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Originally Posted by crazybuckfan40
Just to give an opposing view point. When Coop was the coach we came out and kicked the snot out of lesser opponents and then froze up in big games.
I too would like to see a little more excitement, but I think they just take on the coaches calm demeaner, which isnt always a bad thing. A cooler head down the stretch is better than just being fired up and not ready to make the play.
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OSU under Coop won plenty of big games, including beating 2 AP Top 5 nonconference opponents on the road. True, 95,96 against Michigan and 98 against MSU were the 3 games that turned what would have otherwise been an excellent legacy (costing 2 likely NCs) into a "couldn't win the big game" legacy. But those 3 losses were against inferior teams.
Coop lost a lot of meaningless bowl games to SEC teams down in Florida, but won the ones that counted: the Rose Bowl and the BCS Bowl(Sugar Bowl).
By all rights,
OSU should have least shared in the 96 NC with 1-loss Florida, who got the AP and Coaches nod by winning a revenge game (remember Big 10 was not in the so-called Bowl Coalition, which created a bias against the Big 10; the same bias which cost PSU a NC in 94).
In 1998, by all rights,
OSU still should have been selected to play Tenn. in the Fiesta Bowl over FSU. That year, except for one inexplicable quarter (that started with a fluke bounce off Clement's back on a punt return), that team clearly was the best team by far. Dominating team. Great defense and a great offense.