BrutusBobcat
Icon and Entertainer
In the aftermath of the USC loss, the strange way in which the pollsters punished a 38-0 win, and the reality that the Big Ten has no more remaining big OOC games in which to prove...well, something, I've decided that I'd rather focus my fandom on something Ohio State can control -- going to Pasadena.
I won't begrudge those fans who want to crunch the BCS math, wring their hands over decisions made by graduate assistants and Harris poll stand-ins, or expectantly scan the top ten scoreboard each week in the hopes for an upset loss by Boise State to Wyoming. Have at it. My world will consist entirely of what happens in the Big Ten and Pac Ten, the way it usta be when I was a pup. The bowl game that matters will be the Rose; everything else might as well be the Motor City bowl as far as I'm concerned.
We all know that Tressel's resume as a Buckeye coach is legendary. National title, Big Ten titles, wins over TTUN, 80%+ wins...he has it all, everything a Hall of Fame OSU coach should have, except one: a Rose Bowl win. It's time. This is the season, this is the team.
The nice thing is that getting there is simple. Win every remaining game, and root for Northwestern and Michigan State to lose at least once in conference.
Obviously, the key games are at Penn State and at Michigan. Just to hedge our bets, we want both of them to lose at least another game, so we root against them every week. This is where I break faith with the BCS watchers; for BCS math, we'd want to face both of either of those teams unbeaten (they both can't be, because they play each other before they play us). For Rose Bowl math, they need to lose early and lose often.
This week, we're looking for:
- Minnesota over Northwestern, since OSU doesn't play the Mildcats
- Wisconsin over MSU, same reason
Iowa and Indiana don't have much of a shot, playing PSU and scUM on the road, but there's always a Mountaineer's chance in a Big House.
And the most important -- Ohio State over Illinois. Important because it's the conference opener, because we win a wooden turtle, and because we owe Juice and the Zooker some paybacks.
Boom. That's it. We care about five games, only two of which are even in doubt. Talk about efficiency.
The nice thing about joining the Rose Bowl bandwagon is that style points no longer count, ESPN no longer counts, polls, computers, wins and losses in the SEC...really, that's worth it right there. Do you really want to have to watch Ole Miss/Our Kansas, or heaven forbid, yet another game on that $*@&!# blue turf? Isn't watching WAC football one of the punishments in Dante's Inferno? Yeah, I'm looking forward to caring about the outcome of Boise State versus Wyoming. Sign me up.
If five games just isn't enough, you can take a glance out west and find a couple of relevant matchups.
- Cal goes to Oregon, which either puts a nail in Oregon's season or livens things up a bit.
- Washington and Stanford are both 1-0 in conference and play each other in Palo Alto.
"Rose Bowl Champion Ohio State Buckeyes"...has a nice ring to it, and is something we haven't heard in Columbus for a while.
I won't begrudge those fans who want to crunch the BCS math, wring their hands over decisions made by graduate assistants and Harris poll stand-ins, or expectantly scan the top ten scoreboard each week in the hopes for an upset loss by Boise State to Wyoming. Have at it. My world will consist entirely of what happens in the Big Ten and Pac Ten, the way it usta be when I was a pup. The bowl game that matters will be the Rose; everything else might as well be the Motor City bowl as far as I'm concerned.
We all know that Tressel's resume as a Buckeye coach is legendary. National title, Big Ten titles, wins over TTUN, 80%+ wins...he has it all, everything a Hall of Fame OSU coach should have, except one: a Rose Bowl win. It's time. This is the season, this is the team.
The nice thing is that getting there is simple. Win every remaining game, and root for Northwestern and Michigan State to lose at least once in conference.
Obviously, the key games are at Penn State and at Michigan. Just to hedge our bets, we want both of them to lose at least another game, so we root against them every week. This is where I break faith with the BCS watchers; for BCS math, we'd want to face both of either of those teams unbeaten (they both can't be, because they play each other before they play us). For Rose Bowl math, they need to lose early and lose often.
This week, we're looking for:
- Minnesota over Northwestern, since OSU doesn't play the Mildcats
- Wisconsin over MSU, same reason
Iowa and Indiana don't have much of a shot, playing PSU and scUM on the road, but there's always a Mountaineer's chance in a Big House.
And the most important -- Ohio State over Illinois. Important because it's the conference opener, because we win a wooden turtle, and because we owe Juice and the Zooker some paybacks.
Boom. That's it. We care about five games, only two of which are even in doubt. Talk about efficiency.
The nice thing about joining the Rose Bowl bandwagon is that style points no longer count, ESPN no longer counts, polls, computers, wins and losses in the SEC...really, that's worth it right there. Do you really want to have to watch Ole Miss/Our Kansas, or heaven forbid, yet another game on that $*@&!# blue turf? Isn't watching WAC football one of the punishments in Dante's Inferno? Yeah, I'm looking forward to caring about the outcome of Boise State versus Wyoming. Sign me up.
If five games just isn't enough, you can take a glance out west and find a couple of relevant matchups.
- Cal goes to Oregon, which either puts a nail in Oregon's season or livens things up a bit.
- Washington and Stanford are both 1-0 in conference and play each other in Palo Alto.
"Rose Bowl Champion Ohio State Buckeyes"...has a nice ring to it, and is something we haven't heard in Columbus for a while.