OSU/MSU What to root for.
Walking into work this morning (NY State) two people seperately accosted me with a devilish "So you're rooting for Ohio State to win this weekend?" I replied that I wouldn't mind seeing State lose, but that I was not rooting for Ohio State. The Freep (no link) had an article asking former Michigan players if they were rooting for OSU and everyone except Jake Long and Jake Ryan said they definitely were not.
What is the best most clever retort to this catch 22 question?
November 20th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
"What is the best most clever retort to this catch 22 question?"
I kinda liked the "meteor" option from the thread yesterday.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^
and Ohio State to play poorly while leadling at the end.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^
we are rooting for OSU to blow the doors off of State in order to bolster a possible win over OSU.
I don't see the issue in "rooting" for OSU nor do I see it as a catch 22. I think people are too wrapped up in what it means to root for OSU. In a typical season I kind lean toward OSU wining every game so that our game with them can be a showdown. It hasn't mattered in recent years but I like OSU to be ranked as high as possible when we play them. It makes the game bigger and legitimizes the conference. Going forward, we need to stop letting State play spoiler if we want to at least be indifferent about the outcome of this game at this point in the season.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^
agree. A dominant OSU victory will lock them into a top spot which will give us plenty of upside potential heading into next week. I'm looking for a big OSU victory, Bosa to get tossed in the 2nd half for targeting and JT Barrett and Cardale Jones to get arrested for OWI on Sunday celebrating their victory.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^
everyone of your hopes as very possible, with the last one even being likely.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^
Idk if anyone else lives by this, but I always say more often than not when a team blows a team out they usually have a lackluster performance in their next game. At least it holds true in hockey. So I'll be rooting for a big osu win, followed by an even bigger Michigan win the next week!
November 20th, 2015 at 10:36 AM ^
only downside is that it would represent OSU finding their mojo right before the Michigan game, which would be problematic. However, I have noticed that mojo often does not carry from home to a road game, so that may not be an issue.
November 20th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
Let OSU win, but let it cost them in regards of available players for next week. If they ahve to dump open the playbook, I'll take that too...
November 20th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^
This is a double edged sword. Having OSU weakened increases our chance of winning, but also could devalue that victory in the eyes of the CFP committee. That being said, I'd like that to happen because I'd rather win and let the CFP chips fall where they may.
November 20th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
No - we need the full strength OSU team in The Game so that we get full reward for the victory. Being a two loss team, there can't be any questions about who we beat.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 10:30 AM ^
Meh. I want to see this game be close and force OSU to pull out as much of their playbook as possible, and leave as much out on the field as possible.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
Agree completely, whatever helps MICHIGAN is what we root for. We need THE ohio to just emabarass the fuck out of staee, so that our win against them will make our chances better. Several years ago, reporters asked mike dantanio on whether he was rooting for us or THE ohio in the final game. I do not recall the exact circumstances, but if we won, it would have helped staee out in terms of their bowl game and/or co-championship. That arrogant prick did not want us to win, but wanted THE ohio to win.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:56 AM ^
The bolstering doesn't matter. a 12-1 Big Ten Champion Michigan, that just beat OSU and smoked Iowa and is coached by Jim Harbaugh should get in no matter what. And if we don't, I don't think it will be because of how handily OSU beat MSU.
November 20th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^
nice! How do we do that?
November 20th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
You DO know we have 2 losses; right?
November 20th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
We're going to look so good over the next three games, that those previous losses will only count 1/2.
November 20th, 2015 at 5:00 PM ^
We didn't play the week after our bye week, as I remember it.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:46 AM ^
We don't need to "bolster" a possible win over Ohio. If it's because of slim playoff chances, that's a fool's hope. If it's for any other reason, well, c'mon, there is no other reason, it's Ohio and if things swing right it's for the division.
I'm rooting for them to blow the doors off MSU just for its own sake.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:53 AM ^
If you are considering us beating MSU and OSU at all, then it is foolish to call the playoff a "fools hope." You may call it foolish to even consider winning out, but you cannot say that winning out is within the realm of possibility but the playoff is not. If Michigan wins out, it is a virtually certainty that they will finish 6 or above in the playoff poll(we would be no lower than 9 just based on BIG chaos not even considering any other conference chaos). It is far from a lock that we would make the playoff, but neither is it foolish.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^
Agreed, as the committee will not only look at the SOS, quality wins, but also the issues in your losses. Our loss to staee was such a fluke and everyone knows it. Similar to notre dame's quality loss to clemson on the road by 2 in the last minute.
November 20th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
Sorry, but it would take immense chaos to even consider putting us in the playoff.
- The SEC champ has a lock on one spot. The only way that game isn't Florida-Alabama is if Bama loses to Auburn and Ole Miss beats LSU and MSU. Not happening. The winner takes a playoff spot and the loser might still be ahead of us.
