Game Two: #1 Ohio State 24, #2 Texas 7 (9/9/06)

[BB73]

I may be 'Clue'-less, but I'll say:

Miss Scarlet, in a luxury suite during the game, with my lead pipe.

[scarletngrey11]

Well, I got banned from hornfans.com in about 3 days.

[High Lonesome]

Originally Posted by scarletngrey77

Well, I got banned from hornfans.com in about 3 days.

not that it is all that hard to do, but what did you say?

[EngineerHorn]

scarletngrey, I'd have to say if you said something obnoxious, you deserved it, but that's not really your posting style. Lemme guess, you said something, a couple people took it out of context, built a straw man, destroyed it, beat their chests about it, called you an "idoit", and when you tried to defend yourself, you get banned.

Typical. It's a good board if you feel like putting up with a bunch of bull[censored] and don't mind the cliquishness. It's generally very hostile in nature, and you have to have some thick skin. There are many posters that are very obsessed with with the aggies, which I still can't understand. I don't think that site is very representative of what visitors on gameday experience, so don't worry.

I shouldn't be too hard on it though. There are some very knowledgable posters over there and it's generally well run.

But for a site that's a lot more friendly to guests filled with mostly with folks who just like to talk football, try www.burntorangefanzone.com

[texasfight06]

Originally Posted by scarletngrey77

Well, I got banned from hornfans.com in about 3 days.

I have been banned over there a few times myself, they have an itchy trigger finger. It's just a Vince Young lovefest over there anyway.

[EngineerHorn]

Off topic, but I'm curious.

Say Troy Smith is from Cleveland (or Cincinnatti if you're a Bengals fan). The locals love him, and he loves his hometown. "Local boy done good" and all that. Say he goes on to have an unbelievable season, wins the Heisman trophy, and leads OSU to a MNC. The media goes nuts, saying he should be a top 5 pick, if not the top pick due to his obvious talent and valuable intagibles. Also assume the Browns/Bengals had a horrible season (in part due to poor QB play.... Browns fans can probably imagine with Dilfer at QB, and pretend Aaron Brooks is the QB for the Bengals if they're your team) and have the #1 draft pick in 2007.

Now, say the Browns/Bengals select Adrian Peterson with the #1 pick, despite the entire city of Cleveland/Cinci begging for Smith. Also assume the Bengals/Browns have much more glaring needs other than running back, even though AP is obviously a very special player.

As a Browns/Bengals fan, are you [censored]ed?

[jwinslow]

there are plenty of bengal fans that love the bucks, but brown fans almost always love the bucks... so I'd use cleveland in your example. I think VY is an even bigger example than TS could be (despite becoming OSU's greatest QB if that comes true), simply b/c he took the Texas program to the next level. Troy will be continuing what Krenzel started.

I'll let the brownies chime in (I spend my non-buckeye moments thinking of santana going deep ).

[EngineerHorn]

I think VY is an even bigger example than TS could be

I'm probably misreading, but my example above is to make a parallel (the situations are already remarkably similar) to what is happening with VY and the Texans. There's all kinds of drama down here right now with the Texans/Reggie Bush/VY decision. In fact, if you've been to Hornfans recently, that topic is dominating the board.

In my hypothetical above, TS to the Browns (VY to the Texans) would just make all kinds of sense. So are Texans fans just neurotic in that respect, or would fans of other teams react similarly?

I'm not a Texans fan by the way.

[jwinslow]

ohioans are as neurotic as they come (just note how often the callers on ESPN radio are from ohio). I just meant that despite TS' unbelievable status already and what he could become if we win another MNC, he would still pale in comparison to VY.

VY was a much bigger star coming out of HS, and he was THE reason Texas got over the hump. OSU rose to prominence under cooper, got over the hump with tressel/krenzel, so I do not think the impact could be quite as great.

I think many would be upset to see TS passed, no doubt, but AD is a pretty solid choice. Now on the other hand, if Brady Quinn was taken over Troy Smith, cleveland would explode imo.

[CleveBucks]

Originally Posted by EngineerHorn

Off topic, but I'm curious.

Say Troy Smith is from Cleveland (or Cincinnatti if you're a Bengals fan). The locals love him, and he loves his hometown. "Local boy done good" and all that. Say he goes on to have an unbelievable season, wins the Heisman trophy, and leads OSU to a MNC. The media goes nuts, saying he should be a top 5 pick, if not the top pick due to his obvious talent and valuable intagibles. Also assume the Browns/Bengals had a horrible season (in part due to poor QB play.... Browns fans can probably imagine with Dilfer at QB, and pretend Aaron Brooks is the QB for the Bengals if they're your team) and have the #1 draft pick in 2007.

Now, say the Browns/Bengals select Adrian Peterson with the #1 pick, despite the entire city of Cleveland/Cinci begging for Smith. Also assume the Bengals/Browns have much more glaring needs other than running back, even though AP is obviously a very special player.

As a Browns/Bengals fan, are you [censored]ed?

