• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Game Thread tOSU @ Sparty, Nov 8th @ 8pm ET, ABC

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
kujirakira said:
What's the point of that if we already know 1 SEC team is better than the other and decided it on the field?
With all 5 conferences having CCGs or a round-robin, there should be no need for 2 schools from any conference.
This isn't a Tournament Cup; it's an extension of the regular season.
Click to expand...

This is exactly it for me. It's almost guaranteed that the two best teams from one conference will play each other in the regular season or conference championship game. That ties up all loose ends. Take ND/FSU, for example. If FSU gets in, no way should ND be considered for a spot in the playoff. They already played one another, and FSU won. Yes, it was in Tallahassee, and FSU won on a "maybe they'll call it, maybe they won't" flag, but that's that. If Florida State goes undefeated or loses one, they should definitely get in over ND.

A more relevant example may be Auburn and Mississippi State. If Mississippi State wins out, why should Auburn get another shot at them? They were already proven inferior. Give Oregon, TCU/K-State, FSU, or Ohio State/MSU a shot at them instead.

The real clusterfuck comes in when a one loss SEC team beats an undefeated SEC team in the SEC Championship game. You know ESPN will be lobbying for them both to get into the playoff.

"The playoff is about the top four teams. Are you going to tell me that these aren't two of the top four teams? Who doesn't want a Georgia/Alabama rematch!?" - Actual quote by unnamed ESPN pundit two years from now
 
Upvote 0
My thoughts on this game:

1) Gotta start fast on offense...even if it is not a TD, get a drive going and some first downs. A couple 3-and-outs could spell death for us and feed the crowd. We've really improved on this and I have no doubts UFM is emphasizing this.

2) JT Barrett needs to take some calculated risks. I have watched Sparty play a bit and they have a damn good secondary but get some ideal matchups and take a couple shots...they're going to be thinking zone-read on 2nd and manageable, hit them then deep with Devin or Dontre and break tendencies we have developed.

3) Keep doing what we are doing on defense but perhaps give some help vertically on Lippett early on...he is their Devin Smith and if we can limit big plays early, then we don't get in any runaway situations. I would just worry about a young DB hanging their heads on giving up a huge play early on. Develop some confidence and go from there.

4) I think the defensive play calls and scheme has been pretty fantastic all year minus the 1st half of VT. I love bringing Lee on blitzes like we have been and Cook will not evade him. To that end, we collapse the pocket well with out DL and for a guy like Cook that could be very advantageous. They have a good OL but I still think that advantage lies with us. Keep playing outstanding run defense and force Cook into mistakes. He is facing a very different secondary that will capitalize if he is forced to beat us.

5) Don't underestimate our talent. I can tell we take theirs very seriously but look at all the young talent that has developed at this point of the season. Play with confidence and level heads. On the other hand, don't dismiss their defense even with the talent they lost last season...#5 overall defense in the country and could be #1 without an outlier performance against Purdue and the points given up to Oregon on the road against a top offense.

6) This is not a "something's gotta give" one-sided matchup like against PSU, where our top offense faces their top defense. MSU is ranked slightly ahead of us in both offense and defense...though it is essentially a wash it is so close, my point is that we have to be at the top of our game on offense, defense, and special teams. No one unit will likely be able to bail the other one out.

- My early prediction is 31-24 OSU. Tough road win and no way we put up 40+ imo but I think we have enough fire power and defensive help to pull it off and get our revenge.
 
Upvote 0
I know that past performance means next to nothing come every new season, but sometimes one program just continues to do well against another. I can make such a case for Ohio State against Michigan State:

  • Ohio State leads the overall series 28-14, including 26-9 since going 2-5 in the first five games of the series.
  • Michigan State has scored 30+ points in just three games. Their 34 points in the B1G CCG was their second-most ever (most is 35 points in the series first game way back in 1912). This fact, combined with the way the defense played the last three games of the season last year, would indicate that the 34 points was an anomaly.
  • Ohio State has scored 30+ points in 13 games, 40+ in five games, and 50+ points once.
  • Ohio State has shut out Michigan State four times. Michigan State has never shut out Ohio State, and Ohio State has scored at least a TD in every game in the series.
  • Ohio State has held Michigan State under 20 points in 26 games. Ohio State has scored 20+ points in 31 games.
  • Michigan State has one win by 24+ points (32-7 in 1965). Ohio State has nine wins by 24+ points.
  • Prior to the B1G CCG, Ohio State was 8-1 against Michigan State since losing back-to-back games in '98 and '99. The only loss in that 8-1 run was during the "interim" 2011 season. Ohio State was also 21-5 against Michigan State since 1975 prior to the CCG.
  • Since the infamous 1974 loss at East Lansing, Ohio State is 11-2 there.

So, if our OL plays well, Barrett's knee is fairly healthy, our DL gets a good push, and our secondary plays at least decently, I don't see us losing this game.
 
Upvote 0
MililaniBuckeye said:
I know that past performance means next to nothing come every new season, but sometimes one program just continues to do well against another. I can make such a case for Ohio State against Michigan State:

  • Ohio State leads the overall series 28-14, including 26-9 since going 2-5 in the first five games of the series.
  • Michigan State has scored 30+ points in just three games. Their 34 points in the B1G CCG was their second-most ever (most is 35 points in the series first game way back in 1912). This fact, combined with the way the defense played the last three games of the season last year, would indicate that the 34 points was an anomaly.
  • Ohio State has scored 30+ points in 13 games, 40+ in five games, and 50+ points once.
  • Ohio State has shut out Michigan State four times. Michigan State has never shut out Ohio State, and Ohio State has scored at least a TD in every game in the series.
  • Ohio State has held Michigan State under 20 points in 26 games. Ohio State has scored 20+ points in 31 games.
  • Michigan State has one win by 24+ points (32-7 in 1965). Ohio State has nine wins by 24+ points.
  • Prior to the B1G CCG, Ohio State was 8-1 against Michigan State since losing back-to-back games in '98 and '99. The only loss in that 8-1 run was during the "interim" 2011 season. Ohio State was also 21-5 against Michigan State since 1975 prior to the CCG.
  • Since the infamous 1974 loss at East Lansing, Ohio State is 11-2 there.

So, if our OL plays well, Barrett's knee is fairly healthy, our DL gets a good push, and our secondary plays at least decently, I don't see us losing this game.
Click to expand...

I will never forget, or forgive, 1998
 
Upvote 0
201409-game-poster.pdf
 
Upvote 0
It's put up or shut up time.

Urban Meyer and his staff and teams have failed in every big game they've played in up to this point. They haven't been able to do jack shit against teams that stand up to them and have been stumped (offensively) this year by VT and PSU.

I have to say I have very little faith in the staff when it comes to this game. I certainly hope that I'm wrong. Ohio State has history on their side come Saturday night, but like I said...show me.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top