2012 Sugar Bowl: A BCS Matchup, An Improved UM Defense, Predictions
by Graham Filler on Dec 11, 2011 10:42 PM CST
in Michigan
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PrintMichigan's Defense Has Vastly Improved in 2011
The proof is in their 2nd half performances and ability to get third down stops (remember late versus Iowa, how many times the Hawkeyes were stopped on third and short?). Also take a look at the tremendous amount of rushing yards given up last year, and the year before...and compare that to 2011.
2009 - 474 attempts, 2063 yards, 4.35 YPC, 20 TD's
2010 - 554 attempts, 2456 yards, 4.43 YPC, 34 TD's
2011 - 381 attempts, 1549 yards, 4.07 YPC, 13 TD's
What's crazier than those insane stats? The 2011 defense was made up of the same kids who played in 2010. Apparently new coaches, less injuries, and new schemes was a good idea! /wins award for most obvious statement of the year. Everyone remembers 2010, where that 3-4, or modified 3-4, or the occasional 3-3-5...was completely ineffective, where opposing coaches would shelve the passing game because they knew the run game would be working all game. I went to the MACtion championship game for Miami (OH) in 2010. After watching a half of Red(skin)hawk football, I turned to Jon and said, "something is different with their defense, I can't figure it out." Turns out that after watching Michigan football all year, I wasn't used to watching a team that form tackled and put their linebackers in position to make plays. Things done changed.
Take a look at the individual performances of the star runners Michigan faced this year:
Cierre Wood, ND: 127 yards, 1 TD
Jonas Gray, ND: 64 yards
Ronnie Hillman, SDSU: 109 yards
Edwin Baker, MSU: 167 yards, 1 TD
Rex Burkhead, Nebraska: 36 yards
Taylor Martinez, Nebraska: 49 yards
Ralph Bolden, Purdue: 22 yards
Marcus Coker, Iowa: 132 yards, 2 TD
Jason Ford, Illinois: 26 yards, 1 TD
Braxton Miller, OSU: 100 yards, 1 TD
Boom Herron, OSU: 37 yards, 1 TD
Key performers exist mostly on the disruptive D-Line, but the secondary has improved also, giving up 1000 less passing yards than last years' squad. And yet -
Key Problems Exist
Michigan can slow you or downright stop you if they know what's coming. But when OSU switched to a pass-happy attack in the season finale, huge flaws were made apparent.
FLAW #1 - The secondary, while vastly improved, is not extremely athletic or fast. They got torched against OSU multiple times and it's fortunate Braxton Miller can't throw an accurate deep ball or it would have been even worse. The defense also had the great fortune to a) stay healthy and b) play a bunch of teams with barely functional passing games (What's up, Nebraska, Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota). Matched up against Devier Posey, they fell apart.
FLAW #2 - If the veteran DL doesn't penetrate and disrupt, the linebackers and secondary are not All-B1G performers. This unit has excelled thanks to defensive adjustments and cohesive play - they will flow to the ball, they won't miss open field tackles. So if Mike Martin and Craig Roh don't disrupt the VT O-Line, the weakness of this Michigan defense will have to play above their collective talent level to slow the Hokies power run attack.
Hokie Mania - What's Going To Happen?
Michigan's offense is well known to be incredibly explosive, but the Wolverines and Hokies average about the same amounts of YPG. Michigan will need to follow the same script that worked for them all year: Dominate the interior and if things aren't working, make big 2nd half adjustments. Can VT be slowed? Clemson and Florida State say yes. We'll see what Michigan has to say.
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When VTech has played a good team this year they’ve lost handily. Michigan may not be a great team, but they are a good team- Michigan wins pretty handily.
http://www.frogsowar.com/
I hate to pick M
But I realize that they are playing the only team worse than them in the BCS bowls this season. So, I see them winning.
Fuck Michigan!!
BTW, what’s up with their AD sending a letter to the NCAA calling it out for allowing Luke Fickell & staff to coach the Sugar Bowl, even though the Urban Meyer hiring is announced????
