8PM pre-game show.
8:30PM game start.
8:51 PM game actually sees a kick-off.
Only three more of these to go until things rightfully go back to ESPN, ABC, or CBS next fall...
Showing posts with label college football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college football. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Why Should the Buckeyes Even Bother?
As we work our way closer to the (mythical) National Championship game (sponsored by Allstate), it becomes clearer and clearer to this Buckeye fan that there's really no reason for the Men of the Scarlet and Gray to make the trip. After all, they're playing the SEC, and the SEC owns not only Ohio State, but all of the Big Ten (11), and playing the game is merely a formality to hand the SEC another crystal football.
OSU's record against the SEC in bowl games is pretty well noted, it's a giant 0-fer. Add in last season's whacking at the hands of the SEC in the championship game, and once again the theory of "why bother?" gets clearer and clearer.
Then the Dispatch prints this gem (as linked from the Ft Wayne Journal Gazette because I couldn't find the Dispatch's link), and it all becomes just more irritating. Now, our author for this commentary hails from Knoxville, Tennessee, so slight bias probably doesn't play into this. Listing the "Big Ten’s five most humiliating bowl losses to the SEC" is cute. But, as I found on this blog, the Big Ten is 8-7 in the last five years against the SEC in bowl games. But wait, they used THIS YEAR'S bowls as the 5th year, but none of them have been played yet. I checked the '02 season and found out why they didn't use it...Big 10 was 2-1 vs. the SEC that year, bringing the actually played five year total to 10-8 in favor of the big, slow, corn-fed, can't-hang-with-the-speed boys from up nort'. (And, oh by the way, in '02 the Big 10 won the National Championship. I believe this is where the obligatory, "ooooh, BURN!" goes.)
So, it appears the recent dominance isn't as tilted towards the SEC as the media zealots from south of the Mason-Dixon line would have you believe. Recent memory has the SEC whacking Ohio State 41-14, so our friends from down south have "what have you done for me lately" on their sides.
Now, here's where I'm going to diverge a bit, and maybe cause some controversy...
Ohio State happens to be playing LSU this season, not the SEC. LSU is a member of the SEC, but Coach Tressel doesn't have to prepare for the whole conference. Also, as it turns out, Ohio State lost to FLORIDA last year in the title game, not the whole SEC. Again, Florida is a member of the SEC, but not the whole conference. On that fateful night, Florida was far and away the better prepared team for the game, and how can you blame them...they had a month to hear how they didn't even belong on the same field. (Hmmm, that's sounding familiar...)
When we break away from the stereotypical ramblings of the media, we find out that Ohio State is taking on LSU. The constant focus on the conference match-up seems to be taking a little something away from both programs. We're about to see two of the best defenses the country has to offer this season, but the fixation is on Minnesota beating Arkansas in Nashville in '02. Oops, sorry that was five bowl seasons ago, the fixation is probably on Penn State beating Tennessee last year in Tampa. Crap, did it again...focus is on Wisconsin beating Arkansas in Orlando last season?
Sorry, fell into the conference comparison trap myself...
When we look at the two teams playing, we're looking at two pretty storied programs. They've faced each other twice, and LSU has never beaten Ohio State. They did tie in '87 in the first of the home and home meetings, but OSU won 36-33 in Ohio Stadium in '88. Each has their fare share of National Titles, LSU winning it more recently following the '03 season.
For this year's game, it's pretty much a given that it's a defensive battle and the team whose offense gets loose a couple times will win it. LSU is getting the nod in that category, as they have a bit more explosive offense than Ohio State. ("A bit more" is like saying Arrogant Bastard has "a bit more" flavor than Coors Light.) LSU is getting picked by most, is favored by Vegas, and is the Fan Pick on ESPN.com. But, they still have to line it up and play it, so a few things leaning in the Buckeye's favor...
- Anybody who thinks Jim Tressel will make the same mistakes in preparation as he did a year ago is kidding themselves. Jimbo will have the boys way more ready to go in 'Nawlins than in the desert.
- The underdog has a better record in the BCS title game than the favorite. And, oddly enough, the #1 team in the land is the underdog this time around.
- Remember the '04 Alamo Bowl? Ohio State beat Oklahoma State 33-7 and Ok. St. was a 1 point favorite. Cowboys head coach that night: Les Miles.
