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10-23-2007, 09:44 PM
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Ohio State SOS
I went and searched for a thread dedicated to our SOS this year and was a bit surprised not to find one. While not wanting to start off a [censored]ing contest with our guest posters, I would like to hear thoughts on this year's SOS and whether it will help us or hurt us. I know it's been "discussed" ad naseum in numerous threads, I still think there ought to be one dedicated to the subject.
My personal thoughts on this year's schedule are that I hope I never see another year like this. Yes, if UW had been their old selves, it might not have been so bad. But is it really asking so much to have 2 tough OOC games each year? I have no problem playing 2 Ohio schools, but if we're going to do that, then let's make sure the other opponents are of a little higher caliber. And while the UW was scheduled far in advance, the Kent games was scheduled relatively recently. I know late scheduling is difficult, but I suspect we could have picked up some stiffer competition. When I hear the rest of the country whining about our cake schedule, I have to admit, I agree with them. Not sure what the best solution is, it's not like we have any say in the rankings. The bottom line is, if we win out, we're in the NC game. And I just don't believe we're going to know if we're deserving of that spot until we get there. Whatever happens, I do not want to see another game like last year's NC. But at least last year, we can claim we played a reasonable schedule and were deserving to be there. This year, that's a much harder claim to make. I know all of us are sick of hearing the SEC hype (it's second only to ND hype, maybe not this year). But I really do believe their schedules are a hell of a lot tougher than ours. That is going to be much better preparation for their games than what we're going to get. Hopefully, the B10 stiffens up in the second half of the season. Because we're going to need the competition.          
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10-23-2007, 09:53 PM
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Great thread.
If you look at how the B10 and the SEC have done in bowl games, Wisconsin knocked off a very powerful Arkansas team while PSU knocked off a pretty potent Tenn team. Besides Michigan not being able to hang with SC (which they really haven't been able to do at all in the past few years) and us not putting together a great effort (to say the least), you can make an argument that the upper middle part of the B10 (PSU, Wisky, occasionally Iowa/Illinois, Purdue's been bad in bowl games) is just as strong if not stronger than the upper middle half of the SEC (Auburn, Tenn., South Carolina, those types). But the reality boils down to this, no matter what I or anyone else thinks, or what circumstantial evidences that we might have to support our case for the relative strength of the B10 vs. the SEC, if we don't put up a good show this year against a SEC opponent, we are screwed in the court of public opinion.
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10-23-2007, 10:03 PM
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No matter what, we can't alter our Big Ten schedule. People are going to continue to pick on the Big Ten, just because of last year's NC Game. Honestly, I could care less. It was Florida's night and that's just how it is. Now on to our out of conference schedule.... it does leave a lot to be desired. Even though UW hasn't turned out to be a quality team, the game was still an "upset alert" for the Bucks (which we passed).
Here is a look at our OOC schedule next year: 8/30: vs. Youngstown State 9/6: vs. Ohio 9/13: @ USC 9/20: vs. Troy Obviously USC is going to be our toughest test. We all know, even if the Bucks win @ USC, there are still going to be people that say USC isn't a talented team. The following year we open with USC @ home on 9/12. The next few years are going to be extremely interesting with the Bucks. People tend to forget that we played Texas the past two years, NC State in 04 (when they were a tough team), Marshall in 04, etc. They all jump on tOSU because of one year when our OOC schedule isn't the toughest and because of last year's NC game.
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10-23-2007, 10:03 PM
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If the Big 10 goes 7-0 in Bowls this year, it will be ignored or called an aberration. In 2002, when OSU won the NC, the Big 10 went 5-2 in bowls. That was the best record for any conference that year. It was mentioned once on ESPN, in passing, at the very end of a Sportscenter as an "oh by the way". When we went 2-5 last year, it got wall-to-wall coverage; and people are still talking about it. They just fail to mention that the 2 wins were against the SEC. It's this simple really (and I'm just repeating a point Jax has made): If they can't get over the War of Northern Agression (Civil War to those of you who actually know history), what in the name of Robert E. Lee do you think is going to make them stop bad-mouthing northern football?You know the beautiful part though? With the way JT has the Buckeye Juggernaut rolling, it seems like it is only a matter of time before we face an SEC team for the National Title and win. At some point, it will happen. It won't stop them talking, but you won't care at that point... will you?
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10-23-2007, 10:05 PM
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10-23-2007, 10:06 PM
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School_______DSC______DYC
Ohio St.____4.252____1.983 Penn St.____1.980____1.309 Wisconsin___1.307____1.272 Illinois____1.462____1.005 Michigan____1.819____1.243 School_____DSC rk____DYC rk Ohio St._____1_________2 Penn St.____10________20 Wisconsin___36________25 Illinois____28________56 Michigan____17________30 Where: DSC = Differential Scoring Composite (DSO/DSD)I posted this in the Stat thread, but it belongs here too. Even though people won't admit it, that is definitely a tough enough schedule to prepare us for a bowl.