That sounds an AWFUL lot to me like what happened with them when they hired RichRod – he immediately started recruiting for M (the first phone call he apparently made to break the news was to Terelle Pryor), while Carr & his staff coached the team up to the bowl game.
It is the same thing
But Brandon wasn’t the AD back then, and to be honest it is kind of silly that it’s allowed (including when Michigan did it).
by lonewolf371 on Dec 12, 2011 11:40 AM CST up reply actions
Thanks for the reply
I know it’s the same thing, Dave Brandon knows its the same thing, and I think it’s hypocritical for DB to call out tOSU for doing it.
He wasn’t AD back in ‘07 – rather, he was on the school’s Board of Regents, and was the board’s liason to the AD office. There is no possible way he didn’t have input into the RR hiring decision, including the timing, especially considering the huge financial buyout from WVU, along with the general enormity & self-fellatiation that happens when U-M hires a new football coach.
He wasn't as important to the decision as Martin or Carr
And it’s honestly silly to imply that he was. It is hypocritical, but it’s also right. You shouldn’t be able to have two coaching staffs, one to recruit and one to coach. Your school will probably lose Pittman as a result of this; you should be pissed off too.
Two staffs? Where?
Where? Meyer has not brought in anyone from the outside yet. In fact, they are down a coach. Brandon should check his facts before he runs his mouth.
Well i didn’t mean he pulled the trigger on the hiring, rather that he knows M did it & now he is complaining about only a couple of seasons later. Us fans in green & white are aware that the Bucks have been going after a top commit, and are plenty pissed about it. Though we can’t pass up a chance to point out DB acting like a d!
And yeah it does suck that Meyer is recruiting, looks like Pittman has now officially jumped to tOSU, but I think it’s more bs that teams continue to pursue kids after the decisions have been made public. He’s already grabbed a Penn State commit, too, and I wonder how many in conference schools will lose commits to him.
Not many left.
Pittman was going to switch regardless IMHO. His girlfriend signed to play BB here, and he is an Ohio boy. The PSU situation is unfortunately one that is scaring
away recruits. Not many big recruits left undecided from the midwest.
Given all the negative recruiting, Fickell was getting clobbered by B1G coaches
Grady even got called out for it by Dan Patrick (which he of course denied). The UM AD was probably hoping to keep us at a disadvantage for as long as possible.
I see this as a one season practice by Meyer to get back some of the recruits that were stolen from us. Quid Pro Quo. Dirty recruiting supposedly was a pet peeve of Meyer’s in the SEC.
Where is the evidence of this negative recruiting?
Mattison, the one of the main guys stealing those Ohio recruits, used to work for Meyer. I’m sure he hasn’t changed his approach, as he was the best recruiter on Meyer’s staff at Florida as well.
by lonewolf371 on Dec 13, 2011 12:41 AM CST up reply actions
Dude you're on the thinnest of ice
Two words. Kyle Kalis.
Don’t even pretend that he isn’t repeating something that Grady and company had been drilling into him for a couple of weeks.
“I can’t go there (Ohio State) and take penalties for something I never did,” Kalis told ESPN.com on Monday. “Ohio State is a great program. I’m just not sure how long it will take them to recover. I want a solid, grounded coaching staff with a safe environment. Where there aren’t such tough questions.”
And this
The head coach of the university of Michigan and one of Kalis’s parents conspired to have him accept a scholarship offer from a school that knows who its head coach will be next year and how many scholarships it will have, whereupon his stepfather called a radio station to complain.
Let's make make sweeping accusations
Based on no evidence! What did Kalis say that was wrong? Did he say a single thing that only the illustrious Brady Hoke could have divulged to him? I mean, you’d have to have a block of lead to not realize everything Kalis said in that quote on your own.
To be fair...
No one ever called RR or Carr a dirty recruiter, so it is very hard for your buddies to say it is sour grapes. Recruiting in the B1G has been done in a professional way, above what happens in other conferences, until Flounder came around.
What that kid said makes total sense
And is likely what a lot of kids who are (or were) going to go to places like tOSU, PSU, the U, etc, next year have been thinking.