So, grab your beer and nachos and get ready to watch the Backed-in Bowl. The Backed-in Buckeyes from the Big 10 vs. the 2 loss Legit LSU Tigers. Should be a good one.
OSU's record against the SEC in bowl games is pretty well noted, it's a giant 0-fer. Add in last season's whacking at the hands of the SEC in the championship game, and once again the theory of "why bother?" gets clearer and clearer.
Then the Dispatch prints this gem (as linked from the Ft Wayne Journal Gazette because I couldn't find the Dispatch's link), and it all becomes just more irritating. Now, our author for this commentary hails from Knoxville, Tennessee, so slight bias probably doesn't play into this. Listing the "Big Ten’s five most humiliating bowl losses to the SEC" is cute. But, as I found on this blog, the Big Ten is 8-7 in the last five years against the SEC in bowl games. But wait, they used THIS YEAR'S bowls as the 5th year, but none of them have been played yet. I checked the '02 season and found out why they didn't use it...Big 10 was 2-1 vs. the SEC that year, bringing the actually played five year total to 10-8 in favor of the big, slow, corn-fed, can't-hang-with-the-speed boys from up nort'. (And, oh by the way, in '02 the Big 10 won the National Championship. I believe this is where the obligatory, "ooooh, BURN!" goes.)
So, it appears the recent dominance isn't as tilted towards the SEC as the media zealots from south of the Mason-Dixon line would have you believe. Recent memory has the SEC whacking Ohio State 41-14, so our friends from down south have "what have you done for me lately" on their sides.
Now, here's where I'm going to diverge a bit, and maybe cause some controversy...
Ohio State happens to be playing LSU this season, not the SEC. LSU is a member of the SEC, but Coach Tressel doesn't have to prepare for the whole conference. Also, as it turns out, Ohio State lost to FLORIDA last year in the title game, not the whole SEC. Again, Florida is a member of the SEC, but not the whole conference. On that fateful night, Florida was far and away the better prepared team for the game, and how can you blame them...they had a month to hear how they didn't even belong on the same field. (Hmmm, that's sounding familiar...)
When we break away from the stereotypical ramblings of the media, we find out that Ohio State is taking on LSU. The constant focus on the conference match-up seems to be taking a little something away from both programs. We're about to see two of the best defenses the country has to offer this season, but the fixation is on Minnesota beating Arkansas in Nashville in '02. Oops, sorry that was five bowl seasons ago, the fixation is probably on Penn State beating Tennessee last year in Tampa. Crap, did it again...focus is on Wisconsin beating Arkansas in Orlando last season?
Sorry, fell into the conference comparison trap myself...
When we look at the two teams playing, we're looking at two pretty storied programs. They've faced each other twice, and LSU has never beaten Ohio State. They did tie in '87 in the first of the home and home meetings, but OSU won 36-33 in Ohio Stadium in '88. Each has their fare share of National Titles, LSU winning it more recently following the '03 season.
For this year's game, it's pretty much a given that it's a defensive battle and the team whose offense gets loose a couple times will win it. LSU is getting the nod in that category, as they have a bit more explosive offense than Ohio State. ("A bit more" is like saying Arrogant Bastard has "a bit more" flavor than Coors Light.) LSU is getting picked by most, is favored by Vegas, and is the Fan Pick on ESPN.com. But, they still have to line it up and play it, so a few things leaning in the Buckeye's favor...
- Anybody who thinks Jim Tressel will make the same mistakes in preparation as he did a year ago is kidding themselves. Jimbo will have the boys way more ready to go in 'Nawlins than in the desert.
- The underdog has a better record in the BCS title game than the favorite. And, oddly enough, the #1 team in the land is the underdog this time around.
- Remember the '04 Alamo Bowl? Ohio State beat Oklahoma State 33-7 and Ok. St. was a 1 point favorite. Cowboys head coach that night: Les Miles.
So, grab your beer and nachos and get ready to watch the Backed-in Bowl. The Backed-in Buckeyes from the Big 10 vs. the 2 loss Legit LSU Tigers. Should be a good one.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Fox Sports can't spell "BCS"
So, two years ago when Fox bought the BCS and we all knew it was the first sign of the apocalypse was upon us, I didn't know how far they could sink. Watching their broadcasts of the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, and BCS Title games last year was painful. (Ohio State's pole-axing aside.) The pre-game crap was recycled from their NFL and MLB broadcasts, and their whole approach to the broadcasts seemed to be: "This is our first time with college football, it must be the first time for you, too, Mr. Viewer!"
