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Buckeye Bowling, 2004

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BrutusBobcat

BrutusBobcat

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What we need

*WARNING*

This post contains forward looking statements. These may involve the use of optimism, which is controverisal at this point in time.


Okay, now that the shock of being 8th in the Big Ten is starting to wear off, what do we need to do in order to climb up and get someplace other than the Sun Bowl?

Premise #1: OSU wins out. Stop laughing! I am being serious here.

Premise #2: Head-to-head is the only tiebreaker that I'm considering. Teams we don't play I am assuming that we need to beat in the standings.

Premise #3: We only care about what happens to the teams ahead of us. Illinois versus Indiana might be terribly interesting to the folks in Bloomington (or not), but not to us. The relevant teams are: scUM, Minny, Wisky, Purdue, MSU, NW and Iowa.

Premise #4: We can count on NO help from PSU, Indiana or Illinois.

First things first. This weekend we need to beat Iowa, or things get ugly. Since Iowa already has a B10 loss, we move ahead in the standings. That would be seventh for those of you keeping score at home.

Iowa then needs to help us. They would still have games against UW, Minny, and Purdue. Purdue and UW have to visit Iowa City. Ferentz and Co. get at least one of those. If they get both, we send him Christmas cards.

Now, Purdue versus UW. Since both are unbeaten, and we need three UW losses to pass them, GO BOILERS. We'll get our shot at them later on. Purdue then has scUM, NW and Iowa among the relevant teams (and us, of course). The only home game of the three is scUM, the other two are on the road. We need them to lose one of those three, preferably Iowa, then lose to us. That takes care of them.

As far as Wisky goes, that's a tough one. After Purdue, they've got NW, Minny, MSU and Iowa. Again, we want an Iowa win in Iowa City, plus a loss either at home to Minny or NW, or a loss on the road at MSU. If we had a choice, it would be MSU, since they have one loss already AND we play them later on this season.

Other games this weekend:

Michigan at Illinois. Oh, go Illini or whatever, but that's too pollyanna even for me. scUM's future games include trips to Purdue, then MSU and NW at home. Once again, it's go Spartans. We can also root for the Boilermakers as long as Iowa helps us there. All we need is one scUM loss before they head into Columbus.

Minny at MSU. The pattern continues. The Spartans are our friends right now, and we need some Minny losses. This would be a good one to start with. The Gophers also have Wisconsin and Iowa on the slate. Again, we're looking for Hawkeye help.

Northwestern is off. We can hope that their entire offense gets arrested for skinny dipping in Lake Michigan or something. Later on in the season, they play UW, Purdue, and Michigan. We need then to lose two out of three.



That about covers it. The odds of a Rose Bowl are clearly pretty remote. We can, however, move past a lot of these teams and get into a pretty decent spot (2nd or 3rd in the standings) if things fall the right way.
 
I think you are making it more difficult than you think. Unless your whole point was to say there is still a mathematical possibility of the Rose Bowl.

It comes down to this, if we win out we are playing on January 1st, either in Tampa or Orlando. Heck, we can still lose another game and might still be getting to a New Years Day Bowl.

Why? We are THE Ohio State University. We still draw a crowd and the Florida Bowls love us. Just remember... it is not where we end up in the standings that matter. The Bowls do not have to follow the 2nd place goes here, 3rd place goes there. They go for money pure and simple and this is where we have an advantage.

Of course if we lose 2-3 more games... well... ummm, let's stay optimistic :cheers:
 
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Brutusbobcat I have been depressed about the way we have been playing but then a light went off in my head. I realized that we were not gonna win the NC this year anyway. We have a hell of alot to play for the rest of the season. If we beat Meshitagain and win our Bowl Game I will be happy. Hopefully we do some offseason shake ups in the coaching staff. It's not over and I'm starting to feel better about our team.

I realized the future is very bright. The Rivals team rankings are out and we are second to Virginia. This year we may end up with the best Recruiting class in the country. Alot to be optimistic about.

I'm as fanatical about the Buckeyes as anyone. Some of us guys get out of control but it's because we love the bucks so much. All the bitching we do will not help this team out. The reason we are so passionate is because we are the BDFITL. I have learned to keep my chin up and hopefully you guys will too. If we go down lets go down swinging!!! I'm proud of our young team.
 
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Unless the Big Ten gets two teams into the BCS, we have to finish third to get to the Outback or Cap One. Either way, we're going to need some help.

Example:

- Wisconsin can lose twice and still finish ahead of us. Let's say one of those is this weekend at Purdue and the other is Minny.

- Purdue and Michigan play each other, so neither can run the table. Even losing to us, one could still finish ahead of us if they beat the other (eg. Purdue beats scUM and we beat Purdue).