So I get it, and I’m not sure how leaving a school that is in such a spot, to go to another school that is more stable, can become negative recruiting.
And it doesn’t take negative recruiting for kids who are stud football players as hs juniors & seniors to see the writing on the wall at tOSU. Most of these kids live & breathe football, and are completely aware of what was happening there. Everybody has ESPN & the internet.
As for Pittman, I think a huge reason MSU was able to get him was because of all the turmoil. He didn’t know what would happen at the school he grew up loving, so he went to the next best choice ;-)
Once the Bucks got Meyer, he decided that the risk of punishment from the NCAA was worth it to go home to tOSU. Apparently, Kalis doesn’t want to take that risk – or at least didn’t this past summer when he commited to M. I guess it remains to be seen whether Meyer can keep him in state like he did Pittman.
Did you actually smirk as you typed the above?
Those are the words of a coach regurgitated by a seventeen year old kid. You know it whether you’re willing to admit it to this site.
And I don’t have any problem with what Kalis was saying. The issue was whether Jabba was conducting a dirty recruiting campaign. He was.
Neither team should be in this game. I’m taking Michigan, VaTech’s not anything special, like… at all… Stop David Wilson and you should cruise.
WTF ever...
Are there teams that deserve to be in a BCS game? Of course, but saying the UM doesn’t deserve to be there is simply asking for a fight from UM fans. Its a loaded and controversial statement that is designed to get a response.
Experts stated that UM needed to reach 14th or higher in the BCS standings to be considered for a bowl, so they did that. They got an at large bid. No one said boo about it before hand, so now that they make it…all of a sudden, they didn’t deserve it?? I’m raising the BS flag on that one. Yes, KSU got screwed. I get it. Too bad there’s only enough spots for a certain number of teams.
Deal. that’s all you can do. just deal.
YOU DON’T WANNA FIGHT WITH A CRAZY PERSON DO YA?!?!?
Michigan is more deserving than VaTech, but either way the rationality is wrong. The process is flawed when a team that was the conference runner-up, won their division, and beat Michigan head to head doesn’t sniff a BCS bowl, or, like you said, Kansas State, Boise, or maybe even TCU. Virginia Tech and Michigan will bring in the fans, bring in the revenue, that’s why the Sugar Bowl is what it is. Of course I don’t blame Michigan for accepting the offer, they had a great season, but if I had a gun to my head, I’d argue that there were more deserving programs.
I wouldn't say you're crazy
…but I can clearly see your (buck) nuts. Bad joke. Sorry.
UM didn’t go because MSU didn’t. But that goes back to the system, yeah its somewhat flawed, agreed. I think someone in here said it best, the system is mostly designed to find THE champion, the #1 vs #2…all the rest is window dressing. Boise? Puh-leeze. I saw TCU play live, they were good, but I don’t think BCS good. I do think Sparty got a bit of a raw deal, but not at the expense of UM. It does make me laugh hysterically, though…
It's easy to say a team isn't BCS good
But when they have gotten their opportunities, they’ve proven that to not be the case, ala Boise or TCU from last year.
I’m not trying to be unfair to Michigan, if Ohio State had 2 losses and Boise went undefeated, I’d expect OSU to get the bid, even if I don’t think morally it was as deserved. Last year, Ohio State went 11-1 and there wasn’t really a situation like this, so I can’t make that argument, but this year it seems glaringly obvious that the BCS is a problem, not a solution.
Here is where I may become hypocritical, many lobbied for Ok State to get a crack at LSU, especially since ‘Bama didn’t win their conference or their original head to head with LSU. However, if you were to ask me who the two best teams are in the nation, I would give you Bama and LSU. So who knows…
definitely agree there
As much as it pains me to admit it. Ohio State and Michigan were not the two best teams in the nation.
Ohio State: Laurinaitis, Jenkins
Michigan: Manningham, Long, Woodley, Leon Hall, David Harris, Breaston
VS
Florida: Tebow, Harvin, Spikes
USC: Steve Smith, Fred Davis, Sam Baker, Ryan Kalil, Chilo Rachal, Sedrick Ellis, Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Terrell Thomas
Great disparity
Yes, the Kirk Bartons and Vernon Gholston’s of the world.
