we were all over you because you were invalidating a team which came to play consistently much better than we did. We struggled big time against MSU offensively and against purdue (good offense but turnover happy). They got it done all year other than their rivalry game.
I think VY is an absolute freak, but either him or his WR's cause some very bad passes at times. His delivery is awkward, but his throws are usually pretty good spirals and such (vs. Zwick).
I think its very possible that we force VY to beat us with his arm and he struggles to do so. Not because he can't pass, but because he can't do shotgun draws and scrambling as easy as he's been able to in the past thanks to our disciplined, fast defense that lock up their tackles quite well.
BuckeyeTrail's post is absurd. I too think the big12 is vastly overrated, however I would not put Texas in that same boat. We've played the Big12's middle tier teams for three years and destroyed them, but that's not the same as playing the best teams. We wouldn't listen to someone talking smack about beating Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan State considering they have very average years from time to time.
OU has been worshipped and overrated for years. They are still a great team, but just should have been #3 and out of the last two BCS bowl games (and I thought that going into both of them). Texas has not gotten that same flavor of love.
You can argue Texas doesn't play enough tough games, tho an OOC game with Arkansas is pretty respectable. If you disagree, go watch a highlight reel of Matt Jones. I think he's faster than VY personally, tho not quite as able to juke someone out of their shoes.
The point is our team struggled with an average marshall team, looked awful against NC State offensively, lost to a non-bowl Northwestern, looked even worse against Wisconsin, and then just got flat out destroyed against Iowa. Our so-called resurgence also involved a loss to a slumping purdue team.
Yes I understand the nuances of why the team is different now and such. But we definitely don't have the right to say that they are going to fail to show up when we couldn't even handle middle tier teams last year.
I think there was a clear change in how we played, no doubt. Ginn, Smith, Gonzalez, Dionte Johnson, the OL all brought an exciting offense to a team that had its worst offensive numbers since Clarett got hurt the first time (and that's saying a lot b/c the 2002 & 2003 offenses were deplorable after the first half of 2002).
The defense stepped up big time as they grew into their positions as a young team. Our LB's were finally able to start dominating games thanks to finally having a DL.
But the fact is Michigan has deplorable LB's, horrible defensive schemes with little pressure, and one of the most overrated safeties of all time in Shazor. And I don't think we have to convince you that the OkState defense is bad, considering Lydell Ross looked like Clarett out there in the alamo bowl.
There are a lot of reasons to be humble while being extremely optimistic. I think we win this game by 10 points or more. But I'm not gonna go out on a limb and say that we'll paste Texas. If we were playing Michigan that early in the season, I'd talk even more smack than BuckeyeTrail or others have talked, b/c we clearly seem to have the best of them on almost every front. But we haven't faced two venerable lines, a hard to tackle speed machine at QB, and an entire roster of the same level of recruits that we are used to nabbing.
) until the actual game??