- Minny can win out and finish ahead of us.

Worst case scenario, that puts us fourth, even if we do win out, which is Alamo Bowl time. Winning out would do a lot for us, but it's going to take a couple of other things to happen to make it to NYD.

That also assumes that some other bowl slot doesn't open up, of course.
 
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We'll be lucky to finish 3rd this year. If we win out and Minnesota and Wisconsin stumble, then we can possibly even finish in a crowded tie for second. As long as we finish with no more than four losses, we'll be playing on Jan 1st.
 
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My expectation level is somewhere between GMAC Bowl and Alamo Bowl. Outback is the absolute pinnacle this team can achieve now imo.

If this team continues its regression we will be lucky to win the 6 games needed to make any bowl.
 
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ok, check this. some of you guys are way too down, we can still do this. look


we will not play a more talented team than Wisconsin the rest of the year, or a team more talented than ourselves.

if we win out, we go 9-2 heading into the bowls.


Michigan at Illinois Michigan
Minnesota at Michigan State Minnesota
Ohio State at Iowa, tOSU
Wisconsin at Purdue Wiscy

Michigan at Purdue Purdue
Northwestern at Wisconsin Wisconsin
Indiana at Ohio State tOSU
Iowa at Penn State Iowa
Illinois at Minnesota Minnesota

Purdue at Northwestern Purdue
Michigan State at Michigan Michigan
Minnesota at Indiana Minnesota
Penn State at Ohio State tOSU
Iowa at Illinois Iowa

Purdue at Iowa Purdue
Minnesota at Wisconsin Wisconsin
Ohio State at Michigan State tOSU
Northwestern at Penn State Northwestern
Indiana at Illinois they both lose

Ohio State at Purdue tOSU
Wisconsin at Michigan State Wisconsin
Northwestern at Michigan Michigan
Iowa at Minnesota Iowa
Penn State at Indiana Penn State

Indiana at Purdue Purdue
Wisconsin at Iowa Wisconsin
Illinois at Northwestern Northwestern
Michigan State at Penn State Penn State
Michigan at Ohio State tOSU


and if this IS how it broke down the final standings would be:

Wisconsin 11-0 (8-0)
tOSU 9-2 (6-2)
Purdue 9-2 (6-2)
Michigan 8-3 (6-2)
Minnesota 8-3 (5-3)
Iowa 6-5 (4-4)
NW 6-6 (4-4)
MSU 4-8 (2-6)
PSU 4-7 (2-6)
Illinois 2-9 (0-8)
Indiana 2-9 (0-8)

show me one game on that proposed schedule that isn't plausible if not probable? We may not quite make a BCS bowl with that but if you think that doesn't earn a new years day ur just silly. sure its overly opptimistic but still not out of the question.
 
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show me one game on that proposed schedule that isn't plausible if not probable? We may not quite make a BCS bowl with that but if you think that doesn't earn a new years day ur just silly. sure its overly opptimistic but still not out of the question.
Click to expand...

Not mathmatically out of the question, I agree. Again, if we are just talking possibilities then I also agree 9-2 will make a the Outback or Citrus given our travel and TV ratings.

I'm talking about realistic expectations here, not mathmatical possibilities.

Iowa is the game that gives us a chance to win 7 games this year. If this team lost a flukey type game or was showing some improvement I would be more optimistic. However the sad truth is they are getting worse not better and Iowa, Purdue and scUM could all very easily beat this team. IU, PSU and MSU will be battles for this squad.

Hope I'm wrong but the my faith in this team is severly shaken.
 
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regardless of what some of you seem to think we still do have the most talented team and best coach in the big ten. yes we have issues, but most of them will be solved with experience and jelling and i think that the "click" could happen any time.. just wait.. maybe im wrong but im not giving up on MY bucks just yet!
 
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IF we win today, then I can be a little more optomistic. If our QB situation improves today, whether it be JZ showing ability to hit open receivers consistently or TS getting time and showing something, I will feel better. If Pittman can get , say, 15 to 20 carries, and look decent, I'll be optomistic.
If we stop the darn turnovers, we should win this game. The thing we have to remember is that Iowa will come at us with another stong defensive front seven. We NEED to able to hold blocks and complete passes.

Pittman has had runs of 19, 21, and 43 yards this year. Based on that I'm optomistic about him. I'm not sure, but does Lydell have similar runs? I can think of one but not really more.

I'm not saying anything that we don't all know or want, but my bottom line is that if we don't turnover the bal the last 2 games, we win them both.

The sky might appear to be cracking, but it is mosat certainly not falling.
 
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