I love my Buckeyes, and I think they’re one of the better NFL factories regarding productive players, but saying the NFL and not the scoreboards are telling of who were and who were not the better teams that year still doesn’t mash.
Well you guys did have more NFL talent than UF
But USC is an a whole different level, way above UF, Michigan that year, and tOSU. I would have liked to see USC play UF that year.
by lonewolf371 on Dec 13, 2011 12:36 AM CST up reply actions
So the number of guys who ultimately matriculated to the NFL
is now the measuring stick for, “best teams in the nation?”
Sorry, I have to disagree with you, whether people make it to the NFL (and whether they have a succesful career) does NOT equate to team performance in college. There are innumerable variables that contribute more to on the field success in college than the number of future pros.
Yeah, it helps to have a ton of NFL talent on the field, but retrocatively grading a college team based on NFL alums is completely missing the point of how teams win in the ultimate team sport.
by MSUDersh on Dec 13, 2011 8:50 AM CST up reply actions 3 recs
Well said
Rec.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
Thanks
It seems to me similar to the, “Well, XXX sucked bc he didn’t make it in the pros.”
Just bc Eric Crouch, or Charlie Ward, didn’t play NFL doesn’t take away from what they accomplished on the field in college.
Look at Denard – who knows if he will make the NFL, much less at what position, much less make an impact. But that still doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the best & most dynamic players in America right now.
Look at 2002 NCG
Try and say that talent doesn’t matter. TOSU’s record is a huge indicator of talent too. I’m not saying that NFL success is the only litmus test, just that if the team wasn’t talented they wouldn’t get the opportunity to play on Sunday.
I hear ya
And said talent DOES matter, however, what these guys do & become after leaving college is significantly less relevant to the “two best teams in the country” debate than how the teams played together on the field.
It’s just not, IMO, the proper tool to use when looking backwards at a team’s particular performance.
By the “who went pro” measure, the 2010 Kentucky hoops team led by four first round picks (Wall, Patterson, Cousins & Bledsoe) plus two juniors drafted the following season (Harrellson & Liggins) should be retroactively annointed the best team that season, and ignore that they got knocked off in the tourney by WVU that had only one future NBA player (Devin Eubanks) on its roster.
Talent matters a lot
but sometimes talented guys who dominate in college aren’t good pros. Happens all the time.
Just because a guy isn’t good in the NFL doesn’t mean he wasn’t ridiculously talented in college.
Like, ahem, Archie Griffin. Probably my favorite Buckeye of all time, but he was just an okay pro with the Bengals.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
To be fair, he was on the Bengals
In the name of the Woody, the Bo, and the Mustache Ride. Amen.
by Pariahwulfen on Dec 13, 2011 12:58 PM CST up reply actions
Barry Sanders was on the Lions
Walter Payton was on a bad Bears team most of his career.
Heck, Adrian Peterson is on the Vikings.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
Or look at the converse
Franco Harris didn’t do shit in college, but he turned into a great pro.
Willie Parker barely got on the field at NC freaking State, yet had a few very good years in the league, too.
I thought he went to UNC?
HELP IS ON THE WAY
~Banned at ATO since June 3rd, 2011, 2ish PM PST
by SouthBayBuckeye on Dec 13, 2011 2:12 PM CST up reply actions
I coulda been a contender
and then I took an arrow to the knee.
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
Whatever holds the image of an angel IS an angel. The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors.
Yes, I am on twitter.
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Dec 13, 2011 10:17 PM CST up reply actions
No one denies the talent
But you said look at the NFL, that doesn’t prove anything. Especially if one was to look at the success of said NFL careers.
It simply isn’t an indicator of how good a team was at the college level. The 2002 was a great team, but there were no big time NFL’ers on that squad.
Not many of stardom
Mike Doss for a few seasons? Mike Jenkins on a good day? Gamble’s a middle of the pack corner in the league. Will Smith and Olivea I’ll give you.
Why does the NFL matter again?
Florida in ’06 was a better football team than Ohio State in ’06, where is the debate?