But tonight, they took their idiocy to a whole new level...
First off, they give us a 40 minute BCS "selection" show...as if they could somehow match the similar show that takes place in March...and give us one "selection" in the first 25 minutes of the show. Never mind that the BCS isn't a "selection," it's a computer program that says who's automatically playing in the BCS and what openings remain for the top 12 teams to play in one of the BCS games. This year the "selected" teams were Illinois, Hawai'i, Kansas, and Georgia. Everybody else got an automatic bid, and most of the automatic bids go to very specific bowl games...which is where Fox cranked the retardery up to 11.
They followed a pattern of announcing one team for a couple bowls, then later announcing the other. This was after announcing who got the automatic bids...of import here is that Ohio State had the automatic bid from the Big 10. The Fox goes on to announce the Rose Bowl match up of USC and a mystery team, who after a couple commercials is revealed to be Illinois.
So, let's recap what's gone through any college football fan's mind by this point...
1. "God, I wish this was still on ABC."
2. "Ohio State is the Big Ten(11)'s automatic bid."
3. "I should turn to ESPN, but I can't...avert...my...eyes..."
4. "Illinois is going to the Rose Bowl. Good for Illinois."
5. "Looks like the Buckeyes are back in the title game."
Now, after we've all arrived at number five in the list above, Fox assumed we'd barely gotten to four thank to our lack of any formal education. So, in order to hold our attention, they announce that UGA is going to the Sugar Bowl, which removes the suspense about where LSU will go, so they go ahead and tell us LSU is in the title game against...they put up a question mark!! Some UNKNOWN team is going to play LSU!! "There's only one slot left!!" says Joe Fan, "I wonder who it could be?!!? Oh, come on, Fox, please, please reveal that team!!"
Finally, they revealed that the mystery team was Ohio State, and completed their assault on the intelligence for the average college football fan. I can hardly wait for their coverage of the games, now.
But tonight, they took their idiocy to a whole new level...
First off, they give us a 40 minute BCS "selection" show...as if they could somehow match the similar show that takes place in March...and give us one "selection" in the first 25 minutes of the show. Never mind that the BCS isn't a "selection," it's a computer program that says who's automatically playing in the BCS and what openings remain for the top 12 teams to play in one of the BCS games. This year the "selected" teams were Illinois, Hawai'i, Kansas, and Georgia. Everybody else got an automatic bid, and most of the automatic bids go to very specific bowl games...which is where Fox cranked the retardery up to 11.
They followed a pattern of announcing one team for a couple bowls, then later announcing the other. This was after announcing who got the automatic bids...of import here is that Ohio State had the automatic bid from the Big 10. The Fox goes on to announce the Rose Bowl match up of USC and a mystery team, who after a couple commercials is revealed to be Illinois.
So, let's recap what's gone through any college football fan's mind by this point...
1. "God, I wish this was still on ABC."
2. "Ohio State is the Big Ten(11)'s automatic bid."
3. "I should turn to ESPN, but I can't...avert...my...eyes..."
4. "Illinois is going to the Rose Bowl. Good for Illinois."
5. "Looks like the Buckeyes are back in the title game."
Now, after we've all arrived at number five in the list above, Fox assumed we'd barely gotten to four thank to our lack of any formal education. So, in order to hold our attention, they announce that UGA is going to the Sugar Bowl, which removes the suspense about where LSU will go, so they go ahead and tell us LSU is in the title game against...they put up a question mark!! Some UNKNOWN team is going to play LSU!! "There's only one slot left!!" says Joe Fan, "I wonder who it could be?!!? Oh, come on, Fox, please, please reveal that team!!"
Finally, they revealed that the mystery team was Ohio State, and completed their assault on the intelligence for the average college football fan. I can hardly wait for their coverage of the games, now.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The Cardinal unrolls a Trojan
The debate over whether USC or LSU should be #1 ended yesterday as Jim Harbaugh, everybody's favorite Michigan grad, and his Stanford Cardinal pulled off the big upset of USC. If not for Appalachian St. beating Harbaugh's alma mater, it may have been the biggest upset of the year.
