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

[lineygoblue]

Greg Mattison's record speaks for itself. The great Urban Myth must have thought so too, because Mattison was his DC at Florida when he won the NC. Mattison has the same ring that Meyer has.

Hoke's brilliance came when he had the good sense to make the call to Mattison, while Mattison was seemingly content to be with the Ravens, coaching guys like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

[Paul L]

How many times has the offense (1) left the defense with a short field? I shudder to count. Its gotten better but the threat is always there.

Like Indiana last week? Mattison is the most overrated DC in CFB. Allowing half a hundo against Indiana, and the guy is still revered as a god.
And lest we forget the 80-yard drive in less than a minute to a fucking 18-year old true freshman on a team with 65 scholarship players.

I don't understand how GM has been exempt from blame for the shitstorm this program has become (or remains, actually, if you count the last five goddam years).

[Jeff Buchanan]

.... I don't understand how GM has been exempt from blame for the shitstorm this program has become (or remains, actually, if you count the last five goddam years).

My view is that it is Hoke's hand in this. Mattison is a proven commodity at the CFB and NFL level. Why does M suck? The common denominator between the suckiness of the D and the O is Hoke.

It's a football philosophy thing. Manball and all of that on O .... forcing Borges to run a game that maybe he knows is not there and in the process squandering talent.

That M could score 63 points against anyone with defensive players on the field at all tells me the potential for a great offense is there.

On the D, look at the approach. Its pure passive defense on 90% of the opponent's plays. Bend don't break and all of that. I don't think the talent is there on D for great pressure up front so, I give Mattison a pass for designing something that just might be the trick but I'd prefer more aggression on D and my guess is that it is Hoke holding back what the D might just be able to do and do well.

[iam416]

Ohio State's power run game is really, really good. The offense is really starting to hum now that Braxton and Hyde have come back and played a few games. Guiton and Jordan Hall did a nice job spelling those guys, but those two are really good. As is the OL.

[Dr. Strangelove]

1994 reversed

[Rob F]

1994 reversed

4991?

[Optimus Prime]

Likely spurned again by BCS algorithms, Disturbin' Urban takes his rage out on now 3-loss and unranked Penn St. Rather Florida A & M-esque, pathetic. ..btw it's too late.

[Rob F]

1994 reversed

The cost to have surgery for a poodle to have a vasectomy reversed? Your vet would actually do that for you?

[Ghengis Jon]

I was sharing adult beverages with some Penn Staters on Friday night. It was quite surprising (to me at least) as to the intensity of their dislike for osu. (I guess I shouldn't be surprised, most people are disgusted by maggots in general.) I would have thought UM would be up there, given the win streak we manufactured early in the series. No, they despise osu, a lot to due with an early thumping PSU took after first joining the conference and the way their fans are treated in C-bus. To put it into perspective, their disdain for all things buckeye is similar to the couch-burning, froth mouthed, bug eyed zealots of our younger siblings in East Lansing have for us. Quite surprising. Pile on this week's beating, the worst in PSU history according to SI, should have some carry over to next season and beyond.

Well, a note to Head Dumbass Brand-On! : Do everything you can to influence a late season match-up between osu and PSU, every year. Penn State will be back, and a slugfest just prior to the UM game should work to UM's advantage. If PSU-osu is a budding rivalry, everything to encourage it should be done.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, maybe .....

But, I think the reality is that, despite O'Brien being a damn good coach, that PSU took a fatal blow with the Paterno/Sandusky affair.

It's not that alone but rather the demographics of the northern tier states contributing to a relative dearth of HS talent compared to the southern and southwestern tier states. PSU has lost its national recruiting reach and that is going to be very difficult to regain if it is even possible.

What osu has done, something that most B10 programs could take a lesson from if they want to compete nationally, is a total commitment to the football program as the University's standard. You can not subbrogate academics to that standard.

Frankly, and in the case of Michigan, that is not going to happen. osu has a football culture similar to Alabama, LSU and the Florida schools. As long as they run their show like they do, they will dominate the B1G and compete for championships on the national scene.

So, hopes of "being back" are empty ones.

[iam416]

and the way their fans are treated in C-bus.

Funny. Ohio State fans loathe Penn State for the way they are treated in HV. I think Nebraska fans may also be in that boat.

What osu has done, something that most B10 programs could take a lesson from if they want to compete nationally, is a total commitment to the football program as the University's standard. You can not subbrogate academics to that standard.

Frankly, and in the case of Michigan, that is not going to happen. osu has a football culture similar to Alabama, LSU and the Florida schools. As long as they run their show like they do, they will dominate the B1G and compete for championships on the national scene

I'm not sure what you're saying WRT the University. I could provide you gads of articles about the massive improvements Ohio State has made as a University over the past two decades. I could provide you numerous different rankings that have OSU amongst the top public universities in the nation and generally in the top half of the B10.

Ohio State is winning EVERYWHERE.

Now, if you mean spending money on a top shelf HC, fair enough. If you mean spending money on assistants, ok, but M is pretty close. In fact, I'm fairly certain that Al Borges makes more than Tim Herman. How about that? If you mean spending money on top shelf facilities, ok.

As a national football brand, you mostly have M to blame. OSU became THE face of the B10 when M hit the shitter. And when there was a chance they'd lose that status, they fell ass-backwards into UFM (though, Tressel would have never been fired if they didn't think UFM was coming). So, Ohio State remains THE face of B10 Football. That carries national cache as does having a coach like UFM. The program isn't quite where UFM wants it, but it's getting close.

[Optimus Prime]

I will admit, Ohio appears balanced and is most definitely better coached but at what price?

Meyer - $4 M per year
Hoke - $2 M per year

After all the "outrage" Ohio will likely play in the Rose Bowl, not the REAL Rose of course. that is reserved for true National Title contenders....Alabama v. FSU/Oregon.

At best, Meyer and Ohio are essentially a warm-up band, politely ignored, by the crowd as they wait from them to clear the stage for Main Event.

As long as the B1G's perception & reality suffer, so too will Bucknut fans.

[WM Wolverine]

Penn State never really recruited nationally, under JoPa they owned the northeast; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland. They didn't need to reach out further for talent as Pennsylvania was usually pretty well stocked and picked up most of the best talent in rest of the northeast...

Depends on the definition of 'back'; with the B10 in the shape its in, PSU shouldn't have much difficultly coming away with 9-3 type seasons (8-11 wins/year) after the affects of the sanctions wears off; ~2017. Consistently doing that is a top 12 program, which is where JoPa had them after he joined the B10...

One piece to the puzzle is how Rutgers, Maryland develop as B10 programs; who reside in states PSU usually was able to pluck those states top athletes. How much do Rutgers & Maryland benefit by joining the B10? Are those programs able to keep their states top players and do they start to pluck some talent away from Penn State? It mostly depends on the HC hires at those three schools, those schools success will mostly hurt each other along with Pitt, Syracuse.

[iam416]

Ohio State is very much focused on the northeast in recruiting. They're shifting resources there from the deep south. They'll focus on targeted players from Florida, Georgia, etc., but not scattershot.

Penn State is in a world of trouble. The East/West was brutal. It's going to be a long time b/f they play in CCG.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Bianchi Prime has moved on from having any hope at all that Michigan can beat OSU and taken a page from Dean's book: openly rooting for Alabama. OP wants to feel like a winner just as badly as ol' Deano and sticking with Michigan won't give him that.