- * The title of this post is a play on a classic programming rant. Apologies for making this nerdier than need be.
Schedule Considered Helpful
It's no secret that expectations for this season are higher than normal (and by normal, I mean the sometimes unreasonable assumption that anything less than a MNC run is a letdown of some sort). The 2008 class is coming to fruition after all, led by a once-in-a-generation talent coming off his finest performance as a Buckeye.
To accomplish what this team expects to accomplish, a lot of things must break Ohio State's way, however. There will be the invariable need for a miracle play to get the team out of a bind, whether it's the Flea Kicker, Holy Buckeye, or Rocky Block. The team will need to avoid injuries -- or at least season-enders. And finally, the schedule must be kind.
Fortunately for us, the 2010 Ohio State football schedule is more than kind. It's practically flirting with us.
It all starts with Gene Smith's shrewd move to bump the opener against Marshall up to Thursday night. Not only does that give everyone a rare Labor Day weekend, free of Buckeye football (and thus making the long holiday weekend travel-friendly), but it provides the Buckeyes with two extra days of preparation for the marquee out-of-conference matchup with the Hurricanes in week two. The Canes open their own season on the same Thursday night, so the teams will technically have equal prep time for each other, but if Smith hadn't made the move, Miami would have a two-game head-start on the Buckeyes getting ready for that game.
The Buckeyes follow-up the Miami game with home tilts against Ohio and an Eastern Michigan team coming off of an 0-12 season in weeks three and four. Those two home games, part of four-straight at the Shoe to open the season, will provide an opportunity to get bodies rested and some of the younger players valuable minutes ahead of the start of Big Ten play.
Kicking off conference play, the Buckeyes travel to Illinois in week five before welcoming Indiana to Columbus in week six. The Illini under Zook might well be circling the drain and the Hoosiers, being the Hoosiers, provide further opportunities to fine-tune the timing of the offense ahead of the huge matchup in Madison with a Wisconsin squad returning 18 starters.
It won't be easy escaping Camp Randall with a win as the Badgers are probably the most balanced team in the conference with Tolzien, Clay and Toon, but should the Buckeyes prevail, they have a revenge matchup at home with Purdue the following week before traveling to TCF Bank Stadium to face a depleted Minnesota. And then things really get fun.
OSU once again faces the season-ending gauntlet of Penn State, Iowa and Michigan, but unlike last season, Tressel's crew gets a bye before welcoming Penn State to Columbus on November 13th. Think that week off won't be key to healing the dings after a five game stretch of Big Ten play?
The fact that the Buckeyes also catch Penn State and Michigan (the two teams most likely to have stood in Ohio State's path on the quest for a conference title over the last decade and a half) at home is huge. The road trip to Kinnick will be no walk in the park, especially when Adrian Clayborn is lining up for the other guys, but OSU has experience marching into Iowa City and ruining weekends this decade.
So, in summary: Get an early jump on the Canes, tune up with Ohio, EMU, Illinois and Indiana ahead of the key trip to Wisconsin. Then recharge with games against Purdue and Minnesota before taking a week off to settle things in the conference and the national championship picture.
Sounds pretty simple, right?
Looking at the schedule, what games do you foresee as being maybe harder than expected or potential trap games?
Comments
Marshall is a trap game. Everyone's focusing on Miami.....it's the start of the season so the cohesion may or may not form. I highly doubt we'll lose, but I can foresee them keeping in the game a la Ohio in 2008.
Lets try to keep things realistic. It's a 3 game season for us, barring major injury. Wisconsin, Iowa, and Miami - in order of difficulty.
2 out of those 3 are away. Even with the Bucks loaded this year, going 3/3 on those three games is going to require that strange combination of luck and nuts that the 2002 squad had.
I wouldn't exactly sleep on Purdue with their new QB. When you are ranked as highly as the Buckeyes will be, there is a huge target on your back and every team will be gunning for the upset. It is definitely a 12 game season (well maybe 11 EMU is pretty bad).
Correct me if Im wrong, but isnt Tressel's record after a bye week less than stellar?
I think the Wisconsin is the game that will make or break this season. No one will sleep on Purdue or any of the not so great teams this year because of that game last year. Wisconsin will be the first really hostile and intimidating environment this team will play in, and they have a good team to match it. If they come into this game undefeated and leave with a win, this team will not lose a game. This of course assumes there are no major injuries.
No I do not see the schedule as flirting with us. The experts at CFN see our schedule as as pretty beastly, and one that will almost certainly deliver a loss. I tend to agree with them. Going on the road to face your two toughest conference foes, after beating them the way we did last year...I don't expect us to win both, and we could lose both.