In fact, here's your argument
If you want to look to the NFL to say that showcases the better team, look no further than the 2002 Miami Hurricanes.
Willis McGahee
Frank Gore
Andre Johnson
Kellen Winslow Jr
Vernon Carey
Vince Wilfork
DJ Williams
Jonathan Vilma
Rocky McIntosh
Antrel Rolle
Kelly Jennings
Sean Taylor
by your logic, the 2002 Hurricanes were better than the ’02 Buckeyes.
My logic was...
That tOSU and the U were loaded with talent the likes we may have never seen. My logic is that when you have 2 teams loaded with talent that they are genuinely pretty damn good. My logic says that if you have talented players you can win a lot. What is the difference between Texas and Stetson? You guessed it…..talent.
Your logic was:
When I said in 2006, Ohio State and Michigan turned out to not be the top 2 teams in the nation, you disagreed. When I asked you why, you said look at the NFL. Of course these big programs are all loaded with talent, but Mike Doss didn’t win the ‘02 championship over all that Miami talent, the Ohio State Buckeyes won it. Who cares who goes in the draft or what plays at the next level, in 2006, the Florida Gators were better than our Buckeyes, and the USC Trojans were better than the Michigan Wolverines. If Ohio State were better, they would’ve beaten COACH MEYER and the Gators. Troy Smith will forever be my favorite player to come through Ohio State, but that won’t stop me from owning up and saying that they weren’t as great as we thought they were. Talent alone wins you nothing, as Ohio State showed Miami, or as Florida showed Ohio State.
Agree to disagree
I think the ’06 team played a bad game and were flat. I firmly believe that they were overconfident and got handled. USC may have been the best team that year, but IMO tOSU was.
well I'll definitely agree there
They showed up flat to a big game. But it should only take getting smacked in the mouth once to realize you’re in a fight and get your head on straight. They got smacked with 41 points.
how many abortions were given to those dudes?
cleared in a week
/ncaa’d
HELP IS ON THE WAY
~Banned at ATO since June 3rd, 2011, 2ish PM PST
by SouthBayBuckeye on Dec 14, 2011 5:09 PM CST up reply actions
Don't know
what’s going on with my posts…all of a sudden they’re multiplying and getting smaller. Weird.
Eh, it's not about who 'deserves' it more
It’a about butts filling the stadium and TV ratings. Don’t know how Va Tech fills those requirements, but Michigan does, so I can see why they’re in and MSU wasn’t. Not fair, not right, but it’s the siuation we have with the modern day BCS.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
Virginia Tech has one of the strongest followings in the country
They bring in the money. The problem is, the rest of the country knows they play in a turd of a conference and their record has the potential to be a little phony, Clemson later proved that to be right.
Really?
I had heard that they were having trouble selling their ticket allotment. And I can’t recall a time when an ACC Championship game has been sold out with them in it.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
We've sold out our ACCCG allotment and more the last two years.
Everyone always looks at that overhead from Jacksonville in 2007, which would be like if the Fargodome seated 70K and the B1G put its championship game there for some damn reason — very long drive, and locals don’t care about the conference. Then it moved to Tampa for ’08 and ’09, which was even worse.
Once the game moved to Charlotte where it should have been all along, we’ve sold out.
We’re gonna take some reasonable heat over not selling our allotment for the Sugar, but there’ll be plenty of Hokies in New Orleans. We just didn’t buy from VT, not with a flooded secondary market from Bama and LSU fans who bought BCSCG+Sugar packages.
"I only wish both sides of the dysfunctional sibling rivalry that has throttled a half-dozen longstanding rivalries and ballooned the SEC and ACC to a ridiculous 14 teams each could have lost on the last play." -- Brian Cook
#1 reason Michigan's run D has better numbers this year:
They didn’t play Wisconsin.
Using similar logic
…at 235 rushing yards per game, the same can be said about the Wisconsin defense.
Well, I know I'm not a fan of the team that surrendered 357 rushing yards on 6.1 YPC and 6 touchdowns last time...
Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
Whatever holds the image of an angel IS an angel. The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors.
Yes, I am on twitter.
