My New Favorite Bumper Sticker

The Game

Go, Buckeyes!

Beat Michigan!

Regular readers of this blog know that this Buckeye fan always regarded 2007 as a rebuilding season for the Ohio State football team.

I also pointed out a few weeks ago that the last four games of the regular season would be major tests for the Buckeyes.

Many focused on the team's away games against Penn State, held three weeks ago in Happy Valley, and tomorrow's game against Michigan, ignoring the "Oreo filling" of the four week stretch, Wisconsin and Illinois, both formidable teams.

Ron Zook's Illini played a masterful game last week, particularly as they gobbled up yardage and time in the fourth quarter, knocking Ohio State out of first place in the BCS standings with a 28 to 21 win.

A Buckeye victory over Michigan at the Big House tomorrow is far from a given as the Buckeyes and Wolverines enact the 2007 installment of what I regard as the greatest rivalry in sports. All three of Michigan's losses this year have been to very good teams: Appalachian State, a football power among smaller schools; Oregon; and Wisconsin. Michigan Stadium provides the second-best home team advantage in college football, after Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

The Buckeyes, who dropped to seventh place in the BCS standings after last Saturday's loss, still have a remote--extremely remote--chance of playing in the national championship game. But more immediately, they're playing for the Big Ten title and a little respect after Illinois seemed to vindicate the skeptics' assessments of Ohio State.

And, the unappreciated fact is that, in spite of what the naysayers will tell you, the Big Ten isn't down this year, it's stronger AND the troubles some of its better teams had with non-conference teams stem from the greater parity that exists in college football generally. The result is more exciting games and seeming "upsets."

But make no mistake about it, Ohio State, the 2007 season's great overachiever, and Michigan, the season's notorious underachiever, are both great teams, filled with nationally recruited players all hungry to prove themselves on the biggest stage in sports.

Once again, we can expect the OSU-Michigan game to be a war.

Check out:
How important is this game?
Everything's Coming Up Roses?
Will Lloyd Dot the I...in "win" or "Ohio'?
The always-interesting Tim May
Boeckman is focused

Hmmm

The Buckeyes can't let up today or when they face Michigan's Wolverines next week. This, from ESPN.com:

Michigan and its fans should not drown in its sorrows with Saturday's loss. Since 1980, the Wolverines have lost three times in the game immediately prior to playing Ohio State. Each of those previous three times, the Wolverines have bounced back and defeated the Buckeyes.

Tests for Buckeyes Get Bigger in Next Five Games

No doubt because Ohio State's football teams frequently vie for conference and national championships, Buckeye fans are accustomed to seeing our favorites' achievements denigrated. This year, a team which most of us who love the Bucks thought didn't deserve high ranking in the pre-season polls, is being put down by some for having played a weak schedule. The implication is that the Buckeyes don't deserve to be ranked number one right now.

To some extent, that criticism of the Ohio State schedule is valid. Complaints from other Ohio state-supported universities that they should get first-shot at Ohio Stadium gate revenues has resulted in $350,000 pay days for schools like Kent State and the University of Akron. But those dates haven't made the Buckeyes more credible to the average college football fan around the country.

On top of that, fewer people have seen the 2007 Buckeyes' dominant defense or its wide-open offense than saw the shellacking administered to last year's squad its BCS Championship Game against Florida's Gators.

Although Ohio State's 7-0 record includes convincing victories over Washington and Purdue, both then ranked, at home, OSU hasn't had as tough a schedule so far as South Florida, Kentucky, or Cincinnati.

That changes today, as the Buckeyes enter what will be the toughest part of their 2007 campaign. Michigan State, though still inconsistent, is a talented football, with the kind of great defense you'd expect from a Mark Dantonio-coached team.

And the rest of the schedule will only get tougher. Next week, the Buckeyes go to Penn State for a night game. That last sentence will send chills down the spines of Ohio State fans, remembering how, not so long ago, an OSU team with hopes for a national championship were clobbered at Penn State in a night game. Although Paterno's 2007 team has suffered from its own inconsistencies in 2007, this is a terrific team.

After that, will come games with Wisconsin and Illinois, in Columbus. Both of those teams are very good, despite losses. (In fact, I'm beginning to think that the reason so many good teams are losing to supposedly bad teams in the Big Ten this year isn't, as I thought, that the conference is down this year, but up!)

As usual, on the final game of the season, the Buckeyes travel to Ann Arbor for a showdown with the Team from Up North. Don't be lulled into underestimating the Wolverines because of their opening losses to Appalachian State and Oregon. Those are both good teams, for one thing. And for another, Michigan is a much-improved team, with some impressive wins to their credit since those humiliations.

Starting today then, Ohio State will begin to answer some of the questions football fans have about them. If they win all five, a tall order, there will be no doubt that they deserve to play in the national championship game. Even if they lose one--depending on when and to whom the loss comes, they may still be in the hunt.

But as a Buckeye fan, I have to say again what I've said several times before: The fact that we can even speak of Ohio State as number one this year or talk about the team playing for the national title is incredible! I never would have expected it. This was, as I've also said before, supposed to be a rebuilding year in Columbus. The fact that it's become more than that is tribute not only to the talent of this team and their dedication and to Jim Tressel's skill as a recruiter, but also to his skill as a coach, both between games and during games.

See ESPN's article on Ohio State's challenge in what has become the year of the upset.

Dispatch: Not Buckeyes' fault everybody else has lost

Go, Buckeyes!

The Big Ten Season Begins

Following its impressive win over Washington, Ohio State takes on Northwestern for its Big Ten opener tomorrow. Northwestern did lose to usually lowly Duke last week. But the Wildcats feature a spread offense, the very brand of offense that gave Michigan fits in its opening losses to Appalachian State and Oregon.

