Why It Is So Frustrating Being a Buckeye Fan

[shetuck]

edit: i will say, that the "national championship or bust" mentality is a fairly recent phenomena. used to be, beating TSUN and winning the Big Ten were all that mattered...

I was thinking the same thing last night. The BCS era has defined a specific path to becoming National Champions. So now because everybody can visualize that path, they form expectations.

 

[Onebuckfan]

Cub fans are frustrated! Buckeye fans are more dissappointed. Dissappointed a Neal Colzie spikes a football after an INT that hurts our chances of wnning a Rose Bowl and NC, a punt hitting the blocker against MSU , dissapointed TS can't keep himself from being suspended in 2005, dissappointed a Chrs Carter signs with an agent or a Keith Byars has a stress fracture in his foot. TOSU has had a lot of success, but the Cubs can't even sniff the WS since 1946 much less win it.

 

[lvbuckeye]

i don't want to hear about Cubs (Chicago) fans. the Bulls were a dynasty. the Bears won the Super Bowl. you wanna talk about frustrated, talk to the fans in a city that hasn't won a championship in any of the big 3 since 1964.

 

[BB73]

I was thinking the same thing last night. The BCS era has defined a specific path to becoming National Champions. So now because everybody can visualize that path, they form expectations.

I'm not buying into the 'recent' aspect of the NC being such an important goal in college football. The BCS just made the bowl ramifications clearer.

I spent a lot of time in '73, '74, '75, '79, along with some pre-BCS years in the 90s, visualizing the path to the NC.

 

[jwinslow]

Has it cheapened the other paths though?

 

[BB73]

Has it cheapened the other paths though?

The Rose Bowl is less special than it used to be, but that doesn't bother me. Losing back-to-back NC's after the '74 and '75 seasons by having to play an LA team in the Rose Bowl made me resent the Big Ten-Pac Ten arrangement.

Back then, I was all about winning the NC - I didn't care if the bowl game had a parade with floats and had been around for decades.

 

[BigWoof31]

Why is it so frustrating to be a Bulldog Fan?

Sorry Lord Jeff - I have to steal a little thunder. I'll sum mine up quickly though.

Why is it so frustrating to be a Bulldog Fan?


1. Florida is [censored]ing good.
2. Seriously - have you seen their teams recently?
3. Sometimes Tennesse is good
4. Tech calls us fat rednecks
5. When Florida isn't as good - LSU is REALLY GOOD
6. Alabama is good again.


That's pretty much it.

 

[JXC]

I think having sesaons like Auburn has had would be a lot worse. 0 NCs in 13 .800% seasons. Ouch!

Plus...I just don't feel like a CFB national championship is as important of a championship as any other sport...and the reason is because it is biased and rarely decided on the field. How many years was the NC decided by biased writers and coaches and people who didn't really "KNOW" which team was best. How do we KNOW if OSU was better or worse than FSU and Tennessee in 1998. What about PSU in 1994. NCs in college football are crap. The best you can do is have a perfect season...but after that, winning the NC, or not, really says nothing about your football program. See Auburn's perfect season in 2004.

So really, to base success on NCs is kind of bogus in my eyes. I mean they are great...but to start off, NCs are rarely decided on the field. Like in the year with the 10-10 tie in The Game. What if Ohio State and Michigan are the best two teams in the country that year (which I believe they were). Well...they don't get a chance to prove it in a playoff...instead they both get screwed. So yeah, the Buckeyes have been not so good when it comes to taking advantage of the messed up championship system college football has, and sometimes the system has screwed them. But I feel like Penn State and Auburn have been far worse, whether it be a fault of their own or not.

If you measure success on these NCs, then at least we have some, and a recent one, so we can't be TOO pissed...but I think basing success on JUST the NCs is silly. Just because of the set-up. I don't want to turn this into a we need a playoff discussion, because it's not about that. It is about being frustrated as a Buckeye fan.