So, while USC was losing at home, Florida was going down in Death Valley. Imagine that, LSU winning a night game at home...whodda thunk it? Even in guiding his team to its second loss in two weeks, Tim Tebow is rumored to have passed a loaf on the sidelines and daisies immediately sprang forth and children were heard to be signing.
In the grand ol' Big 10(11), the suckitude continued...this time it was Wisconsin dropping, and at the hands of upstart Illinois. The Illini find themselves one 6 point loss to Mizzou from being tied with Ohio State for the outright lead. Other semi-surprises were Indiana winning again, and Northwestern taking down MSU in OT. Non-surprises of the weekend...Ohio State winning at Purdue and Iowa losing. Again.
So, the joy of college football rolls on. We sit with three undefeated teams at the top, and a bunch of one-loss teams behind them. Can Ohio State survive trips to State Penn and Ann Arbor? Will Cal survive another showdown with USC? Will LSU survive the always tough, and ridiculously deep SEC? (Kev and I will be in Lexington next week...will they bite it there at the hands of UK?) One thing's for sure, there's enough drama left in this season to give the BCS boys fits again.
Good.
So, while USC was losing at home, Florida was going down in Death Valley. Imagine that, LSU winning a night game at home...whodda thunk it? Even in guiding his team to its second loss in two weeks, Tim Tebow is rumored to have passed a loaf on the sidelines and daisies immediately sprang forth and children were heard to be signing.
In the grand ol' Big 10(11), the suckitude continued...this time it was Wisconsin dropping, and at the hands of upstart Illinois. The Illini find themselves one 6 point loss to Mizzou from being tied with Ohio State for the outright lead. Other semi-surprises were Indiana winning again, and Northwestern taking down MSU in OT. Non-surprises of the weekend...Ohio State winning at Purdue and Iowa losing. Again.
So, the joy of college football rolls on. We sit with three undefeated teams at the top, and a bunch of one-loss teams behind them. Can Ohio State survive trips to State Penn and Ann Arbor? Will Cal survive another showdown with USC? Will LSU survive the always tough, and ridiculously deep SEC? (Kev and I will be in Lexington next week...will they bite it there at the hands of UK?) One thing's for sure, there's enough drama left in this season to give the BCS boys fits again.
Good.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Upsets galore!
I love college football and all the fun that goes with it. Yesterday was one of those days that keeps you tuning in with half the top 10 falling. Sure, Ohio State will benefit by not losing and climb into the top 5, but so many big losses on one day was amazing to watch. Of course "them" at ESPN were banging on LSU early on yesterday afternoon because they "started slow" and only beat Tulane by 25 points. Wonder if Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, W. Va, and Rutgers would trade places with LSU about now? Guessing they would...
For the fun in the crap fest that is the Big 10, all kinds of great stuff happened. Penn St showed that they were marginally overrated by losing their second game in 2 weeks, this time to Illinois. Michigan continued their meteoric rise from 1-AA doormat by putting a 12 point whupping on Northwestern. (Psst, meatchicken...Ohio State didn't need the whole game to put 28 up on the 'Cats. Hell, they didn't even need the whole first quarter. Just sayin'...) Indiana went into Iowa and won, guess Kirk will have to wait another year to try and remove the pretender tag. Wisconsin, while boring as hell just continues to win. November 3rd is looming large on the horizon. And to cap the day, Purdue dropped ND to 0-5...way to go Boilers! Your reward is the Buckeyes...enjoy.
I don't have the stat attack from last week, instead, I'm going to introduce my new favorite player...at least for this week: Wes Byrum, K, Auburn University.
Probably not a big stretch to figure out that I'm happy to see Florida lose. (At anything...football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lumberjack competitions, whatever.) And Wes had a big hand...er, foot in knocking off the Gators yesterday. However, he's my new favorite player not because he had to kick the game winning field goal - not once, but twice - but because before the thing even cleared the uprights, he was celebrating. And what way did young Wes decide was the best way to celebrate? By turning and giving the Gator Chomp back to the good folks at The Swamp. Atta boy, Wes!