Nonetheless, I believe that Ohio State's defense is sterling and will be prepared for the spread. OSU's offense, under the leadership of QB Todd Boeckman also appeared to take a quantum leap forward in last week's win in Seattle. The Buckeyes, still I will remind you in what can only be described as a rebuilding year, should win.

[Photo credit: OSU Quarterback Todd Boeckman from Yahoo]

Of course, there's a lot of interest in how the Penn State-Michigan game will turn out tomorrow. The match will be a major test for both schools, for different reasons. For Michigan, it'll be a chance to prove that their win over Notre Dame, so far one of the worst teams in the country this 2007 season, wasn't a fluke. But they'll have to beat a Penn State team that many expect to win the Big Ten and to play in one of the BCS bowls at season's end. It's no gimme for Penn State either, because they'll have to play in Ann Arbor. But I expect Penn State to win by about ten points.

In other games...
LSU should handle an improving South Carolina team.
Michigan State should beat Notre Dame.

That's as bold as I'll get. After all, I'm just a preacher, not a football expert.

[See Tim May's always interesting comments here.]

Go Buckeyes!

[UPDATE: As a friend of mine said today, "Ohio State's win over Northwestern yesterday is like the games the two teams played back when we were students at OSU." Todd Boeckman seemed to become a big time college QB during the third quarter of last week's game against Washington. His work yesterday seemed to confirm that.

[I was shocked by Michigan's win over Penn State. But Michigan does have a lot of returning talent and Lloyd Carr is no slacker as a coach. Also, Penn State doesn't really play a spread offense. Nonetheless, yesterday's game seems to indicate that Michigan, along with Penn State and Wisconsin, have legitimate shots at a share of the Big Ten title this year. While my beloved Buckeyes made huge strides forward yesterday, they beat an obviously weak Northwestern team, and there are still big question marks about how really good they are.]

"I think (the game) was a statement that they want to be good."

So says Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel after his rebuilding Buckeyes won at Washington.

"Now I hope none of us thinks it's a statement that we are good, but that's where we want to get, and we did what we had to do today."

Read more here.

Also, Michigan beat Notre Dame on Saturday, in a game that pitted teams that had gone 0-2 in their first contests. The win demonstrates that Michigan, which had lost to Appalachian State and Oregon, two teams that feature the spread offense, isn't as horrible as some were claiming. But it's not clear yet how good the Wolverines are, given that they beat a Notre Dame team that, by all appearances, is awful. What's worse, the Irish face an absolute meat grinder of a schedule. People now are speculating about whether Notre Dame will win a single game this year. Who would have thought it?

This Saturday's Game Between Michigan and Notre Dame

The stakes for this coming Saturday's Michigan-Notre Dame game are much different from what many thought they'd be before the season began. Instead of being a stop on the way to a national championship, the game appears to be one of those "avoid embarrassment" contests. Whichever team loses will be a laughingstock.

That's because both the Wolverines and the Fighting Irish are off to 0-2 starts on their seasons.

Although I'm an Ohio State grad, I almost feel sorry for Michigan. In two weeks, Michigan plays Penn State, clearly the team to beat this year in the Big Ten.

About this week, a little secret: There's only one team I more consistently root against than I do Michigan. That would be Notre Dame. I'm not saying that I'm pulling for the Wolverines this week. I just won't be terribly disappointed if they do win.

A Michigan victory would have the added effect of blunting some of the perennial criticisms leveled against the Big Ten.

But it would be ridiculous to bank on Michigan this week. Their defense has been atrocious so far.

Meanwhile, Ohio State's defense played brilliantly this past Saturday, though the offense was lackluster. The Buckeyes beat the University of Akron 20-2. Clearly, the Buckeye defense is strong. But with the departure of people like Ted Ginn, Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, the offense is in a rebuilding year.

If you have to choose between rebuilding on offense or defense, I'd choose offense. The wisdom in baseball is that homeruns fill the bleachers, but pitching wins the World Series. Similarly, in football, running up points creates excitement (and takes some pressure off the defense), but defense wins championships. In 2002, the Buckeyes won a national championship with a very good offense and an absolutely first class defense.

Will Ohio State win in the Big Ten this year? I doubt it. There's simply too much rebuilding to be done this year.

But I would never bet against Jim Tressel, Buckeye head coach, a guy who has four Division II national championships and one in Division I to his credit. He seems to have a way of grafting his quiet, unassuming confidence and constant commitment to improvement onto his players.

[See here, here, here, here, and here.]

Why I'm Not Crowing (Too Much) Over Loss by School Up North

Blogging friend Richard Lawrence Cohen emailed today to ask:

Well, have you bought your Appalachian State sweatshirt yet?

As an alum and ardent fan of Ohio State, archrival of Michigan, I had to reply honestly:

While I will admit to more than a little glee over Michigan's loss [to Appalachian State], I don't think that Buckeye fans dare gloat too much. After all, this is a rebuilding year for Ohio State and Michigan does have a lot of returning talent. [The Wolverines won't be an easy team for the Buckeyes to beat.]

In Michigan's defense, Appalachian State was no standard issue first game cupcake.* But if the rumors are true that Lloyd Carr always has intended for this to be his last season in Ann Arbor, I think it unlikely that the U of M A[thletic] D[irector] will now beg him to reconsider. As I told Pastor Jeff at Conblogeration, Carr has become Michigan's equivalent of Earl Bruce and John Cooper, two winning Buckeye coaches who didn't win big games or beat Michigan. The only difference is that now Carr [1 and 5 against Ohio State since Jim Tressel took over as coach of the Buckeyes] has failed to win what was considered a "little" game.

*As I wrote "Michigan's defense," in this sentence, the cruel side of me thought, based on the team's performance on Saturday, those two words comprise an oxymoron.