A bit of my rambling on an OSU board
Michigan was 5 yards away from being within 4 points of OSU late in the 4th quarter last season.
you can talk a lot about how OSU pulled back at times last year, and you would be right.
at the same time, wasnt Michigan missing its 2 best offensive players in Brandon Minor and David Molk? didnt their freshmen QB turn the ball over 5 times, and once inside your 10, and another time driving on OSU, and another time inside their own 5 giving away a touchdown?
The Game was a lot closer than people would like to make it out to be.
after reading this post, do you think the Michigan team that lost by 11 points to you guys had half the talent of the 2004 Michigan team? you know, the team that had BCS bowl talent, was superior to OSU, and got blown out by 14 points against OSU? what about the 2007 Michigan team? you know, the team that lost to OSU 2 touchdowns to OSU.
hell, ill take that much competitiveness from such a young and inferior Michigan team vs OSU every day. next year, for the first time since Rich Rodriguez was hired in 2+ years, we're going to see someone other than a freshmen/walk-on take snaps @ Michigan. im excited.
I sometimes forget how close that game was all things considered.
We definitely saw some things to be excited about in the future despite some of the poor play that day.
I just hope RR does the same thing and finds a way to hang with them next season and potentially surprise, because im getting sick dealing with these Buckeye fans in Ohio.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
they roasted you for that comment. it is their way
August 14th, 2010 at 9:39 PM ^
I lived in Columbus for a year. It is amazing how OSU fans just won't listen to reason.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^
August 14th, 2010 at 10:00 PM ^
At least they are classy enough to contain it in coolers!
August 15th, 2010 at 10:01 AM ^
They put the "ass" in "class"
August 14th, 2010 at 9:46 PM ^
yeah... nothing new from their end. ive come across some good Buckeye fans no question, but man are many of them a load to deal with.
i wore a Michigan shirt out to a bar a few weeks ago in Cleveland. the shirt didnt have a big M on the middle either. i wasnt seeking attention at all, but ill be damned if i watch what i wear cause some creepy buckeye fan gets upset over it. i was there about 10 minutes and a couple Buckeye fans noticed my shirt and started a fracas. it didnt stop there either. they tried provoking me into a fist fight.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^
Tell me about it. I live in Cleveland and I have to be sneaky about wearing the Maize 'n Blue - like wearing Corona shirts. Every time I go out of state I wear my M with pride, but here it only provokes fights. Me versus standard bucknut == win. Me versus 10 standard bucknuts == tie. But the law is against me.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^
I lived in Columbus for a couple of years as well. Same thing happened to me. Was in a quiet bar the night before the 2006 #1 vs #2 showdown and had a Michigan sweatshirt on. Of course, a couple of Buckeye idiots had to throw some snide remarks my way and thought they would look cool by trying to get up in my face. I was the better man and just walked away.
After that moment, my wife finally realized what I meant when I would tell her OSU fans take things to the extreme when it comes to anything Michigan related.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:06 AM ^
...you would have taken them...if only based on intellect.
They go all "Hulk Smash" and you step to the right.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
I grew up in Columbus in the 80s and 90s. it is way worse now than it ever was back then. the amount of retards that call themselves "buckeye fans" has grown probably ten fold since then. most of them obviously aren't real fans and are only drawn by recent success. Unfortunately, you do have to be careful of where you where you wear your gear because it just isn't worth the aggrivation.
August 15th, 2010 at 8:34 PM ^
I live and grew up in NW Ohio and most of the population is split 50/50 between Michigan and OSU. Every once in a while the OSU fans become arrogant as hell, especially after 2006 game. I will say for the most part though it is pretty tame remarks, a lot of joking back and forth nothing like Columbus or Cleveland.
