Greetings from Columbus.

[Spence]

I am not watching the number one team in the country. That is all.

[Derek]

I think they are getting caught looking past them.

Maybe it's me, but the smaller schools are playing with a chip on their shoulders this year it seems.

[Spence]

They must be looking past everybody because this is how they looked all year. We are missing Tom Herman badly.

[Eric]

Yeah I would start getting nervous if I were a Buckeye fan. I think they'll get it turned around though. The offense looked unfocused and the game management was terrible. If NIU could complete a downfield pass, they would have won the game. But then that might be putting the cart past the horse since the reason OSU didn't care and why there were so reckless with clock management is because NIU couldn't complete a downfield pass. Still, that clock management was terrible. You never know what is going to happen. Why are they running at a fast tempo with 5 minutes left in the game? Why weren't they chewing clock with under 3 minutes? I know Urban is arrogantly thinking, "I'm going to get my offense in gear because we're so freaking awesome," but at this point you cut your losses, admit you're in a dogfight, and play to win like you're playing against Alabama; you get out with the W. It's already a loss perception-wise. It just made no sense.

And I've been an advocate of playing JT Barrett as the starter because he gives them more ability to run the option and then bomb it downfield. Cardale Jones isn't going to run the option effectively. They're taking a huge part of their scheme away from themselves.

Anyway, they're going to destroy Western by 50 next week and that will be the end of all the hand-wringing, believe me.

[Vileborg]

I think they'll not look the part for the next few weeks but I think it'll have to do with people underrating the competition.

WMU, Indiana, and MD all are about mid field teams to me but somebody forgot to tell them so they'll be playing like they belong at least for a half.

[Eric]

Yeah I think Western is a good team, for a MAC program. They're not quite there just yet though. NIU does have a tough defense, but they're a lot like Minnesota in the sense that they limit themselves by the type of player they recruit. So they just are not built to throw against a legit secondary and they can't run on Ohio State like they would on a team like Eastern Michigan. Western's defense will likely get shredded and Terrell can be pretty turnover prone, which will bite them pretty hard.

[billybud]

It doesn't matter.

Ohio State beats a MAC team at home by 7 and maintains....FSU shuts out BC on the road and drops....BC only crossed the 50 once, and that was to the 39.

[Vileborg]

I don't think people valued BC as much as I do. I saw it as a quality win.

That said, I don't think there are many good teams in the ACC this year which may hurt them. I think they have to go undefeated to make the playoff.

[donovan]

It goes back to the drum I beat every year, so no use stopping now. Schools have their schedules, everyone knows about them and apparently it is all right with everyone. Scheduling isn't easy to alter as some of these games are now out 8 and 9 years.

This national mythical, even more so now than before because people believe this is more valid, championship and ESPN controls everything. Frankly Congrove may be one of the last honest men standing. May not agree with his criteria but he sticks to it and the chips fall where they may.

If it can't be only about wins and losses, then you need to orgainze it so it can be. A conference only cares about wins and losses, so why does the SECESPNNCAAKGBCIAKFC care about all this other stuff?

[Spence]

Yeah I would start getting nervous if I were a Buckeye fan. I think they'll get it turned around though. The offense looked unfocused and the game management was terrible. If NIU could complete a downfield pass, they would have won the game. But then that might be putting the cart past the horse since the reason OSU didn't care and why there were so reckless with clock management is because NIU couldn't complete a downfield pass. Still, that clock management was terrible. You never know what is going to happen. Why are they running at a fast tempo with 5 minutes left in the game? Why weren't they chewing clock with under 3 minutes? I know Urban is arrogantly thinking, "I'm going to get my offense in gear because we're so freaking awesome," but at this point you cut your losses, admit you're in a dogfight, and play to win like you're playing against Alabama; you get out with the W. It's already a loss perception-wise. It just made no sense.

And I've been an advocate of playing JT Barrett as the starter because he gives them more ability to run the option and then bomb it downfield. Cardale Jones isn't going to run the option effectively. They're taking a huge part of their scheme away from themselves.