But I feel the system has to be part of the discussion. Fans of ALL teams are going to be MORE frustrated when there is a system like the one we have. The system breeds frustration for everybody. Is Ohio State's 2006-2007 basketball season a frustrating one? No! We made the final four and went to the championship game. It was a great run! Winning the NC would have been amazing, but it is still a great acomplishment to make the final four, because you have to earn your way there. If there was a 16 team playoff...losing in the NC game would be FAR LESS frustrating, because nobody would say you didn't belong there (like some say about OSU in the 2007 season), because you earned your way there. It seems like the loser of the NC game in most years is questioned for even being there. At least in a playoff, you couldn't question that the NC game loser belonged in the game.

I feel like a proper championship system would allow for more successful seasons for everyone, and less frustration around the board. I say this because it seems like a lot of the different teams' frustration have been from off the field situations (pollsters, weak schedules, bowl tie ins...etc) The BCS has solved some of this, but not much of it...there are still problems which teams have ZERO control over. Six years ago a team could have scheduled Washington State, Notre Dame, Michigan and Nebraska for 2008, thinking that this would give them THE BEST SOS ever!!! Only to end up having only one of these four games be vs. a winning team. That would be frustrating, especially if they played in a weak conference, went undefeated, and were never really tested, but it isn't their fault. They would have done everything in their power, but not given a chance. HUGE FRUSTRATION! How frustrated does Utah feel? How worse would it be if they beat Alabama, but still don't win a NC. That would be frustrating as hell for them. It sucks that we have a sport where an undefeated season can be frustrating.

BCS championships are nice and great, but personally I can't put all my stock in them, knowing how they are kind of bogus. Therefore I put a lot of stock in things Ohio State CAN control. Win Big Ten Champoinships. Win the bowl game. And ESPECIALLY BEAT MICHIGAN! If we do those three things, then I am happy as hell. And we have a chance to do that this year. 1998, 2002, 2005 were all seasons in which we accomplished those goals and I felt were successful. In 1998 and 2005 we didn't do one thing though, that I also feel is a goal, and that is win all the games, which is why I feel 2002 was special...not just because we won the NC that year. As Auburn and PSU and Boise State and maybe Utah know all to well, just going undefeated doesn't mean you will win the bogus NC, so it was nice we got that as well, but it was a little lucky that our 2002 season happened in a year where there wasn't any controversy. That's the great thing about ALL OTHER SPORTS. There is no other sport out there, where you can go undefeated and not win a NC. Therefore those sports don't have that added frustration.

In what other sport can you say, "Well we were the best team, but we weren't given a chance to prove it." There are a bunch of recent years where I feel like had OSU been given that chance, they could have proven it. Even when they lost a game or two.

I think everybody is frustrated in college football. Not just Ohio State fans. Maybe some fans have more of a right to be frustrated than others, but I don't feel like Ohio State is on the high end of this. I'd rather be 2 for 17 in .800% seasons than be 2 for 2 in the same period, with crappy season otherwise. Being #2 is a hell of a lot less frustrating than going 3-9. But that's just my opinion. If you define frustration ONLY on the "close but no cigar to the (kinda) national championship" feeling...then yeah, Ohio State is up there close to the top. But if you take into account EVERYTHING that one could be frustrated with when it comes to being a fan...I feel like Ohio State fans should be towards the bottom when it comes to frustration.

We have great coaches. We have a great stadium. We are part of the best rivalry in sport. We have great recruiting. We have great players. We have great tradition. We have GREAT seasons. We have national championships (even a recent one). We have more Heismans than anybody (plus we have Archie). We always get to see our team play in big games. The list goes on and on...to me, having all of these things makes any frustration a lot less...frustrating.

