Back In The Day Of Cooper Comment Count

Brian

Wow. Wow. Wow. I was idling along on SI.com doing something, what I can't remember, when an SI Vault link invitingly titled "Herbstreit has Buckeyes Rolling" promised retro lulz given the way Herbstreit's career turned out (0-4-1, all of which losses were entirely his fault… just like Mike Hart). I clicked, and found myself in a gold mine. (Though it was a mistitled one. Herbstreit hardly came in for a mention.)

For one, here's one of the great quotes of the rivalry, one I had no idea about:

Facing fourth-and-goal on the Michigan five with 4:24 remaining and the Wolverines leading 13-6, Ohio State's Kirk Herbstreit threw a scoring pass to Greg Beatty, and the Buckeyes hung on for a 13-13 tie. University president Gordon Gee's jubilant assessment of the stalemate—"This tie is one of our greatest wins ever"—was interpreted as naked relief that he wouldn't have to fire a decent man.

Also, I had no idea how rough Cooper's start was. His first four years he brought home a winning percentage of .600 to go along with an 0-4 record in The Game. Would Rodriguez get that sort of slack these days? (Maybe, since it would mean Michigan would average 9.2 wins over the next three years. Woo for going 3-9 to start.)

And then there's this annoying, deathless meme:

Two things, however, separate this Buckeye squad from Cooper's previous teams: an abundance of speed and an absence of controversy. The ascension of Florida teams has finally convinced Big Ten coaches that the days of pounding the ball behind stegosauruslike offensive linemen are over. "We've begun to realize," says Cooper, "that if we're going to compete with the big boys, we're going to have to recruit speed."

argh. argh argh argh. This is almost 20 years ago! How many times has a spiritual equivalent of the bolded sentence been written? An exhaustive search of everything ever written about sports yields 600 million, or so, all of them trite and dumb.

And this… this I give the title of fakest FAKE 40 of all time:

Even Dan (Big Daddy) Wilkinson, the Buckeyes' 6'5", 305-pound defensive tackle, can motor. Big Daddy ran the 40 in 4.87 three years ago—when he weighed 350.

The hell, I say. The freakin' hell.

And then there's the tenor of the article itself, wherein undefeated Ohio State wonders if its current team "stacks up with Woody's best":

Certainly the defense, which has yet to yield a rushing touchdown, is special. A debating topic among Buckeye fans is whether this is the best Ohio State defense since the '84 unit, which featured Chris Spielman and Pepper Johnson, or since the '73 defense of Bob Brudzinski and Randy Gradishar.

How did this all work out for Ohio State?

Not well.

Comments

a2bluefan

June 11th, 2009 at 10:59 AM ^

Brian... THANKS for posting that footage. I feel a tear forming in my eye.

Of particular note (despite their irrelevance), are the hundreds of marshmallows in the NW corner of the endzone.

Man, those were the days.

Hoken's Heroes

June 11th, 2009 at 11:06 AM ^

Is that that they believe OSU football started in 2001. The methyl alcohol drinking, couch burning, petulant inbreds that call themselves OSU fans have collectively brainwashed themselves into believing that the Cooper years never existed.

And while I'd love to take a tire iron to many a Buckeye fan's knee cap and dump them into the Hudson, I'll let Michigan beat them on the field a few times and enjoy watching the suffering that is soon to come to the zombie like Buckeye fan.

Michigan Arrogance

June 11th, 2009 at 11:09 AM ^

only in Cbus is a tie with M a great 'victory.'

and the speed thing is so tired. In 1991 when FSU came in and dismantled M 51-31, the speed differential was valid and addressed. By the end of the 90s, M had strings of WRs, DBs, LBs getting into the NFL. they took HS DBs and made them into LBS, HS LBs into DEs, etc. they had speed. these days, it's not how faster you are, it's how you use it.

Nate-Dawg

June 11th, 2009 at 11:12 AM ^

Can't wait for the day when beating Ohio State becomes the norm again. Awesome footage, nice post. We really kicked their ass that day.

Since someone's already posted above about it, what is the deal with all those pieces of white in the NW corner of the end zone? Are they really marshmellows? Why did ppl throw marshmellows onto the field? I remember the same thing happening in the game against Michigan State in 2000 where we won 14-0 I believe and probably many other games I'm forgetting.

medals

June 11th, 2009 at 11:45 AM ^

It was some strange tradition that was there when my big sis went to UM (1989-93) and possibly earlier. The students would smuggle bags of mashmallows in and just throw them at eachother during the game. It was kind of like a massive snowball fight, except for they didn't hurt really (besides when a-holes would put pennies in them). Inevitably they would end up on the field as they progressed down the rows. I remember the students pelting the ABC/ESPN camera crews on their dollies a few times. They ended up putting a plastic guard thingy on it to protect the camera man from mashmallows.

Route66

June 11th, 2009 at 11:26 AM ^

Why can't we bring the marshmellows back? As a kid I always loved seeing them. They would probably have an ill effect on the field turf though in early september.....

Hoken's Heroes

June 11th, 2009 at 12:02 PM ^

the turf Michigan uses is Field Turf. To keep the artificial grass blades erect, they fill the turf with crumb rubber (rubber pellets from tires usually) and silica sand. This absorbs a ton of heat. And when you see that black spray come up when players run, that's the rubber flying up.

Route66

June 11th, 2009 at 12:47 PM ^

Big Pussy, but I am quite familiar with the Field Turf(I think I gave it the correct name in the first comment). In college when we played on that stuff the worst part was when the black pellets would get kicked up, you would get them stuck to your face and in your mouth ect. It was like playing on a mattress though, the most comfortable stuff!

Hoken's Heroes

June 11th, 2009 at 1:37 PM ^

It's what they play on now and I believe have played on for the last several years. But prior to that, the turf didn't have the infill. Anyways, I remember the marshmallow years. While I can't blame the banning of them, it was sure fun to see a hail of white pellets hit the opposing team after they scored a TD.

msoccer10

June 11th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^

I was a freshman that year. Ty Law lived at the end of my hall in the dorm and I shared a wall with Brian Griese. We had four losses that year, but beating an undefeated OSU team made it seem like a successful year. Those four years, we had four losses every year, but beat OSU 3 of 4 including twice when they were undefeated.

cfaller96

June 11th, 2009 at 12:03 PM ^

if you really wanted to mess with opposing players, opposing band members, camera crews, etc., then you threw half-full soda cups. Nobody wants ice cold coke splashing over them in October/November in A2. Good times.

cfaller96

June 11th, 2009 at 5:09 PM ^

I hereby take responsibility for every M fan being treated horribly at every road game, ever. Clearly my random soda cup tossing is at the heart of the abuse of every M fan in history. I'm sorry.

Next time I'll just throw soda cups at my friends. Wait, I already do that. Never mind.

Rodriguez Fami…

June 11th, 2009 at 12:29 PM ^

The key to throwing marshmallows was to suck on one end before throwing it so they stuck on your target. Will never forget one UM v. OSU game where there was one OSU fan in my student section; he was totally coated in marshmallows. priceless

lssu889294

June 11th, 2009 at 1:18 PM ^

I thought the marshmallow throwing was intended for the Notre Dame mascot. We were just giving him his marshmallow treats. I remember the first time he ran by the student section with the ND Flag and the whole corner of the endzone turned white. Awesome!