What a game! I still can not believe the points scored by both teams. In the past most of the games have been primarily defense, but not in this one. For those of you who witnessed the game, I think you just saw the real national championship game. Don
If ESPN and others have their way, this game was of little if any import. After hyping this game as one of the biggest of all time, they now want to have as rematch which makes this game almost meaningless. The NC game should be played between the best two teams. Quite frankly, I don't see a better team to challenge OSU than Michigan. And if they played 10 times I think Michigan could win 2 or 3 times. They would need a morgin in turn overs or a number of drops by OSU receivers to win. I thought Tressel and his staff did a great job in preparing for yesterday's game. Michigan gave a 10 yd cushion to the OSU wide outs and Smith time and again hit those 6-9 yd passes in front of the defenders. They were quick plays which negated the Michigan pass rush. If they play again the only way Michigan could stop that type of play is to open themselves up to the big play up top. It looked like Michigan had taken over the momentum in the third period but just when it looked like they were making a run, the Pitman run broke their backs. While a rematch might be fair to Michigan would it be fair to OSU? In order to win the NC they'll have to win this game twice while Mich. would only have to once. Rematches tend to be an advantage to the loser of the first game. If the NC game is supposed to match the top 2 teams in the country, then I suppose that the two teams we saw yesterday should play again. If there were a playoff among 8 teams both OSU and M would no doubt be part of it. There would be a good possibility that they'd play each other again anyway. There's no better alternative that I can see to this.
Gipper, As I have stated in a couple of other posts, I do not want a rematch. Like you it really serves no useful purpose from our side of the fence. It would be like watching a rerun and that generally does not really work. Next couple of weeks should prove to very interesting. Don
Well, The only difference...and that is a huge difference in my oinion is that an NC game is on neutral turf....with a split crowd. That can be a 3 or 4 point equalizer and lo and behold....UM lost by three. I think if Michigan is one of the top two teams and everybody agrees then the Wolverines deserve at shot at the Buckeyes for the National title in a neutral setting.
I think USC and Fla have the best chance to play OSU. If USC beats ND, I think they are in. But, I like ND's chances in this game. Booty is not playing well and I suspect Quinn will come up big against USC. If SC falls to ND and Fla beats FSU and Ark in the SEC championship game, Fla is probably in. A Meyer v Tressel match-up would be intriguing. If both lose, I would be surprised to see either Ark or ND leapfrog past Michigan given Ark's blowout loss to USC and ND's loss to Michigan.
Don, I see your point from your perspective, but as far as I'm concerned, MI is hands down the #2 team in the land, notwithstanding the poll results. I would be very happy to see the "rematch". If USC wins out, or if USC loses and FL wins out, I would understand those matchups. But don't assume that a rematch is not relevant or that the country would not be interested. To those who claim a rematch would render yesterday's game meaningless, I'd be interested in hearing your logic.
Michigan suffers because of the timing of their loss, but based on performance they probably deserve to stay @ # 2. No doubt the poll voters will hammer them as you'll see regional biases come to play. What we really need is a playoff.
If Michigan were to win a rematch on nuetral territory, the only meaning would be that the road team played tough enough to deserve a rematch. If OSU were to win a rematch on nuetral territory, then it would just vaildify that the home field advantage had no bearing on which team was better.