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

[iam416]

That's every fanbase, at least every fanbase of a big-time program.

Buchanan:

We disagree. I thought the two teams were about the same on the night. I think if they played again, Ohio State would be the favorite and would win. I think they're the better team. YMMV.

[iam416]

In any event, it's a sad end for the what is probably the greatest team in B10 history. Very disappointing. Now Ryan Day will have to prove he's not Earle Bruce. Bruce, as you will recall, took a solid core team from Woody and went 11-0 before suffering a crushing loss to Charles White and USC. Bruce, of course, could never get back to that level.

Next year's Ohio State team will be horrific on defense. They lose everyone. And their two DB flip misses (Battle last year and Phillips this year) are going to kill them for years to come. The offense should be good, but at best they're a B12 team. They won't be better than Clemson or any other truly elite team next season.

It's like the 2011-12 OSU hoops teams losing to UK in the S16. You know they're the best team. You know they came up short. You know you won't see a team that good in a long time. That's what this really feels like.

[CGVT]

Targeting? Good call. Bad rule. Complete game changer
"Roughing" the kicker? Good call. Stupid play
Incomplete pass? I thought it was a catch.

Other than the loss of the cornerback on the targeting call, the biggest factor in the game was Dobbin's ankle injury. He was never the same after it. He lost the explosion that made him a major factor.

[iam416]

Yeah, I hate the targeting rule because of situations like last night. I've seen enough CFB to know that Shaun Wade's hit was a POTENTIAL targeting call. It wasn't obvious nor egregious nor cheap. But, the rule is so fucking inconsistent and bullshit that he put himself at risk.

The punt was stupid. That said, he completely stopped and didn't run through the punter at all. But, it looked like 15 at real speed.

The fumble is the one call that was really terrible. I'll put it this way -- if that was in the endzone and he caught the ball, took 4 steps and then waived off a TD catch, Dabo would have lost his shit. That's just an awful fucking call. And it's a REVERSAL. That's the thing, it was a REPLAY REVERSAL!!! (Same with the targeting, btw).

[iam416]

The one thing about the targeting is that Jack Carman had his mitts straight up CY's facemask in a blatantly obvious hands to the face. The targeting still stands and OSU loses a first round DB. But, the penalties offset and Clemson has to convert 3rd and 8 with their backup QB. Bah.

[iam416]

Another huge play. After the targeting they still force 3rd and goal. They string out Etienne perfectly and have him for a 3 yard loss, but the backside flow overpursues, he cuts it up, gets out of jail and scores a TD. Should have been 16-3 instead of 16-7. Then you go 3 and out and give them ball back. Then you give up a 3rd and 10. Then you give up a 66 yard TD run.

Yeah, this one is gonna sit badly forever. I don't think Ohio State got a single break the entire game. Hell, even on the punt right before the final Clemson TD drive -- the punt kicks into a Clemson player and it doesn't get away from him and he's able to recover.

[WingsFan]

To much to unpack, I guess the best part is osu fans complaining about the officials. Oh the Irony... And Fuck Gregg Mattison! What? ... his defense gave up that 94 yard drive in 1:18 late in the game to give up the lead - yep that's him alright.

[WingsFan]

This is kinda weird, urbs is a little to emotional/involved maybe? Who's the coach here anyway? If ?(?w?e???)? ? Ohio State? Television GOLD!

[lineygoblue]

This call to me furthers my argument I've made many times on here where I've argued that replay is not being used as it was originally intended. Its being used to over-officiate, and nitpick, rather than to fix an obvious officiating error. This was a classic example of my argument. The LJ in real time was correctly positioned, saw the play, bean-bagged what he correctly saw as a catch/fumble, and allowed the play to continue as a scoop/score. In my pea-brained opinion, I think this call should have been allowed to stand, because there was no OBVIOUS error. It was a play where the receiver had the ball in his hands for at least 2 steps, (and actually 3-4 if you're an OSU fan) and then the ball comes out. There was no 'bobble', or foot out of bounds, or anything else that would make the pass incomplete. The narrow reasoning for the 'incompletion', was that the receiver didn't "put the ball away". I think that's hogwash. The kid caught the ball. He had possession. He was forced to fumble during a live ball. The defender scooped up the fumble and scored. That's what happened. The replay official took all that away because in his opinion the receiver 'didn't put it away". Its just nonsense, and an abuse of the replay system, IMO.

Forget that it was OSU for a moment. What I like to see at this level is a well-officiated ballgame. These kids work year around on conditioning, team meetings, spring drills, summer drills, etc... When they get to a game of this magnitude, they deserve to have the zebras work their best games of the season. Nothing less. When the zebras fail to do their job at the highest level, then these players are denied one of the most important components of the game. Solid enforcement of the rules, and solid administration of the game. The zebras failed in OSU v Clemson, IMO.

So, yeah ... OSU fans this morning know how we felt in 2016. Its college football, and it happens. But, it doesn't make it right.

[Rocky Bleier]

2016 called to say,"Karma's a bitch."

[WingsFan]

Forget that it was OSU for a moment.

No

[iam416]

[iam416]

[lineygoblue]

And the other calls:

The roughing the punter call was preventable. All OSU has to do there is make sure he punts it. It was not at the point of the game where a blocked punt was necessary. Make sure he kicks it, and play for the return. That's coaching.

The targeting call was only good due to the way the rule is currently defined. I don't think the defender targeted Lawrence in the way that the rule was originally intended. It needs to be defined better. IMO, it needs to be more of an overt act, than an accidental act. But, that's just me.

OSU was not going to be able to beat LSU anyway, so they got their first loss a couple weeks early instead of in the NC game. But that doesn't excuse the officiating problems in last night's game.

[klondike]

It was a great game but my one question is has Chase's draft value dropped over his last 3 game performances? Right now I would pick their cb as better in big games.