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Dec 12, 2011 4:16 PM CST up reply actions
It's really shocking how much Michigan's D improved
You have to give Mattison a lot of credit for their improved play. He was especially aided by Martin and Van Bergen both had very good years at DT. It’s worth noting that Michigan’s defense was very fortunate with fumble recoveries. UM’s defense forced 24 fumbles and recovered 19 of them for an 80% clip. The 19 recoveries and 80% recovery rate are both 2nd best in the NCAA. Still, even with some regression in their ability to recover fumbles they are much better than last years defense.
I expect a pretty close game against VT with Michigan winning it. VT has been smoked twice by the only good team they’ve played and they had a lot of close victories over sub par competition.
Tend to agree
The coaching changed everything. The maturation of the linemen changed everything. The aggressiveness level was upped.
Off Tackle Empire
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
by Graham Filler on Dec 12, 2011 12:14 PM CST up reply actions
Bingo!
M lost to the two decent teams it played away from the Big Hole in the Ground. The schedule will be mow here near this favorable in the next few seasons.
How many times is Sparty going to make this week argument
Michigan’s schedule was actually more difficult than MSU’s. Look it up. From bowl eligible teams to Sagarin ratings. Bitching about 8 home games makes you look like hypocrites. You didnt seem to mind last year when you had 8 home games. Yes, Im counting the game at Ford Field despite the fact that MSU’s pathetic fan base failed to get more than 30,000 people at a the game. Saw it first hand (younger brother goes to MSU, went with him because Michigan was at Notre Dame and none of his roommates cared to make the trip).
"For today, goodbye. For tomorrow, good luck. And forever, Go Blue!
How did MSU have 8 home games last season?
Unless you count M getting doubled up in AA by MSU as having lost the Big Hole to the Spartans. I guess that is our house now.
Greg Robinson is proof positive
that ‘addition by subtraction’ is a legitmjate reason to say something will be better than it was when little else changes. Watching Michigan’s defense was like night and day from last year. Kudos to Hoke, Mattison and company for turning that unit around.
I think they beat Va Tech, and pretty convincingly.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
Yes and no
Don’t get me wrong, watching your team get piss ponded by 30 points every year until the day I die isn’t something that would bother me…but it’s a lot more fun to beat you guys when both teams are at their best. Games like 2006 and 2011 are a lot of fun, and the first time we get OSU-UM back to back to decide the B1G championship, I think the coverage and buzz will be ridiculous…and Jim Delany will masturbate in every room of B1G headquarters when that happens.
And I normally don’t give two hoots about recruiting, because Tressel pretty much locked down Ohio and Rodriguez only went after second tier Ohio guys, for the most part. Hoke is back in Ohio with a vengeance, and him and Meyer are already having some pretty pitched battles for kids. I hope they’re both around for 10 years and they take this rivalry to a new level.
And for that to happen, unfortunately, Michigan has to ge good. :)
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
by Ted Glover on Dec 12, 2011 2:18 PM CST up reply actions 4 recs
Another Wow...
and Jim Delany will masturbate in every room of B1G headquarters when that happens.
You usually run this stuff by me first before posting…I like the new approach. lmao
awkwardrec
Off Tackle Empire
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
by Graham Filler on Dec 12, 2011 4:02 PM CST up reply actions
Meyer will destroy Flounder in recruiting.
Flounder got most of those recruits because Tressel left. The majority were heavy tOSU leans until then. Flounder then channeled Miss Cleo to proclaim severe sanctions for tOSU to muddy the waters. Judge next years class to see how poorly hoke will fare.
Hmm
Well, he’s not exactly off to a bad start by locking up the best QB in the nation…
Add to that the fact that even after Lord Meyer came knocking, Dunn still hasn’t reaffirmed his commitment and Michigan is still in the hunt with him, and I think Hoke will do just fine.
by lonewolf371 on Dec 12, 2011 10:46 PM CST up reply actions
Remember those words.
Best qb in the nation? Urbz has been on the job for 2 weeks, jabba has had a whole year. Not to mention that he doesn’t have a full staff yet.
