February 4th, 2024 at 1:15 PM ^
Seems like they Offord the most money...
Or if it's pronounced differently: The other teams just couldn't Offord him.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:24 PM ^
It's pronounced like Oxford except without the X.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:51 PM ^
Does he understand when to use commas?
February 4th, 2024 at 2:23 PM ^
Underrated comment. Corporate America struggles with the Oxford Comma. I stand here, alone, fighting that fight every single day.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:41 PM ^
Tell me about it. I once worked with a young woman just out of college who sniffed at the Oxford comma as being old-fashioned, When I showed her a sentence that literally had two meanings depending on the presence/absence of the Oxford she said, "Well, you just rearrange the word order." Hello no! I don't want to (and shouldn't have to).
February 4th, 2024 at 5:07 PM ^
If you were that big of a fan, you wouldn't have said,
"I stand here, alone, fighting that fight, every single day."
February 4th, 2024 at 5:06 PM ^
So, offered?
February 4th, 2024 at 5:37 PM ^
So like a handmaid from Handmaid's Tale?
February 4th, 2024 at 1:37 PM ^
They are going with the Texas A&M approach, get the best team money can buy. The Aggies couldnt figure out how to manage all the egos and other issues that come from that. Will be interesting to see how OSU does with it. The thing is that a lack of talent hasn't been their issue - toughness has been and guys who are drawn in by the money usually aren't the toughest...
February 4th, 2024 at 1:40 PM ^
Not sure why someone would downvote you for your honest comment
February 4th, 2024 at 2:06 PM ^
Ryan Day doesn't seem like the dude who can bring the discipline needed to a team full of mercs. We'll see of course.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:09 PM ^
It’s still different. Texas A&M was not winning before they decided to buy players. OSU may stub their toe in a game (The Game), but we need to be honest. They’ve had a culture that wins games, just not the one that we care most about. They are throwing studs into a locker room that expects to win… that isn’t what A&M was.
February 5th, 2024 at 8:28 AM ^
If Texas A&M had been in the Big Ten the past few years, they would've had a floor of ten wins per season
February 4th, 2024 at 2:12 PM ^
I find all the offseason celebrations by OSU about their influx of talent to be strange. They're always in the top 5 in talent. That was never their problem and I would bet the incoming talent they straight paid for is going to gel worse than your traditional OSU roster
February 4th, 2024 at 2:25 PM ^
What I’ve noticed is they’re bragging about loading up on talent at positions like WR, which they’ve had in spades recently anyway, and corner, which seems irrelevant in a conference that doesn’t throw the ball.
It seems like they’d be better off focusing on the trenches and getting some linebackers than continuing to load up on skill position guys.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:53 PM ^
Yeah, agree with you. When all is said and done, they'll probably have the most talented roster - along with Georgia - on paper but doesn't mean much if they don't fix that shitty OL of the past 2 or 3 years.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:59 PM ^
Their biggest problem is their inability to reliably convert when faced with 3rd/4th and short, hence the much-maligned jet sweeps and bubble screens they ran in those situations. Day gets blasted for being too conservative in those situations, but he also knows that his team sucks at them. And yet their one IOL transfer this offseason is a center that can’t snap. Mind-boggling.
February 4th, 2024 at 3:31 PM ^
Oregon USC Washington and UCLA all like to sling the ball.
February 4th, 2024 at 4:40 PM ^
Maybe UW is pass-only but UCLA ran the ball 41 times a game last year (more than UM) and that's been true for a number of years under Chip. Oregon ran the ball 40 times a game in 2022, and the best Lincoln Riley offenses run the ball quite a bit. When Oregon beat OSU some years ago it was because they just ran over them. OSU's continued issues is they field a defense designed to beat their offense first and it struggles if the other team can stay on schedule.
February 4th, 2024 at 6:40 PM ^
Hate to break it to you but none of those teams will be throwing the ball a ton come late October and November. And UCLA ranks behind the likes of MSU and PSU in pass attempts.
February 4th, 2024 at 7:48 PM ^
No doubt loading up the sickest 7on7 team in the Big Ten.
February 4th, 2024 at 10:30 PM ^
It seems like they’d be better off focusing on the trenches and getting some linebackers than continuing to load up on skill position guys.
My take is that they think their talent advantage is enough to win the Big Ten most years, but that the skill position talent is what's needed to win the national championship.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:39 AM ^
My take is that they think their talent advantage is enough to win the Big Ten most years, but that the skill position talent is what's needed to win the national championship.
They have superstar recruiters at WR (Hartline) and DB (Walton), but not O-line. Michigan fans talk about this stuff like Ohio State can just draft players according to need. Absolutely everyone at 11w thinks O-line requires the most work, and they/we have thought that for a couple years. The Cotton Bowl farce just underscored it.
