Ohio State had a Bad Game Against Navy in 2009

I don't remember that game, but I do feel a little better now. I also feel that these last two games will help us tremendously against the Big Ten which looks to be pretty week this year.

But your thread title sucks like WHOA.

The boys pulled off a W and were 1-1 after two weeks. Just where we thought we would be. Next week will give us come confidence going in to ND and I like our chances. The freshmen will continue to get better and better and so will this team.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=313230333

                                                                                                   GASO                          ALA

Not only the wishbone, but Air Force implemented the no huddle this year, too.  At the very least, that's unusual (most teams don't do that).  And it's good that Michigan was exposed to it.  To me the one biggest disappointment of the game was shaky run blocking.

I am certainly not encouraged by our team so far, but I am not ready to throw in the towel yet.  We'll see what happens against ND, Ill and MSU.  And frankly, I'm expecting us to blow UMass away.  They don't do anything special, and they don't have NFL draft picks along both their lines.  A blow-out will ease my concerns that we aren't looking at a 2010 type D.

After 2 games it's still difficult to have a good idea of what our team is, especially our defense. With Bama, they're stacked and could probably do the same thing they did to us to just about any other team in the country except for teams like USC or LSU.

And today, with AFA, we got a better idea of our offense and we were reminded just how awesome Denard can be. But, with our defense, do we still know them any better? The triple option is rare and we won't see another offense like that all year (or like Bama).

Anyway, that's interesting about the Navy-Ohio game. Ultimately, it's still way too early to get all worked up about this team cause we still don't have a good clue how good they are.

thanks for the post. dont forget Ohio beat the Ohio bobcats by 3 at home in 2008 in the finale minutes of the game. early season struggles sometimes lead to better things.

Michigan should score 80 next Saturday. And allow 0.

I thought of the same game all day.  There's a reason these schools with a bunch of undersized engineers and medics find ways to compete with high-level D1 kids year in and year out.  Defensively they didn't really hold up well because UM's offensive talent is just so much better, but on offense that triple option cuts down your big DTs and forces your cover corners to play the run in a way they aren't used to.  

Again, the team survived a potential trap game and is 1-1, soon to be 2-1 heading into ND.  Win that game and this team is a the 3-1 everyone expected, and even 2-2 isn't that bad given the fact they'll have played two top-25 teams (provided ND doesn't drop).  That's a good record, and given what we've seen from the rest of the Big 10 they might still be the favorite.

His best SD State team lost a heart breaker to Air Force back in 2010 25-27.

Feather mucking REASON. GET THAT OUTTA HERE

We struggled and showed lack of strength on both lines. Don't say Ohio was bad in 2009.

"Honey, I lost my job. But don't you see Rich lost his job too?"

In 2007 we all know how the non-conference schedule went.  In 2006 Ball State was driving to tie the game in the 4th quarter and ruin our undefeated season a week before the OSU game.  In 2005 we gave up over 200 yards on the ground and 6.6 ypc in a 33-17 win over Northern Illinois (they finished 7-5).  In 2004 we beat SDSU 24-21 and didn't score for the final 25 minutes of the game.  In 2002 we beat a 5-6 Utah team 10-7. 

This Air Force team is better than all of those, they never led, and this was pretty much the ultimate trap game.  Do all fanbases have so little perspective?

Interesting tidbit of information.  These academies have certainly given other BCS schools problems in the past.  Regardless of how we try try and spin this, we definitely have a lot of work to do before Notre Dame.  We basically have two weeks of practice before then.  Time to get to it...

Air Force is a solid 7 to 8 win non-BCS team, who will make a bowl.  They've been a solid program for the past 5 years. 

However, this Michigan defense has a lot of work to do.  Michigan's open field tackling leaves a lot to be desired.  And the defensive line, a strength last season, seems to be a weakness this season.  It looked like Air Force was getting 1 to 2 yards of push all game.  The Notre Dame game will be telling.

Luckily, outside of Michigan State and Ohio, the Big Ten looks to be pretty mediocre.  If Michigan can somehow win their division, they could go to the Rose Bowl.  I don't see it happening.  7-5 seems more likely to me.   

get trucked by Alabama the week before too?

Is half the fanbase suffering from PTSD?

ESPN analysts pointed out that defending the triple option offense is extremely difficult for a conference like the Big 10 that typically deals with a pro style offense.  That being said watching the game I have to wonder why Jake Ryan was out there alone on several plays having to decide between the QB or the pitchman?

Problem is the two service QBs aren't all that comparable. Ricky Dobbs was a special athlete that academies rarely succeed in recruiting. Also as I recall (because I had Navy plus the points in that game) the emotional setup was very good for the Middies. And Jim Tressel had a documented record of failure against the flexbone going back to his days at Youngstown State. I actually looked at some old footage of a YSU-Georgia Southern game. Tressel had no handle at all on the Xs & Os as GSU cut thru them like a hot knife thru butter.

That said AFA's per play stats weren't all that impressive. I do think they aimed pretty squarely at Will Campbell.