Minority POV: anyone tiny bit concerned OSU lost?

Just win.

Your first mistake was shuting the game off. It will already be a major story if we are undefeated and they are not. You're going to get their best effert regardless if they have a loss going into that game.

Still convinced we go undefeated and will be the 2nd seed in the playoff

Anything that helps pave the way for us to reach the B1G championship game I'm all for

Yes; they have a bad habit of fixing problems after they lose.

Only thing I learned is that OSU is very vulnerable in bad weather games....I'm rooting for sleet/hail/snow in Coloumbus come game time.

Better they lost as it affects their morale, before we play them. when you're undefeated the mind believes it's infallible and tends to play accordingly.

Let their hearts pound faster and their minds seethe with doubt.

Glad they didn't lose the week before us. That was a bad equation last year.

I don't think it matters one way or the other.

You're right I'm sure osu wouldn't have been interested in playing hard if we were both undefeated. Damn their master plan!!

After they lost, I said to my wife, "now they're going to be angry." Kinda like MSU for them last year... Except this year we are a much better football team. We are in good shape for the showdown in Columbus, but cannot take anything for granted.

I'm at a point where I really don't care about storylines.  We haven't won the Big Ten since 2004.  That drought needs to end and I'm perfectly fine taking the path of least resistance.  I'd love to see OSU lose again and allow us to clinch the title before the trip down there.

 

 

OSU is dangerous regardless their loss vs psu, who we creamed, and the comparative play of the two teams vs. wisconsin confirm that we are executing better and should be favored to win

...all of this talk about how it might really be better if OSU had won last night is complete nonesense.

Since arriving at OSU, Meyer had lost just 4 total games, and just 1 Big Ten regular season game, before last night. 

The best possible thing that could have happened for Michigan football is Jim Harbaugh.

The second best thing would be OSU starting to consistently lose 2 to 4 games per year going forward. 

If OSU's 'down' year is a one loss year (with that loss being to Michigan), it becomes very hard for M to reclaim its position as the best football program in the Big Ten, which it was from late in the Woody Hayes era until the early 2000s, when Tressel arived at OSU. 

 

 

 

 am thinking that maybe osu just isn't  that good. Oklahoma stinks, they blew out BG, Tulsa, and Rutgers but struggled with IU, Wiscy, and PSU. Wiscy was their best performence so far but they got outplayed and Wisconsin plays everyone close because their offense is not good. I think we are 2-3 touchdowns better than them right now.

To me it's not that they lost, it's the way they lost - yeah, the blocked kick return was a bit of a fluke, but PSU played them pretty much even for the game.

This is two weeks in a row where the OSU defense has looked anything but impregnable against an offense inferior to Michigan's, and the offense has sputtered against a defense that's solid but doesn't look to be at Michigan's level. Heck, maybe you throw in the contest against a game but at the end of the day still thoroughly mediocre Indiana team.

Unlike their loss to Sparty last year, which really looked like an aberration, I think this is just the OSU team this year: still very good, but no longer elite and not at all unbeatable. Michigan will need to be on point to leave Columbus with a win, but on paper, resume to resume, Michigan is a better team right now.

They lost to a team we beat 49-10. Hard no.

since I hate Urban Cryer and the Suckeyes. And any loss that detracts from Cryer's gaudy record at OSU is a great thing. But I see your points. If Michigan wins in Columbus, it takes some luster off the win. In the grand scheme, it doesn't change anything. Michigan still controls its destiny, either way. It means that Michigan actually might be a favorite on paper this year. But beating OSU and Urban Meyer on the road is always a huge challenge so I would still give OSU an edge. We'll have to play our best to have a good shot at winning.

Literally the only way this loss could be bad for OSU is if it were followed by losses to Northwestern, Nebraska, and MSU and then we beat them and suddenly people are questioning if the big ten is actually any good and we see ourselves on the wrong side of the CFP picture. And even then, if we go undefeated that would never happen. So definitively this was a good thing.

worry about how we do in the next 4 games. We just need to take care of our own business, starting with Sparty this week.

I think overall the loss to PSU will have a (small) negative impact on Michigan. First, it tarnishes the matchup in the Game somewhat. Second, there is probably now no chance of making the playoff with an Ohio loss. Third, it undercuts there being several elite BIG teams. (Sorry but Peen State is not very talented and could not play with Bama, Clemson, et al).