I do agree though, that the reason Buckeye fans feel so frustrated, is because they always expect to be the best. We are the most DIE HARD fans in the country. We live and die with our team like no other. It was said in a post that even with Cavs and Indians and Browns extreme frustration, it always seem to pale to the frustration when the Buckeyes lose...and I think the reason is because we all put the Buckeyes first. Ask people who are fans of Ohio State sports, Indians, Browns, and Cavs which team they would like to see win a NC next year the most. Almost ALL of them will say Ohio State Football! It's because there is something special, even magical, about Ohio State football. It's the best thing in the world. Even better than beer and sex, combined. It's true. Would you rather drink a beer while having sex and miss the Buckeyes game...or vice versa? I'm sure we'd all want all 3...but given the choice between the two, we'd all be watching the Buckeyes.

So I think the answer to the question..."Why is it so frustrating being a Buckeye Fan?":

Because Buckeye fans are the most die hard fans and their team plays in the most frustrating sport in the country. That combo breeds lots of frustration. Unless Ohio State win their next 100 games in a row...there is going to be frustration. And even then, if we lost that 101st game...we'd all be pissed, hurt, and that would be a sad day in all of our lives.

I'm glad i'm a Buckeye. Being anything else would be pointless as I see it. The sports world does revolve around Ohio State, some people just haven't figured that out yet.

 

[martinss01]

the other teams on the 80%+ list. the thing is, when those other teams DO get in them, they make the most of it.

off the top of my head, other than the Buckeyes only Miami has played for the title 9 times, and they've won 5...

so when other teams "do" get in they take advantage about 50% of the time? makes sense and thats about what i would expect. 5 out of 9 is a game away from 50% after all. sure some will do slightly better and some will do slightly worse. but thats just the way it works.

i think people really underestimate how much luck is required to win a nc. my god people, how much fucking luck did LSU need last year just to make it into the game alone??? how much luck did florida need in 06? look at this year. how many 1 loss teams are there again? stupid amounts of luck and happenstance are required just to make it to the game. people need to be realistic.

edit: i will say, that the "national championship or bust" mentality is a fairly recent phenomena. used to be, beating TSUN and winning the Big Ten were all that mattered.

for me, thats still all that matters. a 1-11 season so long as the win is over scum... thats a successful year! "nc or bust" is arrogance plain and simple. some of the arrogance i have heard from tOSU "fans"... those fans have deserved the losses tOSU has been handed a hell of a lot more than the players & coaches. makes me wonder how many bandwagon jumpers we've picked up from up north...

in those terms, the Buckeyes have been on a roll like never before. i was talking to some guy the other day who commented on my Ohio State jacket, and he said something like "tough season this year, huh?" and i just laughed and said, "how spoiled are we, when we win 10 games and go to a BCS bowl, and it's a 'down' year?"

perspective.

how much perspective is being displayed in this thread you figure?

1 loss in 06 for a team with massive holes on d. 9 starters drafted in 05, a walk on starting corner, other a true sophomore, 3rd string safety replaced the following year by a true freshman.
2 in 07. 1 proved the d was still too green. the second to a team that was flat out better at nearly every position. but most importantly, more mature. lets not forget this was supposed to be a rebuilding year!
2 in 08. one on the road while gimpy against a team that was better at nearly every position. the other because the ball simply didn't bounce our way.

and yet 4 straight big 10 champs. 4 straight bcs bowls. 5 straight against scum. a heisman trophy, stupid numbers of players in the nfl, and excellent recruiting classes every year.

yet for some this still isn't good enough. makes me wonder what exactly it would take to make those people happy.

 

[cincibuck]

Two things I believe enter into the brew: 1) Any Big 10 team has to win the NC on the road. Either in LA against an LA team or a west coast school, in the Southwest against a Southern or Texas team, or in the South against a Southern team. For all the NCs won by USC only one was outside of California. No SEC team has ever won an NC north of Memphis.

