What a great day for the folks in Pullman! I can't imagine the hangovers that will be endured tomorrow!
How is it the Buckeyes have no running game? Webber and Dobbs are both excellent backs. Threw it 73 times never thought I'd see that from an Ohio State team.
Good question Terry, I do not have an answer. One dimensional teams suck! Normally I hate bye weeks, but I will enjoy this one coming up Saturday. :lol:
Don, it seems your concern this week was merited. I don't understand the lopsided pass dominated offense. Has Meyer ever had a team throw the ball 73 times? You probably know my philosophy... "RUN THE BALL" Bad night for OSU but Purdue played a hell of a game.
A lot byes this week. Alabama beat Tennessee soundly. Tagovolua look good and while he wore a knee brace apparently he is ok. He stayed in until the 3rd quarter and he shouldn't have. Anyway beating Tennessee is always fun. I guess we are down to 5 undefeateds. The most we will have is 4 (2 in the AAC) so that could be the playoffs :? There may be none left because there is a lot of football to play still.
kp, I think multiple factors; Haskins is not a running QB. Having a running QB in the past has opened up the running offense better. We are relying a lot on the run/pass option and I have heard that the O-line is having difficulty because they don't know whether or not they are run blocking or pass blocking. (At least that's the excuse I'm hearing). And maybe our O line is just not as good as it should be. We are better out at the 40 yd line than we are in the red zone. We're better at 3rd and 7 than we are at 3rd and 2. I think Webber and Dobbins have proven themselves in the past. As a side note; We got off the plane at Fort Myers at 7pm and I had researched sports bars near the airport to watch the game. I picked one that sounded promising and ran into the entire SW Florida Purdue Alumni Association! Now I gotta join. :?
kp, Stu has done an excellent job in response to your question. My concern now is with supposedly all that coaching ability across the board and still no fixes?? Another thought not related at all to the outcome of the game, I wonder if Urban might be second-guessing his decision to fight the inflicted penalties imposed by President Drake. He might just end up walking away at seasons end after suffering through the served penalties and embarrassment?
Bottom line - OSU is still in the enviable position of controlling their destiny. If they win out, they are in. Not saying that's easy, but at least the path is clear. Right now... I see Alabama and Clemson as both pretty much locks in the playoff. (as much as there can be a lock) ND has a direct path if they keep winning. The BIG will take the remaining slot assuming OSU and Michigan don't slip up again before the end...
ND <t>Sorry for your Buckeyes Don, I couldn’t believe that Purdue DB blocked that end zone fade pass over and over. Sometimes you just run into a team who is probably having their best game of the season and you’re having your worst. It’s not over though. Just beat the hell out of Michigan and things will be fine. 😃.<br/> It’s a crazy season so far and nobody seems to be safe except Alabama.</t>
Tim, Rat Poison! LSU is going to be our toughest test by a longshot. Who would have thought Purdue would beat OSU by 29 points?
Well it's abundantly clear after the weekend that Alabama is clearly the best team in college football. All the rest of the teams in the conversation for the playoffs are good no doubt, but other than maybe Clemson there are none who can compete with 'Bama for talent, depth of talent, and coaching. Of course that is what everybody said about USC in 2005, until that one kid from Texas showed he could in fact be a one man gang. For the Buckeyes, it was a loss and I'm sure everybody is devestated but it's still out there for them to make the playoffs the same as it always was before this loss. They needed to win the B1G Championship. If they finished the season undefeated and lost in the B1G Championship game, they likely weren't going to make the CFP. For Michigan, who is getting better every week it's the same as it was when they lost to ND, they can not afford a 2nd loss. I think it's unlikely a 2 loss team makes it. For the SEC in general, the SEC Champion is most likely in the CFP. It's a safe assumption that will be Alabama, but not guaranteed. Bama might be able to lose close to LSU though and get in as a 1 loss team that did not make SECCG as they did last year. 1 loss UGA, LSU, UF wins the SEC championship game then they are likely in, UGA or UF will pick up a 2nd loss, LSU might pickup a 2nd loss and Alabama could pickup a 1st loss. But one of those teams is likely in the CFP. For Clemson, win out and they are in, lose 1 time and if they lose before the ACC Championship then win the ACC Champ they probably are in, lose in the ACC Championship game and all bets are off. B12 Texas or OU win out and it's tough to see them left out, but that depends on Notre Dame. Undefeated Irish likely step over any 1 loss Conference Champion. Pac12 everybody says that they are out. What if WSU wins out? They'd have to be on