I do have friends from just north of Columbus and Cincinnati and they are much worse. The number one thing they did not understand was, "How can you like Michigan you live in Ohio?" I literally had to get on map quest to show them it take 40 minutes to travel to Ann Arbor and 2 hours to get to Columbus, and they still did not fully understand one of my reasons. They just don't understand basic geography i guess.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:47 PM ^
Grew up in Fremont, went to school at Bowling Green--man, did I take hell for maintaining my fandom in all things Michigan there--now living in Norwalk. I get that question at least once a week during football season. An effective solution has been getting the "Huh?" look when I ask the same people how/why they root for the Steelers.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:48 PM ^
Interesting post, but I wouldn't have thrown the 2007 team in there. That year's game obviously would have been vastly different if Henne and Hart had been healthy.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^
Frankly, I don't recall that game being all that close, but that's probably just retrospective bias; I didn't expect the game to be close, and OSU won, so that probably colors my recollection. Looking back over the box score, the thing that stands out to me is that there really wasn't anybody who had a fantastic day offensively for Michigan (or OSU for that matter, but whatever). Roy Roundtree had a good day receiving, but had no TDs. I haven't watched any replays, but I don't remember if this was because Michigan was killing them on the perimeter or because OSU schemed heavily against the run (or some combination of both). The box score says Michigan attempted 42 passes, which is about 50% more attempts than average for the season (worth noting that there wasn't a commensurate rise in passing yardage; season average was 198.3, so you would expect more like 280-300 yards based on the number of attempts).
I do know that OSU sucked ass throwing the ball, and Michigan was terribad rushing the ball. Other than that, nothing really stands out to me about that game.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:29 PM ^
Part of the reason we were terribad running the ball was that our top two backs (Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown) were out, along with our starting center. You guys have been very, very fortunate against us in the injury department. Do you know how often we've had our starting QB and tailback be able to play four quarters against you guys in the last five years? Once - and that was the year we scored 39 points (2006).
At some point this stuff evens out. Is this the year the bug strikes OSU?
August 14th, 2010 at 10:04 PM ^
you can recognize your own bias in recalling that game. as a michigan fan, the game seemed (and i'd challenge anyone to convince me it wasn't) close. osu scored 14 offensive pts and needed an implosion from tate forcier (which included a fumble that was recovered for an ohio st TD) to win by 11. i think if he had the same game he had against wisconsin the week before, michigan wins.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:13 PM ^
I dunno, I have a hard time saying that OSU played very well, their massive pile of rushing yard notwithstanding. I don't think it's fair to say that Forcier's poor play is the only reason that we won, but it certainly helped. This game reminded me an awful lot of the 2007 game, in that OSU played well below their capability, but just enough to win. Either way, it's history, so I'm not really all that interested in arguing over hypotheticals.
August 14th, 2010 at 11:04 PM ^
I think it's wrong to say 2007 or 2009 were close. If Michigan hadn't been committing so many errors in 2009 I think Tressel would have just called more aggressive plays. As it was he didn't have to and played safe.
Similar for 2007, the Michigan offense was completely owned, so piling on points would have been crass and more risky. A healthy Hart wouldn't have changed the fact that our O-Line was being penetrated at will. A healthy Henne might have provided another option than running backward 2 yards though, and that's what we saw against Florida in the bowl game.
Problem is people need to play the games when they happen. Discussing what could have happened IF a bunch of other things weren't true is just mental masturbation.
It's a new season though, new players, new knowledge, and who knows what will happen,
that's why they play the game.
August 15th, 2010 at 1:26 AM ^
Please stop with the "Tressel didn't run aggressive plays because he was ahead" bullshit. It isn't true. He didn't open the playbook because his QB couldn't hit the broad side of a barn that day. Pryor had 9 completions for 67 yards....if they were losing, Pryor wouldn't have all of a sudden become a better passer. If the game were closer, Tressel wouldn't have opened up the playbook because the passing game wasn't working. He ran the ball the entire game because that is the only thing that was working. Pryor had his worst QB rating of the season against us and it isn't because Tressel didn't unleash him, it is because he sucked that game.
August 15th, 2010 at 2:21 AM ^
No one is saying Michigan had a better team than OSU in 2009, just that the game was closer than most people, on both sides, are making it out to be. Pryor's passing stats were: 9 of 17 for 67 yards with 1 INT and 1 TD for a total rating of 93.7. What, was he suddenly going to decide to be more accurate? His rushing stats were pretty bad also, 74 yards on 19 carries and he got sacked 3 times for 37 yards...I suppose he was trying to get tackled?
