This is a wildly arrogant, scUM level like attitude. Louisville has a solid team this season, and it's the Orange Bowl. It's not the Outback Bowl, it's not the Cheez-It Bowl. It's a damn near 100 year institution. And if we didn't want to be there, maybe tOSU should have won that last game against those pricks.
Go back to work beating scUM, and it start with bowl prep where you can get valuable and meaningful practices in for younger players. And maybe these coaches can find it within themselves to have better rotations of younger guys throughout the season to help keep the starters fresh.
It's the world we live in when every you have top 5 recruiting classes and what is supposed to be one of the best coaching staffs in the nation. If we lost to anyone else and beat ttun, then the outlook is different imo even if you go against Louisville or some other lackluster opponent. But we lost the one regular season game that matters and without a playoff berth, the outcome is meaningless really.
The process, however, is not...the practice reps and player development is very important for the next years to come. For every player departing, I would encourage them to sit out unless they really want to play or stand to gain something from playing. Avoid injuries and get reps to our players that will actually be back next year.
Of course all these comments assume that the perfect storm doesn't happen and we don't make the playoffs...if we make the playoffs, that changes everything.
Even then, I don't know that they'd take it. MHJ, Stover and of course Henderson have all been injury prone this year. I don't see any amount of money being worth it to risk an injury in a meaningless bowl game before the draft. Sucks, but it's the world we live in.
Ditto, said it above but unless it is the playoffs, those guys need to sit out whatever bowl game is handed to us. I don't want to see any of them get hurt in a game that doesn't matter if we win or lose. They just need pro day and the combine to solidify their draft positions, one non-playoff game won't matter.
That was what it was all about - beat TCUN and go to Pasadena. The national title was just something voters handed out at the end.
Now the whole season is about the playoff. Rivalries don't mean as much to younger fans and it's going to trend more in that direction.
At age 35, I can tell you that the rivalry games mean everything to me, especially Tcun...the last 3 years I consider failures because of that loss. Losing to UGA sucked of course, but not nearly to the level as Tcun. I think those around my age feel the same, but those in their 20s I am not so sure really. I hope that is not the case.
You wanna play Louisville in a meaningless game and run the chance that without Harrison, Henderson, half the front end of the defense, with D Scott as the blocking tight end, you get beat? By a city college?
Dropping down to a two loss ACC team (probably three loss) by then?
The Bucks aren't going to slip that far down in the polls - no worse than five or six - I don't see any real love for FSU without their QB.
Frankly, Ryan Day has a massive task in front of him. How do you get this team fired up to play in any bowl game, especially with so many probable draft picks deciding not to risk injury? If it weren't for the extra days of practice, this game has no utility from the Buckeye POV.
I disagree for only one reason and that is that the outcome of the game really wouldn't matter, win or loss. Unless we play FSU, Bama or Oregon, the result does not matter at all moving forward. And like you said, we probably will have a ton of guys sitting out for the draft, so that will be mentioned I am sure.
We won't lose or gain a recruit playing in the Orange Bowl against Louisville...hell, 80% of recruits likely won't even watch the game. We just need practice reps and playing time for our young Bucks to make the most out of a bad end to the season.
Contradiction.
If this game is so meaningless, then it amounts to an exhibition. Therefore losing really shouldn't be of any concern being that there's zero harm in a loss, no?
I will do my best to not be a contradiction. It is an exhibition game where winning or losing does not matter. All that matters is that our returning players get valuable reps to contribute to next year. If we lose to Louisville or whoever we face, very few will care or remember in the next few years.
I understand when a team like the buckeyes have CFP hopes every year, anything but that will be a letdown.
Even if you played, say a “big name” like USC or Notre Dame but it was in a non-CFP game it would be a kick to the nuts.
Dead on. If we are not in the playoffs and/or beat *ichigan, the season was a disappointment no matter who we play in a non-playoff game. If we beat *ichigan and win 10-11 games, I am a happy camper. If we lose to them and don't make the playoffs, none of it mattered. That may seem hyperbolic, but it really is not with Ohio State. A B1G title and *ichigan victory is the ground-level for our program. Anything short of that is failure and even the coaches openly admit that in interviews because it is reality.
Is a single recruit going to say "wow, Ohio State beat Louisville in a non-playoff bowl game, I'm going there?" I doubt it, they'll be selling a yearly playoff birth with the expansion to 12. Likewise, I don't think one is going to say "well the Buckeyes have made the playoff most years, but they didn't beat Louisville in this also-ran bowl so I ain't going there" either.
The playoff, NIL, and NFL prospects. I don't think there's a fourth variable.
No they are not. No advantage or disadvantage will happen in a non-playoff bowl game. Likewise, the result does not matter for anything else. I think the 4th variable is coaching relationships and for some academics, but the 3 you listed are easily the driving factor for most recruits.
Joe Germaine got his ass kicked that game.
I think Shane Falco's character in the Replacements was largely in memory of that game (huge loss in the Sugar Bowl to FSU, how obvious could they be?)...
