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

[WingsFan]

both games could've been bigger blowouts but for being turnover-crazy. Impressive when you think about how different those two teams are.

Could have and should have - Michigan played tOSU tougher than the Ducks, Badgers, and probably Bama. Shows how much of a buffoon of a coach Hoke is not to get a Bowl game. Things will be different (or back to normal) from here out.

[JRB]

Yeah, if anything, this game shouldn't have been in any doubt in the fourth quarter. The key was Ohio State withstanding Oregon's attempt at a run in the third quarter. When Oregon got two turnovers and only managed to cut the lead by three by the start of the fourth, they were done. A fast-break team has to finish at the rim, and the Ducks couldn't-- three redzone possessions that resulted in only six points killed them, because they couldn't get stops without turnovers, and Ohio State wasn't going to keep turning the ball over.

Urban Meyer already has a handful of incredible seasons as a head coach-- what he did in two seasons with what Ron McBride left him at Utah was mindboggling, and of course his run at Florida was dominant until his last season. This season, however, was a masterpiece among masterpieces. This might be the best single-season coaching job I've ever seen at the collegiate level. The Ohio State team that I saw lose to Virginia Tech in September was only going to the national championship game if the OSU athletic department bought them tickets. They weren't terrible that night, but I don't think anybody watching that game thought, "This Ohio State team's not losing again."

They lose their Heisman candidate before the season starts, and his backup finishes fifth in the Heisman voting. They lose the backup in the Michigan game, and the third-stringer produces over 800 yards in total offense with six touchdowns to two turnovers as Ohio State scores 143 points in wins over Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon. That's insane.

[Mike]

It really is. I can't recall a stronger performance over a team's final 3 games under similar circumstances. Lost in the hoopla of the Bama and Oregon wins is the fact that Wisconsin was an 11-win team with the nation's leading rusher. There might not be a better string of 3 wins together (in terms of combined wins of the opponents) in the history of college football. 11, 12, 13, right? 3 straight wins over teams that were a combined 36-4 against everyone else and 0-3 against OSU.

Just more evidence to the importance of coaching in football. I think if you kept everyone on the 2014 Michigan football roster including staff and replace a single person - Brady Hoke - with Jim Harbaugh, they would have went no worse than 9-3. And that's probably being conservative. Hoke is that fucking horrible. Just him not being involved with the team would have made them better. If everything else was/is constant, the upgrade from Hoke to Harbaugh is worth 4-5 wins a year. It is with this in mind that I will sleep soundly tonight knowing that the future is bright for our Wolverines. The cloud that Ohio State is on may seem like a world away but it's really not. Take a close look because this is our future. Granted, that road currently runs through Columbus but there's no reason we can't be on even footing with them sooner rather than later and play de facto Big Ten Championship games every year. The UM-OSU series will become Bama-LSU/Bama-Auburn where the winner will in all likelihood get into the playoff.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Compare the OSU that played VT, Penn State, or even Michigan with the team that played Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon and it's just nuts

[Cody_Russell]

Ohio State peaked at the right time. The o-line got significantly better with more experience, Elliot got healthy for the 2nd half of the season, & that defense had key young players play well recently.

Like some of you mentioned, the scary part is how many players return for Ohio State. Add that plus another Urban recruiting class.

[froot loops]

I thought maybe this was the game where having Jones as the QB might hurt, nope. I always felt in a rematch MSU could beat Oregon, I did not feel that way about OSU.

[Tslisher]

Have to say hats off to the bucks and Urban. That was a masterful game. I didn't think it would happen, but you really took Oregon out of their game plan and element. All that despite 4 turnovers, or this game is over in the 3rd quarter.

We've just seen the measuring stick. Harbaugh and our boys will need an incredible coaching job, and some excellent recruiting to measure up. However, I've got confidence. Its going to be an amazing number of years coming up.

[Cody_Russell]

Skip Bayless: "Cardale Jones looks like a 1st Round pick to me."

Lol. He (& especially the players around him) had a good 3 game stretch, but:
1. Jones has only played 3 games
2. Jones chucked the ball up to his WRs for them to make a play on a majority of his big plays.
3. He is a product of the players & system around him.

I don't see how anyone could like the accuracy of Jones. He made maybe 1 NFL throw last night... On that 3rd & 8 in the 1st quarter.
Great size and arm strength, but I wouldn't draft a QB if those were his strengths. We've seen that fail a majority of the time. You have to be able to make accurate NFL throws... & I don't think Jones "threw a WR open" at all in his 3 games.

[UMStan White]

Congrats to the Bucks and their fans. An incredible run to win it all, beating the Big Ten runner-up, the SEC champ and the Pac 12 champ all with your third QB. I can't remember a similar run since I started watching college football at the age of 12.

[iam416]

Defensive credit goes to Chris Ash and Luke Fickell. They are "Co-DCs" in name only. This is Ash's defense. The difference in the defensive staff is Withers out/Ash in and Vrabel to the NFL/Larry Johnson in. I think Fickell did a good job this year. I think when he has a clear vision of what the defense should be he totally gets it and coaches well to it (he finally managed to Curtis Grant playing really well). Ash brought that to OSU. And OSU has some ballers up front.

