This is what most of the nation first thinks ofwhenever Ohio State is brought up.
The Buckeyes may be at the top of the BCS standings along with every other major poll, but has there ever been a #1 receiving so little respect around the country?
The computers have the team tied for 5th and two AP voters felt compelled to cast their first-place votes for schools already saddled with a loss. Early ballots for the BlogPoll are leaning South as well.
Ohio State has really no one to blame for this but themselves. Their showing, or rather lack thereof, against the Gators 9 months ago is still haunting the program.
Their Big Ten brethren haven't helped the team's cause much either. It started with this. Add some of that and pretty soon you arrive here.
(Note: When SEC teams beat up on each other, it's because the conference is so tough. When it's the Big Ten doing the same, well that's a different story.)
You could see this coming and quite honestly, a lot of the doubters make good points. The team's "signature" wins pale in comparison to other elite squads and when the team picked to win the conference gets beat by a I-AA at home to start the season, the Big Ten deserves some shots.
There's still so much football to be played, but you have to like the fact that your team is getting no respect and controls its own destiny. That's a hell of a motivation point for any team.
Even better is the possibility that the Buckeyes could conceivably win out and still be getting no respect. There's even a good chance that if they win out, they could get jumped in the rankings by a one-loss team along the way.
All the better. I'll take that chip on the shoulder with a shot at redemption into New Orleans any day.
Comments
The blogpoll staff literally hates the Bucks. No doubt if we win out and get a shot at redemption, the gametime prep will be different from last year with that piece of chip hanging around...
I agree the lack of repsect is a good motivator. I also think the lack of respect is unwarranted. If we were Michigan I would understand - they haven't won a "big game" in 6 years. You see, we didn't just happen upon the scene this year. The truth is we have been nearly unbeatable for 6 years straight and we have won a National Title recently. Trust me, I am aware we got our rumps busted by the Gators. That was one game. If we are going to allow one game to describe an entire program then everybosy is screwed because everybody has at least one game they would love to have back. Our schedule is what it is and we can't do anything about - other than win the games easily - which we have. We had one frickin' year with a weak out of conference schedule and we did not plan it that way, it just happened. We have played and won several "big games" in the recent past and the country is trying to forget that. Good, maybe this Yankee style hate for Ohio State is really happening. And that my friends is awesome.
You're really undercutting your own argument in the second graf, though...
"The computers have the team tied for 5th" means that the voters have been rating the Bucks even higher than data would dictate. When we're almost two full months into a new season, last year's BCS game is ancient history.
And, uh, "most of the nation" first thinks about last season? You mind providing any shreds of evidence of that?
Leave it to a Buckeye fan to be atop the polls and crying about a lack of respect. For crying out loud.
Thanks for stopping by OPS. Yes the voters have the Bucks @ #1, but if ever there was a soft #1 in the eyes of the nation, this is it.
The BCS game is ancient history if you don't live in Columbus and forgive me for assuming that most of the nation's college football fans would instantly think of the debacle in Glendale when you mention Ohio State to them. Our phone polling operation is on vacation, but I'd be willing to wager that's the case.
Next post, I'll cite all of my sources and bundle some fancy graphs for you.
Leave it up to a Hawkeye fan to realize his season is over in week 8 and then to troll away on other team blogs.
I think someone's sad they haven't sniffed the top of the polls in decades.
Lay off of OPS you meanies - I happen to know he is a good guy with lots of great assets.
Love always,
Rocketman
Jason-- It's simple. Find a couple articles on, let's say... ESPN.com that lend any credence to your theory of why OSU gets no respect. I'd even be thrilled if you can come up with anything that counterbalances a damning statistic like 5th in the computer polls.
Thanks for proving my point about Buckeye fans being insulated, hyper-sensitive morons. Don't ever change, OSU fans.
How far of a drive is it from Lorain, OH to wherever OPS lives? Cancel all of my appointments for the rest of the week. Looks like I gotta a little driving to do...
ops get back to us when Iowa grasps the concept of excellence. expectations are different.
OPS - Your angry, we get it. You are a fan of a team that flat out stinks, we get that too. You hate Ohio State and Jim Tressel, okay were still with you there. But, why do you hate 11W? I was under the understanding that this was an Ohio State Blog...we uhm, how should I put this, we like Ohio State. Did I say that right? This site is obvioulsy filled with what some may refer to as "opinion". Now, that being said - it is possible that we may have a different opinion of say...an ass like you. Good - we agree to disagree. Yet, I have been to your site since seeing your post and I can't find any of our readers blasting you for having an opinion. Call me if you want help changing your site into a South Florida Blog. One more question...Is it our success, your failure, or both that make you such a mean spirited tool?
Jason, I agree with a lot of the things you said. And really, when I read a lot of other blogs (and by a lot, I mean I get no real work done at work) I find it difficult not to write something back. But, I restrain myself into thinking that we've got a lot of football to play, and OSU may either prove all the naysayers right (because we really haven't played anyone) or prove us right by winning out. Either way, I don't think OSU will regain national respect until we win a national title. We can just toss away the paltry 4-2, including 3-1 in the BCS as "not coming up in big games."
That not withstanding, it's really just blogs, and it's just words. What really bothered me is Mandel's ranking putting us third, ahead of a 1-loss LSU team. I've been watching a lot of SEC, and hell if it's just a bunch of mediocre teams beating up on each other. If we were "South" school instead of "Midwest" schools it would be completely reversed.
But once again, all I try to do is wait things out. It's this kind of motivation that will keep us from a big letdown against MSU (circa '98) this weekend.
