I was just looking at the NU starting lineup and noticed that once again we have a team loaded with starters from last season. So I got to looking (none of this includes kickers).
OSU returns at most 9 starters from last season, including:
Sims
Mangold (started most of last season)
Joe (missed much of last season and has seen limited action this year)
Ross (had fewer than 10 carries in 6 of his games last year)
Holmes (started less than half the season)
Fraser
Hawk
Fox (now out for several weeks)
Salley (started most of last season)
Equally as important, our only starting seniors are:
Ross
Kne (a former walk on)
Fraser
Fox (did I mention he isn't playing for awhile?)
(I left Joe off because he hasn't started yet this year)
That isn't much in the way of "Senior Leadership".
So how about our opponents?
Per BSB -
Cincinnatti: 16 returning starters and 17 seniors.
Marshall: 12 returning starters and 15 seniors.
NC St: 14 returning starters and (watch out next year folks) 6 seniors.
NU 17 returning starters and 9 seniors.
Again - discounting Fox and Joe - the numbers for OSU are 7 returning starters and 3 seniors.
Sure, we are OSU and we have more talent than all these schools combined. But in this age of relative parity this is something to consider in reviewing our performance to date.
It is alwo worth mention that this is the final year for any of the players left over from the Cooper era. They are::
Joe
Childress
Hollins
Caldwell
Mathews
Jacobs
Huston
Not much of a legacy.
OSU returns at most 9 starters from last season, including:
Sims
Mangold (started most of last season)
Joe (missed much of last season and has seen limited action this year)
Ross (had fewer than 10 carries in 6 of his games last year)
Holmes (started less than half the season)
Fraser
Hawk
Fox (now out for several weeks)
Salley (started most of last season)
Equally as important, our only starting seniors are:
Ross
Kne (a former walk on)
Fraser
Fox (did I mention he isn't playing for awhile?)
(I left Joe off because he hasn't started yet this year)
That isn't much in the way of "Senior Leadership".
So how about our opponents?
Per BSB -
Cincinnatti: 16 returning starters and 17 seniors.
Marshall: 12 returning starters and 15 seniors.
NC St: 14 returning starters and (watch out next year folks) 6 seniors.
NU 17 returning starters and 9 seniors.
Again - discounting Fox and Joe - the numbers for OSU are 7 returning starters and 3 seniors.
Sure, we are OSU and we have more talent than all these schools combined. But in this age of relative parity this is something to consider in reviewing our performance to date.
It is alwo worth mention that this is the final year for any of the players left over from the Cooper era. They are::
Joe
Childress
Hollins
Caldwell
Mathews
Jacobs
Huston
Not much of a legacy.