Quote:
Originally Posted by LordJeffBuck
No point in arguning SEC speed - games are won in the trenches. Both Florida and LSU were more physical at the point of attack, while OSU was arguably the faster team on both occasions (and certainly was against LSU).
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Agree...I will say it is a different style of football in the South though. The Big Ten was historically more a smashmouth conference and weather conditions have contributed greatly to that (which has been stated ad nauseum) until the evolution of N'Western and Purdue lead some Big Ten schools to run versions of the spread in their offensive packages.
What this has done is make the Big Ten a much more diverse conference. One week, you play Wisconsin, a physical run oriented offense where OL are extremely large and extremely athletic. This offense works anywhere - against the SEC in bowl games, and for the most part - against everyone not named Ohio State or Michigan.
The next week, you play Northwestern, a true spread team who will run out of the spread nearly as much as they pass out of it - if you count those short passes (screens, delays, bubbles, etc) as running plays.
Finally, you play pro-style offenses like scUM and PSU (except the 05 season). What this means to me is that it takes a heckuva coach to win 4 Big Ten championships in 7 years b/c he is constantly seeing different defenses and schemes.
Sure, we lost in back-to-back NC games and sure it was frustrating, given the "0-9" and "SEC" champs witnessed firsthand in the Stuperdome. I would argue that we didn't show up against Florida at all, especially in the trenches as LJB pointed out. The LSU game was much more competitive, but again our OL and DL didn't execute flawlessly. To beat a team in their backyard (which almost all bowl games against the SEC are, notwithstanding the 2006 NC game), the OL and DL have to dominate. Just look at what the Giants did to the Pats this year. Or us against Miami in 2002. Or the Ravens against the Giants in 2000.
The list goes on and on...the problems we've experienced the final game of the last two seasons are problems 99.999% of the FBS/Div 1-A schools WOULD LOVE to experience.
MrKnowNothing, I would have loved to have won either or both of those NC games. But I am proud to be a Buckeye, fan, student, etc b/c of Jim Tressel and what he has done for this city and for Buckeye Nation. Win or lose, he has given us something to be proud of...just like he promised at halftime of the
OSU-scUM hoops game back in 2001 - Jim Tressel has delivered.