Bummer about the Sooners, but we're gonna blow thedoors off them Buckeyes.
So, it's Texas.
While this matchup had been assumed since Thanksgiving, this is a great bowl and a fantastic opponent. After getting curb-stomped by the Trojans, if you had told me the Buckeyes would end up in another BCS bowl game against a team that has a legitimate complaint to be playing in the MNC, I'd have taken it in a second.The seniors are getting a rubber match with the team that gave them two of their most defining games in their time in Columbus. But better yet, the program is getting a game with nothing much to lose and plenty to gain.
Convoluted ranking schemes aside, the Longhorns very well might be the best team in the nation. After all, they beat an otherwise dominant Oklahoma, the same team that's playing for it all, by double-digits when they met in early October. That was the start of a murderous stretch of four games which saw them also face #11 Missouri, #6 Oklahoma State and #7 Texas Tech. A last second stumble in Lubbock ultimately killed their championship hopes, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a team with a better resume.
Barry Switzer is already talking about style points helping the Longhorns to a split title and that very well might happen, but there's something to be said for a team coming into a game that most don't expect it to win. That's especially so when the team is as talented as the Buckeyes. Colt McCoy and that offense can pile up points, but something tells me they haven't run into too many secondaries like Ohio State's.
It will be difficult for anything to top the hype of the last two times the Buckeyes squared off with the Longhonrs, but we'll take this one.
Comments
Sounds like 2003 all over again... Way over matched and we should'n even be in the game according to everyone else. Lets hope it ends the same way.
Okay - I just watched BTN and they left me with the general opinion that they think we should not be in the Fiesta. I say F-ck'em. We are there and we will win. My keys to victory:
Defense: Pressure, Pressure, Pressure... If you let Colt sit in the pocket like Missouri and some other teams, he will pick you a part with his arm and his legs. We will need a spy that will lay the lumber when he runs. Lil Animal, meet Colt... over & over baby!!! We just cannot through bodies at them in blitzes they will adapt, they must be controlled in a crazy way, as in disguise them. I am tired of people standing in the gap, it screams that they are going to blitz. We just need to see more of what we did in the last couple of games. Our defense was playing down hill and with great malice. That is the mentality we need the entire game even after they hit us with a couple of punches. They are too good of a team not to. Keeping them less than 24 points will be a solid victory.
Offense: Use the pass to set up the run, dare I say screen pass??? Use the wide receiver pick plays like the Indy Colts do. Mr. Pryor, you will be pressured; consequently, your throwing motion cannot breakdown while you are under duress. Timing routes are necessary and need to be used. Please do not forget about the tight ends, the middle of the field will be wide open. As important, is Beanie, he needs to be involved in the pass as well as the run. I do not care how good a defense is, if our o-line shows up with an attitude, we can hit them between the guards with the power play. But damn it you have to throw from that formation to keep them honest. We need to score touchdowns; however, 27 points will be very nice. It means we are giving our defense a chance to rest.
Special Teams: No bonehead plays and while doing your damn jobs with a cruel & vicious attitude.
To everyone: No turnovers and no damn stupid penalties.
Guys, we do not need a perfect game, we just need a hard fought well played game that I know you are capable of doing. As a matter a fact, I know that you have done in the past. A lot of people are going to tell you how we suck and how we do not deserve this opportunity. Like I said earlier, F-ck'em. But I will express one warning to all of you, As Sun Szu once stated, many battles are often decided before the combatants meet in the field of battle. You have 25 days to prepare, make each and everyone count. How well you prepare will be noticed by the end of the first half. In addition, your attitude on how well you play the game will be evident on the first kick-off, especially if they receive. Gentlemen, your best game is 25 days away, are going to let it slip through your fingers or are you going to grasp it and take it away from Texas. The battle begins tomorrow, are you ready for it?
its gonna be a good game...it always is when these 2 teams meet
I think more than anything it comes down to the basics. Our team needs to be enthusiastic and fired up for this game and we need to go out there and prove we can play the top teams in the country and give them a fight and come out with a W. I have lost confidence in OSU's offense in big games because too many times they try to "get by" the conservative way. I watched very closely how Florida play's football in the SEC title game this weekend and what I saw was some real good smart football being played. Their offense knows how to throw a defense off guard and make ANY defense in the country look silly. I would love for OSU to have the same offensive attack Florida does because I do not see that style of play in any other team but Florida. So in order for us to win this game we need to play the best defense we have played all season. We need to harass McCoy because when we do he will not be making many plays. We need to establish an unpredictable game plan on offense so we can keep the Texas D on their heels and confused. Beanie needs to have at least a 150+ yard night. Pryor needs at least a 250+ yard night through the air. We need to play Texas the same way we got our butt's handed to us by Florida because if we do we can send a message that we are a pissed off team and a team that can show we belong on the big stage. Just look at how Thad Gibson play's. EVERY player on that OSU team needs to play with his mentality. GO BUCKS!!!!!!
chaoscrusader, good rundown! The Longhorns are just as beatable as any Big XII team Ohio State has faced in the last 10 years. OSU has matched up incredibly well against teams from that conference, and if it weren't for Troy Smith taking 500 bucks from a booster in December of 2004, we would have beaten Vince Young.