2) For most of the years you listed getting to the big dance meant winning what was once the strongest conference in the nation. Penn State had to get by Syracuse, Pitt and occasionally Notre Dame (and look how often they've been to the big dance since joining the Big 10). Texas had to get by Oklahoma and all the other Texas teams. Oklahoma had to get by the seven dwarfs until Nebraska got tough. Bud Wilkinson was asked how he managed college football's longest winning streak and his answer was, "Because we didn't have to play in the Big 10." The smartest guys in the room, the ADs at Florida State and Miami who side stepped the SEC to join the ACC and the Big East. USC has to beat UCLA and an occassionally good team from Washington, Oregon or Arizona, but look at the Rose Bowl list over the last 60 years and you'll get a good idea how tough that has been. SEC and Big 10 teams have had the most difficult route to the NC for some time.

 

[FrancisSoyer]

yet for some this still isn't good enough. makes me wonder what exactly it would take to make those people happy.

First of all I agree with pretty much everything you said. We are very fortunate to have the players and success we have, not to mention a super classy coach. But to answer your question, I think the Buckeyes need to start looking like an elite program against the elite programs. It's that simple. These blowouts are getting ridiculous. I know a lot of people that are not going to Arizona this year because they've traveled to the NC in '06 and '07 plus the USC game. It's just not much fun to watch them get killed out there especially when you're paying thousands of dollars. Losses will always be disappointing but the blowouts are pretty much the reason the fans are so divided this year. Personally I think we win this year (unlike last year) but the line is going to have to step up big time.

 

[lvbuckeye]

so when other teams "do" get in they take advantage about 50% of the time? makes sense and thats about what i would expect. 5 out of 9 is a game away from 50% after all. sure some will do slightly better and some will do slightly worse. but thats just the way it works.

hey, 50-50 is good enough for me. 2-7 (2-12 counting losing the last game of the regular season) is something else entirely.

i think people really underestimate how much luck is required to win a nc. my god people, how much fucking luck did LSU need last year just to make it into the game alone??? how much luck did florida need in 06? look at this year. how many 1 loss teams are there again? stupid amounts of luck and happenstance are required just to make it to the game. people need to be realistic.

i'm not discounting the breaks a team needs to get. but not taking advantage of those opportunities is what gets stuck in peoples craws.

for me, thats still all that matters. a 1-11 season so long as the win is over scum... thats a successful year! "nc or bust" is arrogance plain and simple. some of the arrogance i have heard from tOSU "fans"... those fans have deserved the losses tOSU has been handed a hell of a lot more than the players & coaches. makes me wonder how many bandwagon jumpers we've picked up from up north...

i think it's ignorance more than arrogance. i don't think the average scout board Buckeye fan really knows how hard it is to win every game. but past success breeds future expectations, and like it or not, the Buckeyes have bred enough past success that people expect them to win all their games.

how much perspective is being displayed in this thread you figure?

i'm not sure. i think both sides of the equation have been well represented. we're Buckeyes. we expect to win them all. when we don't we get frustrated.

1 loss in 06 for a team with massive holes on d. 9 starters drafted in 05, a walk on starting corner, other a true sophomore, 3rd string safety replaced the following year by a true freshman.
2 in 07. 1 proved the d was still too green. the second to a team that was flat out better at nearly every position. but most importantly, more mature. lets not forget this was supposed to be a rebuilding year!
2 in 08. one on the road while gimpy against a team that was better at nearly every position. the other because the ball simply didn't bounce our way.

A) the '05 team was better than the '06 team except for Troy's maturity. what seemed like the entire defense got drafted. i thought the #1 initial ranking was too high in '06, but the O was good enough to carry the team and force opponents to play unbalanced for the most part.

B) the '06 team was better than the '07 team. replace a Heisman QB, 2 1st round WRs and a 4th round RB; 90% of the offense. IMHO, '07 honestly exceeded rational expectations.

