Carmen Ohio
All-American
From Pete Futiak, College Football News
Virginia didn’t come into the season expecting to win the ACC title, but is was supposed to be a player in the conference race thanks to a decent talent base, a rising coaching staff, and a nice upside overall. At the very least, this was expected to be an almost sure-thing bowl team.
Things haven’t quite worked out as planned for the Cavaliers, starting out 2-1 with a win over BYU before overcoming the 59-10 loss to Oregon with a pasting of VMI. After the victory, Virginia has lost six straight.
Clemson, like Oregon, beat Virginia 59-10. Ball State put 48 up on the board in a blowout victory, and Duke, Georgia Tech and Pitt all won rather easily. At the moment, the 2-7 Cavaliers are 102nd in the nation in scoring, 98th in scoring defense, and they’re in dead last in the Coastal by two games. This is also the only team in the 14-team ACC that’s no longer eligible for a bowl appearance, and it’s the only one with more than five losses.
So why, exactly, in hindsight, was Oregon’s win at Virginia on September 7th so great that it meant moving Ohio State out of the No. 2 spot?
What, exactly, did Ohio State do to not only be out of the top two, but out of the national title picture entirely now without a lot of help?
I’ve been openly anti-2013 Buckeye from the start of this season. I wasn’t sold on the defensive front seven, I think the secondary is overblown, and I think the team is still a year or so away from the talent to really kick in, but that’s an opinion. The fact is that on September 6th, Ohio State was ranked second in the Coaches’ Poll – and the AP poll, but that’s irrelevant – hosted a San Diego State team that, unlike Virginia, will end up in a bowl, and won 42-7. And for that, the Buckeyes dropped to No. 3 on September 8th.
On some level, this should be applauded. If you really believe that Oregon is the second-best team in America, and Florida State is third, or vice versa, then that’s the way you should vote - it would be nice if the polls were able to fluctuate and weren’t so stuck in their preseason beliefs. However, no team has ever started out the season No. 2 and dropped down to four while remaining unbeaten in November.
I want to know exactly what Oregon has shown voters that Ohio State hasn’t.
The Ducks started out the season with dominant victories over Nicholls State, Virginia, Tennessee, California and Colorado. None of those five teams will end up in a bowl game, Virginia is currently the worst team in the ACC, California is the worst team in the Pac-12, and Colorado is second-worst. Tennessee is fine, but as we’ve seen, it’s flaky, and it’s going to end up with a losing record.
If you’re not going to give any credit now to Ohio State for beating Northwestern in Evanston, then you have to stop giving any love to Oregon for beating Washington, who was on a three-game losing streak before beating Cal.
Yes, the Duck win over UCLA was strong, but was it any better than Ohio State beating Wisconsin? Absolutely not.
In all, so far, Oregon has beaten two teams – Washington and UCLA – that will end up in a bowl, while Ohio State has beaten four – San Diego State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa – and possibly five with Buffalo, and six if you want to count Penn State, who’d be bowl eligible if the program didn’t have culture issues. That means, but the end of the season, if both Oregon and Ohio State finish 13-0, the Buckeyes will end up with at least eight wins over teams that will end up with six wins or more. Oregon isn’t going to finish with more than seven.
At the moment - until Oregon plays Stanford Arizona and Oregon State - there’s an argument for Florida State, with a dominant win over a top five-caliber Clemson team at Clemson and a stomping of an unbeaten Miami squad, but again, I ask, Coaches’ Poll voters, what, exactly, has Ohio State done to drop so far to the No. 2 spot after Week 2?
Virginia didn’t come into the season expecting to win the ACC title, but is was supposed to be a player in the conference race thanks to a decent talent base, a rising coaching staff, and a nice upside overall. At the very least, this was expected to be an almost sure-thing bowl team.
Things haven’t quite worked out as planned for the Cavaliers, starting out 2-1 with a win over BYU before overcoming the 59-10 loss to Oregon with a pasting of VMI. After the victory, Virginia has lost six straight.
Clemson, like Oregon, beat Virginia 59-10. Ball State put 48 up on the board in a blowout victory, and Duke, Georgia Tech and Pitt all won rather easily. At the moment, the 2-7 Cavaliers are 102nd in the nation in scoring, 98th in scoring defense, and they’re in dead last in the Coastal by two games. This is also the only team in the 14-team ACC that’s no longer eligible for a bowl appearance, and it’s the only one with more than five losses.
So why, exactly, in hindsight, was Oregon’s win at Virginia on September 7th so great that it meant moving Ohio State out of the No. 2 spot?
What, exactly, did Ohio State do to not only be out of the top two, but out of the national title picture entirely now without a lot of help?
I’ve been openly anti-2013 Buckeye from the start of this season. I wasn’t sold on the defensive front seven, I think the secondary is overblown, and I think the team is still a year or so away from the talent to really kick in, but that’s an opinion. The fact is that on September 6th, Ohio State was ranked second in the Coaches’ Poll – and the AP poll, but that’s irrelevant – hosted a San Diego State team that, unlike Virginia, will end up in a bowl, and won 42-7. And for that, the Buckeyes dropped to No. 3 on September 8th.
On some level, this should be applauded. If you really believe that Oregon is the second-best team in America, and Florida State is third, or vice versa, then that’s the way you should vote - it would be nice if the polls were able to fluctuate and weren’t so stuck in their preseason beliefs. However, no team has ever started out the season No. 2 and dropped down to four while remaining unbeaten in November.
I want to know exactly what Oregon has shown voters that Ohio State hasn’t.
The Ducks started out the season with dominant victories over Nicholls State, Virginia, Tennessee, California and Colorado. None of those five teams will end up in a bowl game, Virginia is currently the worst team in the ACC, California is the worst team in the Pac-12, and Colorado is second-worst. Tennessee is fine, but as we’ve seen, it’s flaky, and it’s going to end up with a losing record.
If you’re not going to give any credit now to Ohio State for beating Northwestern in Evanston, then you have to stop giving any love to Oregon for beating Washington, who was on a three-game losing streak before beating Cal.
Yes, the Duck win over UCLA was strong, but was it any better than Ohio State beating Wisconsin? Absolutely not.
In all, so far, Oregon has beaten two teams – Washington and UCLA – that will end up in a bowl, while Ohio State has beaten four – San Diego State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa – and possibly five with Buffalo, and six if you want to count Penn State, who’d be bowl eligible if the program didn’t have culture issues. That means, but the end of the season, if both Oregon and Ohio State finish 13-0, the Buckeyes will end up with at least eight wins over teams that will end up with six wins or more. Oregon isn’t going to finish with more than seven.
At the moment - until Oregon plays Stanford Arizona and Oregon State - there’s an argument for Florida State, with a dominant win over a top five-caliber Clemson team at Clemson and a stomping of an unbeaten Miami squad, but again, I ask, Coaches’ Poll voters, what, exactly, has Ohio State done to drop so far to the No. 2 spot after Week 2?
Urban likes an "angry" team.)