But some of this team faced Colt McCoy and the Texas Longhorns of 2006, and they showed that it is possible for these Buckeyes to beat a team with speed. Texas has speed. But they haven't been pressured all season by a productive, household-name style defense. And that is the key to this matchup. Hopefully they come out far stronger than they did against SC, but something tells me that the Trojans would have done the same thing to Texas as they did to us.
if we win, do we finish top 5?
Win and we're top 5 w/out question. Getting a win will be tough though. They will be fired up and ready to go. Will we? taht is the question. This team needs to come out w/ the same intensity that was used on 03 MNC game or just about any game vs Poop-i-gan (save this year, they didn't need to be up for that). Let 's go out there and punch them in the face.
Friends don't let friends play soft zone and not blitz!!!
Someone tell me this is wrong...are we that bad?? WOW
Monday, Jan 5
Favorite Open Today O/U Underdog
at Texas 10 1/2 10 1/2 54 Ohio State
I'm surprised the spread's not worse. The rest of the nation outside of Ohio doesn't think much of the Buckeyes thanks to our own shriveling in the last 4 big games.
I really like the matchup, and I believe we can compete, but I'm not buying the chip on shoulder angle again. We had a chip on our shoulder for both the LSU and USC games, and we all know how those turned out. It seems our guys put a bit too much on these big games, and when we got punched in the mouth, we couldn't recover. Just play smart and play hard.
The defense of Texas opponents this year has been atrocious.. They have not seen a defense like us all year.. This can be the defacto game changer for us.. solid defense plus a healthy Beanie and a confident Pryor = Buckeye Football
Lets just hope they can keep their heads on straight.. this is what killed us last year vs. LSU
From Today's Dispatch:
"It sets up a matchup with Ohio State's defense, ranked eighth nationally. The best defense Texas has faced this season is Oklahoma's, ranked 65th nationally. The average defensive ranking of Texas' opponents this season: 91".
2 ways to look at that... either the defenses in the big - 12 suck or the offenses are really hard to stop. I think the truth is half of both and Texas will not be able to score at will. That being said, field goals will not get it done and Tressel MUST do something different in this bowl game to score points!
Screens, some option, some wildcat (single wing), anything so that Mack Brown does not have 6 weeks to predict what will happen next. I hope Tressel has learned something about game planning for the big one! And please, let Pryor run wild and be Pryor, take the shackles off!!!!!
I would love to see Matthew McConaughey crying like a little baby on the sidelines after the Buckeyes spank the Longhorns.
My wife thinks he's cute, so this would give me much pleasure.
I do not think that getting to a BCS bowl game means anything to Ohio State, anymore. We have to win this game.
Yes our defense is very good, but we will still have to score a lot of points.
Personally, even putting my homerism aside, think this is the best bowl matchup there is. The MNC game is gonna end up a Florida blowout, so this is the most competitive game on the slate. And a side note to Cincy, looks like your the only Ohio team facing a high school team in a BCS game, but thats about it. Try not to emberass (sp?) the entire state by losing to Frankie and his Beamer Balls.
I LOVE this matchup. Orakpo can have his ESPN weightroom commercials and tell us hes a "monstah" and "a beast" all he wants, but facts are facts, and their D sucks. Plus, I said earlier last week that McCoy hasnt forgotten the sting of a JL hit under the chin. Im looking for D. Washington to have another huge game against the Bevo Boys.
"...Matthew McConaughey..."
Hate that idiot. I hope we lay forty on them, just because of him.
.....oh yea!! Screw you cincy, your cocky attitude nearly got you beat by an unranked Hawaii team in Hawaii..... "Ohio's BCS Team", give me a break!!
Chesseburger charlie is gonna get it handed to him on a Luaua buffet platter on Hawaii's home field. That trip to Hawaii is killer, 7 hours time difference (I think)... gets a team way off their game and playing them in Honolulu is a home game for them.
28-13 Hawaii........... and oh Yea, Notre Dame will say it is a positive for the program and give Weis an additional year on his contract and an unlimited pass to the Don Ho buffet for his duration in Hawaii. That game should help their recruting greatly(what kids from the islands ever went to Notre Dame??)
Cincy looked AWFUL against Hawaii. If the Rainbow Warriors (say that w/ a straight face, emphasis on straight) hadn't gift-wrapped a pick-six, the BearCats (wft is a bearcat anyways?) wouldn't even be going bowling. Fuck them
If their WR with the leaky mouth was so good, then he would be wearing Scarlet & Gray, not badmouthing tOSU on National TV like every other hater that wasn't good enough to play for us......coughMarkMaycough
good point Ski, Cincy is playing with Big-10 rejects! I love how Lou Holtz talked about his days with Woody during the BCS show last nite, Mark May basically told him to shut up and reminded him that was 30+ years ago. What a smug, arrogant piece of shit his is. He was also trashing Oklahoma for their BCS record... isn't he an analyst, not a propagandist?? He went to Pitt and won the Outland Trophy in 1980... almost 30 years ago.... so shut the F up Mark May and report the sports information like a good trained chimp!