Ohio State punted 9 times with 4 of those being three-and-outs; that was intentional?
Maybe Tessel didn't open it because he didn't trust Pryor and hadn't for most of the second half of the season. That game was closer than people want to admit.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:02 PM ^
Given that Pryor averaged fewer than four yards per pass attempt, I personally wish that Tressel would have "opened it up" against us. Running the ball (with tailbacks) was the highest-percentage play for the Bucks.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^
Brandon Graham.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:54 AM ^
I don't know that I ever really thought UM was threatening much in the game. I did think UM had the chance of catching OSU flat footed but it wasn't really ever close. OSU had already locked up their birth to the rose bowl, tressel wasn't going to show anything more than he needed to. As long as they had the lead, I am sure they was just content to keep the clock running and get their players out of there without injury.
I don't know why this is a big deal, I thought it was pretty obvious
August 15th, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^
Because if we know anything, Tressel doesn't like to beat Michigan by as much as possible.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:13 PM ^
but I do seem to recall Michigan having a distinct advantage in TOP. Not that it matters when you piss the ball away after having it for so long!
In the spirit of the OP though, Not a Blue Fan, you are a breath of fresh air that helps me keep faith in the fact that there ARE rabid Buckeye fans who are in possesion of the ability to reason and be rational.
I would like to suggest a new avatar for you though. Perhaps some scantilly-clad women wearing buckeye gear. That way evreybody wins: You can remain true to your school and the rest of us won't be as likely to cringe when we see one of your posts!
August 15th, 2010 at 9:48 AM ^
Then T-Wolf wouldn't have to smash his monitor everytime he comments here.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^
Which OSU blog was it? I kind of like 11 Warriors myself. It is what you'd expect, mostly, except it actually has some good, clever writing. It is a nice, simply-organized blog. The funny thing is, they all hate us. Like a toothache. Who'd have guessed such a thing?
Here's what I find interesting about Columbus and tOSU; they really are obsessed with Michigan. It may be some form of in utero abnormality or something. Perhaps it is an environmental cause. But when you have just one bogey man to end all bogeymen, you do things like count the number of days since your team last lost to your bogeyman. And, like, put it up on billboards next to the busiest freeway in town.
You see that in Columbus. And in Lansing.
I can't ever imagine the same happening in Ann Arbor. In fact, it will never happen. Because we've got to deal with tOSU, and MSU, and Our Lady College of Northern Indiana and an entire conference who hate us more than anybody else in that whole freaking conference. How many days did we go without losing to Penn State? A thousand? Three thousand? I don't know, and I'll probably never know. We'd just never bother with something like that.
And that's why we are the best show in the Big Ten, week in and week out. In Madison, in Minneapolis -- you name it; we are pretty much the biggest game on the schedule. Ask those students who they'd really, really like to stick it to: it's Michigan. And in Columbus and East Lansing, every other year, we aren't just the biggest game on a schedule. We are the biggest day of the year; Christmas, Easter and New Year's Day notwithstanding.
August 14th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^
that you posted that UM fans are not obsessed with OSU on a Michigan blog where the OP wrote about going to OSU blogs to debate and argue? Does not this whole post somewhat defeat your premise?
Go Blue!
August 15th, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
is obviously obessession. Good call. So, we're not supposed to ever mention them? Should we just shut this blog down in the off season?
August 15th, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^
Really? You somehow read and interpreted that post as suggesting that we not ever mention OSU? That is not what it said nor even rationally implied. The point - ah forget it - either you got it or you did not.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:36 AM ^
is THE biggest day of the year for me. X-Mas, Easter, NYE, Hannukah, Kwanza, none of them have shit on "The Game".
(Also I'm not exactly the religious type so that might have something to do with it).
August 14th, 2010 at 9:57 PM ^
Why would you go to an OSU board expecting to get anything different than what you received? You thought you would be able to go there and reason?
Go Blue?
August 14th, 2010 at 10:23 PM ^
For my part, I check in at 11 Warriors only occasionally. To read. As I said, I think it is a good blog. I like the info. I don't go there to troll or to get into arguments.
They link to MGoBlog pretty much daily. MGoBlog has a standing link to 11 Warriors, and to the rather more intense BBC. I don't read BBC all that much. But this is all just information, right?
