Wolverines will have extra motivation for this game. I was going to pick OSU, but now I see it as a UM victory. UM 17 OSU 14.
Interesting the futures sold off about a point immediately after the news of Bo's passing......currently back up close to where they were prior....about 69% for a Buckeye win and better than even money that they cover.
Stu, LOL! I like our chances in this game. My gut feeling is that our offensive and defensive lines will overpower OSU's lines. And, I think folks underestimate Henne's development into a first rate QB. He has had a great year this year. But, I have concerns One is the Buckeyes advantage in the skill positions. Smith has been out-of-this world in his past games against Michigan and Ginn and Gonzales are a deadly combination The OSU dbs have not received a lot of publicity this year but are excellent and match up well against our wide outs. The other concern is Tressel and his coaching staff. I do not think there is a coaching staff the country that does a better job against Michigan in terms of dissecting our strengths and weaknesses. His slowly developing running plays draw in our fast pursuing players allowing the o-line to open a seam for the backs. Passing plays start our looking like runs which freeze our defense, giving time for Smith to find a receiver. And Smith is simply great in his ability to sell a run fake and then quickly scoot back to throw. Smith has not run much this year but I suspect he will find his legs tomorrow. The third concern is home field advantage. The Buckeyes will play above their talent because of it and the noise in the stadium will probably make our players feel like pigeons sucked inside a jet engine. But, saying all that, I like our defense to much to pick against them. Michigan is a close game: 20-16.
17-13 Michigan. Mostly because of last years Alamo Bowl. A team that plays NU that tough has to be good.... :wink:
I like Michigan because their schedule has been tougher and you can't discount the "Bo" factor. His passing should only serve to fully motivate UM to great heights. OSU has not been smacked in the mouth this year and tommorrow they will be.
What he said.... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/stewart_mandel/11/16/michigan/index.html
Have the team wear white pants to go with the white jersey's...they'll think you are the Longhorns and it will give you the road advantage!!
How do you explain the helmets? :lol: :lol: Heading to the Army game on a last minute invite. Weather's not as bad as it was earlier in the week. Almost a carbon copy of the weather for North Carolina.
I don't know where to begin.....M's offense with Hart pounding the ball behind a very good o-line keeping the ball away from Troy and the Buckeye offense gashing them Biakabutka-like? Or M's tough defensive front making it impossible to run, forcing the Buckeye O into becoming 1-dimensional then Woodley and the boys harassing Troy into submission - particularly with some injury concerns at key positions on the Buckeye O-line? NOT! I do expect the Buckeye D to sneak a safety up into the box and challenge Henne and his wideouts to win the ballgame under pressure from all sides, all angles and all levels. Our defense will force turnovers, no question about it. Offensively, I fully expect Tressel coach 'em up up again....anybody that watched the Illinois game as I did and see new formations and schemes understand what Coach was up to.....I do think it will tough to run against the Stripehead front initially....I wouldn't be surprised to see Troy Smith as the games leading rusher, putting another blocker at the point of attack ala the NC game -v- Miami with Krenzel.....maybe even running the option to slow M's front and make them play a little assignment football. That is a dimension that Smith provides this offense that makes him a difference-maker like no other.....there is not another player in college football that can challenge a defense along as many dimensions as Troy, imho. Our offense will spread the field make M defend its entirety with play makers at every spot. M's defense has playmakers but I don't believe they have as many playmakers on defense that we have on offense and we will attack with everyone of them.....advantage Buckeyes. Home crowd.....big game......and we have Jim Tressel and he has Troy Smith and nobody has ever come up bigger on this stage. Buckeyes win 24-13.
So far, Buckeye Terry's analysis on how they were going to attack M's defense is spot on. Gawd, I cannot believe how Smith is carving up our defense. I know who I would be voting for if I had a Heisman vote. And I had a feeling we would be seeing Chris Wells in this game.
That score will not happen since OSU is up 35 to 31 with 8 minutes left in the game. However, if the OSU offense keeps being sloppy with the ball, a Michigan win is still highly possible. Matters not to me. I picked OSU in the contest but I've already lost 4 games and losing 2 more. My run for the top three in the contest looks like a long shot at best.
This was a fun game to watch without having a dog in the fight. Congrats to OSU fans everywhere :!: :!: :!:
Great game Buckeyes!! Congrats to Don, BuckeyeT, Stu, G-Man, Whobedis, and any other Buckeye fans lurking out there. Troy Smith won the Heisman tonight, it was a great performance by Troy. Great performance by both teams. I'm surprised that UM defense gave up that many points and yards, would have never thought they could be scored on like that. I'm still very much opposed to a rematch. I know a lot of points pro and con will be made between now and the end of the season. I'm just against it. Terry