I don't see Wisky as a problem IF the defense learns how to stop that stupid quick-hit end around play. It's KILLED us the past 2 years (but has been one of the few successes they've had). TP has been in that environment before and pulled out the W.
I think losing Spievey will be a much bigger deal to Iowa than some people realize. But having said that, I think their O will be better this year.
I think those are the two toughest. I don't see Miami as much of a threat. I think they're probably 4th best in the ACC. Unless they found a killer offensive line out of nowhere.
I think the Wisconsin is the game that will make or break this season. No one will sleep on Purdue or any of the not so great teams this year because of that game last year.
Purdue always gives us fits. I am focused on that revenge game. We seem to always stall on offense against Purude. I am not sure why. Wisconsin is always a tough game for us. Aside from the mistakes last year, they played better on offense than we did. I don't think we'll have the Shoe magic this year. Wisconsin plays to the caliber of the team they are playing. There is something about playing in Iowa that is comforting. I am not saying it will be easy but we have won at that stadium enough to call it home field for us.
Wisconsin will sahre the Big-Ten Title with Ohio State. Wisconsin will be OSU'S loss. OSU will play in another BCS showdown against Alabmba at the Sugar Bowl. Once again, a stellar year--but as last year's Rose Bowl Victory, we follow up again with a victory over Alabama. Tressel Legacy adds another Big Ten Tite, and Top 5 season ending ranking.
I think it's been okay lately, and there haven't been many bye weeks recently. Tressel teams used to struggle on the road at night too.
2002 - no bye
2003 - Loss at Wisconsin at night after bye
2004 - Loss at Northwestern at night after a bye
2005 - Loss at Penn State at night after a bye
2006 - Duh...Though you could say Florida was at night after a long bye...
2007 - No bye
2008 - W at Northwestern during the day after a bye
2009 - No Bye, thought there was.
2010 - Where's the bye week? Or why did I do this research lol
You guys need to get a programmer on board and allow comments to be made on the stories on the right hand side of the site!
Instead, I'll put this here...From the Smoking Gun? Article...
“Your request appears directed, in whole or in part, towards documents that you believe may exist regarding a potential membership agreement with the Big Ten Conference, a subject of much recent speculation and publicity,” Russell wrote to Missourian reporter Pat Sweet, who submitted the initial request. “Without confirming or denying that such documents exist, please be advised that any such documents, if they exist, clearly would be exempt from disclosure …”
This man earned his money with that statement.
There are 2 schools of thought on the Buckeyes patsy schedule.One is when you have an easy pre conference schedule you don't get banged up so you have your players ready for the conference schedule plus you build confidence.The 2nd school of thought which i belong to is when you play patsies and you get a tough opponent you are overconfident and you don't go out and hit as hard because you haven't had to so far this season.By time you realize you have been playing patsies and the guy you are facing is just as tough it may be too late to get back in the game.Miami will be the game to see which of these schools of thought hold true.
I think we Bucks need to worry a lot about the Miami game. They have a good stable of receivers and a good QB and we are relatively inexperienced in the secondary. It will probably be a very hot day in the Shoe and that could be a factor against a Florida team. I'm not thinking past this game. I think we can tack Wisco but we will have our hands full with Iowa and Penn State could also be an unpleasant surprise by the time we play them.
And I hate to say it but never take a rivalry game for granted. Michigan isn't gong to just come to the Shoe and punt on second down all afternoon.
My belief is, it's really really hard to go undefeated no matter how good you are when playing in one of the major conferences. You need to be great, and have a little luck. I don't think the recent schedule shows Ohio State playing patsies every week. There are several higher caliber teams who play no one in the non conference, Florida for example, and end up playing just fine. I think it has more to do with conference play being tough. That's why you get the upset to Illinois or Purdue once in a while.
Thanks for looking up what I was too lazy to
This season all comes down to preparation and focus. If OSU prepares and is focused on a weekly basis, they win every game and put themselves into a strong position for MNC game. Nobody on the schedule has as much talent, but upsets can and do happen. Leadership from the staff and players is crucial to help prevent another Purdue type meltdown.
I really hope we route the Canes. Their fans are almost as delusional as scUM fans.
I think Indiana could be pesky, they return a nice offense and although the D is soft, that is the week heading into the first of the big 3 vs. Wisky. If we find ourselves daydreaming about camp randall, we could find ourselves in another Navy situation.
Of the big three games (the U, Wiskey, Shuckeyes), the Hurricanes will provide the biggest challenge.
