An infamous jab from the Buckeye haters is calling the Buckeyes a clever name, Luckeyes. You know, Luck as in you don't earn anything you get it from luck and if you substitute a L for the B it spells that. Yes, very ingenius I know. Must have been a Michigan Man that came up with that, they are so stinkin' smart aren't they?
Well, listen to this stat haters (I heard it on Shark on Sports 103.9 FM by Jeff Logan). In every season since 2005, the ones where OSU has been very successful, Ohio State has ranked 119 out of 119 schools in opponents penalty yardage. Let me spell this out for you. The teams that play Ohio State get called for penalties when they play OSU less than EVERY OTHER SCHOOL'S opponents. This means that OSU is NOT benefiting from their opponents mistakes. This benefit would fall under the category of luck. If the other team is making mistakes that you benfit from and it's not directly as a result of your effort, you are lucky. Well OSU is not getting that luxury.
I am not claiming this is a result of bad officiating or a conspiracy against my beloved Bucks, what I am saying is that teams bring their A game when they play OSU. EVERY team, EVERY week, regardless of who they are, play OSU well. At the very least, OSU is not getting bonus yards from their opponents that other teams, eh hem, EVERY team is getting from their opponents.
On the flip side, Ohio State ranks in the top third of Division I's schools in least amount of penalties called on them. So all those frustrating false starts and penalties that make us so mad are not that much worse than 2/3 of the whole DI group of schools. Therefore, we aren't killing ourselves in the greater scheme of things either.
So here is one more reason you can stop using that ridiculous name. You are wrong. It is not luck that has gotten our Bucks to the title game the past two years. It has been athletes, coaching and hard work.
7 comments:
To use a cliche, luck is when opportunity meets skill. That's Tressel-ball in a nutshell.
Just ask any fan of any Big 10 team if it's luck.. They should stick up for the Buck's (barring Michigan Fans- they'll say its luck just because they're dicks, but they know deep down the truth). Ask any fan of Big Number One Texas if its luck, OSU's destroyed two of their seasons in a row. It's all the Pansy PAC 10 and SEC teams that can't play in temperatures below 75 Degrees. Here's an idea.. lets have the national title game in a freaking blizzard and we'll see how they do. Playoff system would fix all of this crap. It does piss me off at times about the NFL and where the Super Bowl is held in nice places, but at least the playoff games are true to nature. Big Ten teams are built to beat other Big Ten team while playing in crappy weather.. Big 12 teams (minus Texas) are having the same problem. Playoff system.. you would force those pansy "we're to fast for you" southern teams to win a big game in some good old-fashioned shitty Ohio weather in December. Oh wait.. those teams can't play a game in the Northern US anytime past Mid September.. My Bad.
-Mike
Mike's absolutely right. I heard Mike Leach of Texas Tech suggest a 64-team tournament. They could still incorporate the bowls and just shorten the season to ten games. The first few rounds would be played at the higher-seeded team's home stadium. It would be a lot of fun.
Oh yes, the old playoff vs bowl system argument.
I would love to cut the schedule to 10 games as long as it is the Younstown States, Akron's, and Ohio U's of the world that get cut from the schedule. It can easily be done but the money will keep it from happening. In my opinion if it means a big tournament, great, I'll take it.
But....I don't mind not doing a playoff either. I mean the season is already a playoff from week one. The intensity each week is awesome. I love it! I really think it is why college football is so popular right now. There is something to be said though about this system has created a climate where teams like OSU and LSU etc, schedule cupcakes in the nonconference schedule.
I could go either way.
But Mike you are correct about the weather. It is a serious disadvantage for Big Ten teams to go play bowl games that are practically home games for these SEC teams. I mean playing LSU in New Orleans for the title last year was a joke. Same goes for many of the other bowl games. But more importantly, your point about the teams built differently is valid. Don't forget the schemes and game planning. Big Ten teams run and play ball control because you have to be able to do that in muddy, rainy, cold, snowy weather. Speed becomes less of a factor in those conditions.
But let's also be honest. The vast majority of the games are played in decent conditions even in the big ten. Usually the season has two, maybe three games at the most left when the weather begins to turn. With that said, Tressel and even Cooper back in the 90s do go out and get speed. Ginn had Olympic speed. Gonzo was fast. Terry Glenn and Joey Galloway were fast. Both coaches have stock piled NFL all pros on these Buckeye teams. I think this whole recent "speed of the SEC being faster than ours" is more of a game planning, schematic thing. I think our guys are just as fast, but, defense especially, our guys are in bad places where their speed is nullified. In addition our offensive line just isn't that good and hasn't been for several years. So we get smoked by Fla and LSU in what looks like a speed thing but really, its bad coaching, lack of adjustments and overrated lineman. They "look" more slow than they are.
Yes.. you do make a good point in your last paragraph.. champions (if they really want to be champions) consistently take matters into their own hands and win, no matter what odds they face.. no excuses.
-Mike
The Slowsu Luckeyes lose every big game mainly due to lack of heart. Yes, poor coaching and lack of speed play a part but it's mainly due to Slowsu being GUTLESS COWARDS (it was obvious they were TERRIFIED of USC and I saw players agrue over who had to go in).
The Luckeyes have the least amount of toughness I have ever seen on a division one football program.
They will once again get smoked by someone this year.
The bottom feeders in the SEC, PAC 10 and BIG 12 would literally beat Slowsu by 50.
Slowsu? That is genuis. Answer this, how are so many "slow"su players so successful in the NFL with this lack of speed? Gonzalez seems to be handling his "slow"ness in Indy just fine.
The speed thing is a myth. Their 40 times are as fast as any other top tier teams let alone bottom feeders that would beat them by 50. They have seemed so slow because Heacock can't scheme defense to save his life. He puts them in bad places. The Nat'l championship against Florida was a classic case of bad defensive schemes playing that deep freaking zone against endless dink and dunks with no adjustments. I didn't see anybody catch Beanie Wells on his long TD run against LSU either where was the superior speed?
Now I will give you credit where credit is due, anonymous, Troy Smith had absolutely no heart in the title game two seasons ago. You are dead on there. And he made the Fla defensive ends look like track stars. But this speed thing isn't what ignorant national fans think.
For the record the Buckeyes have beaten, not lost by 50, to teams from other conferences who were at the very least better than bottom feeders. Miami '02, Kansas St '03, Oklahoma State '04, Notre Dame '05 (but that wasn't all that impressive...ND is pitiful Brady Quinn or not) as well as Texas in the regular season.
And USC didn't exactly look dominant over an Oregon State team that was embarassed by Big Ten Penn State who barely beat OSU thanks to a lucky fumble. The PAC Ten is sorry. You all love to kill the Big Ten and rightfully so, it is horrible, but c'mon the PAC ten is nothing special.
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