For the fun in the crap fest that is the Big 10, all kinds of great stuff happened. Penn St showed that they were marginally overrated by losing their second game in 2 weeks, this time to Illinois. Michigan continued their meteoric rise from 1-AA doormat by putting a 12 point whupping on Northwestern. (Psst, meatchicken...Ohio State didn't need the whole game to put 28 up on the 'Cats. Hell, they didn't even need the whole first quarter. Just sayin'...) Indiana went into Iowa and won, guess Kirk will have to wait another year to try and remove the pretender tag. Wisconsin, while boring as hell just continues to win. November 3rd is looming large on the horizon. And to cap the day, Purdue dropped ND to 0-5...way to go Boilers! Your reward is the Buckeyes...enjoy.
I don't have the stat attack from last week, instead, I'm going to introduce my new favorite player...at least for this week: Wes Byrum, K, Auburn University.
Probably not a big stretch to figure out that I'm happy to see Florida lose. (At anything...football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lumberjack competitions, whatever.) And Wes had a big hand...er, foot in knocking off the Gators yesterday. However, he's my new favorite player not because he had to kick the game winning field goal - not once, but twice - but because before the thing even cleared the uprights, he was celebrating. And what way did young Wes decide was the best way to celebrate? By turning and giving the Gator Chomp back to the good folks at The Swamp. Atta boy, Wes!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The fun of College football - 9.22.07
I basically had the house to myself yesterday to work on a presentation for work. During the day the TV stayed tuned to college football, which is pretty much normal for a Saturday around here. I took my scheduled break from the presentation at 3:30 to watch Ohio State play Northwestern. At 3:42, with the Buckeyes firmly in control, I went back to work.
Complaint time: Locally the OSU game got swapped with the meeshigan v. State Penn game on Mickey's family of networks. So, OSU on ABC, the "other game" to ESPN. Both in HD...or so you would think. Here's what happened on my cable network...they switched OSU to ABC on both feeds, but only switched the meatchicken game on the regular feed. So, I had two HD feeds of Ohio State eeking out a 51 point win. Would it REALLY be that hard to have swapped out both, WOW? Just wondering. (While you're at it, why don't you maybe list that FSN's HD feed shows glorious, high definition football all Saturday as opposed to your listed "HD Promo" when the Reds or Jackets aren't on in HD?)
On to other football related things, and right off the top...Dear LORD how bad is the Big 10(11)??? Ohio State is emerging as the top of the conference once again, and they're in a down year. Penn St couldn't beat a team that couldn't beat a team from 1-AA who couldn't beat a different 1-AA team yesterday! (If you didn't follow all that, App St's win streak came to an end yesterday at the hands of Wofford 42-31. Associative property of football states that Wofford v. Penn St should be a helluva football game.) Michigan St might be good, but they beat Notre Dame, so they could suck. Wisconsin and Iowa was fun to watch...if you tuned in only for the last 5 minutes of each half. Speaking of Iowa, they get great run in the press every year it seems, only to fall flat at some point or points. If Ference is such a stud as a coach, when is he going to sack up and win the Big 10? Outright, Iowa Fan, not by tying teams you don't play. (I notice that neither Ohio State or what's left of michigan are on Iowa's schedule...hmmm...)
Other games I caught a bit of were the Browns-Bengals-esque, "Defense is overrated" score fest in Stillwater, OK and the Georgia v. Bama game. Gotta admit, I don't mind watching Saban lose football games. And that one was an OT thriller. Bama ties it up with just over a minute left after trailing pretty much the whole game only to go 3-and-field goal in OT and have the Dawgs score on their first play from scrimmage. In a game I didn't see, Tim Tebow rebounded from his horrendous 1 INT game a week ago to throw two TDs and run for two TDs as the Gators held off Ole Miss. Thankfully he got it together, as rumor has it he took a dump last week and it actually DIDN'T smell like fresh cut roses.
Big Gainers (But not big winners)
1. Brian Brohm, prolific passer from Lousiville, put the ball up 65 times yesterday and threw for 555 yards and 4 TDs in a losing effort. (To Syracuse of all teams.)
2. Not to be out done, MAC powerhouse Ball State waltzed into Lincoln, NE yesterday and marched up and down the field on the vaunted Black Shirts to the tune of 610 yards total offense. Or, only 153 more yards than USC had in the same stadium a week ago. In two weeks Nebraska fans have seen over 1,000 yards total offense and 89 points against the Huskers. Be glad Oklahoma isn't on the schedule...
