I'm of the opinion we are marginally better than ND this year, but would have had serious holes exposed against bama. I thought the game last night would be much closer but I kept having flashbacks to UF.
I genuinely believe we "could" beat any team in the country hold bama. Unfortunately I don't see how we get there next year assuming Saban stays they have set a pretty high bar with consistency. I haven't heard anyone voice any skepticism that we will be able to play at that level next year.
I don't see our D line next year stopping an O-Line like theirs. I know some of them will be gone but history says they simply add another one. Our backers better grow up fast if they want to stop Yeldon and Co.
We're definitely on the right path but our conference and schedule will sink us. I think we blow our opponents out next year hold about 4 games. When we get to the bowl game we get overwhelmed by a team that played stiffer competition all year.
"Iron sharpens iron" and we have no iron to sharpen us. (stolen from another poster)
Please explain why I'm wrong because I desperately want to be.
Maybe. It would've depended on improvement over the bowl practice period. TAMU showed the way to attack the Bama D was through the air, and if Braxton could pull a Manziel the Buckeye O would certainly have challenged the Bama D more than ND did. On D I like to think that a D-line anchored by Big Hank and a healthy Johnny Simon would've put up a better fight than ND, but the Wiscy run game moved the ball pretty well against us, and McCarron looked a lot better than that ham sandwich Wiscy had throwing the ball. Also think that given Urban's bowl record, he would've done a much better job preparing the team than Kelly did. Still, if Urban has a match as a CFB head coach, it's that guy down in Tuscaloosa, and I think Bama probably would've beaten us by a couple scores last night.
Could we play with them? I think so. Could we beat them? After last night's show, I think not. But nobody outside of Ohio thought we could beat Miami in the 2002 NCG either.
Oh, and "iron sharpens iron" is "stolen" from the Bible (though I agree that if we make it to the championship game next year, we will not have been tested by a team of the likes of Alabama).
Thanks for the iron sharpens iron point, my ccd instructors are ashamed.
If this is purely about next year you can't take their OLine into account, they lose most of it.
"You're pissed because we went after a committed guy? Guess what, we got 9 guys who better go do it again," said Meyer. "Do it a little harder next time."
In reality it is about this year and next year and at a high level just "the state of the programs". Assume they stay about the same which we have seen they do, I don't see how we beat a team of that caliber in 2013. Again I hope I'm wrong.
Think about it, our first game against grade A competition will be the bowl game. That Alabama team looked comfortable in the moment.
While everyone (almost?) on this board remembers all the BCS games, very few of the players (only Mewhort?) have ever played in a BCS level game and not the NC.
True, but also in reality, that 2002 Ohio State team was full of a bunch of players with a career 21-15 record, including two Outback Bowl losses to mediocre South Carolina teams. Then they went undefeated through a grind of a Big Ten season, and defeated the then Alabama-equivalent (minus Saban).
As long as this group works and improves on what they did this past season, and eats/breathes what Urban Meyer and his staff is selling, they have a chance.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I think Ohio State's 2002 schedule was much harder than 2013's appears to be now. There are always surprises though. Plus, I think that Miami team was really far better. They won 35 in a row against some tough competition. I know they only had 1 title, but man were they good.
I agree, at present time it looks like there's a long way to go to get to Bama level. I've always kind of felt 2014 was the year. Urban's first class will be Jr's. Braxton will be a senior, the great playmakers like Elliot and Marshall will be sophomores. All these awesome defensive recruits will be seasoned and making plays.
2013 could be another really nice season and depending on how the young guys play and how much Braxton improves they have a shot, but 2014 is much more realistic to me.
I think this current D is built to stop offenses that are like Bama's.
You give Urban Meyer 40+ days to prepare for any team, and I would love Ohio State's chances.
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
I agree but say Urban is awesome, that makes him about equal to Saban.
I'd like to think we would have given them a game, but to be honest I bet that Notre Shame beat the spread on this game. Alabama punished them in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and I'm not sure my biased opinion of the Buckeyes is enough to put us over the hump.
I feel like Alabama would've beaten anyone they played last night. I would like to think if OSU was playing them, that the score would've been closer, but I don't know. Notre Dame was outplayed and outmatched in every single way possible. Let's just say I'm glad I was sitting back and watching someone else getting taken to the woodshed last night and didn't have anything invested in the game.
