Big Ten "Black Saturday"
September 16th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
We should be able to win it then, right?
September 16th, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
Should have been 8, thanks for messing that one up, TCU.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:13 PM ^
Except they were not "unranked".
September 16th, 2018 at 4:22 PM ^
Well, this is embarrassing. I'll go eat my lemon now.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:22 PM ^
I never felt like TCU was gonna win that game.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
No but they sure as hell left it all on the field. Threw the kitchen sink at them too.
September 16th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
Right. Plus handed OSU a few touchdowns. Not to mention the 5 points handed by the refs. But your point is valid too.
September 16th, 2018 at 9:22 PM ^
Thought they had a puncher’s chance
September 16th, 2018 at 4:30 PM ^
Yeah, me neither. And I really wanted to.
Ohio State makes bad mistakes . . . doesn't matter.
Ohio State gets RPS'd repeatedly . . . doesn't matter.
Ohio State loses players to injury . . . doesn't matter.
They just have too much horsepower. Too much depth and talent.
When they need to do it, they just tap the gas a little and they accelerate clear of trouble.
FML
September 16th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
I was trying to think of an analogy last night; i think you've got it.
It's like a drag racer that the driver is kind of a dumbass and the steering's not great but the engine is just stupid powerful. Thing takes off after a bad start, gets sideways, smokes the tires, hops all over the track and then they just gun it and somehow it stays straight enough to reel in the other car and get the win.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:43 PM ^
And also the driver is a serial liar who covers for spousal abuse
September 16th, 2018 at 7:12 PM ^
User name checks out
September 16th, 2018 at 9:38 PM ^
Speaking of which...
September 16th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
This^
There's a saying in racing: "There's no substitute for horsepower."
Ohio State just has too much of it. Talent in depth. That's what happens when you recruit at an Alabama level for a decade.
They can be beat, but it will take a perfect game. One the other hand, they have a wide margin of error, as you saw last night. They won big on the road at night against a tough, gritty opponent without playing anything near a perfect game.
Again, FML.
September 17th, 2018 at 12:04 AM ^
would you lie and cheat to get to that level though? Nope. Screw OSU. They showed their colors like a few days ago.
September 17th, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
They showed those colors years ago.
September 17th, 2018 at 7:38 AM ^
I would hardly call their game a "road game." It was played at JerryWorld and the crowd was at least 2/3 Buckeye fans. And, it was officiated by a neutral ACC crew.
September 18th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
It's a road game when the team your playing lives 20 mile down the road.
September 17th, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
We used to do the same thing with Carr as coach. I remember when Brady Hoke almost beat us in 2006.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
Me neither. OSU almost always wins those tight games.
September 17th, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^
They definitely gave it their all, but I agree, I never felt like they were going to win.
I keep going back and forth on OSU's defense. They looked mortal and gave up 28 points (and 31 to Oregon St.) and over 500 yards, but they also scored two TDs, which helps make things look significantly better.
September 16th, 2018 at 10:59 PM ^
Or maybe 9, if MSU was playing.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:24 PM ^
"Damn" -Smokey and Craig
September 16th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
A bunch of shitty teams lost to teams that were slightly less shitty than them.
Plus, only 5 Big Ten teams lost Saturday.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^
This is seriously understating things. Maryland lost to Temple by three touchdowns. Northwestern lost to Akron at home. Rutgers got blown out by Kansas. Wisconsin lost at home to a team that lost to Cal. Those are all really bad losses.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
Plus, only 5 Big Ten teams lost Saturday.
This is incorrect. Seven Big Ten teams lost yesterday and five of the losses were to Group of Five schools. Those losses (bold is a G5 loss):
- Maryland lost to Temple, 35-14
- Rutgers lost to Kansas, 55-14
- Nebraska lost to Troy, 24-19
- Illinois lost to South Florida, 25-19
- Wisconsin lost to BYU, 24-21
- Northwestern lost to Akron, 39-34
- Purdue lost to Missouri, 40-37
EDIT: I of course missed Mr. Sobchak's facetious reference to Maryland and Rutgers not being Big Ten teams.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
He's not counting Maryland or Rutgers as Big Ten teams, which is fair.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
Yeah, good call.
I'll go over in the corner now and think about what I've done.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
We shouldn't count Nebraska either.
September 16th, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^
Shouldn't be counting Nebraska or PSU, for that matter, of we are really talking about the Big Ten.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:25 PM ^
We should not count that Michigan Agricultural College interloper either.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:08 PM ^
I know it's the internet but man some of you guys' sarcasm meters are dead and need recharged!
September 16th, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^
Yeah, I've been around long enough to know better.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
It's amazing how bad the bottom of the conference is.
September 17th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
Also apparently Wisconsin.
September 16th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^
Rutgers and Maryland aren't really Big Ten teams.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
If we really want to split hairs neither is Nebraska! So four Big Ten teams lost plus one each from the ACC, AAC, and Big 12.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:31 PM ^
The results of yesterday made me look more closely at Wisconsin, who many (myself included) likely had listed as a probable loss at the start of the year. Last year Wisconsin was very good and the narrative focused on everything they returned on offense. According to Phil Steele, here's what they return:
Offense: 9 players
Defense: 4 players
The thing that people seem to forget is that Wisconsin's strength under Chryst has not been the offense. Last year their offense was solid, but barely cracked the top 25 of the advanced stats. The year before that it was in the mid-30s. Essentially, Wisconsin lost 2/3 of the backbone of its team and returned most of the supporting cast. After watching them lose at home to BYU, I like our odds of beating them at home.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^
I only watched the last few minutes. How well was BYU able to run on them throughout the game?
If you want to beat them, you need to be able to run on them.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
191 yards on 6.8 ypc.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:26 PM ^
Paging Mr. Higdon . . .
September 16th, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
Last year, per S&P+, Wisconsin's offense was 41st. Conversely, the Badger D was 3rd.
I don't fully trust S&P+ until October (sample size), but this year their offense is 21st and their defense is 27th.
So, yes, your analysis is correct. They returned the supporting cast but lost the backbone. And that is showing.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:32 PM ^
Is it possible that Wisconsin was a product of their always horrible schedule last year and were, in fact, overrated?
Who was the best team they beat before playing in the Big Ten title game? Us? We were an 8-5 team without a QB.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:13 PM ^
And we led that game midway through the third quarter.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^
They damn near beat Ohio State in the Big Ten title game. Probably did beat them if not for some Ref injustice. They were for real last year. This year, not so sure.
September 16th, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
I will be honest. Every Big Ten team is associated in some form or other with an annoying memory, so I am quite happy to see them lose. Of course, the team associated with the most annoying memories is also the one that almost never seems to lose.
September 17th, 2018 at 6:14 AM ^
I found myself enjoying many of these teams losing and was rooting for the underdog in all of these games (purdue was a 6 pt dog so I was rooting for them). I thought, should I be rooting for the B1G? But I got more enjoyment seeing Maryland get rolled, Nebraska lose at home to Troy, Wisc lose at home to BYU, NW lose to a MAC team.
Amongst all the carnage, Indiana is quietly 3-0 and handling their business. They get Sparty at home this week. Should be interesting.
September 17th, 2018 at 8:57 AM ^
That'll be a tough game for Sparty, because while they're coming off a bye, as we all know, they spent at least 80% of that bye week practicing for Michigan.
September 16th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
Over rated conference.