3. Finally, scoffing at the 600 yard mark was Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell who went 46/67 for 646 yards and 5 TDs, but it wasn't enough to beat Ok St.
Complaint time: Locally the OSU game got swapped with the meeshigan v. State Penn game on Mickey's family of networks. So, OSU on ABC, the "other game" to ESPN. Both in HD...or so you would think. Here's what happened on my cable network...they switched OSU to ABC on both feeds, but only switched the meatchicken game on the regular feed. So, I had two HD feeds of Ohio State eeking out a 51 point win. Would it REALLY be that hard to have swapped out both, WOW? Just wondering. (While you're at it, why don't you maybe list that FSN's HD feed shows glorious, high definition football all Saturday as opposed to your listed "HD Promo" when the Reds or Jackets aren't on in HD?)
On to other football related things, and right off the top...Dear LORD how bad is the Big 10(11)??? Ohio State is emerging as the top of the conference once again, and they're in a down year. Penn St couldn't beat a team that couldn't beat a team from 1-AA who couldn't beat a different 1-AA team yesterday! (If you didn't follow all that, App St's win streak came to an end yesterday at the hands of Wofford 42-31. Associative property of football states that Wofford v. Penn St should be a helluva football game.) Michigan St might be good, but they beat Notre Dame, so they could suck. Wisconsin and Iowa was fun to watch...if you tuned in only for the last 5 minutes of each half. Speaking of Iowa, they get great run in the press every year it seems, only to fall flat at some point or points. If Ference is such a stud as a coach, when is he going to sack up and win the Big 10? Outright, Iowa Fan, not by tying teams you don't play. (I notice that neither Ohio State or what's left of michigan are on Iowa's schedule...hmmm...)
Other games I caught a bit of were the Browns-Bengals-esque, "Defense is overrated" score fest in Stillwater, OK and the Georgia v. Bama game. Gotta admit, I don't mind watching Saban lose football games. And that one was an OT thriller. Bama ties it up with just over a minute left after trailing pretty much the whole game only to go 3-and-field goal in OT and have the Dawgs score on their first play from scrimmage. In a game I didn't see, Tim Tebow rebounded from his horrendous 1 INT game a week ago to throw two TDs and run for two TDs as the Gators held off Ole Miss. Thankfully he got it together, as rumor has it he took a dump last week and it actually DIDN'T smell like fresh cut roses.
Big Gainers (But not big winners)
1. Brian Brohm, prolific passer from Lousiville, put the ball up 65 times yesterday and threw for 555 yards and 4 TDs in a losing effort. (To Syracuse of all teams.)
2. Not to be out done, MAC powerhouse Ball State waltzed into Lincoln, NE yesterday and marched up and down the field on the vaunted Black Shirts to the tune of 610 yards total offense. Or, only 153 more yards than USC had in the same stadium a week ago. In two weeks Nebraska fans have seen over 1,000 yards total offense and 89 points against the Huskers. Be glad Oklahoma isn't on the schedule...
3. Finally, scoffing at the 600 yard mark was Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell who went 46/67 for 646 yards and 5 TDs, but it wasn't enough to beat Ok St.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Let's Go Blue!!
Here in the heart of Buckeyedom, the beloved men of the fighting nuts are off to a less than stellar start. Granted, they're 2-0, but taking down Youngstown St and following it up with a 20-2 shellacking of Akron isn't enough to keep the natives from getting mildly restless.
But, look!! Over there!! MICHIGAN IS SUCKING!!!
Like the allure of something shiny, watching the Wolverines drop their first two games has kept many scarlet and gray fans pretty happy. Sure, there are a few that spew out the hooey that they want Michigan to be undefeated going into The Game...spare me. Find me a Buckeye fan who shed a tear over Appalachian St taking down big blue a couple weeks ago. Search Buckeye Nation for a guy who tuned in hoping and praying that Oregon would roll over and play dead. These people - if there are more than one - are in the vast minority.