I agree. I started thinking about 2014 as the year we make the run. D line is mature, Braxton is a senior, who knows how good our lb's and wr's will be and oh yeah, McCarron's gone.
I don't think we could have kept it close this year. I think Braxton's senior year we will have the best team in the country hands down. Most of our d-line and o-line talent will be juniors. We will have some depth at LB and in the secondary. Plus... Urban will have had 3 years to bring in the speed he needs to make his offense successful.
I agree that 2014/15 is probably the best chance, but my only uneasiness really lies in the scope of the offensive line. There will be almost an entirely new line, and though I do have a lot of faith in Warriner, it is hard yet to fathom such a green line getting the job done every single game.
I guess you could say I've been Bollman-ized in that regard...
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
Could we play with them? Sure. Could what happened to ND also happen to us? Sure. IMO, when two teams are playing in the NC, both are good teams. In fact, both are good enough to pounce on a break early in the game and get rolling. Once a good team gets rolling, it's hard to stop. (Alabama last night/Florida in 2006) Ohio State or ND could beat Alabama if a few things would go the right way early. Most national championship games don't end up being great games simply because one team gets rolling and is good enough to keep it rolling.
I'm not one to blame the refs and Bama was clearly better, but the two calls early sunk the Irish. They needed everything to go their way in order to hang in and hope to be close late. Once it was 14-0 that ship had sailed.
I'm not sure why they didn't try to run the ball more. I would have thought they would have at least kept them honest similar to what Louisville did to UF.
Agree with your analysis and would add that running would have kept the score down even if it didn't actually keep Bama's D honest.
Think we could stay with them for the first half. Think that we could not stay with Oregon at all.
I also think it goes back to what has been discussed earlier about the mental aspect of things. In 06, Florida took our best punch with the kickoff return. They weathererd the storm and dominated. The same thing in 07, LSU weathered the early onslaught from Beanie, had a QB shotgun fumble, etc early on the game but managed to stay mentaly tough and play great football. Even at the Pro level with Seattle this past weekend as an example. ND showed no mental toughness as soon as something went against them they folded. Its on your coaches to prepare you for those moments and keep your head in the game but Kelly was to busy hoping bama doesnt come out after halftime. ND coaches let their fans down as much as the players because I believe the coaching staff folded after they got down 14pts and lost a few breaks as well.
"I'll fire when I'm god damn good and ready! You got that?" - Pete "Maverick" Mitchel
That's a tough call to be honest. I mean you're still dealing with Urban Meyer who is coaching mostly Jim Tressel's guys. This year I would have to say no, 2 years from now, I absolutely think we run right with Alabama because it will be Urban Meyer coaching guys that he has recruited.
Just a life long Buckeye fan wanting to talk to other lifelong Buckeye fans. Our honor defend, we will fight to the end for OOO HIIII OOOOOO!
Urban beat us in his second year at Fla with Ron Zook's kids. So are you saying the Zooker had better recruits at UF than Tress had at OSU?
You could make the argument the day Zooker left UF and Tres left OSU that UF had better players.
It's not an argument, UF had better players.
"You'll be proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community, and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan on the football field."
Not this team and not that Alabama. They killed Michigan and while we handled them, it was competitive. I don't think we could beat Oregon, Stanford or Notre Dame. I wish that I could say that we could but I can't see it.
We don't yet have the talent but when we do get to that point, I can't see the other teams in the league being competitive with OSU. Still, after this year I'm not sold on Luke Fickell as a defensive co-ordinator. We gave up a huge number of big plays last season to teams like California, Purdue, Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan. After watching Alabama last night, how many big plays do you think OSU would give up to the Crimson Tide. Sadly - lots.
We could have lost any game we played because of the big play. Last night when Riddick broke loose from his own 5ish it looked like the Tressel Silver Bullets. There were about 3 guys down field just waiting for him. For us this year when they broke contain they were off to the races.
No, the 2012 Buckeyes wouldn't have hung with Bama last night. Notre Dame had a better defense than the Buckeyes and they were annialated last night. Maybe we slow the run a little better than Notre Dame, but McCarron was throwing awfully well and our secondary just wasn't great so I'm not confident in that matchup either.