Anyway, they're going to destroy Western by 50 next week and that will be the end of all the hand-wringing, believe me.

I'm not nervous. We got ours last year. Whatever Ohio State does this year is bonus. Northern Illinois could have won that game had their coach had taken a chance with 6 or so minutes to go. They had 4th and maybe 5 inches to go with the ball on their own 40 and he elected to punt. They are on the road against a team their conference hasn't beaten since 1894 why not roll the dice and try to get the five inches.

I believe JT Barrett gives Ohio State their best chance at winning too, but I don't know how you don't start Cardale Jones and give him a shot after he comes of the bench and wins a national championship. What would it do to Cleveland recruiting if he started JT at the beginning of the season? This team doesn't seem to have the fire they had last year. I don't know why, but they don't. The defense is playing pretty well. I thought losing Michael Bennett would hurt them more than it has so far. The back seven have played lights out so far this season. The offensive losses seem to have been great. Losing Tom Herman seems to have hurt the most. We are running the same four or five plays the whole game. Defenses are dropping back in coverage and confusing Cardale Jones.

If I had a pick in the T25 poll, Ohio State wouldn't be in the Top 5. The are solely their because they were last years champ and they haven't lost. Much the same way that Florida State stayed high in the polls last year even though they struggled most of the year, but kept winning. The Buckeyes have proved nothing this year so far. The best team I have seen play so far this year is LSU. Ohio State may get it going and deserve to be in the top 4 teams later this season, but at this point, they don't deserve to be a top 4 team.

[Derek]

I'm not nervous. We got ours last year. Whatever Ohio State does this year is bonus. Northern Illinois could have won that game had their coach had taken a chance with 6 or so minutes to go. They had 4th and maybe 5 inches to go with the ball on their own 40 and he elected to punt. They are on the road against a team their conference hasn't beaten since 1894 why not roll the dice and try to get the five inches.

I agree. I didn't watch the whole game, i flipped back and forth between several, but I thought that was a bad call. you had the #1 team and playing them close like that, take a chance.

I think you ask the NIU coach what mistake he made, that would be the first one that comes to mind. I didn't understand it either.

[billybud]

The interesting thing is that NIU will play Boston College Saturday. I predict a close game.

BC lost their QB against FSU and is the most uni dimensional team that I've seen in a long time....But they have a decent defense.

[Eric]

NIU fans are typically upset with Rod Carey. NIU hasn't won a big game in a while with three straight bowl losses. He's keeping the ship afloat, but it will probably start sinking pretty soon. He punted it twice at 4th and inches at midfield, and then punted twice on fourth down with under 5 minutes to go. The first punt with 5 or 6 minutes I can understand, but the second punt with about 2 minutes on the clock and a timeout I thought was ridiculous. Miraculously it was right and they did get the ball back, but a first down by Ohio State would have all but sealed the deal.

NIU and BC will be a pretty good game. Probably not a lot of offense either way, but I think BC ought to be favored in that one even with the backup QB.

[Spence]

NIU fans are typically upset with Rod Carey. NIU hasn't won a big game in a while with three straight bowl losses. He's keeping the ship afloat, but it will probably start sinking pretty soon. He punted it twice at 4th and inches at midfield, and then punted twice on fourth down with under 5 minutes to go. The first punt with 5 or 6 minutes I can understand, but the second punt with about 2 minutes on the clock and a timeout I thought was ridiculous. Miraculously it was right and they did get the ball back, but a first down by Ohio State would have all but sealed the deal.

NIU and BC will be a pretty good game. Probably not a lot of offense either way, but I think BC ought to be favored in that one even with the backup QB.

It was the dumbest thing I ever saw a coach do. I couldn't believe it. I was watching them beat Ohio State and the NIU coach gave it back to them.

[Cane from the Bend]

Just like Jacksonville St opting for overtime by taking a knee on the 35 yard line against Auburn, with 39 seconds and 1 timeout left in regulation ... especially while on the road, and Auburn had seized the momentum.

That win could have easily set that coach up for a next Level job.
Instead, university AD's will look at him like

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