Don't forget that the Hurricanes played a killer early season schedule last year. And, they were very very tough. However, I think they got a bit banged up, and as a result, did not finish the year as strong as they might have. The 'Canes will be even tougher at the start of this new season. Also, another thing for Buckeye fans to consider is that the Hurricanes have had 4+ years of solid recruiting classes. They will be ready to go come September 11. Our Buckeyes better be ready for a war. I think we can win this game, but anyone who thinks this will be an easy win is just outright wrong.
The obvious tough games are at wisconsin and at iowa. the trap game that i can see would be indiana right before traveling to the friendly confines or campy randall where marshmallows contain batteries and rain from the sky like water during a july thunderstorm in columbus.
Jacory Harris is too skinny to take many hits from Killa Cam and the rest of the defense.
I pretty much never worry about Indiana. Last year people voiced the same concerns, and the game was absolutely laughable. I would be more inclined to be worried about Illinois or Purdue as they typically make things interesting.
I've been a programmer for 15 years and have not knowingly come into contact with that phrase. So naturally I am made aware of it by a Buckeye blog. Awesome.
The one thing that makes me confident about the Miami game is that it will be their left tackle's second career start, and he will be coming up against Cameron Heyward. That game probably has the potential to be like the Penn State game from last year; because even though Harris had a good last he played HORRIBLY in the only two games where Miami played OSU esk defenses (Virginia Tech, UNC).
OSU vs. Iowa could very realistically be a game between the undefeated #1 and undefeated #2/#3 team. They're losing a lot of linemen, but Kirk Ferentz will have coached who ever he plugs in up to top level by then. Their defense is unreal.
After the fiasco at Purdue last year, I'm cosidering every game as a "trap" game.
Remember the Wisconsin/Miami game..... Wisc played in your face and rushed the QB with everyone.... Jacory Harris folds like a deck of cards under pressure... Va. Tech did that to him as well. And Wisc used the TE to gain huge chunks of yards. That bowl game is the blue-print to an OSU victory.
its unnatural to have so many wins in a row over Michigan. Its the kind of scenario that has made the rivalry so famous. If undefeated when we play them, and with a chance to play in the National Championship Game, it could be one of those stories that gets handed down the generations. 'The Game' is obviously not a sleeper, but it is scarier than many are considering now.
You bet, I was confused, does OSU have a bye week this year? At least ESPN didn't show it.
We're only screwed if it's a night game after a bye week...or Purdue.
Always have to be leary of the Michigan game, but I think we're in a stretch like they were during Cooper's tenure. As long as Tressel is there, especially with DickRod on the other sideline, I think Ohio State has the huge advantage.
Admiral Ackbar agrees.
No.
Agreed. They will fumble on first down most of the day.
Understatement of the year...
i'm never scare of a 3-3-5 "defense"
I don't think this can be emphasized enough. The end of this streak is probably sooner than later, just going by the historical numbers. The more consecutive wins we rack up, the more likely it is to end. We're at an unprecedented streak of 6, which has never happened for our side before (5 had never happened before), and despite Michigan's dominance in the 1990s...you have to go back to the 1940s the last time Michigan racked up 6 wins (and there was a tie mixed in, so it took 7 years).
So, it smells like a deal with the devil, and it's always on my mind that Michigan could screw us up. Terrelle Pryor has yet to play well against Michigan. Even in the 42-7 game, Pryor had 2 TDs, but only amassed 120 yards throwing, -7 yards rushing. Last year, it was 67 yards in the air, 1 TD, 74 yards rushing (which was 3rd highest on the day for the Bucks). These are not Troy Smith vs. Michigan kind of numbers...we've been winning because he hasn't had to be TS.
If Michigan has any sort of resurgence at all. I'm talking bringing a 7/8 win record into The Game - I don't care what kind of defense they're running, they're going to bring it, and the Bucks need to do the same.
while this may be true..... the SS RRod is sinking, they'll probably lose to us again this year and then how much better with scUM be the following season? none. they're not going to land Les Miles or anyone after this steady and laughable decline. Gonna have to bring in a lesser-none, riskier candidate and hope that they can work with these system players until they can recruit their own. Oh wait, that already happened.
wow, typing sucks today.
Michigan is the biggest trap of them all, mainly because everyone expect us to run over them.
Iowa. No doubt, pretty much considered the de facto Big Ten Championship. We will see once we get there though.
Tressel should have finished the job. I can't stand this no talent ass clown.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn...
I ain't never scurred.
Tressel owns Bielma.
School up North is the trap game. Tate was OSU's best player last year, fumbling and throwing picks. Buckeyes will need to be healthy on D to stop Robinson.
Yeah, I can't get too worried about Michigan. It seems like their quarterback situation is unsettled, and I don't see how the defense gets that much better losing their superstar, changing systems, etc., etc. Plus Tressel clearly focuses on that game.