Buckeye Fans, Don't let this happen to you!
If you’re looking for the 2009 Ohio State/Iowa point spread, click here. I see this post is coming up high on the google rankings for Ohio State/Iowa.
As the Ohio State defense was busy kicking the snot out of the Juice Williams and the Illinois offensive attack, Michigan fans were basking in yet another glorious victory — a victory over Big Ten powerhouse Indiana. Never mind the fact that the refs handed Michigan the win with by awarding a “simultaneous conception” (as the announcer termed it) to the defense, a wins a win.
And with that, the Buckeyes head to Indiana to take on the team that nearly ended the “Michigan is Back” fallacy. The Bucks are a 16.5 point favorite and from what we’ve seen the past two weekends, I’m going with the Bucks to lay the spread.
For those looking for something a little more exciting then we’ve seen the last two weeks, don’t look for it in this game. Unless of course, you enjoy watching a defense completely dominate an opponent – which I do (at least when it’s the Buckeyes). If the Buckeyes play like they have the last three weeks (USC included), this could easily end in yet another shut out.
This of course will give Pryor the padding he needs to continue to develop his game. Expect the Buckeyes to spend the first half running the ball and putting points on the board. Once the Buckeyes have a comfortable lead, we’ll see the passing game open up in the second half. Indiana couldn’t keep up with Michigan’s Carlos Brown (who did look fast), they’re going to struggle against the Ohio State run.
Did somebody say defense?
Is the Iowa defense really that good? Doesn’t matter. Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark spent most of his “revenge” game playing punching bag to an Iowa defense that played havoc with the offensive line. Too bad Iowa didn’t have an offense to go with it. Again, didn’t matter. They did exactly what they needed to do complete with clock eating drives reminiscent of the 2007 Illinois win over Ohio State.
I’ve got mixed feelings on this one. Something in me really enjoyed watching Penn State go down. All those late game camera shots of dripping wet Penn State fans clad in their cute little white tee shirts with expressions of total shock…well…it just gets me deep down inside. At the same time, I wanted Penn State to be everything the media thought they were. It would have been much better if it had been our defense that exposed the weaknesses of a top ranked Penn State team.
Unfortunately, the loss to Iowa will be seen as Big 10 weakness as opposed to parity. Only the SEC gets that gift.
Penn State has a month or so to figure it out but if they don’t, the Buckeye defense is going to rip them to shreds. Also makes for an interesting Iowa/Ohio State match up. Any guesses on the over/under for that one?
Is Notre Dame for Real?
Am I the only one who doesn’t get it? Not only has Notre Dame resumed their traditional role as media darling, quarterback Jimmy Clausen is getting Heisman attention. They got beat by Michigan and barely got past Purdue and Michigan State. Is that all it takes these days? If the Buckeyes pull off late-game last-minute wins over Michigan State and Purdue, will Pryor be in the Heisman race also?
Wear Grey Saturday
You’ve got to love this. Apparently Indiana needs a photo of newly remodeled Memorial Stadium filled with red shirts. What better time to take the photo? During the Ohio State game of course.
It seems as though Indiana Athletic Director Fred Glass realizes that there is little hope of packing an Indiana stadium with actual Indiana fans wearing red so why not go with the next best thing – Scarlett.
Yep, that’s right. According to our friends at Boiled Sports (Purdue), Indiana plans to take advantage of the Ohio State crowd for promotional purposes. Indiana knows from experience that Buckeye fans travel well considering they tore down the Indiana goal post in 1996. Now they plan to use Ohio State crowd to their advantage.
So the answer…wear gray.
If your heading to Indiana this weekend, break out the Grey tee shirts. Let’s show them a true picture of an Ohio State away game.
Update:
Northwestern at Indiana?
Apparently this is what happened last time Northwestern visited Memorial Stadium:
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Regarding Notre Dame, there is only one answer…
Going 2-1 against Big Ten teams means you are worthy of a National Championship discussion, if you are Notre Dame.
But going 7-1 against the Big Ten means you get a BCS bowl, but God forbid anything else, if you are any other team in the NCAA.
That’s an excellent point Jeff. Notre Dame goes 2-1 against the Big 10 and the fallacy that is Notre Dame is back. Lose one game in the Big Ten and it’s because the Big 10 sucks.
Somebody recently pointed out that ESPN just signed a big deal with the SEC and that it’s affecting the SEC bias. Same with Notre Dame. NBC has lots of money riding on a Notre Dame audience. The hype is worth millions.
“It seems as though Indiana Athletic Director Fred Glass realizes that there is little hope of packing an Indiana stadium with actual Indiana fans wearing read so why not go with the next best thing – Scarlet”
I don’t know about you, but I am having trouble finding a “read” shirt in my closet…
Nice typo. While I have a number of books I’ve read in my closet, there are very few shirt that match the description.
Thanks for pointing that out Andy.
“Don’t wear red to ruin their photo op”? Seriously? Want to ruin a photo? Don’t show up. Manipulating colors in photographs is about as much of a cakewalk as it gets.
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=170&f=2350&t=4856086
Just to clarify something about your ridiculous comment regarding Clausen and Pryor:
Pryor has thrown for 854 yards, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions this season.
Clausen has thrown for 1,544 yards, 12 touchdowns and 2 interceptions this season.
I’m just saying, I think there is a very legitimate reason as to why Clausen is getting heisman attention and Pryor isn’t.
Sorry Tony. Wasn’t saying that Pryor deserves the Heisman. That’s a year or two away.
What I am saying is that losing to Michigan, which has almost no defense and putting up big yards against Purdue doesn’t really say much about your quality as a quarterback. If Pryor does the same, will he be in the hunt? He shouldn’t be and neither should Clausen.
Apparently all it takes to get a Heisman mention is to run something that sort of looks like the spread and play for Notre Dame.
I don’t how much of this I can take. Yes, we won the game but our offense looks like sh…. We without a doubt have the worst offense of any top 10 ranked team. That is unacceptable at The Ohio State University. Our defense cannot continue to bail us out game after game. We are horrible!!!! I mean that……Horrible! There is no continuity. There is no consistency. Play selection sucks. The frustrating thing is I don’t even know who to blame. No wonder it is a hidden secret as to who is coordinating this quagmire. In all the years of my association with the Buckeyes I haven’t seen anything like this. I don’t ever remember having this much talent on the offensive side of the ball and it being this anemic. Absolutely no punch. No one on has any swagger. We have no confidence. We suck!!! I blame the coaching. All I can say is that our young men are not prepared physically and mentally to play the game. I’m trying to stay optimistic. Please someone! Give me a reason to be optimistic. When will we see a change? My question: “When you watch other top tier teams play from other conferences do you notice a difference in play call?” When have we felt that kind of excitement. It’s been a long time. This is how bad it has gotten. I fell asleep. My son had to wake me and tell me I was snoring!
Next time, please don’t wake me.