the same level as Texas and OU as 1 loss teams. UCF everybody agrees there is nothing they can do to get in. I guess collapse of the entire top 10 over the next 5 weeks might do it though. Some really great games this weekend for the avg fan, not so much for the fans of those teams that got upset. That Ohio State/Purdue game was really something to watch. You just kept expecting the Buckeyes to get untracked and explode all over the Boilermakers like they did at TCU and at Penn State. But Purdue hung tough, and what a story about the young man who is battling cancer and is a Purdue fan, that was just something special. Everybody is already marking Jeff Brohm as the next hot coach. Of course that might be true, or he might lose next week to Mich State by 30. The Mich/MSU game. Pre-game Harbaugh and Dantonio said they wanted to tone things down on the rhetoric as they felt is was getting out of control. Well that didn't last long, didn't make through the pre-game warmups. I was unaware of the MSU tradition of walking the length of the field arm in arm. Devin Bush didn't like it and the fireworks began , with Devin Bush eventually defacing the logo a midfield. I didn't see it but I have read that Harbaugh and Dantonio had some words after the game and that UM players sort of verbally taunted the MSU team a number of times bringing back the "little" brother stuff. So yeah the kinder gentler UM/MSU game was a fail. M got the win though and as they say to the winner goes the spoils and the right to boast. Indiana/Penn State. I watched some of that game and PSU isn't as good as I thought or IU is much better. They really had a shot to win that game but made critical turnovers that killed their chances for an upset. Wazzu/Oregon. Wazzu just came out and stomped all over the Ducks, they were vastly better in every phase of the game. Ducks made adjustments in the 2nd half and got back in the game. As I told Kes I was worried that I'd see a prime example of Coogin' it . But they regrouped in the 4th qtr and took down the Ducks. They have a path to the CFP...win out. Apple Cup is going to be huge. I was enthralled by the aerial views of the WSU campus, there are wheat fields all around it, a small town for sure. The Stadium holds 32K but they said the only stadium that is louder is Autzen. With all the wheat, I wonder if they can grow barley and hops up there as well and support local craft beer makers. Alabama/Tenn...yet another game where Bama showed total and complete domination in all phases. Tua was Tua, tweaked his knee again but Saban say's he's fine. Did you notice that UCF with all the upsets the last 2 weeks has not moved up from that #10 slot? I think for the moment you can take Haskins name off the Heisman Ballot, it's Tua v Kyler Murray. Murray has not really had a bad game he was spectacular against Texas in the loss. But Tua has a stranglehold on it. Murray will have to be satisfied with the 5M signing bonus from the A's. LSU...I don't really know how good Miss State is, and LSU didn't exactly blow them out, but had a solid win. But on offense Joe Burrow only threw for 129 yds, and they as a team only ran for 110yds. So that's less than 300 yds total offense. MSU had lost 2 out of their last 3 games. So how big a win was that? I don't know but I do know that we'll know for sure after the Alabama game. Thing is it's Eddie O vs Saban. Think about it. For those worried about ND wining out and stealing a bid from your conference champion. Think about this, under Clay Helton, USC is 19-0 at home and that is where the Irish will finish the season. We've lost several Nat'l titles to USC teams. The first I remember was Ara's first season the undefeated #1 ranked Irish lost to USC. There have been others equally as painful. So lots of football left to be played. I'd wager that the final 4 will not be today's top 4 of Bama, Clemson, ND, and LSU.
kp... I have news for ya, and you're not going to like it. :lol: That LSU offense will NOT challenge your D in any way. Heck if it wasn't for MSU turnovers, I think they might be into Octuple overtime kicking field goals against each other! I wouldn't be surprised if you shut them out. The LSU secondary should show us if Tua is as good as advertised... and I think he is. Now eat your cheese!
So what was going on at Notre Dame Stadium while the Irish had the weekend off? Garth Brooks Concert. Sellout and from what I understand you will see it sometime in the future on TV.
If the Purdue stomping of OSU showed me anything, it's that any college team can be vulnerable in any given game. ND has 5 games left and 5 minefields. Away games vs. Northwestern and, as Terry said above, USC. Quasi-away game (Yankee Stadium) vs. Syracuse. In San Diego vs. Navy. At home vs. Florida State. We showed last year that we are capable of not showing up in the second half of the season. Is this season different? We'll find out, but I'm not engaging in any speculation of ND being in the 4-team playoff unless and until the final horn sounds at the end of the USC game, and we can look back and say we were the best team on the field in the last 5 games. Fingers crossed.