Ohio State V Texas

LongJim · January 6, 2009

I was shocked Beanie Wells didn't carry the ball more and think Ohio State could have won the game if they would have run it until UT proved they could stop them.

Muckleroy knocked him out. tOSU kept him on the sidelines after that.

forevereagle · January 6, 2009

Wells is not worth 4+ touchdowns. No player is.

Would he have needed to score 4+ touchdowns? If, with Wells, OSU were able to use more clock and wear down the USC defense, they could have made the game closer. One player that eats up clock, keeping the other offense off the field, could cause a few score differential. There is something to be said for allowing your defense time to recover from the last drive. I am not saying that OSU would have won, but they may have been able to keep the game closer.

And, in UT's defense, OSU had a month to prepare for them with 12 games' worth of film. A great coach can game plan enough to keep a game close that would not have been during the regular season.

And, for the record, I don't like either school.

LongJim · January 6, 2009

USC also beat Ohio State. The same school UT had to beat on a last minute TD. The Trojans won by a bundle though.

USC's offense scored exactly 28 points on tOSU. Besides, that game happened at the beginning of the season. It shouldn't really matter, right?

CMJ · January 6, 2009

Would he have needed to score 4+ touchdowns? If, with Wells, OSU were able to use more clock and wear down the USC defense, they could have made the game closer. One player that eats up clock, keeping the other offense off the field, could cause a few score differential. There is something to be said for allowing your defense time to recover from the last drive. I am not saying that OSU would have won, but they may have been able to keep the game closer.
And, in UT's defense, OSU had a month to prepare for them with 12 games' worth of film. A great coach can game plan enough to keep a game close that would not have been during the regular season.
And, for the record, I don't like either school.

I'm not saying that Wells needed to score 4 TD's. But I don''t think anyone is worth 28+ points to his team in football. Basketball, sure it's a team sport - but one in which one player can have an overwhelming impact on the game. Football(especially on the offense) requires everyone performing their job. I don't see how Wells would suddenly have stopped the USC D-Line penetratration. I don't care how great a back he is(and he IS), but if your O-Line is being swallowed up - you're not going anywhere.

BTW - I'm not advocating USC should be National Champions here either. I do think they'd beat anyone out there right now, but if I were asked Utah would get my vote for #1 because they played a helluva schedule and didn't slip up.

UNTLifer · January 6, 2009

Why should the U of Ohio spell out Ohio and not OSU? Either school should have a reasonable claim I would think?

My line of thinking on this was along the lines of shouldn't OSU spell Ohio State?

What would UT think if A&M or Tech's bands decided to spell out Texas prior to their games? Well, maybe just Tech, not sure if the Aggies are good at spelling.

forevereagle · January 6, 2009

I'm not saying that Wells needed to score 4 TD's. But I don''t think anyone is worth 28+ points to his team in football. Basketball, sure it's a team sport - but one in which one player can have an overwhelming impact on the game. Football(especially on the offense) requires everyone performing their job. I don't see how Wells would suddenly have stopped the USC D-Line penetratration. I don't care how great a back he is(and he IS), but if your O-Line is being swallowed up - you're not going anywhere.
BTW - I'm not advocating USC should be National Champions here either. I do think they'd beat anyone out there right now, but if I were asked Utah would get my vote for #1 because they played a helluva schedule and didn't slip up.

I think that he could have had an impact on the offensive line. A great back changes the approach for a D-line. If they are too aggressive, then you can use screens to make them back off. He proved last night that he can run the screen. You can also use their penetration against them and have success with that.

Like I said, I don't know that OSU would have won with Wells, but I do think it would have been closer.

Quoner · January 6, 2009

I think that he could have had an impact on the offensive line. A great back changes the approach for a D-line. If they are too aggressive, then you can use screens to make them back off. He proved last night that he can run the screen. You can also use their penetration against them and have success with that.
Like I said, I don't know that OSU would have won with Wells, but I do think it would have been closer.

On the flip side, USC dominated the OSU defense for an entire half and completely pulled off the throttle in the second. If a Pete was Stoops or Leach, they probably would have hung 50 on them.

I also agree that Utah has a better case than Texas and I wanted Texas to win yesterday (barely - for the wife's sake.)

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I wanted the stadium to implode mid-game.

Quoner · January 6, 2009

also - great article on how many voters just didn't bother to watch Utah this season: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news...o&type=lgns

Mean Green 93-98 · January 6, 2009

Question: I know the OSU band spelling out OHIO and the dotting of the "I" are traditions, but shouldn't the University of Ohio be doing this and not OSU?

Didn't you know that OSU is THE Ohio State University?

Green Buckeye · January 7, 2009

Didn't you know that OSU is THE Ohio State University?

Exactly, we're the state's flagship school, located in the state capital. Ohio U is a smaller backwoods private school.

UNTLifer · January 8, 2009

Didn't you know that OSU is THE Ohio State University?

Yes, I've heard every NFL player that came out of Ohio State make this statement when lineups are introduce prior to games and it always came across as smug to me.

I didn't realize that Ohio was a private university, but it doesn't change my thought on this. Anyway, I know it is tradition and one I think is a pretty good one, but the thought popped in to my mind when they showed the "dotting of the I" prior to the game.

BTW, did anyone else find the announcers for this game to be pretty bad? You would think Fox could put together a better crew for this game.

January 8, 2009

For the record....Ohio University is NOT a private university. It is in the sticks but it is a public university with five branches. It has about 17 thousand students on its main campus; nowhere near Ohio State's enrollment (few are) but not what I'd call small.