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Monday Meltdown - TTUN Edition

+1 HS
OSU_ALUM_05's picture
November 29, 2015 at 11:24pm
124 Comments

I had emotionally and mentally prepared myself for a loss at Ann Arbor.  Maybe it was a coping mechanism.  Maybe it was an overreaction to the Michigan State loss.  Maybe it was my nightmarish flashbacks to the 90's. Maybe it was an understanding that Harbaugh is a different ...creature... than Hoke, Rich Rod, or even Lloyd Carr.  Maybe it was reflecting back to what I've read and heard about 1969.  Maybe it was concern for the locker room after Zeke's mini-rant. Maybe it was blind pessimism.  Whatever it was... I was wrong.  Am I'm glad as hell to be wrong.

So what is there to melt down about?

Penn State sucks. Seriously...they suck.  I tried to be a Penn State fan on Saturday but I only lasted about 2 and half quarters.  Anyone else think the game was over when Hack threw a pick on the first drive?  You've got a sack machine at QB/O-line and you don't run Barkely in the red zone....you deserve to lose.

I still can't believe we lost to Michigan State. If we played them again next weekend we'd win by a minimum of 20 points, but we don't get that chance.  They seized an opportunity; we didn't.

I still believe we're the best team in the B1G, but we didn't get invited to Indianapolis.

I've resigned myself to the fact that we're not going to the playoffs to defend our title.  I've run through all the machinations just like all of you have - none of them look good.

But, honestly, I'm not able to melt down about any of it because Saturday's edition of The Game was a beautiful celebration of all that's right in the universe.  No, it's more than a celebration, because merely calling it a celebration doesn't account for the beautiful rivers of schadenfreude flowing through the great state of Ohio right now.  I don't even know what to call a beautiful celebration of all that's right in the universe when it's mixed in equal parts with TTUN schadenfreude.  I think I'll just call it ..... joy.

The first half of The Game was basically played straight up, but then the Buckeyes came out in the 2nd half and just imposed their will on TTUN.  There's little more satisfying in football than watching your team run the ball down the throats of your rival.  The defense also seemed to up its game by getting off the field on 3rd down and hitting the quarterback on a regular basis.  So, so happy...

While I was watching The Game and seeing the score get more and more lopsided I couldn't help but wonder if TTUN's smug-ass players and coaches hadn't seen the Michigan State game film and subconsciously assumed that the Buckeyes had folded the tents for the year.  You know we all wondered the same thing, i.e., how would our team respond after coming out flat dead the week before? It reminded me of the scene from Elf where Buddy (TTUN), in its ignorance, reached down to pet the cute, furry animal (post-Michigan State game Buckeyes).  Then, of course, to Buddy's great surprise, the cute, furry animal was a pissed off raccoon that mauled his face.  I was proud that our guys channeled their inner pissed off raccoon. 

I'd love to go on and on about Saturday's glory, but I'll defer to Ramzy's Twitter feed. I'm too lazy to generate my own content:

There is a lingering question from The Game, however.  That is:  what's the deal with the offensive coaching staff?  By now we all know that Tim Beck and Ed Warinner were in the press box together at the same time.  We also all know that the offense looked as good Saturday as it has since the Oregon game.  I've heard some discussion that this was all due to streamlining the communication between all those involved, etc. I obviously have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but I'm calling bullshit on that one.

If your employer has to assign a colleague to sit next to you to babysit you during work ... you're going to have a bad time.  Given what happened Saturday it would seem impossible for Coach Beck to be back next year.  The equation looks like this:

[Player calls out offensive coaches] + [Urban sends Warinner up to the box to call plays, apparently siding with the player] + [offensive improves dramatically in one week against a quality defensive opponent] = you're probably coaching somewhere else next year. 

Best wishes at your next stop, Coach.

Finally, I'd like to offer a big shout out to the fans who traveled to the Big House on Saturday.  The O-H-I-O around the stadium that was clearly audible on television was epic.  I never thought I'd see people fleeing the stadium and making room for our fans to take the place over during the Harbaugh era.  Surely the honeymoon isn't over already?

TL; DR: there's nothing worth melting down about - we destroyed TTUN at their house.

 

 

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