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10-23-2007, 10:08 PM
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For someone who really doesn't watch sportscenter and doesn't get a lot of sports news besides visiting the Planet, I really couldn't care what the talkheads have to say. All I'm worried about my Bucks beating the snot out of PSU!
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10-23-2007, 10:11 PM
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10-23-2007, 10:13 PM
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Penn State is better than people think, but so are the Bucks.
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10-23-2007, 10:17 PM
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To be completely honest, our OOC SOS was hurt incredibly badly by Washington being bad this season. I know you acknowledged it, but I dont think you harped on it enough. If Washington was still in Top 10, Rose Bowl form this year and we beat them, then no one would be saying anything about our SOS in general, other than that we cant help that the Big Ten is "down" in the national perception. But they are bad this year. Lets take a look at some other OOC schedules:
LSU: VT, MTSU, @ Tulane, La Tech- VT is good, no one else is even decent. Florida: W. Kentucky, Troy, FAU, FSU- No OOC road games, and FSU really isn't that much better than Washington. OU: N. Texas, Miami, Utah State, @Tulsa- Miami is decent, other than that it looks a lot like ours. Tulsa barely counts as a road game, I bet it was 75/25 in favor of OU in the stadium. USC: Idaho, @ Nebraska, @ ND: @ Nebraska doesn't look nearly as impressive as it did at the time. But they do only play 3, and they went on the road for 2 of them. WVU: W. Michigan, @ Maryland, E. Carolina, Miss. State Taking out the best team in every one of those team's OOC schedules, our's looks almost identical to everyone elses, except for the fact that all 3 of our other opponents are in state. Washington being down kills us, but people would rag on our SOS even if they were good because after the BCS bowls and Appalachian State the national perception of the Big Ten is way down. If Florida had our OOC SOS (which they practically do, considering how bad FSU is), no one would give them [censored], because they play in the SEC. But thats the issue with playing in the Big Ten, you have to have a huge OOC game every year in order to prove yourself, and Washington didn't live up to the expectations we had of them when we scheduled them. In reality, our home and home series with Texas is probably the biggest/best OOC game this century, until our home and home with USC.
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10-23-2007, 10:21 PM
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B&B
I don't disagree, Just think we could have made up for UW being down when we scheduled Kent.
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10-23-2007, 10:26 PM
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2008 - at USC
2009 - USC 2010 - Miami 2011 - at Miami 2012 - Cal 2013 - Cal 2014 - Va Tech 2015 - Va Tech 2016 - Oklahoma 2017 - Oklahoma So, we have one scheduled so far. Ohio opponents over the next couple years: 2008 - YSU, Ohio 2009 - Toledo 2011 - Toledo 2012 - at Cincinnati 2014 - Cincinnati Okay, here is my take: As far as gimme games go, we have scheduled a MAC team every year. Cincinnati should be scheduled every year. They are a Big East team, and have been to 5 bowl games since 2000 (With the 4th on the way). Home at Ohio Stadium, away at Paul Brown Stadium. Brings in money for both Universities. After that, we should bring in a team around the level of Cincinnati from another conference. Consistently bowl eligible. Boston College - 8 straight bowl games Maryland is starting to go to more bowl games. Georgia Tech has been to 9 bowl games since the 1998 season. Texas Tech has been to 7 straight bowl games. Texas A&M has been to 5 bowl games since 1998. Kansas State has been to 12 bowl games since 1993. Oregon State has been in 6 bowl games since 1999. Arizona State has been in 8 bowl games since 1996 (And you know which one the 1996 season led to). A random middle-ground SEC team (Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, etc.). Thus, we would have a schedule constructed with these games. -MAC team -Elite OOC team -Cincinnati -Middle ground OOC team -Penn State -Michigan The random chance of playing some of these often times strong teams: -Wisconsin -Purdue -Michigan State And then, some of these randomly good Big Ten teams: -Minnesota -Iowa And then, the usually bad ones: -Northwestern -Indiana -Illinois At that point, no one in the country could complain about us having an "easy" schedule.
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10-23-2007, 10:26 PM
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10-23-2007, 10:30 PM
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10-23-2007, 10:35 PM
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First, ask any kid who has gone to a new school and attracted the attention of the local bully, the way to shut them up is to kick their asses. They talk about us because they fear us. Second, we are really selective in our memories. Ask Tressel or any of our players to describe it. Weeks after playing the "game of the century", we were flat out embarrassed. Yeah, the Big Ten won on the supporting card games against lesser opponents but we lost the two main card events, in an embarrassing fashion. We not only embarrassed ourselves but also the press who blew smoke up everyone's asses about us. Penn State is a team that is capable of good play but seemingly unable to put it together. They are barely a top 25 team but they are that and deserve that respect. This game will be our second toughest test in my opinion, as The Game is always a tough test, no matter the previous records of the teams. As for our schedule next year, we can only hope that Solich does a better job than he has thus far. They are not even a top 100 team down there in Athens. Youngstown State also must pull up its socks. Playing USC will dampen talk about an easy schedule, but the guys we put our schedule have to realize that earning their bucks they get for playing us means winning against other teams. It is a priviledge to play us and they have to earn it.
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