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Game Thread Game One: #1 Ohio State 35, Northern Illinois 12 (9/2/06)

The sports books are opening for the first week of CFB, and at Millennium Sports (betmill.com) the Bucks are a 19 point favorite. The o/u is 47-1/2, which seems absurdly low to me considering these two teams' offenses will be so far ahead of each others defenses in the first week of the season.
 
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So you really and truly think that Antonio Pittman will have a better college and pro career than Chris Wells?

Whatever.

Look. I said that I like Pittman and Mo Wells. They just don't have what I prefer in a RB. It's a question of physics. Force=Mass*Acceleration!

The Mass of Chris Wells tips the scales in his favor. No pun intended!

I wouldnt stick to that whole "Force=Mass*Acceleration" arguement you got there. In 2002, a youngster by the name of Lydell Ross was playing for the Buckeyes and was highly reguarded for his speed. Later on, Ross decides he needs to put on more weight to become more like Eddie George. So that means he has the acceleration already (speed), and is now combining it with mass (more weight), but the end result was anything but "force". His career took a turn for the worst with nagging injuries and bad play when he had his chances.

Yeah, Chris Wells looks great but right now Pittman is the starter and Pittman has proven himself to be a great back for the Buckeyes. Wells may end with the best career, in terms of stats, but we wont know untill at least the 2008 or 09 season is over with.


My thoughts on NIU - It will be a good warm up for the Bucks. If anything, it will be a much better opponent than Miami was last year (to warm us up for Texas). We know with a new/young QB Texas will be wanting to pound this one out and while Wolfe's line wont be anything comparable to Texas, it should still get our new defensive backfield a little taste of some good running. It will be especially true for the Safties because I see us bringing more than a few saftey blitz's (one of Tress's favorites) for Texas. I assume by the second half that the game will be well in hand for the S&G and NIU will be forced to go to the pass for some points. This would be the perfect time for our DBs to gel and learn more, and also this would be a great oppertunity to throw in some Nickel D to get Mitchell ready.

All and all, it will be a good starting game for the Bucks. We should roll and hopefully the media will see what we did to NIU and give our new defense some credit.
 
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The sports books are opening for the first week of CFB, and at Millennium Sports (betmill.com) the Bucks are a 19 point favorite. The o/u is 47-1/2, which seems absurdly low to me considering these two teams' offenses will be so far ahead of each others defenses in the first week of the season.

The over-under of 47 1/2 seems OK to me. I've been thinking 34-13 as the most likely final score.
 
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The over-under of 47 1/2 seems OK to me. I've been thinking 34-13 as the most likely final score.
I'm thinking JT calls the dogs off and NIU gets some garbage time scores. If Ohio State is truly a national title contender then we should see a Texas Tech/2002-like score of 45-21.

NIU is a terrific opponent, but the reality is that Ohio State should be in a different league come Sept 2. Even the lowly old 2002 squad with their bumbling, prehistoric offense rolled up 50 on a couple of programs (with a healthy Clarett, anyhow).

I'm not making or committing to any predictions for this game, or any games, for the 2006 season, but merely stating that if OSU fails to score at least 40, I'll have serious doubts about where the team is offensively (ending drives with TDs) and defensively (getting TOs and getting more opportunities to score than your opponent).

National championship caliber teams roll their inferior opponents. Forget parity, this has been the one truth of college football for over 100 years.
 
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I wouldnt stick to that whole "Force=Mass*Acceleration" arguement you got there. In 2002, a youngster by the name of Lydell Ross was playing for the Buckeyes and was highly reguarded for his speed. Later on, Ross decides he needs to put on more weight to become more like Eddie George. So that means he has the acceleration already (speed), and is now combining it with mass (more weight), but the end result was anything but "force". His career took a turn for the worst with nagging injuries and bad play when he had his chances.

{Off topic going forward but deserves a response}

Apples to oranges says me. Bulking up and maintaining speed is not an easy task. Lydell Ross wasn't successful in that task. Chris Wells is already there so he gets to bypass that task.

Lydell Ross. There's a real good barometer for comparison. Not.

First of all, Ross was and is a Buckeye and I'm sure he did the best that he could with his college career but come on now. Undoubtedly, Ross has to be considered the most lackluster of all RB's to ever hold the starting position for our Buckeyes. I'm mean let's be honest (a stretch for some I know). Blame it all on injuries if you want but Lydell Ross just wasn't that good. He wanted to be good. I wanted him to be good. But what happened? How'd it all turn out? It turned out the opposite of what we all wanted.

Lydell Ross wasn't very successful as a RB before he bulked up. That is the reason he decided to try to bulk up. After he put on the weight, I'm not so sure his speed and acceleration stayed the same as it was before as your above argument would suggest. Here's a desription of a typical run by Ross before and after he put on weight: Ross takes the handoff and runs directly into the pile going down on first contact for a 1 or 2 yrd gain. I'm sure everyone remembers those glory years.

Ross put on some weight. Still he wasn't as big as Chris Wells is right now. Chris Wells already has the speed/size combo. Lydell Ross never possessed a legitimate speed/size combination. First he had the speed. Then, he gave up some speed for more size. Chris Wells right now is bigger and faster than Lydell Ross was after Ross bulked up. Sorry AirforceBuck but I don't buy your argument. Don't take it personally my fellow Buckeye.

{Now in an effort to stay on target for the thread we are actually in right now, the following.}

NIU this. NIU that. Garrett Wolfe yak yak. G-force this. Blah blah blah. MAC vs. Big Ten yakity yak. September 2nd hoo haa! The Buckeyes yakity will yakity win yakity easily yak yak.
 
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The over-under of 47 1/2 seems OK to me. I've been thinking 34-13 as the most likely final score.
Not too far off from what I predicted in the game-by-game prediction thread. I went with 41-17 (one more TD than your prediction). My reasoning is that our offense should be much better out of the gate this year than last (and we still put up 34 points in three quarters against Miami) and NIU's defense was suspect quite a few times last year (gave up 31+ points five times last year, including 38 to NW and 42 to Akron in regulation).
 
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I think the 19 seems about right. Ohio State will get a 28-31 point lead, and Northern Illinois will come back with about 7-14 points or so, when Ohio State's 2nd and 3rd stringers are in the game.

As for the over/under, I'd say it's a little low. I can see Ohio State scoring about 40, and Northern Illinois scoring about 20.

I'd take Ohio State on that bet (more because I'd always bet on Ohio State than because I think that they'll beat the spread) and I'd pick the over.
 
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The sports books are opening for the first week of CFB, and at Millennium Sports (betmill.com) the Bucks are a 19 point favorite. The o/u is 47-1/2, which seems absurdly low to me considering these two teams' offenses will be so far ahead of each others defenses in the first week of the season.
How the hell is the O/U 47-1/2?

The Michigan/NIU game last year put up 50, and there were only 13 points scored in the 2nd half.
 
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