Bill the other article that is in print I cannot find online but is more about OSU specifically but it would just inflame anyway. This article IS about Ohio State indirectly because the suggestion is that all the Buckeyes had to do to make the NC was win the Big Ten and in reality the best team they played in the Big Ten beat them at home and then was smoked itself by USC in the Rose Bowl. I am saying Ill was the best team OSU played because they were the highest ranked Big Ten team at the time played and most realistic observers don't credit the Michigan win as much as normal due to the key injuries the Maize and Blue had for that game. The point is clear....OSU did not have to do as much as some of the other teams in theory to get to the NC game and that threatens the legitimacy of the game is what Adams is saying.
MCG, this may surprise you, but I don't necessarily disagree with the basic premise of the aricle, that moving forward, Delaney and the Big Ten would be well-advised to open their minds to some form of change. I think the writer goes overboard in trying to make his point, and the claim of the Big 10 football becoming irrelevant is just plain stupid. I consider him drive-by because he fails to think through the real factors contributing to the loss. He dismisses the age & experience differences between the two teams and ignores the "over-achieving" factor I described above while he blankets the loss as a second failure in a row. This suits his agenda so in his mind it doesn't make sense to provide a fair analysis of the game. Back to Delaney and the Big 10. I heard an extensive interview with him a couple of hours prior to the game on XM Sports. For all my shortcomings I think I read human nature pretty well. I sensed that he has an ego that a bit too big for his britches. Once I sensed that, the rest of the interview sounded like he was saying in essence, this is the way it is. If you don't like, too bad. That kind of arrogance does not sit well with me. I'm guessing that the author of the article has had some direct contact with him and senses the same ego issue that I did just listening to him talk. That's why I give credence to the basic thrust of the article.
MCG, I'm not talking to you any more in your quest, and reverting back to your attitude a year ago, to put down Ohio State. I'll leave it to them to argue with you if they want. I hope they do not. Just remember the rules laid down last year about what is allowed to stay a topic and what is not, when the line is crossed and when it is not. I guess you can tell that I'm damn disappointed that you have reverted to this petty nonsense.
Sid, I agree with you about that article completely. If you get by his drive by cheap shots and the crux of what he is talking about concerning playoffs and the Big 10. I hope I don't upset my Big 10 friends here when I say I hope that the other players in this BCS vs Playoffs are willing to play as much hardball as Delaney sounds like he will play. By the way on a different note, academics, there is a linebacker, Grant, that played for Ohio State in this game that the Gators wanted. He was a Community College transfer but could not be accepted at any SEC school because the SEC has some requirements for Junior College transfers that include a Math course, College Algebra I believe. Grant and a linebacker at Oklahoma that was there about 5 years ago or so could not qualify for any SEC school because of that course were able to go to the Big 10 and Big 12. I'm not making any issue about this as I'm not sure I agree with the SEC, but it is a fact which makes me think that Delaney might have thought out his academic requirement statement a bit longer before opening his word processor.
Bill....I think you are reading too much personal interest in putting down Ohio State into this. The main reason it's an issue is because they didn't really compete with LSU and there are other teams out there that maybe would have competed more at least in the perception of some. If OSU doesn't make the title game we are not talking about them with respect to the BCS title game selection issue or a change to playoffs. If OSU beats LSU then I think it's less than an issue. This won't go away because I don't talk about it or it's forbidden on Skybox. Are you reading anything on this topic or are you avoiding the media? In any event Sid has opened a topic for discussion and if there is anything to discuss it certainly involves specific teams and conferences. Again...this is the hot topic of the day and of course the battle for the National Title is THE biggest topic every single season in college football. The methods used to determine who gets to play for that title are the hottest topic of debate in college football. OSU has been in the game twice in a row.....how can they not be discussed?
MCG, Have you heard the phrase: Don't shoot the messenger? That is the norm. However, in this circumstance, the validity of the message is not the major question. The messenger has rubbed it in the face of the Big Ten fans to the point of it now being: Shoot the messenger at any cost! Is that right? Probably not. But you bring this on yourself. You always have... you probably always will. At times it gets this way, but for the most part, this is not an "In your face" kind of place. We try to show respect for each other and that is missing in your approach.
Sid <t>LSU was very much a senior laden team. That's a team that Nick Saban had built. I know in this microwave culture, people don't like to think that something that happened 4 or 5 years ago can be relevant to today's game but it very much is.<br/> <br/> The defensive MVP for LSU is a kid who was suspended the entire year, but since it was a calender year suspension, he was eligible to play in the national title game. He's young. That backup QB who is always being arrested is young. Those are Miles' kids..<br/> <br/> Saban's kids are the ones like Hester, Flynn or that all world Dlinemen that carried that LSU squad this year.<br/> <br/> I would say that while Miles is getting the back slaps he 'earned' this year, not many in the SEC are fretting about him staying another few years.</t>
Miles has recruited pretty well himself, wheter his guys will be as good as the guys that Saban recruited only time will tell, but I personally expect that LSU will continue to be one of the better SEC teams.