Hal-- Save your gas money; I'm just not that into you. Can't you see that Elton and I are an item?
Harold-- You're more than entitled to an opinion, of course, but to get all bent out of shape if someone points out glaring logical flaws is seemingly the unique domain of OSU fans. If the coaches and media are ranking you considerably higher than the computers (at #1, to boot), you're not suffering from a lack of respect or a post-January PR hangover.
He loser... Yeah, you, OPS!
Hey, at least the Buckeyes are winning their games and are a classy football program. More than can be said about Iowa.
Come on bro, you know everything about Iowa sucks balls. The women are like steer so the men go queer.
Dude, Iowa fans have been delusional for years and like Michigan fans are quite moronic. You are just upset that the loser Hawkeye team you would like to win cannot win enough games that would elevate them to a BCS Number 1 ranking.
Further, your analysis of OSU is utterly devoid of any critical/analytical thinking. Your ideas are based purely on emotions like a little girl.
What's the matter cupcake? Did your daddy not pay enough attention to you? Did you your mommy tell you to play out in the street so she could bang the dudes she met at a truck stop? Does your daddy still beat you because you still live at home in the basement and play with your dolls and torture animals?
Hey, when you and your fellow homers are not broom sticking some underclassmen and naked wrestling with the freshman and submitting each other with the naked reverse cowgirl position for your perverse Iowan hazing rituals... then talk some smack. Douchebag!
Most, if not all Iowans are complete nutsacks. They are prone to penis envy as well as a variety of recessive genetic diseases. Further, they are envious of any program that attains excellence and always seek to bring those, down to the Iowan level.
Why do you think I left that shithole of a state and went to Cali!
“The nature of Iowan football fans is people with the Iowan mindset feel that if someone else fails, they move up a notch.â€
Please lay off OPS, it is Johnson County outdoor time and it sounds like he may have partaken in a couple of sessions. I appreciate OPS stopping by 11W, but when a team loses 8 straight Big Ten games (and keeps their coach), I don't pay much attention to it.
How is the Deadwood these days?
Just gots to keep winning, and it will fall in line. Who gives a rat's ass about polls, human or computer halfway through october? A most common misconception about the BCS formula is that it's supposed to have some sort of accuracy mid-season. That's wrong; anything up until the final BCS Standings is worth nothing. If you've taken any sort of statistics course, you realize that if you have an incomplete data sample, you're going to get incomplete, i.e. flawed, results. If Ohio St. gets through its B10 schedule unscathed, all the pieces will fall into place. With wins over Washington, Purdon't, Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois, and Michigan, they couldn't keep us out of the title game. Don't worry about all this bullshit... it's designed to work at the END of the season, not the middle of October.
OPS - Enough blabber about Ohio State Fans, we've heard it all before and due to our winning ways, we will hear it for a long time to come. Let's here your reasons why we are not worthy of a #1 ranking and what flaws you have detected in our team?
You know, there would be no issues if other Big 10 teams (like Iowa) would stop sucking. That is definitely not OSU's fault. OSU is holding up their end of the deal.
OPS - If you think taking offense to those that disagree with you is the exclusive domain of OSU fans, you haven't spent enough time on the internet. True, the name-calling and insults I've seen so far aren't exactly something I take pride in, but it's nowhere near unique to OSU (or college football) fans.
HAL3 - OPS's point was not that OSU shouldn't be number one, but that they were number one in every poll not run by computers, and thus not suffering from a lack of respect. But I'll take a crack at responding to you: LSU and USF both have wins against multiple ranked teams. Both Stewart Mandel of SI and Brian at mgoblog have argued that their resumes are, at this time, more impressive than OSU's. It's tough to refute those arguments now, with our toughest games ahead of us. OSU hasn't proven as much as those two teams have, but if they make it through the rest of the schedule without a loss, that should be all the proof anyone should need.
SEAN - I wasn't questioning what OPS said in his post on 11W, just why he was so angry. As for the question of what holes he sees in Ohio State, that was a question based on his own content on his page. My problem is he and his site are as guilty as 11W of takign some poetic license in their posts. That siad, I don't particularly care what he thinks and I am honestly just having fun with the dude. This is not life or death - just trash talking and such...and I love it.
I think we can all be adult about this, don't you, Mr. .....Poopy-Pants?
Frank Drebin wins this thread.
Oh, and an article supporting the "no respect" angle a bit just showed up: Stew Mandel's mailbag.
Good call on the Mandel link Sean. I think that was the point I was trying to make in this post and I either didn't do a good enough job conveying that or OPS needs to learn about nuances. I can't decide.
Yes, the Buckeyes are #1 in the BCS, BlogPoll, etc. but this is about as soft as a #1 as possible. It's almost as if it's a "#1 for now" type thing.
A lot of columnists and talking heads have raised (valid) reservations about the team and its schedule to date and that's what I was trying to get across.
Maybe Mark May is in my ear too much..
I love it. We are #1 in the BCS. Screw the apologists for what tOSU has or hasen't done this year. We have played every game, won every game and worked our way to the top of the polls. I have read the softest #1 ever (undefeated), a weak year in college football (your team is not undefeated) or what ever anyone can say to drive home their point (a loss is a loss). It's easy to get to the top but not so easy to remain at the top. When you are pushing for your team to be recognized as the greatest team ever please do not forget to say "we are by far the best team in the country without a perfect record". Easy fix-DO NOT LOOSE and the polls will make your case for you! Good luck in the Car Quest Bowl or Motor City Bowl.
More of what I was talking about. If anyone is counting.
NY Times: On Road to Title, Ohio State Must Dodge Critics (10/18/2007)
Are you still out there OPS?