Watershed
The more I think about this game, the more I think it will tell us.
There is the obvious: How will the Buckeyes handle a power running game with a decent passing attack to balance it?
But there is something more.
After the Washington game, I had a sense (many of us did) that the team had just been transformed by what transpired there. I stated here in several posts (and in the preview for the Northwestern game) that the following game would tell us if the transformation would be a lasting one.
Based on the Buckeyes' fast start in that game and their continued excellence, the momentum we picked up in Seattle has lasted. But we all know what happens to momentum when you meet a stiff increase in resistance.
That is part of the reason why I think this game will tell us much. Because it is the start of a homestretch comprising 5 opponents who are tougher than any we've faced thus far. It is time for the Bucks to step up, and we know they know it.
But that's only half of it. Yes, this is a steep step; but the next step is even steeper. Our Buckeyes face arguably their toughest test of the season next week.
This isn't about looking ahead, at least not very much. This is about this game being the last chance they have to improve before they MUST be at their very best.
Perhaps that's overstated. Yeah, they have to be at their VERY best in January. But I hope the players are looking at this game exactly the way I described it. As the last chance to really hone their skill and build momentum before attacking the 'big' hill.
Starting with the trip to happy valley we face a metaphorical hill that is like the real one that you used to ride your bike up and down as a kid. You knew that the hundred yards or so before the hill was as important, if not more so, than the pedaling you did on the hill itself. You had to hit the bottom of the hill at top speed, or you wouldn't make it to the top.
This game against the Spartans is that last 100 yards before the big hill. It's the last chance to "hone skill and build momentum" before all of our energy will only conserve whatever momentum we have as we pedal furiously upward.
I believe in my heart that this team knows exactly what they're facing. I believe that they will have worked this week with an intensity that they previously didn't know was possible. I don't know why, but I really believe that this team will attack this game like we've seen other Tressel teams attack that other school from that state up north.
Even so, I'm not convinced that this one will be easy. MSU has a dream too. I saw Erin Andrews doing a report from the Horseshoe, saying that Brian Hoyer reported Dantonio's intensity to be a 15 on a scale of 10, when he's usually an 8. MSU is going to play the game of their lives. It will take a great effort to do what we should do against them. It will take everything 'we' have just to pull away late in this game. But 'we' will. I believe it.
When we see the Buckeyes take care of business tomorrow, when we see them play snap-to-whistle for 60 minutes, when we see them leave the field like they are still a predator on the hunt, too focused to slow down; we will see that they have refined their execution and built the momentum they will need to scale the hill before them. We won't know whether they'll win in Happy Valley, but we'll know that they can.
It's time to start pedaling Buckeyes. It's time to attack that hill.
Go Bucks.
The more I think about this game, the more I think it will tell us.
There is the obvious: How will the Buckeyes handle a power running game with a decent passing attack to balance it?
But there is something more.
After the Washington game, I had a sense (many of us did) that the team had just been transformed by what transpired there. I stated here in several posts (and in the preview for the Northwestern game) that the following game would tell us if the transformation would be a lasting one.
Based on the Buckeyes' fast start in that game and their continued excellence, the momentum we picked up in Seattle has lasted. But we all know what happens to momentum when you meet a stiff increase in resistance.
That is part of the reason why I think this game will tell us much. Because it is the start of a homestretch comprising 5 opponents who are tougher than any we've faced thus far. It is time for the Bucks to step up, and we know they know it.
But that's only half of it. Yes, this is a steep step; but the next step is even steeper. Our Buckeyes face arguably their toughest test of the season next week.
This isn't about looking ahead, at least not very much. This is about this game being the last chance they have to improve before they MUST be at their very best.
Perhaps that's overstated. Yeah, they have to be at their VERY best in January. But I hope the players are looking at this game exactly the way I described it. As the last chance to really hone their skill and build momentum before attacking the 'big' hill.
Starting with the trip to happy valley we face a metaphorical hill that is like the real one that you used to ride your bike up and down as a kid. You knew that the hundred yards or so before the hill was as important, if not more so, than the pedaling you did on the hill itself. You had to hit the bottom of the hill at top speed, or you wouldn't make it to the top.
This game against the Spartans is that last 100 yards before the big hill. It's the last chance to "hone skill and build momentum" before all of our energy will only conserve whatever momentum we have as we pedal furiously upward.
I believe in my heart that this team knows exactly what they're facing. I believe that they will have worked this week with an intensity that they previously didn't know was possible. I don't know why, but I really believe that this team will attack this game like we've seen other Tressel teams attack that other school from that state up north.
Even so, I'm not convinced that this one will be easy. MSU has a dream too. I saw Erin Andrews doing a report from the Horseshoe, saying that Brian Hoyer reported Dantonio's intensity to be a 15 on a scale of 10, when he's usually an 8. MSU is going to play the game of their lives. It will take a great effort to do what we should do against them. It will take everything 'we' have just to pull away late in this game. But 'we' will. I believe it.
When we see the Buckeyes take care of business tomorrow, when we see them play snap-to-whistle for 60 minutes, when we see them leave the field like they are still a predator on the hunt, too focused to slow down; we will see that they have refined their execution and built the momentum they will need to scale the hill before them. We won't know whether they'll win in Happy Valley, but we'll know that they can.
It's time to start pedaling Buckeyes. It's time to attack that hill.
Go Bucks.
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