Ohio State had a Bad Game Against Navy in 2009
On the 5th of September 2009 this happened: OSU 31, Navy 27. Navy in fact had a chance to tie the game, but their two point attempt was intercepted and return for two points. Hence the four point deficit.
This OSU team would go on to win 11 games and the Rose Bowl.
In other words don't take a struggle versus a service academy has a sign of imminent DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=292480194
Mod Edit: That title was awful. [zl]
Author edit: Boo mod!
September 8th, 2012 at 9:47 PM ^
September 8th, 2012 at 9:47 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:48 PM ^
But your thread title sucks like WHOA.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:49 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:37 PM ^
HOPEFULLY confidence. It better not be like the UMASS game in 2010. And it shouldn't be, judging by how they played against Indiana.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:50 PM ^
Someone mentioned that Oklahoma went 12-2 in 2010 and beat Air Force 27-24 near the beginning of the season.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^
give BCS schools. Unless you are ND and you play such schools year after year, it is problematic for a school to scheme for such a team.
The fault here lies with Dave Brandon. He should not have scheduled AFA the weeka fter Bama. This ought to have been the first game.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^
I fully agree about AFA after Bama. That's an awful 1-2 punch.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:50 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:51 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:53 PM ^
Bold prediction there about Umass next week. Livin' life on the edge arentcha?
September 8th, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^
Not bold at all. Doesn't make it any less true though.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:51 PM ^
September 8th, 2012 at 9:53 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:52 PM ^
September 8th, 2012 at 9:53 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 9:54 PM ^
September 8th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^
Michigan should score 80 next Saturday. And allow 0.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:10 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:13 PM ^
His best SD State team lost a heart breaker to Air Force back in 2010 25-27.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:21 PM ^
Feather mucking REASON. GET THAT OUTTA HERE
September 8th, 2012 at 10:21 PM ^
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?"
September 8th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^
We ran for over 200 yards at 7+ ypc. Our quarterback was never sacked and had an efficient day in the passing game.
Complaining about your offensive line under these circumstances is beyond dumb.
If you think Air Force had some success running their option offense because we "lacked strength", then I can see why you thought what you did about the offensive line.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:36 PM ^
Of course I am very happy that Denard had 200x2. Still, if our OL was that good how nobody else ran anything more than 10 yards? Do you seriously believe Denard can run 100 yards when Sparty is in town?
Forget about the DL.
I wish I were more optimistic. Honestly, I see a long winter.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^
means that several bottles are empty.
BTW, how is this a great post......we are stretching to avoid looking at the blatant facts that our lines are struggling. 7 yards rushing outside of Denard is pathetic. It is a regressing situation when you consider Fitz ran over a thousand.........remember??
We couldn't shed any blocks on D and our linebacks with exp are getting pulled for freshman. Please don't insult our intelligence that we are fine because ohio was fine 3 years ago. THey have nothing to do with each other
September 9th, 2012 at 3:03 AM ^
Saying that our offense sucks without Denard's running and passing is like saying that the Patriots' offense sucks without Tom Brady. And while I'm skeptical about our D-line, believing that the rest of our defense is crappy means believing that a bunch of returning starters have inexplicably regressed - and doing so with very little evidence to back that up.
We aren't Alabama. Brandon's scheduling job at the beginning of 2012 was atrocious. Air Force is crazy. Beyond that, we don't know much, but I'm sure we'll find out in the coming weeks.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^
The season will bear that out. But what I am saying is that one should not assume the worst because of a bad early season game. Keep it in perspective. That's all I am saying.
As an UM fan, you ought to be aware of poor beginnings to season. The 07' season for example UM LOST to a FCS team, yet they still went on to win 9 games. AFA is at least as good as Appy State.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^
that game? You completely missed the point.
Neither your nor I knows what will happen the rest of the year. UM may be terrible or they may be a top 20 team. We don't know. But as the example I use shows one game is hardly enough data to tell us how a team wil fare in the future.
September 8th, 2012 at 11:45 PM ^
OSU fans were saying "F**king Tresselball. Oh, shit! Grandpa had a heart attack watching the game! Call 911!"
September 9th, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^
I think you TOTALLY missed the point of this thread.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^
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?
September 8th, 2012 at 10:54 PM ^
September 8th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
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...
September 8th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^
UM has problems. I admit that. But I also don't think we ought to overreact either. A tought game versus a service academy is not the end of the world.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
Thank you for posting this. Air Force does this to just about every top 20 team it plays. I went over some things and this is what I found.
2011:
September 9th, 2012 at 12:22 PM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^
Thanks for giving this thread some context.
September 8th, 2012 at 11:22 PM ^
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.
September 8th, 2012 at 11:53 PM ^
get trucked by Alabama the week before too?
September 9th, 2012 at 12:04 AM ^
the entire year. So no.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:23 AM ^
September 9th, 2012 at 1:04 AM ^
Is half the fanbase suffering from PTSD?
September 9th, 2012 at 1:15 AM ^
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?
September 9th, 2012 at 10:18 AM ^
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.
September 9th, 2012 at 12:13 PM ^
OU barely defeated AFA 27-24 in 2010.
The emotional setup was very good for AFA in this past game as well. It also noted that AFA runs a more complex offense than Navy does . AFA has, for the past decade or so,been the superior team to Navy.(as much as Navy as improved)
September 9th, 2012 at 4:39 PM ^
Hmm...... I would say AFA's scheme is more varied. That's not quite the same thing as more complex.
And just because AFA had a better record LY doesn't make them better than Navy. The respected Massey Ratings actually had Navy a couple of spots higher LY.
Air Force was better most of the last decade? Pal, I want some of what you are smoking.