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

[iam416]

Not that I'm aware of. BTN replays or BTN2go. The latter probably has it.

[Optimus Prime]

Thanks, I will record it, was hoping for a broadband feed so that I would be able to watch it while at work.

Nice dig on coach Hoagie but in his defense, he's a man of monosyllabic words and he likely was drinking that day.

All that matters this season is keeping DR healthy enough to bitch slap Meyer come November.

[iam416]

Eh. Not much to see. Miller is really good. Some other parts of OSU are pretty good. The rest is either meh, not so good or injured.

[Optimus Prime]

I am curious, I watched many of his games here in Florida on TV and even a few at the swamp. Wonder how much of his style has impacted OSU, although it's obviously early?

[iam416]

Offensively, they're leap years better than last year, but, heh, c'mon. I do think offensively they're really on a high trajectory path. Right now they're thin at RB with Hyde and Hall out and they really need at least 1, preferably 2, more gamebreakrs on offense (Jalin Marshall!). On Saturday they slogged down the field. They punted 1 time. Turnovers and a failed 4th and 1 ended the non-scoring drives.

But, the offense is actually watchable. And I actually watch them thinking, hey, they're going to score.

Defensively, UFM probably wants a more aggressive approach. They had a makeshift, out-of-position line on Saturday and UCF has a good OL. Very little pressure and UFM was pissed about that. In fact, that lack of pressure from the DL is what has fans worked into tizzy. Spence and Washington -- 2 frosh -- are both playing in the 2-deep at the moment. Hopefully Nathan Williams can go and hopefully Micheal Bennet comes back.

I love his press conferences. He's the anti-Tressel. Blunt. Says a lot. Good stuff.

OSU isn't particularly great, but they're in the B10. If they can managed to get a win in EL -- a longshot, I think -- they have a credible chance to get to 10-0. And they are no where close to being a 10-0 team.

[Optimus Prime]

Appreciated.

[lineygoblue]

This is one year where I think its entirely possible that when The Game rolls around, there will be no clear favorite. And, I mean no disrespect to Talent or Strangelove when I say that. I think that's just how the B1G is this year. ohio will probably be favored due to home field, but that may be about it.

Of course, there's a lot of football to be played between now and then. A lot of things can happen.

[iam416]

No clear favorite at the moment. Barring injuries to either QB, OSU will probably be 5-6 point favorites.

Shazier hasn't been as good, early, as I hoped. We'll see about the DL injuries. And we'll see what Jordan Hall adds to the mix.

They need Jalin Marshall and Ezekiel Elliot immediately. Marshall, in particular, will play right away, I think.

[WM Wolverine]

I see OSU as the best team in the conference, they should win 10 games. Don't see anyone else winning 10; Sparty, Nebraska might win 9.

[iam416]

Eh. OSU will lose at EL. They should probably get 2 out of 3 against UNL, Wisky and M. If they're lucky, they avoid a bedshitting performance. And they're 10-2.

God, it's such a miserable league at the moment. On the upside, if they manage to scratch out a miracle 12-0 season, I do believe UFM will rip Gene Smith's heart out and feed it to rabid racoons.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Who would win The Game if it were played next Satrurday?

I'd be willing to call M a +2 in c-bus.

Mattison is probably a game, maybe two, from deciding that freshman are going to replace a 5th year senior at MLB and two seniors on the DL in QWashington and BWC. Demens, BWC and Washington were no where to be seen on the AFA's last two drives which, incidentally, resulted in no points and two turnovers on failed 4th downs.

Scary.

The thing that pisses me off about osu is not miller's ability to throw or run the ball but his uncanny ability to extend the play frustrating the crap out of a defense that had RPS right and everyone was in the right spot to blow up the play. Instead, what happens is miller runs for a first down or throws a TD bomb to a flat footed receiver who is wide open because the S got sucked up trying to make sure miller didn't run for the first down. Without miller and with the current suckage at WR and injuries to RBs, osu's offense would blow.

Right now, even Denard could make hay in his passing game against the osu defense with the emergence of Gardner as a decent WR, Jeremy Gallon's steady play and Mr. Wow, Devin Funchess. And, of course there is Delithium. The real problem, of course, for M's offense is the OL and the mess on the interior line. Right now, I'd say that would be a wash with osu's front 3 or 4 who have been less than inspiring but, heh, its early.

I'd love to see The Game played on Saturday.

Denard gashed osu's defense for 100 rushing yards in both appearances as M's QB in 2010 and 2011. I would suspect he might break his record of 170 yards in 2011 against the bucks in 2012. I'd like to see that next Saturday while he' still healthy and luke is still thrashing around as ufm's legacy DC.

Anyway it would be fun. Through my Maze colored lenses, I think M covers the spread and beats osu if the game were played this weekend.

[iam416]

Both teams are one injured QB from oblivion.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, there is that.

At this point, which QB has the potential of "taking the game over."

I was listening to Neweasal today on Sirius and he proclaimed (in his inimical style that has forever gotten him in hot water), "there are four ways to win a football game: (1) Have more talent than the other team. (2) Have the other team make too many mistakes and turnovers thereby handing the game to you in a gift wrapped package. (3) Having a QB that can take the game over (Vince Young, Denard Robinson, RGIII, etc. and (4) I forgot."

The point is that both miller and Denard have that capability. Which one is better now and which one will be better (assuming they both stay healthy) when the teams meet in November? I think the answer to that question determines who wins The Game. I'm going with Dilitium.

[iam416]

No way! You're going with Denard? Unreal. Cats and dogs. Living together. Mass hysteria!

Or not.

[iam416]

A fair take on OSU's defensive efforts against UCF (which have numerous fans aghast):

Schematically, they are a little limited by youth, but I think doing a little more to stir things up is appropriate. That has not been the style of Luke Fickell since he started calling the signals last season, so it will be interesting to see if he changes his stripes at all now. As far as that goes, Fickell was continuing to follow the path set down by Mark Dantonio when he came here with Jim Tressel in 2001. They did away with the in-your-face press defenses of Fred Pagac Sr. that first drew the Silver Bullets moniker in 1996, forced instead to take a more measured approach to combat the proliferation of spread offenses across the country. I think they've moved too far in the direction of conservatism, though, the past two years.

UCF did OSU a favor with the game plan. They might have been harder to defend if they had tried harder to establish the run. It wasn't hard to get a read on what they were doing because they leaned so heavily on the pass despite having the personnel to run the ball and give the Buckeye defenders more to think about. Perhaps that could have created some more big-play opportunities for wide receivers who did not seem to have the ability to make their own against coverage.

The young defensive linemen held their own, but it was easy to see this was not a MAC offensive line as Adolphus Washington and Tommy Schutt had a harder time pushing them around. They were more in survival mode. Noah Spence was isolated in coverage on a UFC touchdown pass on which the defense looked to be misaligned. They were badly outflanked by the formation.