Oh offense, Braxton is a difference maker and perhaps he would of been able to get a few big plays, but he would of had to complete some passes too. I think the outcome may have been a little closer, but I still would bet Bama wins by 2 TD's.
Agreed. Our D is to porous this year. I also think Alabama played up from their usual high level of play, so we probably would not have been able to beat them last night.
I do want to point out that ND actually moved the ball pretty effectively last night, even with them being completely one-dimensional. Receivers were open and if not for some errant long balls (and head scratching play calls), the outcome may have been a little closer.
The only problem with this is Alabama returns the majority of their defense, meaning they will more than likely be absolutely nasty next year on that side of the ball.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I agree with what you are saying but I don't think it matters. What I mean is next year their O line won't be as dominant but their d will be better, either way the sum of the team will still be the same. They will still have sick backs and a qb who has gone beyond being a "Game Manager".
Someone will need to beat them by scheme because trying to fight that fire with fire is going to be a losing proposition. I thought ND could hang tough but wow was I wrong.
Could we play with Alabama? Sure, their offense is actually what our defense is geared to stop. Do we beat them? They probably beat us 7 times out of 10. This Notre Dame was overrated all year. Sure they had a good defense, but their offense was absolutely non-existent, whereas OSU had one of the Top 10 rushing attacks in the country, and by season's end, one of the best defenses too. I think we'd hang with Alabama for most of the game, but lose by something like 34-24.
I'm still trying to figure out if Bama is really that much better than ND or if ND laid a complete egg. I thought ND could hang for 3 quarters, but ultimately Bama would go on to win.
Te'o and the other LB (Mata I think his name was) looked lost out there, and seemingly forgot how to tackle. And what was with the ND playcalling??? The first possession on 2nd and 3rd and 3 they ran the same lob to Eiffert down the sideline. And then later in the 1st half going for it on 4th and 4 and throwing a lob towards the goaline? Just didn't make any sense. I really felt like running a tempo, no huddle, option read type offense was the best way for ND to stay in it.
As for our chances, I think we would have worn down in the second half on defense, but our offense was way more dynamic than ND's.
I think you almost have to run an uptempo offense (like A&M did) to beat Bama. You've got to try to tire those big lineman and LBer's by spreading the defense, having them run sideline to sideline and keep the substitutions to a minimum.
I don't know, but I woke up around 1:00am and the post game stuff was on the TV so I happend to hear them ask Urban if he would want a shot at Alabama after watching that game and with an ear-to-ear grin he said, "Yeah, I'd take a shot." Herbie came back with something about having Braxton Miller and Urban smiled and pointed across the table at Herbie and said something I didn't catch, but it was obvious that he had a game plan in mind. So take that for what it's worth. Got to love Meyer's competitiveness.
Man I love Urban. I watched until pretty late and didn't see that.
Thanks.
You have to believe if OSU were to get a shot at Alabama next year, Urban already has a gameplan locked and loaded for that.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I wonder it anyone has a link to that discussion? I was so annoyed by another Nick Satan win that I went to bed...I should have hit the DVR.
2012 Beat Michigan Tail gate: UFM: "Let’s beat the sh*t out of Michigan, have a good night."
To quote Saban himself, that's why we play the games to see who ACTUALLY would win. But I am sorry to say, the Buckeyes would get beat good. Hopefully not as bad as ND.
I think our D would have played well. But I think our offense still had struggles and was contained well in our last couple games. Think of what Bama's D would have done to us.
I really don't want to be in the NC game next season, unless we make significant improvements next year. I'll take a B1G-10 championship and a BCS bowl game against a tough opponent and a credible win to add to Urban/OSU's resume. I think Urban needs time for a) his young recruits to develop into playmakers and b) more recruits. He's starting to get some great talent in here - we just need another recruiting class or two and for our young guys to get real good. Then, bring anyone on!
We would have beaten Alabama by 10 points.
Five of our eight wins against the crap-ass Big Ten were by fewer than 10 points, and you think we'd beat that Alabama team by 10 when we couldn't beat, say, Indiana or Purdue by that much? I want some of what you're smoking, because that must be some gooooooooooooooood shit.
