Game Thread Ohio State @ Iowa, 11/04/17 @ 3:30 (ESPN)

[Jaxbuck]

Feels like Coopers second game and to some degree his first year to me personally.

In 1988 he took over from Earl, beat Syracuse at home and the place was literally doing a "Cooop" chant because he threw the ball more.

Then game two happened. They went on the road, at night to Pitt and got their doors blown off.

They come home the next week and get a miracle comeback to beat a good LSU team

Then the first of three straight ass hammerings from Illinois, Indiana and Purdue

Not making an exact comparison between the teams but the Jekyll and Hyde nature and completely bewildering losses feel similar.

 

[Buckeyebred97]

Just letting you know.... it really sucks.

Just reading this thread alone was pretty rough. At least I already know I will be disappointed by the time I finish. Thanks for the link.

 

[buckeyesin07]

I've never seen an OSU team get murdered by a barely .500 with far less talent. Lose a squeaker? Sure. But not this. You probably have to go all the way back to the '88 Indiana game to find a loss that's comparable.

Yeah, we're talking about an Iowa team that only put up 31 points against North Texas (in a game that was 17-14 at the end of the third quarter).

 

[LordJeffBuck]

I've been watching Buckeye football for longer than many here and I've seen games like this many times. It happens all the time no matter how great the coaches are.

I don't care how long you've been watching Buckeye football, you haven't seen games like this "many times", and games like this certainly don't happen "all the time".

The 55 points scored by Iowa was the 5th most by any Buckeye opponent:

1890: Wooster 64, Ohio State 0
1902: Michigan 86, Ohio State 0
1946: Michigan 58, Ohio State 6
1994: Penn State 63, Ohio State 14
2017: Iowa 55, Ohio State 24

The only other time that a Buckeye opponent reached the 50-point mark was in 1892 when Oberlin won, 50-0.

I'm going to throw out the leather helmet games because they have little historical value.

The 1946 Michigan squad was ranked #8 by the AP, and the Wolverines were at the beginning of what would become a 25-game winning streak that would lead to back-to-back national championships in 1947 and 1948. A bad loss to a great team.

The 1994 Penn State team was #1 at the time and the Nittany Lions would finish the season a perfect 12-0-0 and #2 in both major polls. A bad loss to a great team.

The 2017 Iowa team was unranked and scored a grand total of 56 points against Penn State, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Northwestern combined. This was a horrible loss to a mediocre team.

It's one thing to get blown out by #1 Clemson (2016) or #4 Southern Cal (2008) or #1 Florida (2006).

It's one thing to have "let down" games against inferior opponents like Virginia Tech (2014) or Purdue (2009) or Michigan State (1998).

It's quite another thing altogether for a playoff contender to get historically blown out by a non-entity like this 2017 Iowa team.

There's been something fundamentally wrong with the Buckeyes for the better part of two years now. I can't quite put my finger on the cause of this "wrongness", but the symptoms are sloppy play, mental mistakes, penalties, chippiness, blown assignments, and lack of effort. I hope that I'm wrong, but it seems to me that Urban might be at risk of "losing" this team.

 

[ScriptOhio]

STATAGRAM: IOWA 55, OHIO STATE 24

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/data-viz/2017/11/87536/statagram-iowa-55-ohio-state-24

 

[buckeyboy]

I've been disappointed with our DL all year. Sure they stepped up in the 4th q last week but when have they ever stepped up and took over a game? Two freshman tackles and nothing? Literally nothing?

I'm shaking my head trying to figure out why they had no answer for Iowa's o line zone blocking. You know as a coaching staff what Iowa is going to do and the coaches/players just couldn't figure it out.

 

[bukIpower]

I'm shaking my head trying to figure out why they had no answer for Iowa's o line zone blocking. You know as a coaching staff what Iowa is going to do and the coaches/players just couldn't figure it out.

Imo should've went to a 5 man front with 2 lbs.

Besides 5 dl would've helped get pressure and would've enabled us to chip the TE more. Not like the lbs were playing well anyways

 

[kujirakira]

Is that in our control? My understanding is that it isn't, even if we won out. A huge and major *if*, I just thought it wasn't in our control.



Hang 50 on Sparty and then lose to Illinois the next week? I could see that. Honestly, at best I see us winning 2 more games though. Hope I'm wrong.



Yep. So far, Tressel is the far superior coach. Urban has been way more fun to follow in sound bytes and recruiting, but not in results. I point my finger directly at myself in saying be careful what you wish for.



Agreed, I hope we finish out strong but have serious doubts after seeing our team just give up and roll over tonight. I will watch every game and be behind our guys, but I've just watched enough football to know how this one ends up. My guess is that we end in some late December bowl game, but hopefully after we beat the team up north.