C) i honestly think the Bucks were overrated at the beginning of the '08 season. those holes in the defense didn't magically disappear over the summer. the D-line was still a liability... but to my eyes, they quit in LA. that's what disappointed me the most. the Penn State game didn't bother me. i thought Terrelle made enough plays to win. it was, after all, his best passing performance, and it was against the best defense he's faced all year. unfortunately, the Nits caught a HUGE break when the ball got poked out.

and yet 4 straight big 10 champs. 4 straight bcs bowls. 5 straight against scum. a heisman trophy, stupid numbers of players in the nfl, and excellent recruiting classes every year.

is this a product of Ohio State being that good, or the Big Ten being that bad? there's better competition in every other conference except the Pac Ten, and although USC seems to always blow a game they shouldn't in conference, they're pretty good at kicking the shit out of whatever Big Ten team they face. Petey's undefeated against the Big Ten.

yet for some this still isn't good enough. makes me wonder what exactly it would take to make those people happy.

that's why i don't post on the scout board any more. i got tired of banging my head against the wall trying to explain to those people that the only way you can go undefeated every season is to use the reset button on your playstation. this is real life, not some video game, and losses, no matter how freaking good you are, are inevitable.

NOW, i am of the opinion that the ridiculous expectations that are heaped on the Buckeyes each and every year are to some degree directly related to how freaking disappointing EVERY professional team in Ohio is. when's the last time an Ohio team won a championship? 1990? before that it was the '70s with the Big Red Machine, and it's 1964 for the Browns, and '48 for the Tribe (no, the Crew doesn't count.) honestly, the Buckeyes are the ONLY team that can be expected to compete for a title basically every year. so all of our hopes get pinned on them. no wonder why Ohio State players make such consummate professionals. they face more pressure in Columbus than they ever will in their pay-for-play careers...

 

[shetuck]

I'm not buying into the 'recent' aspect of the NC being such an important goal in college football. The BCS just made the bowl ramifications clearer.

I spent a lot of time in '73, '74, '75, '79, along with some pre-BCS years in the 90s, visualizing the path to the NC.

I probably should have said "bolstered everyone's expectations". Not that that'll change your stance. But I do think it's fair to say that the fan base as a whole has historically (since the 60's) been more focused on beating TSUN, winning the conference, and going to the Rose Bowl. Faulty generalization? Perhaps, but I'd wonder if during those years that you list you actually went into the season hoping/expecting a National Championship or was it something where the "path" seemed to sort of open up as the season went along?

 

[Onebuckfan]

i don't want to hear about Cubs (Chicago) fans. the Bulls were a dynasty. the Bears won the Super Bowl. you wanna talk about frustrated, talk to the fans in a city that hasn't won a championship in any of the big 3 since 1964.

Growing up in Columbus then moving to Ill. after graduating from tOSU..I will admit the 85 Bears Season was something special which I thought was going to be eclipsed by 2006 when the Bears and Buckeyes were both playing for the title. The two most exciting returners in fooball Hester and Ginn take back opening kickoffs ..and it was totally downhill from there.MJ and the Bulls were more like rockstars than a sports team.. every game was a performance..you watched every game because MJ may do something you'd never seen. MJ's game was made for the Booyah network, he was a highlight reel by himself.

 

[Onebuckfan]

I probably should have said "bolstered everyone's expectations". Not that that'll change your stance. But I do think it's fair to say that the fan base (as a whole) has been more focused on beating TSUN, winning the conference, and going to the Rose Bowl. Faulty generalization? Perhaps, but I'd wonder if during those years that you list you actually went into the season hoping/expecting a National Championship or was it something where the "path" seemed to sort of open up as the season went along?

I think your right on until cable TV and every game being televised the NC was only Mythical a Vote..even though the BCS is flawed there is an actual game. An undefeated Buckeye team was never going to play Nebraska Penn State etc. They could only play the Pac 10 representative..this hurt especially when we played UCLA again after winning in the Colesium. The team might have been more focused if they played a different opponent.