This season proved that. They've continued to lose key cogs without suffering, and you gotta believe the instate recruits are going to give him a longer and longer look.