Tommorw is Homecoming at Ohio State and another sellout crowd is anticipated. Possibility of showers and gusty winds in afternoon. Kick Off is at 3:30 on ABC. The Buckeyeys are favored by 27 points. Gophers top receiver is out with some type of injury. They do not seem to have the running backs and big yards Mason has enjoyed in the past seasons. Ohio State is full go with the exception of Jay Richardson, corner, who is out for the season. Go Bucks! Don
We ususally don't...Tressel doesn't necessarily "call of the dogs" but he does start mixing in other players and doesn't care about getting a huge scoring margin to impress anybody. We did cover a big spread last week, I believe.
I took a gamble and took the Buckeyes and gave the points in the Yahoo contest. Watch it'll be horrible weather conditions Sat and a closer than it should be game. Terry
Terry, we're still having turf problems, too. Tressel's trying not to be critical because he says that the groundskeepers are working their butts off and doing everything they can do, but that may play a role too. Worse part is that you hate to play a big game like the Michigan game coming up with a less than optimal field...it doesn't probably favor one team or the other but kind of detracts from the game itself. I think we're going back to artificial turf next year.
Why the turf problems? I know that Meechigan had them because of water table issues. What's the situation in Columbus, I know it doesn't have anything to do with Aesculus glabra Willd. var. arguta
The old grass was "deteriorating", whatever that means, and the groundskeepers decided it was hopeless. They did some research and felt that it was feasible to replace it in mid-season, so they did so when they had two weeks between home games before the Bowling Green game. It has not performed as well as they would have liked. Buckeyes to inspect ’Shoe’s new turf Tressel upbeat about midseason change Friday, October 06, 2006 Ken Gordon and Tim May THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ohio State players will check out the new Ohio Stadium turf today in hopes that it’s a big improvement over the surface they played on two weeks ago. The footing for the game Sept. 23 against Penn State was a problem, according to players and coach Jim Tressel. "When we tried to make cuts, basically it looked like we were running in place a couple of times," defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock said. "I’m glad we tore it up." Receiver Ted Ginn Jr. called it "a little mushy." Since then, Ohio State has installed new sod, which the Buckeyes will first play on Saturday against Bowling Green. "We’re going to go over there (today) when we get to the hotel just to walk on it and hopefully just say, ‘Wow, this is great,’ " Tressel said. Tressel said he talked to Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz last week about the process. Last year, the Hawkeyes replaced a field in midseason, "and (Ferentz) said you’d be surprised at how good it is."
Buckeyes score on eight of eleven possions to shut out Gophers 44-0. We lost three fumbles, but never had to punt the football. Defense really looked good, but Minnesota did not have the offense, they have had in past years. The much discussed turf problem, did not seem to bother either team. Don
Sure looked bad, though (either that or I gotta fix my color TV. :lol: )...on closeup shots it almost looked like they'd painted muddy areas.
Michigan sure struggled yesterday against a really bad Northwestern team. The defense won that game for them. I'm not seeing them having much chance against the Buckeyes to tell you the truth. Most fans on InsideTexas are now saying they'd just as soon go to the Fiesta bowl rather than face the mighty Buckeyes again, seriously. I was surprised but that's the predominant sentiment over there.
You think a team that struggles to score 17 points on Northwestern at home is a threat to the Buckeyes? I mean I guess it could happen, but right now you guys are looking like the only team that could beat you would have to have Vince Young at QB. Terry
Whatever...I think you must be impressed by point spreads. Wolverines got 318 balance yards on offense and now they are going to get their best weapon back (Manningham). Meanwhile the #1 rushing defense in the country gave up a whopping minus 13 yards rushing. Some struggle. :roll: Crazy John ain't worried.
No doubt not their best offensive effort of the season. They miss Manningham a great deal. This is not the same offense that put a half -a-hundred on the board in South Bend but my sense is that Super Mario will be back and that we might just see a little different effort from the Stripehead kids in Columbus! Reminds me of 2002 when we scored 13 -v- PSU ( defensive TD), 10 -v- Purdue, OT -v- Illinois, 14 -v TUN people were thinking we had no chance against Miami.......and the rest is history.
I believe they played under some nasty conditions not conducive to a high scoring affair. They could afford to get sloppy vs NU. Relative scores means nothing.
It does seem to me that there have been a lot of rainy bad weather games played in the Midwest this year, more than usual. Maybe the weather was a factor vs Northwestern. It just seems odd that Mich State could run off 41 straight points on them, with far less talent than UM. It just seems to me that this year Ohio State is just head and shoulders above the rest of the teams. I think the QB matchup between Troy Smith and Chad Henne is a big + for the Buckeyes and Smith will negate the strong Stripehead front 7 with his mobility. That will leave the weakest part of their defense on an island vs Gonzales and Ginn...not a good place to be. Terry
I wouldn't say MSU has far less talent at least on the offensive side. It looks to me like Smith just lost the team. and lost it early . When Sparty has got it going they have one of the better offenses in the game. Stanton is complete mystery. I suspect he is hurting. no reason for him to have such a lousy sr year. Mobile QB's have been the achilles heal for UM., but they are tough enough to put OSU in obvious passing situations.. UM needs a controlled pass rush, keep him in the pocket and clog up the passing lanes. I think it's going to be a heck of a game, but I think UM is the stronger of the 2.
Anybody thought that maybe the reason people get some passing yards on Michigan is because nobody can run on them?
Good point AJ. Offensively Sparty is ranked ahead of the Stripeheads in conferece play and against common non-conference opponents :wink: both were quite productive offensively. The Stripehead defense is vastly superior to Sparty and many believe that they are the most physical team in the conference. It has been a rare late November Saturday when the most physical team has not prevailed. If the track is slow or sloppy and our field is an embarassment to cow pastures, it negates alot of what I believe is a big advantage to us in team speed....on both sides of the ball. Two road games to take care of first.....