Oh yea! I realize most of you dont get ESPNU, but other than getting to see that AWESOME beatdown on ND on Saturday, something happened that really got under my skin. This "sportscaster" Rob Luginbill or something, has the audacity to say after the SEC title game, that Tebow deserves the Heisman for 2 years straight. No problem with that. But then, he says, and I quote "Archie Griffin isn't 1/2 the football player Tebow is. Archie Griffin squeaked into both Heisman trophies, where Tebow has flat out performed." I puked in my mouth a little bit, and am permanently done with ESECPN.
Ski.... all the sports monkeys have no sense of history beyond the past 3-4 seasons. Every year it is the greatest title game they have ever seen and every year the Heisman winner is the greatest ever. They have less of an idea of what they are talking about than you and I because they are butt lickers to get interview time with coaches and players and they have a vested interest in driving up the hype to get ratings. Many of them are just plain stupid and/or idiots (too numerous to list).
Looks like a tough match-up for Ohio State. If they can pull off the win they might end the season in the top 8 nationally. The BCS has had a tough year and the Big 10 has been stalled outside the top rankings the last couple of months. If Penn State can also win then the voters would be considered wrong in not voting them both higher.
...... I won the Outland Trophy 28 years ago, so I know Ohio State is way overrated. Texas will beat them by 50.......... I have a gay-love crush on Tim Tebow!!
DICK!
Hey guys, great website. agree that this will be the best BCS game. a lot of us were worried we'd get screwed with a Utah matchup, so we're pumped that we get to play big daddy OSU.
as game time approaches I encourage yall to visit Barkingcarnival.com, a UT blog that shies away from rampant homerism and does a good job breaking down matchups.
All season long the argument has been "Are the Big12's offenses great, or do their defenses blow." Time to find out! Good luck, see you in Phoenix.
OSU and PSU need to win both their games. Otherwise, the Big 10(11) will get months of even worse bad pub and it'll be a loooooong off season.
texas fan:
Nice comment, thanks for stopping by. I'll check that site out.
...class act from the Big-12--- far cry from the SEC . Texas fans were nothing but class the last 2 times we played win and lose. will be a great game from all perspectives.
By the way, texas fan. I thought Texas got hosed by the BCS tiebreaker rule. The Big 12 needs to change that. Then again, I think the conferences with championship games needs to play the 2 teams with the 2 best conference records, and to hell with matching the divisions against each other.
Then again, I think Notre Lame would help themselves and the Big 10(11) if they joined up, and the Big 10(11) should have a conf. championship also, so what do I know?
Yea good to see a rival fan with some class. If you are going to visit the other teams site, at least say something noteworthy and not to troll up some shit. Good stuff
That's what I love about Texas Freshman. I get older, they stay the same age!
LOL @ J.B.
That really is one of the best movies of the 90's hands down. Comedy wise anyways
Hey Texas,
Looking forward to a great game. Have to agree with a few of the comments above. You guys got screwed by the BCS. I for one will be hoping Florida mops the field with Oklahoma. What a great place for Bobby to choke again. Maybe it'll take some heat of OSU. I doubt it though.
Even more irritating than a TV announcer saying Archie wasn't half the player as Tim Tebow is what I heard on Mike and Mike this morning. They had Dick Vitale giving his take on college football and he was pushing for Tebow too. I'm glad Mike Golic was saying Bradford should get it instead of him, but WTF does anyone care what Vitale has to say about College Football? I really don't like hearing his take on College Basketball, or should I say his love for teams from North Carolina. He is the most irrelevant voice in sports. He's the same one that says Carolina/Duke basketball is the biggest rivalry in ALL SPORTS!
I'm very excited for the bowl though. I love when 2 teams with such huge fan bases and tradition battle it out. Hopefully the Bucks come out on top. Also, I would love to see Penn State put up a huge game on USC. They wanted that game, hopefully they are ready.
I do expect a big game from the Bucks though. It's going to be the last game for some very big time players like JL, Jenkins, Freeman, and even though I would love him to stay, I'm sure Beanie will not be back for another season. These guys have the talent to pull it off. Either way, I'm glad to see them back in Arizona.
Agreed on Texas fan's assessment...Great blog!
I think a lot of us Longhorns will be checking out this blog (and "The Dispatch") during the weeks following up to the game. (For me, half the fun of the lead up to a big game is just reading what the other team's saying about you.)
Of course, a lot of Texas fans were upset that we didn't get in to the Nat'l Championship game, but a one loss season is still a very good year and the Fiesta Bowl is a heck of a consolation prize (especially against a history-rich, quality opponent like Ohio State). Both schools will have a lot to play for and, I agree, it will be interesting to see how to totally different styles of play compare against one another.
I wish more fans were like Texas fans. I had a great time hanging out with some UT fans when they came up to Columbus to play and had an even better time hanging out with them when I went down to Austin. It's a real shame you guys got hosed the way you did. Can't wait to see how things play out come Jan. 5th.