In the reality we live in, I would like to think we'd give them a better game than ND did. And, you know, anything is possible. But Alabama was better than us this year. Probably by quite a bit.
Bucksfan is striking while the iron's hot and I have to agree with him. If he said this in September or October, we'd all be fools to buy it. By season's end OSU was clicking on all three phases-and that's what you need to beat Bama. The way Hyde grew as the year went on would have given any D fits because OSU could attack inside and outside in the running game. I'm not positive OSU could throw with great success on that D on the surface but if OSU and Bama played and Hyde started to....Roll, Bama would be torn between getting gouged up the middle or slashed on the outsides-then the play action opens. OSU could have spread them out and ran on them. The OSU D\Bama D would be fascinating because last night showed you how little Bama cares for the oppositions best players, they ran at Te'o all day and I'd have to assume they'd target Shazier as well. What could have been....
I'm with you though Bucksfan, maybe not by 10 but OSU could hang with that team last night.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
"but if OSU and Bama played and Hyde started to....Roll, Bama would be torn between getting gouged up the middle or slashed on the outsides-then the play action opens."
That's exactly what the game plan would have been. With Braxton and Hyde, maybe even a healthy Jordan Hall...sorry, we would have racked up 500 yards of offense on ANY defense, in my opinion.
True, just like your comment is. But mine is based on the fact that, according to Football Outsiders, they had a better offense than us (5th vs. 13th) and better defense than us (2nd vs. 21st). That they averaged almost a full yard per play more than us on offense and gave up almost a full yard per play less than us on defense. That they just won the national title game by four freaking touchdowns, while we needed late scores to beat a 3-9 Cal team and tie a 6-7 Purdue team (both at home). That one team curbstomped a full-strength Michigan team on a neutral field while the other won by 5 at home (and yes, I know the transitive property does not apply to sports, but it's still illustrative as the only common opponent between the two).
I agree that it's just my opinion. But it's an opinion based on more than faith and hope.
Then don't bring it up.
Um, no.
Hope springs eternal.
But ... this was my favorite 1 yard run ever
We will be ready next year. Guaranteed!
If we were eligible we would only have to worry about beating ND which we would have. They looked awful last night. Teo had 10 tackles but pry 13 missed tackles. Looked like he was playing scared as well as the rest of that team.
I think we could have played them a HELL of a lot closer than what ND did. Then anything is possible. ND did plenty to gift-wrap that game to Bama. OSU limits its mistakes and if Braxton has a good night passing I think we could at the very, very least made Saban have to scream at his players. He looked like he was over there delegating a spring game.
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
Yeah but if we don't limit our mistakes like we did this entire year there is the same result. Even in the last game we gave up plays that made you think WTF!
I think we would have beat ND but not Bama. I do think the score would have been closer though
"Because I couldn't go for 3"
I think score wise it would have been closer, but i still think its a 14-17 point difference. When McCarron is playing as well as he did last night and the running game is going a s well as it did and you have a balance.no defense is going to be able to defend them
Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates. Football is no different, the guys down in the trenches win the games, not the coach.
No way we would've beaten Bama this year. I think our offense would've been fairly shut down. We just don't have a good enough passing game to really open the run game. If I had to guess, I would've said 27-13.
Beginning of the year no way end of the year yes we would have a good shot
I think Urban will have a much improved team next year. Braxton will be more polished and everyone will be more familiar with the playbook and the style of play. Our schedule is pretty weak so I think getting to the B1G CG is a fairly realistic goal. If we run the table we'll be in the MNCG in Pasadena.
My concern is our defense. I'm firmly in the camp that thinks Fickell is in over his head. I have absolutely zero confidence that he can design and implement a top flight D. I think he is the weak link on the coaching staff and he is in the most important position, since defense wins championships. I am prolly being too harsh on him, but the IU and Purdont games are hard to shake.
I think our D will be exposed this year and next January there will be an opening on the defensive coaching staff.
I hate to say it since I love OSU so much but I dont think any team in the nation could have beaten Bama last night. With that said I think we would have given them a much better game than ND. I think OSU has more O than ND and could spread bama out better.
Bama was heads and shoulders above every team this year and they won't be taking a step back next season. It's going to be 2014 before anyone in the B1G (and I'll include ND in this) can compete with them, or teams of that caliber.
