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Game Thread Game Two: #1 Ohio State 24, #2 Texas 7 (9/9/06)

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Just so I follow the mindset of a Texas fan.....you're saying the guy everybody cried about last year when he wasn't compared to God now isn't the main reason you guys won the NC, just because he left? Had he returned then you would be saying something different.
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That isn't my mindset. At the beginning of every season, if you calculate the probabilites, even the best teams are likely to finish with 2 loses (Miami in the old Big Least is a counter example, granted, but it requires a much weaker conference than the current top 5). It takes a little good fortune and our a spectacular play or two to go undefeated. There is no doubt that Vince is the player for Texas who made those special plays happen, to earn those extra two wins against the odds.

This year Texas still deserves to be at or near the top of the list of teams with a high probability of finishing with 2 loses or less. Whether or not Texas has the magic to overcome the probabilities and go undefeated is unknown at this point, but there are talented players on offense who can pull off miraculous plays, and players on defense who can make magnificent stops.

In my opinion, Texas has more experienced players who can do make those kinds of plays than any other team. That is why Texas is the most likely team to win the next national championship.
 
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xray - the only problem with that analysis is that you lost the player (VY) responsible for for more of those plays last year (and arguably through the bottom quarter of the year prior) than any other.

That is a tough hole to fill (opinion). But the loss of that production and game-changing elan is a fact pure and simple - no further anaylsis really being needed.
 
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xrayrandy said:
but there are talented players on offense who can pull off miraculous plays, and players on defense who can make magnificent stops.
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Talented players?

Michael Bush is talented...
Reggie Bush was special...

Matt Leinart was talented...
Vince Young was special...

Bobby Carpenter was talented...
AJ Hawk was special...

Tough to say, but Maurice Clarett was special

Your assertion that there are others on UT's roster who can make the plays that VY made is homerically optimistic at best. I assume that a good LB will replace AJ Hawk, but I am not gullible enough to believe someone as special will play that spot. In 2003, tOSU had EVERY reason to win the NC, but the loss of a special player killed that season. Talk all you want about distractions and whatever else, but the in my mind, not having MoC toting the rock and giving that emotional edge was the difference between good and great...

Go ahead and assume all of the other talent is special...

edit: poor typing skills
 
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Name me an offensive player with a first name other than "Vince" who pulled off miraculous plays last year...
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Charles, has to go at the top of the list, with Taylor second if he makes it back. Pittman, Quan and Sweed all made big plays at WR. Those 5 all had plays over 40 yards. Ross had a couple TDs on punt returns. If you use 40+ yard plays as a measuring stick Texas easily returns more big play potential than tOSU, and it is spread around a lot more people.

Selvin has broken big plays in the past, 3 returns for TD, and now that he has lost weight and gotten healthy, so he should add into that mix. Finley and Shipley also bring big play potential. If you want to see what kind of potential Snead has I suggest you watch his Army AA game highlights here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBvb5rdnTak&mode=related&search=jevan

However the most important part of the team this season may be defense. I don't expect more than 2 or 3 teams will break 20 points against us. There won't be much need for offensive heroics.
 
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xrayrandy said:
However the most important part of the team this season may be defense. I don't expect more than 2 or 3 teams will break 20 points against us. There won't be much need for offensive heroics.
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Coughs - so that really means that you aren't going to disagree that VY was central to Texas NC run last year? Now that you are leaning so heavily on the defense that is :wink2:
 
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sandgk said:
Coughs - so that really means that you aren't going to disagree that VY was central to Texas NC run last year? Now that you are leaning so heavily on the defense that is :wink2:
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Something tells me Randy is "Special" too :wink2:


shortbus.jpg
 
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Don't know if anyone has interest in this or not, but I found the breakdown amazing ... Blue-Gray Sky (a Notre Dame fan blog) is doing a breakdown of the four big plays in the Fiesta Bowl, with near Zapruder-like frame-by-frame analysis and depression that virtually the entire Notre Dame defense returns for 2006. :tongue2:

It's a good basis for discussion of the OSU offense, and they're only two plays into it, covering the bomb to Ginn and the reverse thus far.

Click the link and scroll down a few posts to read their breakdowns:

http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/

Excellent work on their part.
 
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xrayrandy said:
Charles, has to go at the top of the list, with Taylor second if he makes it back. Pittman, Quan and Sweed all made big plays at WR. Those 5 all had plays over 40 yards. Ross had a couple TDs on punt returns. If you use 40+ yard plays as a measuring stick Texas easily returns more big play potential than tOSU, and it is spread around a lot more people.
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Yeah, and our WRs and RB made "big plays", too...whoopdie fucking doo. Ginn, Holmes, and Pittman had multiple plays of 40+ yards...in fact, we had 11 TDs of 40+ yards. Ginn also had a 100-yard kickoff TD and a 62-yard punt TD. Yet, I wouldn't call any of those "miraculous", at least without going back and looking at them again (and I already have a pretty good idea about those plays). You were talking about "miraculous" plays, like the long TD that Young had against OkSt where he pump-faked a defender about two feet into the air and then ran something like 80 yards for a TD. Or, in our case, the pass from Smith to Gonzo to set up the winning score in the final minute at Michigan...on that play, Smith avoided a sack the way only he and maybe Young could have, and then threw a perfect pass while on the run to a leaping Gonzo. Those types of plays are what you were originally talking about. Even if you weren't, our offense more than matches yours big-play-for-big-play. The thing is, we have our big play catalyst returning...you don't.
 
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I guess our only hope is that those ultra-quick Texas linebackers hit 88-mph at the precise moment that the lightning bolt strikes the clock tower. At that point, Mack Brown would go back in time to the days when he couldn't win the big game, and the Bucks would be assured victory.
 
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