OSU is who we thought they were after all the departures to the NFL. not very deep on defense, awful OL, and lacking the home run RB threat to keep defenses from keying on Barrett. They're a good team, but Michigan is better. We should win by two scores.

Michigan will be fine. Hoke, Carr, and Rodriguez ain't walking through the tunnel any longer.

that anyone here is skeered on behalf of the team. The servers have enough trouble as it is!

Anyone that thinks they will be "more focused" and "more hungry" for the UM game now that they have lost is incorrect.

Assuming we won out, OSU would've had just as much on the line coming into The Game as we would've. Had they come in 11-0 and lost, they'd be out. So I really don't understand this whole "they're a more dangerous team with one loss."

They're more or less in the same position right now that they were in before last night. Win out and they're in.

is the certainty by Finebaum and the other analysts that once OSU beats Michigan, they are right back in the playoffs.  Are my maize and blue glasses so thick that I see an a very efficient and diverse offense with a ton of weapons and the best Michigan defense I have ever witnessed, but the smart people on TV see something less?

 

I do have to give it to the B1G network analysts as the exception who finally see Michigan's defense as the best in the country except for possibly Alabama.

 

I watched a very beatable OSU squad the last several weeks with which we match up very well.

This is a different season with its own unique set of circumstances. OSU is not currently a team loaded with obvious NFL draft picks on either side of the ball, coming off of a National Championship run where they beat the likes of Bama & everyone's darling that season Oregon. They don't have 3 potential QBs to choose from to help solve current offensive deficiencies. The don't have a top 5 pick, all-time great pass rusher that also happens to play the run well (Joey Bosa), or 4 Heisman caliber play makers on offense (Barrett, Elliot, Marshall, Miller). They've, for the moment lost the mystique and aura that a team like that often has when on par with Bama that usually gives those types of teams an edge before the game even starts.

Michigan is not a team that had to resort to finding a grad transfer to run the offense because QB recruiting and development was in disarray prior to Jim's arrival. There is no waiting and hoping for the QB to clean things up and start hitting deep throws. This isn't the first season under a new regime. The team is older, wiser and more focused. They now talk like they belong, because they do. This team does not let obviously inferior teams hang around (MSU, Minnesota, Indiana). Last year's defense was very good, this year's defense is GREAT. Maybe all-time great, time will tell. Last year's team didn't know what success felt like or what it took to get there... This team does.

The Game will be The Game regardless. It's a toss up where the better prepared and more mistake free team will likely come away with the win. Discarding the RichRod era game due to the obvious rebuild/square peg, round hole of it all... Even in the late Carr years and the Hoke years, those games were usually close and winnable despite OSU having the better season, talent and coaching. Last year's margin of victory was an anomaly. Not the norm when the teams have similar records, talent and coaching ability... But I remain confident because Team 137 is special, AND Zeke Elliot, Joey Bosa, Braxton Miller & Jalen Marshall aren't walking through that door.

I did the exact same thing. It seemed to me when Samuel scored that was osu about saying they had enough and were about ready to break it open. Had no idea they lost until I ran into a buckeye on a NYC soccer pitch this morning.

In any event, I actually was looking forward to a 1-2 battle of the undefeatedes. Now I am worried this makes them even hungrier even though I know in the real world it is going to be a battle either way. Hope our guys stay focused the rest of the way. Lots of traps left!

No. you have to play football. Block, tackle, pass protect and run and execute perfection on special teams. Ohio state didn't dominate in the trenches and they paid the price. Ohio State will be up for Michigan. No doubt. But they have to play football.

I don't really care, because I think Ohio will lose another game or two before they play us anyway.

I also don't understand the backing into the playoff logic. How many times has a team overcome that late of a loss to play for a NC??? Rarely. Win and you're in. That's it. At this point, does anyone see Bama, Clemson or Washington losing to any of their remaining foes??? Not impossible, but a long shot at this point for sure. That leaves 1 spot left... It'll either be the Big Ten champ, 1 loss Louisville (early season close loss to fellow playoff participant), or the Big 12 Champ should they be undefeated. Michigan needs a ZERO in the loss column. Period.

The Big champ, even with a loss, is likely playoff bound. What bothers me is that Wiscy couldn't pull off last weeks nailbiter. Meaning IFIF we ran the table until Cbus, we clinch the Big East and face the West champ. Now, even if we are undefeated until Ohio, a loss and we are out. Of course, should still be Rose Bowl bound in that case. Still concerned about Staee believe ot or not. And Iowa.