Before you start talking about grabbing guys from the heart of Michigan
Maybe you should worry about the fact that Meyer called Kalis, the best OL from the state of Ohio, and Kalis basically told him thanks but no thanks. I mean, if Meyer can’t keep Dunn from Hoke, a guy that’s clearly been all about tOSU for a very long time, then I’m more than comfortable with Hoke’s ability to stay on par.
by lonewolf371 on Dec 13, 2011 12:39 AM CST up reply actions
I think we can both agree
hopefully, that UM made the most of OSU’s situation and was able to get a great lineman prospect in Kalis, along with Strobel, who is an Ohio DL kid that was an OSU lean until Tatgate.
But Meyer is shoring up a decent class and making it borderline elite, with Washington, Schutt, and Pittman, three of the top DL prospects in the country. He is also in the lead for a couple of o-line prospects that if he gets, will really ease the pain of losing Kalis.
As for Dunn, wherever he goes, I hope he makes the right decision for him.
Frankly, I don’t get worked up either way when a kid says he’s going one place and is ‘poached’ by somebody else. These guys are kids, making a decision about what they think is best for them for the next three or four years. It’s a big decision, and wherever these guys go I wish them luck.
And I think both Hoke and Meyer will get their fair share of guys.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
Didn't the crazy side of the fanbase harass him in the real world after he flipped to TSUN?
It really doesn’t help when the extremists turn off the kid for being a kid.
In the name of the Woody, the Bo, and the Mustache Ride. Amen.
by Pariahwulfen on Dec 13, 2011 11:41 AM CST up reply actions
Yeah, quite a low moment for some so-called 'fans'
People take this shit was too seriously sometimes.
"Go hard. I mean, like relentless. I want a bunch of coaches that coach like their hair’s on fire, and I want a football team that goes for four to six seconds (per play) with relentless effort." OSU Coach Urban Meyer.
Best qb in the nation?
Who might that be? Kalis has been worked on by Flounder for a year, Meyer for a call. Go ahead and count that as a victory, because he won’t have the advantage of a lame duck coach and overblown predictions of doom to work with from now on.
I guess only one site has started rating players
But on Scout Shane Morris is currently rated as the #1 QB.
no. world ends 12/21/12
HELP IS ON THE WAY
~Banned at ATO since June 3rd, 2011, 2ish PM PST
by SouthBayBuckeye on Dec 14, 2011 5:09 PM CST up reply actions
I'm sure Urb can put the Mayan apocolypse on hold
HELP IS ON THE WAY
~Banned at ATO since June 3rd, 2011, 2ish PM PST
by SouthBayBuckeye on Dec 15, 2011 3:07 PM CST up reply actions
VT vs GT in the ATL ETC ETC ETC WTF FML
HELP IS ON THE WAY
~Banned at ATO since June 3rd, 2011, 2ish PM PST
by SouthBayBuckeye on Dec 12, 2011 5:25 PM CST up reply actions
By the way...
MSU was ineligible for a BCS bowl. Even if the had Michigan’s cachet and following, they couldn’t have gone. The system screwed them if anything did.
Meanwhile Kanas State was eligible. The bowls (esp. The Sugar) screwed them if they got screwed.
Michigan benefitted from the screwing, to be sure. But the didn’t do it. The last Big Ten team that went to the Sugar Bowl has a lot more to answer for, since their coach knew their victories were accomplished with multiple ineligible players on the field and did not report it.
And you guys in East Lansing and Iowa City are right: 10-2 isn’t the record of a great team. Not this year, not last, not the year before.
If there’s a playoff: conference champions only, please.
Shouldn't the bowl discussions and polls
start with the least significant game involving a B1G team and move to the more important ones over the next couple weeks?
STOP THE PRESSES
For those of you who don’t follow EDSBS, Craig James is running for public office in the state of Texas. #Rememberthe5
In the name of the Woody, the Bo, and the Mustache Ride. Amen.
Well that makes this tweet make more sense
from @UFGreekGirl:
“What’s the difference between a dead hooker and the other candidates? The other candidates still suck.”- Craig James For Senate 2012
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