My fellow 11W's, here we are already in Week 12 of the College Football Season, which also will be the end of the Buckeye's home slate. I say it every year before the first game, "Before you know it, snow will be flying and the season will be over", and every year I think it goes faster and faster (Insert a suggestion to follow 2014 format of 2 bye weeks).
College Football is the best sport for a reason. In no other sport can you get the highs and lows and highs again! All in 3-4 month time frame. We've gone from freaking out about Weber's injury, to witnessing a true freshmen make us forget all about it after one carry.
We have gone from (YOU CAN'T HAVE A 6 MAN WIDE RECEIVER ROTATION!!!), to (Our 6 man rotation is actually pretty good). We've cried for JT to be benched, then we all ate some deep fried crow sandwiches. We saw a QB (that doesn't even start anymore) throw for 400+ against us, only to see our secondary turn out to be darn good. We've seen Johnnie Dixon nearly quit football, to leading the Big Ten in Touchdown Receptions, and making a huge play in a huge game.
Analysts dismissed us after OU, then declared us final four material after PSU, only to dismiss us again after Iowa. And yet, yesterday the "Not so far-fetched scenario" that a fellow 11W'er talked about, started to take twitter by storm, and suddenly there is hope.
We have lost two regular season games, which we haven't seen since that terrible 2009 day in Purdue, dismissing 2011. This drove a reporter to ask "What is the direction of this program?" All while traditional blue bloods, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and USC have turned over coaches left and right, and have a combined 0 CFP appearances. A "failure to monitor" penalty would, and has made several teams irrelevant for a long period of time, but not our Buckeyes. Going into our final home game of a season, we have been in contention for at least a share of the Big Ten Title every single year from 2002, until now, with the exception of 2004 and 2011. (2012 we would have been in Indy had it not been for sanctions).
Guys, we are all incredibly blessed to be Ohio State Buckeye fans. Through the ups and downs and ups again, there is no team better to root for. So sit back, enjoy us winning the turtle, and enjoy The Game. Afterwards, we will have a chance to do something we have only done once in the Urban Era. Win a Big ten Championship. And who knows, maybe that "Not so far-fetched" scenario happens.
Let's enjoy the final moments of Billy Price's excellent career (Watch him on this play),
and yes, enjoy the last moments of JT's career, who deserves as much credit for that 2014 team as anyone. Has he been perfect? No. But we are talking about a man that was on top of the world starting the 4th quarter vs. UM in 2014. Only to suffer an ankle injury, that opened the QB spot, and a discussion that never went away. I've yelled at him, I've cursed at him, but at the end of the day, I will probably shed a tear if he is able to lift a Big Ten Trophy, and maybe more.
The first of many:
I have a feeling JT is going to be like one of those famous painters or poets who isn't remembered correctly until they are gone (by JT gone, I don't mean dead, just graduated). There will be a moment next year when Haskins, or whoever, makes a mistake and Buckeye Nation says "JT wouldn't have done that", and then the loudest collective "Ohhhh..." will reign over Ohio.
We can be excited for the future, as I know I am. We are returning a two-headed beast at running back (should Weber return), as well as an entire WR group, and we will have a fresh face a QB. But lets not mail it in on this season. Ohio State was the first team to win the CFP, they were the first nonconference champ to qualify for the playoff, and they are about to be the first 2-loss team to qualify for the playoff.
1) Alabama 2) Miami 3) OU 4) Ohio State
Never those the faith guys. Let's do this. Go Bucks!