Additionally, there are the people who want the win "so the conference doesn't appear weak." Appear weak? Um, too late for that one folks...ignoring last year's stellar BCS and bowl performances by the Big 10 (and that mess in the desert still stings yours truly), it appears Bowling Green might be the best team in the Big 10 this season. Forgot, they're not in the league. OK, we'll give it to Penn State for now...but Wisconsin's domination of UNLV, the aforementioned slow start by the Bucks, Michigan's impression of the Duke football program, and Minnesota's toubles with all things MAC aren't speaking well of the Big 10 so far. Maybe Iowa will finally step above poser status this season. (If they do, they'll still get questioned about it without Ohio State or Michigan on the schedule.)
But I digress...this is supposed to be about michigan's futility thus far. And my glee in said futility...
I enjoyed the Appalachian St upset, not only because it was Michigan, but because seeing one of the big programs go down at the hands of one of those teams used to "fill out" the schedule was fun to see. (Since it wasn't Ohio St. it was fun to see.) Add in that App St. was only going to the Big House because the NCAA expanded the schedule for that extra game to make a few more dollars off their storied programs, and it just gets better. (Never mind that we can't have a playoff because we don't want the "student-athletes" playing too many games.) I had to chuckle every time they showed the shocked faces in the crown at Michigan Stadium...and they showed those faces a LOT, so I got a lot of chuckling in.
So, I tuned in to the Oregon game in the same manner you drive by a car accident...it's there, you don't really want to look, but you could catch a glimpse of some carnage. Maybe even some blood, or a severed limb. Oregon didn't disappoint, and the game wasn't nearly as close as the 39-7 score would indicate. The blood came in the form of boo birds in the Big House. The severed limb? The Bronx cheer when Chad Henne appeared to be leaving the game injured. (Before he finally did leave the field injured.)
So, no need wiping that grin off your face, Buckeye fan. Boeckman may not be setting the world on fire, but you're 2-0 and not the punchline of jokes such as: How many batteries does it take to shock a Wolverine?
1-AA.
But, look!! Over there!! MICHIGAN IS SUCKING!!!
Like the allure of something shiny, watching the Wolverines drop their first two games has kept many scarlet and gray fans pretty happy. Sure, there are a few that spew out the hooey that they want Michigan to be undefeated going into The Game...spare me. Find me a Buckeye fan who shed a tear over Appalachian St taking down big blue a couple weeks ago. Search Buckeye Nation for a guy who tuned in hoping and praying that Oregon would roll over and play dead. These people - if there are more than one - are in the vast minority.
Additionally, there are the people who want the win "so the conference doesn't appear weak." Appear weak? Um, too late for that one folks...ignoring last year's stellar BCS and bowl performances by the Big 10 (and that mess in the desert still stings yours truly), it appears Bowling Green might be the best team in the Big 10 this season. Forgot, they're not in the league. OK, we'll give it to Penn State for now...but Wisconsin's domination of UNLV, the aforementioned slow start by the Bucks, Michigan's impression of the Duke football program, and Minnesota's toubles with all things MAC aren't speaking well of the Big 10 so far. Maybe Iowa will finally step above poser status this season. (If they do, they'll still get questioned about it without Ohio State or Michigan on the schedule.)
But I digress...this is supposed to be about michigan's futility thus far. And my glee in said futility...
I enjoyed the Appalachian St upset, not only because it was Michigan, but because seeing one of the big programs go down at the hands of one of those teams used to "fill out" the schedule was fun to see. (Since it wasn't Ohio St. it was fun to see.) Add in that App St. was only going to the Big House because the NCAA expanded the schedule for that extra game to make a few more dollars off their storied programs, and it just gets better. (Never mind that we can't have a playoff because we don't want the "student-athletes" playing too many games.) I had to chuckle every time they showed the shocked faces in the crown at Michigan Stadium...and they showed those faces a LOT, so I got a lot of chuckling in.
So, I tuned in to the Oregon game in the same manner you drive by a car accident...it's there, you don't really want to look, but you could catch a glimpse of some carnage. Maybe even some blood, or a severed limb. Oregon didn't disappoint, and the game wasn't nearly as close as the 39-7 score would indicate. The blood came in the form of boo birds in the Big House. The severed limb? The Bronx cheer when Chad Henne appeared to be leaving the game injured. (Before he finally did leave the field injured.)
So, no need wiping that grin off your face, Buckeye fan. Boeckman may not be setting the world on fire, but you're 2-0 and not the punchline of jokes such as: How many batteries does it take to shock a Wolverine?
1-AA.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)