To build on what Mike was saying about Hoke and where M can be....Withers didn't get the job done and after two years he's off in FCS with a HC gig. That's it. Contrast that with Coach Hoke. You're not going to beat f'n Nick Saban tolerating mediocrity. I reckon JH understands that.

[Jeff Buchanan]

He does ...... and this is what I meant about a "bigger target."

Harbaugh, if reports are correct about him, is insanely competitive. Driven. I would attach both those characterizations to urban meyer. Both of them are different kinds of people.

[iam416]

Watching Ohio State run Elliot was a thing of beauty. I'm sure Hannibal was well-pleased with the fact that OSU basically ran one play up there ass. Not only that, but the play is basically the counter-trey. Sure, it's out of the spread and they put a wicked horizontal constraint on it with Marshall, but it's fundamentally the Hogs blocking for Riggins....out of a 21st C formation. I think that's the biggest difference between Oregon's spread and OSU's spread. Fundamentally, UFM wants to be a power run team. That's it. It's old as goddamned time. The way he does it...different....but still, there's a connection to the core, bedrock principles of the game.

The counter-action was put in (or perhaps, just became prevalent) as a way to defeat the bear front. They didn't run any of it against VT. So UFM and Herman had to put in a package of run plays to deal with it. Oregon runs a quasi-bear front with their DEs playing inside shoulder. So, you can pin them inside and if you can hold the LBs with horizontal action and run some bad ass lead blocks at the hole, you can crush.

I still think Cardale Jones would get drafted if he declared. Probably 3rd day, but that cat can throw some seeds. When it was 28-20, they were at the Oregon 30 facing 3rd and 5 and makes a throw to Marshall for 20 yards into a tight window that only an NFL arm can make.

I'm going to really miss Tom Herman. I think he's destined for greatness....I just hope he keeps that greatness out of the non-OSU B10! He's fantastic.

That said, it's still UFM's offense. Warriner is going to step and call plays next season. I think that's one big reason they wanted Beck. Warriner really trusts him and speaks really well of him.

Speaking of Warriner, it'll be a sad, sad day when he finally gets his crack as a HC. That guy can coach OL like nobody's business. The nightmare scenario would be leaves after next season when the OL will need a definite tune-up and perhaps a complete rebuild. But, holy fuck....I've never seen a position unit at OSU improve so much over the course of a season.

Twitter is bananas for recruiting. OSU landed 2 kids from the class of 2017 and one from the class of 2016 yesterday, two during the game! I'm not sure how those are actual commitments as I'm quite sure they didn't call up UFM and commit. More like, "dude, OSU looks great...I'm in (for now...until I change my mind/visit Bama)!"

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't think you change the soft culture of Michigan football introduced by Lloyd Carr in his final two years and fostered by two consecutive coaches over night. Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen? Not likely.

urban's run at osu benefitted from a very weak Big Ten. This is not to say he is not a great coach. He is but he rode the exceptional record he's accumulated on the backs of some of the weakest head coaches in all of CFB.

With the exception of Mark Dantonio and maybe Brett Bilema/Gary Anderson, the BIG's coaches are either terrible or sort of good but lack talented players. With the addition of Harbaugh at M, the emergence of PSU from the shadows of sanctions and Mark Dantonio things get a little harder for urban. But I guarantee you, he's not going to lie down and weep.

Something else good about osu's win last night. The style of physical play that characterizes the best power teams in CFB is reaffirmed as championship caliber. If you want to go all the way, you have to have a team that plays real football. The kind that wins games by the play of the OL and DL and can run the ball the way osu ran it against three really good defenses, statistically anyway, to emerge as National Champs.

[Hannibal]

I'm just pleased that I was spared Oregon getting a reward for their decade of nauseating attention-whoring. They have obviously arrived big time but at least they didn't achieve ultimate validation. They and the shitty monolith of ESPN are perfectly made for each other.

And Christ, Fowler needs to stick do doing just gameday. His "big play" calls suck sooooo bad. Which, of course, means that he will be doing the "A" games for the next 15 years.

[iam416]

He does ...... and this is what I meant about a "bigger target."

Harbaugh, if reports are correct about him, is insanely competitive. Driven. I would attach both those characterizations to urban meyer. Both of them are different kinds of people.

I'm not sure if you've heard this story or not -- as a M fan, I'm betting not -- but UFM has what he calls "The Chase". I always thought it meant for a national title, but what it actually meant was Alabama. He was in Miami and watched Bama destroy Notre Dame and left thinking, "that's where we need to be." That was "The Chase" -- to somehow get up to The Nick's level (and presumably win a national title along the way). He said last night "The Chase" is over...they're there. But that's what the truly great coaches do....they don't settle...ever. UFM didn't want to be the best in the B10...that was a foregone conclusion given that state of the conference when he entered....he wanted to be BEST.

They're still not Alabama. What The Nick has done there is ridiculous. But this team is certainly as good as Alabama. On paper, next year's team should be better....but paper is paper. I thought the same thing about the 2003 team that returned a ton of starters. We'll see how it shakes out from now to the season and then how they play. Lots of variables and lots of things could go wrong.

But, on paper it sure does look like OSU will be riding a really long winning streak when they visit AA.