As a Browns fan, no I wouldn't necessarily be mad. If the Browns just dropped another large sum of money on a QB and had other gaping holes, I would be mad if they drafted any QB 1st, especially one that has an unorthodox style that may not translate well to the pro game.

A local kid can definitely do wonders for a franchise, but as a GM you can't always let your heart get in the way of what makes the most sense from a footall standpoint.

The Browns have huge holes on the defensive line and at linebacker. Their defense was horrible last year, especially against the run. I would never want them to draft a QB ahead of someone that could provide an impact on defense, Troy Smith or not.

[Cornerback6]

I love Troy and I love the Browns, but I wouldn't be upset if they took a player where they might have a higher need. On the other hand, I am not at all thrilled or even mildly excited about the Browns current QB situation, so if they pulled the trigger on another qb, I wouldn't be too shook up about it. I agree with CB though, if they took Quinn instead, the city would be [censored]ED. Especially if Troy won the Heisman like you mentioned, because if that happened, no one would understand..."how could that other guy be better", ours just won the Hesiman.

Back to the Texas/OSU game...what's the general consensus of the population down there as to what's going to happen? Are most Texans predicting a win or are they on the fence because of our high powered offense and what not?

[High Lonesome]

Originally Posted by Cornerback6

I love Troy and I love the Browns, but I wouldn't be upset if they took a player where they might have a higher need. On the other hand, I am not at all thrilled or even mildly excited about the Browns current QB situation, so if they pulled the trigger on another qb, I wouldn't be too shook up about it. I agree with CB though, if they took Quinn instead, the city would be [censored]ED. Especially if Troy won the Heisman like you mentioned, because if that happened, no one would understand..."how could that other guy be better", ours just won the Hesiman.

Back to the Texas/OSU game...what's the general consensus of the population down there as to what's going to happen? Are most Texans predicting a win or are they on the fence because of our high powered offense and what not?

I would say that most people are VERY CAUTIOUSLY optimistic. Most are hoping for a win but understand that there is a very real chance for a loss. I think that you will find that we are very excited about our team.

[Dryden]

Originally Posted by EngineerHorn

Say Troy Smith is from Cleveland ... The locals love him, and he loves his hometown. "Local boy done good" and all that. Say he goes on to have an unbelievable season, wins the Heisman trophy, and leads OSU to a MNC. The media goes nuts, saying he should be a top 5 pick, if not the top pick due to his obvious talent and valuable intagibles. Also assume the Browns had a horrible season ...

Maybe I'm not following, but everything written in those statements is or will be true!

[buckeyeboy]

Originally Posted by High Lonesome

I would say that most people are VERY CAUTIOUSLY optimistic. Most are hoping for a win but understand that there is a very real chance for a loss. I think that you will find that we are very excited about our team.

Good choice of words in saying that "most" horns fans are cautiously optimistic, b/c we all know that xray doesn't fit into that category.

[BuckeyeRob]

Originally Posted by High Lonesome

I would say that most people are VERY CAUTIOUSLY optimistic. Most are hoping for a win but understand that there is a very real chance for a loss. I think that you will find that we are very excited about our team.

This may have already been discussed but I am much, much more encouraged by what I saw out of the defense in the spring. The Dline is probably going to be better this year than last. The knock on the defense last season was the lack of pass rushing DE's So much so, that the staff had Bobby Carpenter puting his hand down in that position opposite Mike Kudla. What I saw out of Lawrence Wilson (now his second spring and was a star in the ND game.) Jay Richardson, Alex Barrow and Vernon Gholston have me really geeked about the Dline.

This line may be one of the countries best Dlines in 2006. The linebackers are very talented and very green. No way do you replace guys the caliber OSU lost but the drop off wont be disasterous either. They will be ok but certainly not spectacular.

The other area that may actually be an uptick is the secondary. Two guys have pretty much nailed spots down Malcomb Jenkins and Jamario O'Neil. There is a real dog fight for the other 2 spots but Kurt Coleman really jumped out to me as a play maker. The other thing that really jumps out is this secondary can flat out fly and they are very big as a group Jenkins BcB is 6 1 205, Jamario O'Neil is 6 1 195, Mitchell (nickle and may end up being the other safety.) is 6 3 210, Patterson (in a battle with Mitchell for the safety spot.) 6 2 205....

One of the knocks I had as a buckeye fan is that Salley tended to go for the crushing hit instead of the sure tackle. For all the praise Ashton Youboty is recieving his fatal flaw as a corner is that he isnt very good defending the ball when its in the air. He is great fundementally but so much about playing the corner spot is the ability to make a play once the ball is in the air. IMO the secondary will look much better at this aspect of the game.

Ive said all along that I believe this defense front to back is much better than the 2004 group. In the first 6 games that defense gave up an average of just shy of 22 points per game. What killed the record (going 3-3) was a very, very inept offense. Nothing could be further from the truth about the 2006 offense.

The Texas game should be a whale of a game but I have to tell you, based upon what I saw in the spring, I really like the buckeyes chances to leave Austin with a win.