Us and Sparty are sharing the Drivers seat in the East Division. Next week determines who goes to Indy to play Wisconsin.
And there's still the most important game. I don't care if we are a 4 loss team (I really doubt it - though I could see Wiscy and Bowl losses)... beat Michigan.


Funny thing, the Iowa fans around me were chanting "Rose Bowl" - til I told them it's a playoff game this year. Then they were like "oh"... this was their Rose Bowl for the last 10 years. Ferentz will get another pay raise and plastic trophy out of it... but I suppose he should be getting paid more than Franklin.

There is one reason, and one reason alone, that I can give some of these over reacting fans a bit of a break for their over reaction.

This is the first time since 2011 that Ohio State has had two regular season losses. Think about that... It's been 5 years since we've had to deal with .... two.... losses in a regular season. Is it any wonder a large chunk of our fanbase has no idea how to lose...

2 games...

In a regular season.

GET A FUCKING GRIP!

For me it's the extremity of the loss. We looked like Purdue out there. It was just a complete and total meltdown against a very mediocre - but well coached - team.
Losses happen after big emotional showdowns like last week... but 55-24? And giving up drives like they did at the end...
This is the kind of game that never gets lived down. Starting to feel like a repeat of 2005-2007 right now... really good teams that fell hard and the recruiting well dried up in the aftermath.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Oh no... I'm worried about the direction of the program... will recruits leave...

It's not that. This team gave up 55 points to Iowa man. An Iowa team that's still below .500 in conference play and will probably finish .500 for the year when it's all said and done. This a TERRIBLE loss. It's infinitely worse than getting smoked by the eventual national champion in Clemson or a national championship contender in Oklahoma. This is a loss where, for once, the nuclear meltdown reactions are fully justified. Once gain, that was NOT a great Iowa team we just got destroyed by. I'd hesitate to call them good. They're probably going to get murdered by Wisconsin next week.

Yeah, this is a bad loss. Things got out of hand and Iowa decided to twist the knife by trying, and succeeding, on a fake field goal too.

You on the fire Urban bandwagon too?

Speaking of knife twisting.... I think Urban is going to make Iowa pay for that fake punt bullshit in the years to come.

 

[Taosman]

Blow outs don't have the lingering effect that one point losses do. At least for me. Now if it happens next week...... Ask the Ped State fans about losing 2 close games. Those losses linger.
But I predict we will be angry and focused(and mentally ready) next week in a "bounce back" game. Sparty doesn't have the pass rush they have had and JT will have all day to go through his progressions. And JT will be more focused as will the whole team. Remember, Sparty lost a shoot out to Northwestern just 2 weeks ago. And next weeks game could be another shoot out.

 

[WiseBuck]

A quality Buckeye team would NOT get blown out by an Iowa team.

This Buckeye team is simply not good enough if you know the players at each position.

 

[Jake]

Yeah, this is a bad loss. Things got out of hand and Iowa decided to twist the knife by trying, and succeeding, on a fake field goal too.

Speaking of knife twisting.... I think Urban is going to make Iowa pay for that fake punt bull[Mark May] in the years to come.

Someone said we don't play Iowa again until 2020.

If that's true, I won't be shocked if Urban is not on the sideline for that one. Not fired, but stepping down on his own accord. I just don't think he's going to coach until he's 65-70. I could see him moving to a studio, or working in an administrative capacity.

 

[kujirakira]

Oh no... I'm worried about the direction of the program... will recruits leave...

Yeah, this is a bad loss. Things got out of hand and Iowa decided to twist the knife by trying, and succeeding, on a fake field goal too.

You on the fire Urban bandwagon too?

Speaking of knife twisting.... I think Urban is going to make Iowa pay for that fake punt bull[Mark May] in the years to come.

In 2020? Sure.

 

[bigdog3300]

Speaking of knife twisting.... I think Urban is going to make Iowa pay for that fake punt bull[Mark May] in the years to come.

Why get mad about that? It's legal, it's smart, it's balls to the wall which is how we usually play....going on 4th down, etc.

To be honest - when we had Cam at punter and his rugby style we should have ran A LOT of fake punts. We couldn't count how many times he could have picked up a first down by running for it.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

Why get mad about that? It's legal, it's smart, it's balls to the wall which is how we usually play....going on 4th down, etc.

There's a reason that there's a clock in football, and that reason is to let the teams know that the game is still being played. If one of the teams wants to check out before the clock does, then it's their own damned fault. Iowa played until the end, Ohio State ... not so much.