As for the Bama v Ohio State thought, it still would have been a blow out. OSU might have scored 21 points, but Bama's offense would have rolled even more than they did against ND.
I think OSU, ND and Michigan can get there, but it's still going to be a few seasons.
Not here to troll...Go Blue
What have you saw from ttun or ND that would have you believing that they are getting anywhere?
ND just went undefeated with a pretty tough schedule and has had some great recruiting classes. Michigan had 11 wins and a Sugar Bowl win in 2011 with players that don't fit their system and their defense has had a complete 180. OSU went undefeated against an extremely weak schedule (don't take that the wrong way b/c getting through any season undefeated is impressive).
All three of those teams have done very impressive things over the last two seasons and all three are recruiting like crazy right now. That's what makes me think Michigan and ND are getting anywhere. Could the 2012 Ohio Buckeyes gotten through Michigan or ND's schedule unscathed? I think not. Again, all three of these teams are extremely close and it will be at the earliest 2014 before any of them can actually compete with a team like Alabama.
Not here to troll...Go Blue
Did it look like ND belonged in that game? How about their play calling? Where will coaching like that get you? The Sugar Bowl was last year, so if anything ttun has regressed. You can have all the recruits in the world (Kiffin), but it takes elite coaching. Ohio State has that...the other two schools don't.
Brian Kelly is a good coach, crazy, but a good coach. Brady Hoke is still a new coach in a big program, but all signs point to him being a good coach. What Michigan does have right now are elite assistants - Greg Mattison (won a NC @ Florida with Meyer), Al Borges (with the right players), Curt Mallory, ect...And in college, the staff around the head coach is just as important as the head coach himself.
Not here to troll...Go Blue
Bama isn't unstoppable despite what some people may think. Texas A&M showed us just how many flaws that Bama D has and you can be sure that Urban would have attacked those flaws like a man possessed. Notre Dame was overrated, overhyped, over everything you could think of this year. We would've destroyed them had we played them instead of Bama. Maybe not 42-14, but it wouldn't have been close. But to answer your question, yes. We could beat Bama. I'd love to see that kid try to throw on Roby, and with Big Hank in the middle... Man I'd of loved to see that battle of first rounder's. It would've been one heck of a game, that is for sure.
"Do not pray for an easy life. Rather, pray for the the strength to endure a difficult one" - Bruce Lee
I think 2012 OSU vs ND would have been an excellent game, one that I think we could have won. 2012 OSU vs Bama would have likely been slightly closer than ND vs Bama, but I think OSU would have lost.
I don't feel the 2013 OSU team is going to be lightyears better than the 2012 OSU team (losing too much on defense, despite having tons of very talented young recruits), so I think if we play Bama next year in the title game, we'd likely lose that one (though I don't think it'd be a blowout). In my opinion, the 2014 OSU team is going to be the most talented, vicious, dominate team we've seen here in a long, long time. That's the team that I think can stand up to any SEC team based on Urb's last few recruiting classes and his ability to develop players. Unless we manage to play an undefeated Oregon, ND, B12 team in the BCS title game (longshot being that the media will want at least one SEC team in the title game) in 2013, I don't think we'll win it. Though I give us a decent shot if it's anyone other than Bama (i.e. I think we can compete with the 2nd best and below in the SEC, but Bama is on another level when Saban has 30+ days to prepare). 2014 is the year that I believe we'll be truly ready. Brax will be a senior, Urb's fantastic first recruiting class will be polished juniors, Urb's very talented second recruiting class will be game-ready sophmores, and a truly talented third recruiting class will be in as freshman providing some backup and special teams help to create tremendous "SEC depth" (hate that phrase haha).
Personally, I think the outcome would of been the same. We are just not there yet!
I would favor BAMA with a spread of 11 based on their performance last night. We would need to establish our running game to have a chance and stop their running game. Miller was just not a consisent passer this year..
I agree with others that our defense would be set up to counter Bama's offense well. We had a worse starting front 7 than they did, but MUCH more depth on the D-Line that should allow us to do much better than ND did.
That front line on D for us can hang with any teams O line in the country. Healthy LB's for us and Roby on Cooper, yeah we would have been fine as long as the guys would have left the arm tackles at home.
