While it is nothing short of awesome to scan the internets and read all the great things being written about Urban Meyer's undefeated first season in Columbus and the statement he's sending to the rest of the conference and the nation, it's equally fun to peruse the Michigan sites as they attempt to digest the ninth loss in 11 years to the Buckeyes.
In Rittenberg/Bennett's weekly What We Learned column, he comes to the agreeable conclusion that Michigan isn't really back:
Sure, the Wolverines have dug themselves out from the Rich Rodriguez-created crater, and they had a charmed season end in a Sugar Bowl title last season. But in terms of beating really good teams, the ones that signify Michigan once again has a place among the nation's elite, Brady Hoke's crew is still looking for a breakthrough.
The Wolverines were extremely fortunate to beat a good Northwestern team and a mediocre Michigan State squad on their home field. While it was nice to end the losing streak against Ohio State last season, Michigan beat the worst Buckeyes team we've seen in more than a decade.
I can see a foundation, with Michigan again playing defense and winning battles in recruiting, but I think most impartials would say there's still plenty of work to be done up north.
BORGES & HOKE TAKING SOME HEAT. Even the locals are getting in their shots on the Michigan staff following the loss in the 'Shoe. Specifically, Hoke's struggles in big games and Al Borges' predictable offense are coming under fire. Drew Sharp put the program in his crosshairs offering:
"When seriously pushed, the Wolverines never pushed back. When measured against season-opening expectations, the Wolverines proved no different from the (Detroit) Lions or Michigan State. All three failed miserably."
"Mediocrity should never become a consolation. But that’s precisely where Michigan remains in Hoke’s second year. They detonate scoreboards at home with an explosive offense, but take them away from Ann Arbor and they become physically and strategically deficient. Until they’ve proven they can beat a good, ranked team on the road, the Wolverines cannot be taken seriously nationally."
On the offense, Sharp is clearly not impressed:
"But offensive coordinator Al Borges’ lack of imaginative play-calling while shuffling Devin Gardner and Denard Robinson at quarterback offered no mystery to the Buckeyes’ defense. It was pretty easy figuring out Michigan’s “plan.” They ran when Robinson took the snap. They threw when Gardner took the snap. How’s that for deception?"
Finally, after questioning the staff's ability to groom Denard and maximize his talents, Sharp reminds us all of a wonderful truth:
"They’re now eight years removed from their last Big Ten championship, the longest conference title drought since the 14-year stretch in 1950-1964."
With the Buckeyes about to go into hyperdrive under Meyer, the drought could continue, reducing the Wolverines to nothing but wannabe spoilers. I'm good with that.
BUCKEYES BY THE NUMBERS. With the sad fact that Ohio State's season is officially over, I spent a few moments poring over the final individual and team stats in addition to how OSU stacked up against the rest of the conference, and the numbers don't lie. It was indeed a magical season. A sample:
- Braxton completed 58.3% of his passes this season (54.1% LY) with a TD/INT ratio of 15/6 (13/4 LY).
- Braxton took 11 fewer sacks (28 TY, 39 LY) and completed 63 more passes for 880 more yards (2,039 to 1,159).
- On the ground, Braxton increased his YPC to 5.6, up from 4.5 last year and he had 13 rushing TDs versus seven in 2011.
- In conference play, Braxton was 7th in rushing at 103.8 yards per game and 3rd in total offense at 264.4 yards per game.
- Carlos Hyde finished 6th in rushing in the B1G at 107.6 yards per game, ran for 970 yards on the season (5.2 ypc) and he tied Montee Ball for scoring honors in conference play, totaling 90 points, or 11.2 points per game.
- After tying for the team lead with 14 receptions a year ago, Philly Brown led the way with 60 catches this year and was 3rd in conference play with 5.0 rec/game.
- Devin Smith, also with 14 catches last year, tallied 30 this season for 618 yards and six touchdowns. Smith averaged a stellar 20.6 yards per catch.
- Rod Smith ranked 3rd in conference play averaging 23.2 yards per kickoff return.
- Ryan Shazier was your team leader in tackles (115), TFL (17.5) and forced fumbles (3).
- Christian Bryant was ranked 2nd in tackles (71) and pass breakups with 12.
- Bradley Roby was 3rd with 63 tackles and led the team with 19 passes defensed and 17 pass breakups.
- John Simon ranked 1st in B1G play with 8.0 sacks.
On to some team stats:
- The Buckeyes set a 30-year high with 37 rushing touchdowns total and averaged 242.2 rush yards per game on an impressive 5.2 ypc.
- Ohio State scored 60 touchdowns this year, up from 39 last year, and gave up 33.
- In the red zone, OSU scored 88% of the time (44/50), which was actually down two percentage points from last year but they scored touchdowns on 78% of those red zone trips compared to 64% last year. In B1G play, OSU ranked 1st in scoring offense (36.9 pts/game), 1st in rushing offense (248.8 ypg) and 2nd in total offense at 422.1 yards per game.
- Sticking with B1G play, the Bullets ranked 5th in total defense (342 ypg), 2nd in rush defense (115.4 ypg) and 9th in pass defense at 226.6 yards per game.
- The Bullets also ranked 1st in opponents 3rd down conversion percent at 30.4%.
Already looking forward to next year, Wolverines.JOHNNY HEISMAN. It still looks like Braxton has a shot at getting invited to New York as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy but unfortunately, he will likely just be a witness to history as Johnny Manziel is the favorite to claim the stiff arm, becoming the first-ever freshman to win the award.
Obviously, non-seniors winning the award always causes angst in these parts because we value being able to claim Archie as the only two-time winner but Manziel's credentials are tough to overlook:
Let's look at the numbers: 3,419 passing yards, 24 touchdown passes, 1,181 rushing yards, 19 touchdown rushes. That's exactly 4,600 yards of total offense (an SEC record) and a combined 43 touchdowns. He's just the fifth FBS player to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a single season and the first freshman to do so. His team? It went 10-2 in its first season in the nation's toughest league (A&M's first 10-win regular season since 1998) and knocked off defending national champ Alabama in the process.
I'm trying to figure out which is worse, Manziel taking the trophy with three more years to potentially capture another, or Manti Te'o winning it thanks to everyone dry humping Notre Dame's undefeated run.
BUCKS BETTER BE PREPARED TO DUKE IT OUT. The B1G/ACC Challenge gets underway tomorrow, highlighted by NC State at Michigan at 7:30 p.m. and followed by North Carolina at Indiana.
On Wednesday, the Buckeyes take on the Dookies at 9:30 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Like you, I already had this pegged as a tall task, realistically expecting a fairly close loss, and Duke's performance this past weekend in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament did nothing to change my mind.
They beat a decent Minnesota squad in the opener by 18 points and held off a tough VCU team the next night before handing a consensus top three Louisville outfit a five-point loss as point guard Quinn Cook scored Duke's final eight points.
Already blessed with size in 6'11" Ryan Kelly and 6'10" Mason Plumlee (despite 6'11" Marshall Plumlee on the shelf with an injury) as well as a stud scorer in Seth Curry, little Napoleon's squad is getting excellent PG play from Cook.
Cook was named the MVP of the weekend tournament as he averaged 13.7 points and 6.7 assists in the three victories, though he did commit 11 turnovers. Still a 20/11 A/TO ratio in three games against legit competition is good stuff.
Keep an eye on Craft's ability to disrupt Cook, and by extension Duke's offense, as a huge key to pulling the upset. Duke figures to have a solid edge in the post and on the glass.
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