- Clemson is in unless they lose to Wake Forest, South Carolina, or the ACC CG. And if that ACC CG opponent is an 11-1 UNC - very likely - UNC will have that spot instead.
- ND could lose to Stanford, but all that would do is keep Stanford in front of us. And it doesn't guarantee we leapfrog ND.
- Unless chaos reigns supreme in the Big 12, we're not passing the Big 12 champ. There are three Big 12 teams in front of us. One of them is certain to stay that way.
- The Pac-12 champ is Stanford, USC, or Utah. If it's Utah, there's no way we're leapfrogging them. If it's Stanford, well, they're already in front of us and probably staying there, unless they lose to ND. (And if that happens ND is a lock to stay in front.) The only way to take the Pac-12 out of the picture is for USC to win it.
I don't get how you can so confidently say we'll be at least 6th in the playoff if we win out, because chances are at least decent that ND, two SEC teams, an ACC team, a Big 12 team, and a Pac-12 team are still in front of us. There is way too much that has to go right for us to be in contention.
November 20th, 2015 at 4:34 PM ^
You realize what we have to do to win the B1G championship, right? It'll be difficult, FiveThirtyEight gives it a 14% chance of happening which sounds about right. And they give the playoff a 9% chance of happening, which means IF we win the B1G, we have approx 9/14 = 64% chance of making CFP. It is LIKELY that a B1G championship gets us there.
I don't know why people think Stanford beating ND will keep them ahead of us (if they even stay ahead of us if we both win this week). We will have beaten (in this scenario) a higher ranked, undefeated OSU team in the same week. We will also beat (in this scenario) a better conf title opponent. It is highly likely we pass a PAC12 champ in Stanford if we win the B1G. ND just has to lose to them. No one else really matters. The committee is absolutely not keeping a second SEC or Big 12 team ahead of a B1G champion that just beat two top 5 (current) opponents.
TLDR: The numbers don't lie: 64% chance of making the playoff if we win the B1G. So if you're rooting for the latter, you're essentially also rooting for the former.
November 20th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
Of course we want OSU to win... but in the same effort I want it to be a competitive game. We need OSU to be forced into showing their hand so that our coaches have a good tape to review this week. A blowout will make it harder for Harbaugh to game plan. My bigger fear is that they have been saving up some plays for the last two weeks of the season....
November 20th, 2015 at 7:49 PM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^
Next stop, Columbus
November 20th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 11:18 AM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
My photoshop skills only go so far.
November 20th, 2015 at 1:30 PM ^
the impact blew all the beer cans and coolers filled with excrement away thus rendering the campus back to its pre 1970 state.
November 20th, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
Root for Michigan's best interest. Don't be Dantonio.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
Short term, it's obviously in our best interests for Sparty to lose. But long term, I hope they lose convincingly. A combination of that and us winning our next two games will turn heads in this state. For most high school kids, they don't remember our last conference title, so we need to show them that we're relevant now.
OSU will always get most of the Ohio recruits, but we need to get back to having our pick of the best players in our state. These next two weeks are very important from that standpoint.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
In the offseason, 5-7 Michigan was more relevant than 11-2 Sparty. I agree, though, that it is in Michigan's best interests for Sparty to lose convincingly. Anything that causes discord and misery in EL is good for Michigan on the recruiting trail.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 10:32 AM ^
Nothing I haven't been preparing for over the past week.
November 20th, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
Trying to determine what is and is not funny. If a manmade explosion occurred on the moon and was designed in a way so that a chunk of the moon fell on the horseshoe, would that be funny or not?
November 20th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^
be hilarious.
November 20th, 2015 at 6:11 PM ^
No, no, no! WIthout the moon, we would all literally die.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^
Look, nobody should be questioning who they are rooting for this weekend in the other game, period. Do you love Michigan more than you hate its rivals? If so you cheer for what's best for UM. We want OSU to beat MSU.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
Agreed. I don't understand the confusion. We're Michigan fans, therefore we want Michigan to succeed. The best possible outcome is for Michigan to win tomorrow AND for OSU to win because then we have a chance to win the B1G East next week.
If you go the other way, then you're choosing to cheer for our rivals to fail instead of cheering for Michigan to succeed.
November 20th, 2015 at 5:22 PM ^
November 20th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
MSU beats Ohio State (I never want to see the Bucks win anything), then loses to Penn State the following weekend. Michigan wins out. Problem solved.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
No. If we're entertaining the idea that we could win the Big Ten, then we're entertaining the idea that we could make the playoff. Our playoff chances will be maximized if we beat an undefeated OSU and an undefeated Iowa. We want OSU to win this weekend, there are no two ways about it.
November 20th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
If Michigan wins against PSU, then hell yes I'll be rooting for Ohio State. What's difficult about rooting for a result that gives Michigan a shot at a B1G title?
November 20th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^