I got to see most of the first quarter and 8 minutes of the fourth since I was working (never been more happy to be working during a NC game) but the first quarter told me all I needed to see about ND in this game. Some things we have that ND doesnt:
1. Run game with multiple monsters in the category.
2. The ability to stop big,Physical runners (ask Bell he will tell you)
3. Cool, Calm, Collected QB with a nack for being in high pressure situations. Kid feeds off of the big time situations.
Bama would have had to beat us with the pass last night and while they would have had some success, it would not be there all game. Halftime adjustments would have been made and they would have to find something else to roll with.
Buckeyes in September wouldnt have been able to hold Bama's jock but Buckeyes in November would have given Bama everything they could throw at them and then some. Blow out win, No but a grind out win very possible.
The great thing is, we get to prove that in 2013 cause last I checked when I woke up today the Buckeyes were bowl eligible which is something that the rest of CFB should be very worried about.
I'm not as convinced that Bama will be right back in the thick of things next year. They play Va Tech right off the bat and they'll probably beat them, but you just never know. THey'll be loosing some really good O-linemen and probably Lacy plus guys off the defense. Then game 2 they play at A&M. They do get LSU at home, but had a couple games that could be traps along the way. @ Mississippi State may not be easy. They also finish @Auburn and Malzahn would love nothing more than to start off his career with a win in the Iron Bowl. So, Ohio State may not need to be at Bama's level next year. A slip or or 2 along the way and Bama may not be back again anyway.
Many expected 2012 to be a rebuilding year for Bama as well...
Not here to troll...Go Blue
Anytime Braxton Miller is on the field I feel like there is a chance for anything crazy to happen. I think Brax would have to be superman and most everyone else would have to be flawless. I definitely think we'd stand a better chance than ND. As great as everyone talks about ND's front seven being, they have a poor secondary. Their biggest wins were mostly against teams that don't pass all that well, except USC I suppose...but USC was a dumpster fire by the end of the season. McCarron just torched their secondary at will. Also, I think we'd do better offensively. Braxton's an upgrade over Golson and that's a huge factor right there.
But if I had to pick a team to win a best of whatever series, I'd have to be realistic and pick 'Bama. Not saying that we can't beat them...just saying they are a deeper, more complete, and honestly just superior team...not just to us but to everyone in the country.
Don't forget Oklahoma who passed for a lot on nd but just couldn't stop the nd offense.
I indeed forgot that one.
i dont necessarily think we woulda won... but best believe with 40 days urbs and co woulda came up with a much better gameplan than what nd had... that was just embarassing, i knew nd was in trouble when kelly said the team who makes the most mistakes will be the team to win... last time i check mistakes are also considered penalties missed assignments and turnovers... nd did commit more mistakes and had a shit gameplan
mark may wins douchebag of the year... again
I don't think that Alabama is invincible, just that it takes a certain kind of a team to beat them. It takes a team with a dominant passing game and a great d-line. You can't be a power running team that plays right into their strengths while not attacking by far their biggest weakness which is the secondary.
Yes...if we didn't come out flat and stay that way for 2 1/2 quarters. Anyone who does that is going to get smoked by Bama.
IMO OSU plays either Bama or another SEC team for sure in the NC game next. As long as OSU doesn't have a let down game or serious injuries during the regular season or B1G championship game. I'm a firm believer if the leadership is up to UFM and Co. standards (like this years leaders)...then the sky is the limit for the 2013 team. They will beat an SEC team....if they do what's necessary in the off season, spring and fall practices. They're going to have to do what they did this year and meet on their own during the summer (not just Braxton and WRs...everyone can do it). If that happens to keep everyone in sync...LOOK OUT B1G! There's a reason Urban hired Mickey and this will be the reason OSU beats an SEC team...it's not what you do during the season...it's what you do in the off season and down time that "really" matters. Sorry for the coach speak about this team. I'm just so pumped I wish it was September NOW!
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
CC at this point I see it pretty much the same way but you know things change and may improve for us.
I hate to say it but the answer is no!
Could we play with them, after the year OSU had & the fight that was in them?? Yeah they could play with them. Heart goes a long way, as does coaching. In the end though, I think that Bama would be too much & win by 7-10...Much closer game than most would expect IMHO.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.