Day and his staff know it's a problem, but it's not like they can order 4- and 5-star lineman off a menu, and just choose not to out of stupidity.
February 5th, 2024 at 10:02 AM ^
Day builds that team like 7-on-7 drills win championships. And he's not entirely wrong I suppose - OSU can just go pass happy and nuke 99% of the FBS, but when they go up against someone who can actually bully them in the trenches they lose because their OL development has been trash. Knowles is really bailing out Day right now
February 5th, 2024 at 10:31 AM ^
Day builds that team like 7-on-7 drills win championships. ...when they go up against someone who can actually bully them in the trenches they lose because their OL development has been trash.
Day fired the previous O-line coach because he was subpar, and none of his "project" recruits wound up contributing. New coach is actually recruiting good players and developing what he has. (Do you think the 2023 offensive line that held Michigan's great D-line to 1 sack was "trash"?)
February 4th, 2024 at 10:58 PM ^
It seems like they’d be better off focusing on the trenches and getting some linebackers than continuing to load up on skill position guys.
Yes, they seem to be misallocating NIL, but sooner or later I would think they would figure that out.
Or maybe Ryan Day is really Matt Millen and can't help himself.
February 5th, 2024 at 9:50 AM ^
and corner...no improvement at LB and DL though.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:54 PM ^
This isn’t any different than how OSU has been recruiting for years. And given how many players stayed who could’ve left for the NFL, they also seem to have a pretty good culture. They’re not Texas A&M. But the encouraging thing is that their top recruits/transfers continue to be WRs and DBs. Michigan won the last three years because they dominated up front, and OSU hasn’t changed that yet.
February 4th, 2024 at 3:24 PM ^
Good point; but even though OSU CB sometimes aren't developed to their ceiling, CB is unfortunately one position where raw athletic ability can do a lot, team spirit or no.
February 4th, 2024 at 3:35 PM ^
Love how we rip on Ohio State for not being "tough." In the past two years, unless I'm mistaken, they've lost three regular season games — including two to Michigan, which this year, on the road, they lost on the road by less than a touchdown.
If they weren't in the same damned division as last year's National Champion, they probably would have made the 4-team playoff. To act like they're a bad team, or "soft" seems like wishful thinking. Unless the standard for "soft" is "being the second-best of over 100 teams in the country."
Ah, fuck it. I love acknowledging them as an awesome damned team. Makes us look better for beating them. Why do you want to make it look like beating them is easy?
February 4th, 2024 at 4:08 PM ^
Of course, OSU brought in A&M's AD to supervise the spending. I'm afraid OSU's approach is likely to work a lot better than A&M's. They are spreading the money around. Besides incoming freshmen, they are paying transfers and paying players to stay out of the draft. The last part should avoid a lot of the resentment some players felt at A&M while also fielding a team ready to compete immediately.
February 4th, 2024 at 7:18 PM ^
It’s also the Georgia and Alabama approach. It works for some.
February 4th, 2024 at 9:35 PM ^
I think this extends to effort. If you’re getting a pile of money before your first S&C session or practice - and, you still have a pile of money regardless of what effort you put in. Does the money serve as a motivator - or would you feel entitled to the pile of cash.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:58 AM ^
Dancing with “The Day” should break those egos.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:16 PM ^
Oh, the lengths to try to make sure ol’ third base succeeds…
February 4th, 2024 at 10:29 PM ^
I think we should wait until The Game 2024 and then we can compare 3rd basemen.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:18 PM ^
Wrong blog - this is the blog for the three time defending B1G champions. I think the 2nd best team in the conference has their own blog.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:20 PM ^
+1.
You could clutter the board with posts on Top 100 / 247 players choosing OSU for the past fifteen years.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:25 PM ^
right on! 2023 National Champions! Meanwhile, 3rd base was watching at home as Jimmy and company hoisted the hardware
February 4th, 2024 at 2:02 PM ^
Oh. Sorry- thought we were good with posting news about UM’s opponents and rivals.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:21 PM ^
I must have missed the post for when unranked Eli Lee committed to them.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:14 PM ^
Logged in 10 times to upvote this 14.
Wrong fucking message board. I don't give a fuck about them and dont need to see how much money they are spending.
February 4th, 2024 at 2:25 PM ^
I agree with IndyPete --I can't possibly downvote this enough.... I don't care what they do... why are you on this blog telling us this??.....Oh and BTW I heard they got a 5* jock strap fitter....
February 5th, 2024 at 8:44 AM ^
Iowa does indeed have a blog.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:21 PM ^
Where's Lou Holtz?
February 4th, 2024 at 6:14 PM ^
Lou is over in the corner snickering.
February 4th, 2024 at 1:21 PM ^
A Wiiiiiiideeeee Oppppen Reccceeiiver!
February 4th, 2024 at 1:23 PM ^
Who cares.