A "What If" on the Ohio State Game
If the UM-OSU game were held this coming Saturday - with us coming off a win over Rutgers the prior weekend and sitting at 7-2, and OSU coming off their win over Minnesota and sitting at 9-0, the game still being played at the Big House, etc. - what do you think the opening line/spread would be?
I think it would open at OSU -3, give or take half a point. Curious what others think, mostly because I am curious about perceptions of the relative strength of the two teams at this point in the year...
November 10th, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^
OSU - 4.5
November 10th, 2015 at 11:01 AM ^
if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their asses
November 10th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^
No, they wouldn't bump their asses "when they hopped." As my 9th grade English teacher used to say, "if you're going to be a smart ass, first you have to be smart." :-D
November 10th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
Dude, I have been insulted in virtually every way possible in my life, but being called a "pedantic joysucking sludgefart" is by far the greatest thing I have ever been called...
November 10th, 2015 at 11:30 AM ^
Or as Bartlett says in "The Great Escape", if you must think, for God's sake think clearly.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^
And if worms had machine guns, birds wouldn't be scared of them.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^
That's a brave, possibly stupid bird.
November 10th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^
Like a worm can go out and buy ammunition, load the gun aim it and pull the trigger.
If worms had guns, birds would NOT be afraid of them.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:57 AM ^
I only looked at this thread to see how long it would take for someone to summon the Harbaugh. It took eight comments.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:12 AM ^
If worms had machine guns, birds would be scared of them.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:30 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
African or European frogs?
November 10th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^
Because its YOUR dog, that makes it ok.
November 10th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
If a frog had sidepockets, he'd carry a handgun.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:01 AM ^
I would say OSU -6.
The thing that has me most concerned is us getting yardage on the ground.
This doesn't mean that Harbaugh still can't pull it off. See: Stanford v. USC.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
You know though...we've actually been pretty good on the ground against OSU the last two years. I wonder how much of that was having (at least the threat of) a mobile QB. If that wasn't a large part of it, we could be okay.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:02 AM ^
a lot of the perception of the teams will be based on what happens in the next two weeks, so I think your question is difficult. If they played this week I think it is essentially a pick em, because Michigan looked really strong last week and Barrett is coming off suspension. If OSU trucks State the week before we play, however, and we struggle or lose a game before that, I think the spread could go as high as OSU -10 or somewhere in that neighborhood. They were really starting to get their feet under them with Barrett and may be deadly by the time they come to A2.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
Way to entirely misunderstand the concept of a "What If" question! ;-)
November 10th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
the what-if within my answer, just thought it was kind of a pointless "what if."
What if we played Indiana the first week of the season? Discuss.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^
What if we moved Chesson to kicker, Smith to fullback (obvs), Peppers to holder or long snapper, and Rudock to a stupid-factory because he is such a stupid, right?
I mean what if, you know?
November 10th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^
we would have the first long-snapper to ever win the Heisman trophy.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^
You can bet the game already. It's OSU -5. It went down to 2.5 prior to the MSU game. It was up around 14 to start year and plummeted steadily.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^
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November 10th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
I'd be more concerned about plummetting in a herky-jerky fashion. At least plummetting steadily gets you to your destination faster. Consider the alternative - I'm going to die! AAAAHHHHH, wait, I'm OK? Gravity ceased to exist? Whew. AAAAHHHHH!!!! Sort of a Wile E. Coyote thing.
November 10th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
OSU -5 is about right.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^
OSU -10
Beating Rutgers at home doesn't mean anything
November 10th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
If you peruse Sagarin and Massey and some other sites just to get a feel for projected margins, this would probably open more or less where the OP says, although part of me wants to say Vegas would go with OSU -3.5 if they listened to those estimates (which they haven't, but Vegas). Right now, Sagarin has the projected margin at 0.70 points in favor of OSU, so essentially a coin flip - I would be impressed if any site went with more than -3 or -3.5 by the time of the game, although some lines are wider than this now.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
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November 10th, 2015 at 11:10 AM ^
I'd say 3.5, maybe 4.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^
that will have a major impact on The Game are how explosive OSU's offense looks over the next two weeks and how dominant (or not) our defense looks in that same time span.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^
Another factor to consider will be the relative overall strength of OSU vs. the overall strength of Michigan, and the anticipated scoring margin between them.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:12 AM ^
I think it would open at around osu -3 and go down to a pick 'em by game time. The betting public likes Harbaugh.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
A better question would be if the upcoming game could be played in the past with each coach allowed to bring back five dead players, five living players and one current players and put them on their roster and if this game featuring dead guys, old guys and one current guy was played on a neutral field, say in Soviet Russia circa 1950 (right about when the Stalin regime was at it's most brutal) would the concessions still charge $6.00 for water?
I've been thinking a lot about that recently. That and why ANYONE would ever eat a parsnip. Those fuckers taste like death.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
Parsnips are awesome. Get outta here with that trash.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^
are pretty good. Try them once and you'll never look back to whatever boring root you are eating now.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:37 AM ^
Grantland.com was still around, we could get an answer to your question.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
but you still got it. (Regardless of your opinion on parsnips....)
+1
November 10th, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
This thread is dildo's.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^
This thread is large, veiny and kind of sticky? I am super confused...
November 10th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
Or do they have to be used firs...ewwwwww nasty.
November 10th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
It's called quality control testing, and it happens in the factory. Mmmmmmm, Asia...
November 10th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
Head to head:
| Michigan | OSU | |
| Rutgers | 49-16 | 49-7 |
| Maryland | 28-0 | 49-28 |
| Minnesota | 29-26 | 28-14 |
| for | 106 | 126 |
| against | 42 | 49 |
So they are a bit better on offense, we are a bit better on defense.
With home field, I give even odds.
We will know a lot more after PSU.