I stand by what I wrote, for my own part. Again, if you were addressing the OP, I'll let him speak for himself.
btw, this site would be much poorer, in my view, without posters like Not a Blue Fan. He's the epitome of what an oppo-fan ought to do on an oppo-board. Don't do any tauting; expect that you will be taunted at every opportunity. Expect that what you write will be doubted and questioned and exceptions found. So it better be good.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:42 PM ^
And you're probably wrong!
August 15th, 2010 at 9:05 AM ^
But if you think that the majority of time you can go to another fan board sight and have a legitimate debate, then I suggest you are mistaken. I do not suggest that there are not exceptions and there may be boards where you can get debates. I also do not suggest that boards cannot gain from getting opposing input. My suggestion was merely that the majority of folks reading the boards have a large bias and would prefer not to have someone from their heated rivals come on an tell them they are full of crap, etc. about a game.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
He does taunt.
I guess you missed where he chose to take a shot at Michigan's recruiting this year after, I believe, Jack Miller committed. Notta plays nice most of the time but I wouldn't turn your back towards him.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^
In all fairness, I only taunt people who say something stupid. There's little point in taunting people about the program.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:31 PM ^
I wasn't able to go back far enough to quote what you said so go check for youself. As I mentioned, I think it was after Miller committed (mid June). You got neg banged pretty hard. I'm sure you remember it.
Ripping a poster for saying something stupid is one thing. Ripping Michigan, on a blog for Michigan fans, just because you don't agree with the sentiment is troll-speak.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:04 PM ^
Man I wish Dick Fraud were half the coach that Tressel is.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:11 PM ^
only a sparty uses the words dick fraud
August 15th, 2010 at 12:11 AM ^
When Rich Rodriguez and the team go 8 - 4 minimum this year I'll be waiting for your apology after the tUofOSU game.
Personally, I'm sick and tired of that sort of crap ass post.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:58 AM ^
cool story brah
August 15th, 2010 at 3:38 AM ^
Dark Blue? Tell me how you really feel? DICK FRAUD? I respected both you and Michigan Arrogance but this new "hey we have to waste our precious points to vote so I can say whatever the fuck I want now".
I'm ashamed. You're a terrible fan. You're not even a fan. We don't want you and we don't need you. Dick Fraud...
What a joke.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
I'd give him negative 5000 if I could even knowing I'd be below 0 after doing so.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:06 PM ^
I wore a gray Michigan Tee to the gocery store today and had about 10 dirty looks mostly from old codgers.
I guess they don't really have another rival.
I've been forced off the road with my UM vanity plates, cursed at our local high school games. Actually the list is endless but that's their problem!
GO BLUE!!
August 14th, 2010 at 10:10 PM ^
I think the gains passing vs. rushing was night and day for the two teams, but the total yardage was about the same.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:14 PM ^
This is the year.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:28 PM ^
i tried to show the difference between the way the Michigan 2009 team played vs a much better OSU team compared much more talented Michigan teams getting handled by OSU in recent memory.
RR coached a hell of a ball game that day, and the team came to play. they were significantly younger and inexperienced compared to OSU, had 25 defensive scholarships, missing their 2 best offensive players, turned the ball over 5 times, missed a field goal, and they still played OSU tough.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:41 PM ^
Holy shit, can you be a bigger homer? Take the maze and blue goggles off and stop making excuses for Rich Rod. OSU did what they needed to do to win that game. If tress ever thought MICH was even a treat, he would have opened up the offence, just like in the Rose Bowl vs USC. they ran the ball 85% of the time, didn't even need to throw. it was at home. the osu offence is more experienced this year at skill positions, they will open it up in the shoe if tress needs too. Pryor was the #1 recruit in the nation 2 years ago, remember? now he's a JR.
not to mension, they don't have the worst fucking descrace of a defense i've ever seen returning without there 3 best players and without 4 most talented DBs having left the program in the last 2 years. and oh, BTW, we have 3 fucking walk=ons looking at serious PT (don't tell me how 'great' KOVACKS played last year in the box). and that's IF we get no injuries at CB.
PS, go YANKEES! got 27?