Big plays by the Irish, started with the fumble recovery on the Angelli sack, I thought Carter had it but that shoulder allowed the Irish OL to get it away from him in the pile. Loves 2 yard TD run though 4 or 5 Nits including the top 10 NFL guy Carter. The 1st downs that Riley got running the b all, the Irish WR who juked 2 Nits to the turf on the way to a 54 yd TD. Mitch Jeter Money kicks. and the best for last Gray's critical INT. Hard not to cite the next man up's from Tosh Baker who has hardly played this year at LT when Knapp went down and Charles Jagush who was pegged to be the starting LT but tore a pec in the pre-season leading to true freshman Knapp starting all year, stepping in for Rocco Spindler when he went down, playing his first snaps of the year. Of course Angelli coming in for Riley looking cool and driving us to the FG before the half, don't win without that first FG.
Very, very impressive from Angelli. As stressful and impactful a situation as a young back up QB can ever face and he aced the test! Well done young man....also agree with Love's TD. Sheer determination and relentless effort and on a bad wheel no less. Gritty bunch these young Irish
As I said on the other thread...congrats to the Irish...came back from what could have been a devastating loss to have a great season...an outstanding one. Getting back to the debate of soft schedule vs. playing quality opponents (I don't have the answer) I saw these quotes from Day and Sarkisian today...thought they were interesting; "Tonight’s matchup will be the fourth between Ohio State and Texas, and the fifth matchup isn’t far away. They will meet again in Columbus on Aug. 30 to open the 2025 season. While many programs are getting away from marquee nonconference games, Day and Sarkisian are leaning into it. “I think it’s healthy,” Day said. “I think it’s great for our players. I think it’s great for the coaches. I think it’s great for the game.” Sarkisian echoed Day’s thoughts and mentioned that none of teams left in the playoff faced an FCS opponent this season. He also explained that facing a quality foe early in the season can exploit deficiencies that need to be addressed. “You want to play in those games,” Sarkisian said. “As much as everybody is trying to stockpile wins, the players that we recruit, they want to go against the best."
Luckily for Sark, Ohio State is the only currently ranked team on his schedule next season except for Georgia late. Actually it’s the same for Day. Texas early then Penn State later in the season.
Not sure if you're throwing rocks or not, Kyle...but for Bama? I see three ranked teams (and some other likely good ones) and one FCS school. For OSU I see three ranked teams (and some other likely good ones.)
Man nobody is giving the Longhorns a chance in the "de facto" National Championship game. Even Kirk Bohls the Austin American Statesman Longhorn beat writer said the Longhorns are good but Ohio State is better.
I’m not taking shots! Geez, everyone gets so defensive. I missed Illinois on the OSU schedule. I didn’t bring up Alabama because the discussion was about Texas and OSU. My point is that there is no advantage, that I can see, for playing a quality OOC opponent. Total wins get you in. It doesn’t matter who you play.
I still think quality opponents and SOS do help, to an extent, and should help...but the committee hasn't asked my opinion. As I said, I wasn't sure you were taking shots so tried not to be TOO defensive.
Rat poison.....I'm giving em a helluva chance. It's a match up game. Two equally talented teams both with outstanding coaching staffs going at it on the biggest stage. The only defense we've seen that approaches Texas is X and we saw how that went. PSU was also solid but I don't think they have the players in the back end that you do. Those that think they're gonna watch our offense run up and down the field like they did against Tenn and Oregon haven't seen your defense play. That said, I don't think Texas has seen an offense as multiple and explosive as ours can be. Your kids have heard about enough of this offensive juggernaut and freshman phenom to want to smack 'em in the mouth. I think they will be ready to play well. If your defense plays well, it's a pick 'em imho
I am predicting a relative low scoring game. Team with the fewest turnovers will probably be the winner!
Teams have very little control over their schedules so not playing ranked teams is not completely their choice. Look at the difference between last season’s schedule for Michigan as opposed to Indiana. Same conference, opposite ends of the SOS spectrum. During this whole discussion, I'm not attacking any school, it just is what it is.
Kyle, SOS is not the only factor for sure, and the schedule strength of the conference teams you play is surely out of your control. Even the non conference schedule is, to a degree. We scheduled a couple of teams (I think Washington was one of them) a few years back when they were a powerhouse, then when we played them they were quite weak. I just think, IMHO, that when they compare the teams it's not necessarily penalizing them for playing weaker opponents...it's just that a good showing in a loss against a strong opponent ought to be taken in context vs a narrow win (or especially a loss) against a weaker opponent. I don't claim to have the end-all correctness about this debate...it's just the way I feel.
Yeah, I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over. I guess I’ll just wait til next November to go through this again. Oh and the Alabama vs FSU game next year was supposed to be a great matchup when it was first scheduled.
Not a good start for the Longhorns. Stuffed on 4th down then the Buckeyes just moved down the field running and passing for an easy TD