MSU @ OSU: Whose loss are you rooting harder for?
[I'll preface this with the prerequisite "Just beat Maryland" but I am a fan not a player or coach so these are the thoughts running through my head with two weeks left in the season.]
With Michigan's two most hated rivals facing off in the time slot before our game @ Maryland this Saturday, I have to ask whose loss the board is pulling for harder. If we can beat Maryland we have the following scenarios:
1) MSU loses
- The Game is a winner take all for the East Division crown.
2) OSU loses then MSU controls their own destiny:
- MSU wins against Penn State in East Lansing the following weekend they clinch the East
- MSU loses then The Game again becomes a winner take all.
So... who do you want to lose?
November 14th, 2021 at 8:02 AM ^
Lol why is this even a question? We need MSU to lose.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:09 AM ^
Exactly, close thread. Need staee out of the way and beating a higher ranked rival, who we haven't beaten in forever, means much more.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:24 AM ^
Even if we didn't need MSU to lose, OSU is already a juggernaught. We don't need staee to keep building program momentum
November 14th, 2021 at 9:04 AM ^
Exactly. OSU will always be OSU. We need to get it down to where it's us or them for the B1G East. We don't need MSU being a thorn in our side. Besides, I don't think this game will be close if OSU stays away from the self inflicted wounds they've seem to have in a few games this year. They're opening up as an 18 point favorite over MSU. OSU's offense will be a nightmare for Sparty.
November 14th, 2021 at 11:33 AM ^
This shouldn’t be a problem. MSU is about to go from the toast of college football to also-ran in the span of two weeks.
November 14th, 2021 at 1:34 PM ^
Yeah I think MSU's going to get blown out. MSU's pass D sucks and OSU's pass O can be deadly. Conversely MSU's strength is running it and OSU has a good run D. Bad bad matchup for moo u
November 14th, 2021 at 8:55 PM ^
I just read that MSU's pass defense ranks 130th out of 130 - dead last - giving up 329 yards / game. This one could get real ugly
November 14th, 2021 at 9:03 AM ^
Yes, state needs to lose to OSU, PSU, their bowl game and {redacted}.
Ok, that last part was over the top. I just watched The Lion in Winter.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:16 AM ^
Don’t care what you watched, that’s just awful.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:31 AM ^
I agree with Tunneler but I do appreciate refences to The Lion in Winter. That movie (paired with Becket), greatly increase my interest in English history.
November 14th, 2021 at 10:19 AM ^
no doubt. I hope OSU crushes them. Then we beat OSU the following week and win the east
November 14th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
Seriously this is a deeply stupid question
November 14th, 2021 at 8:03 AM ^
I will celebrate the loss of whichever team loses. it’s always a fun game in that way.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:03 AM ^
November 14th, 2021 at 8:59 AM ^
A blowout MSU loss is the best scenario. If U-M and MSU both finish 10-2, the Rose Bowl berth will come down to CFP ranking.
November 14th, 2021 at 10:06 AM ^
I find I don't really care what bowl we make when half the team will skip to prep for the draft. CFP or bust.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:05 AM ^
LSU isn't going to make the decision to hire or not hire him based on how he does in this one game. He's already gone 9-1 there. Fluky or not, that's an impressive record.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:06 AM ^
I don’t see him leaving regardless but to be eviscerated would more likely encourage him to seek elsewhere. Recognizing he has no viable path to the championship here would cause anyone to look around. He knows what he has in the pipeline and that the COVID portal won’t be there.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:04 AM ^
"Rooting" for OSU in a close one. I want Michigan to control its own destiny, but I want my emotional hedge against OSU to be as profitable as possible.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:07 AM ^
Meteor strike on stadium.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:15 AM ^
Sure, that, or:
Both teams spontaneously combust into nothingness, thus removing both from existence and ergo B1G title contention
November 14th, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
Logged in to plus 1.
November 14th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^
Yeah but then the meteor is undefeated and has two solid head to head results on its resume
November 14th, 2021 at 8:08 AM ^
Don’t really care as long as it’s a physical game that has OSU tired the following week.
November 14th, 2021 at 1:36 PM ^
I'm hoping OSU takes a finding lead early so MSU starts doing MSU things, throat punches, knee rolls, various dog pile shenanigans and gets some key OSU players on the 1-2 week injury list
November 14th, 2021 at 8:11 AM ^
MSU. This shouldn’t even be a discussion.
If MSU loses and Michigan takes care of business against Maryland, The Game is for all the marbles. And for once, finally, a matchup of that proportion would NOT be in Columbus. Every matchup in recent history where both teams had something on the line (2006, 2016, 2018) have all been in Columbus.
If MSU wins next week, you have to hope that Michigan can beat OSU and that MSU somehow loses at home to PSU, which likely won’t happen.
The only other thing that I could hope for is that the game between next week is very ugly and that both MSU and OSU just beat the hell out of each other.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:43 AM ^
Yea it’ll be nice to have The Game at the Big House this year with 40% Buckeye fans.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:06 AM ^
It won't be that many, not when we have a strong team. But even if that were the case, that's a lot better than playing in front of 98% OSU fans like in Columbus.
November 14th, 2021 at 11:09 AM ^
I don’t know about that
their fans travel well and have no fear coming to Ann Arbor like our fans fear going to cbus where all the evil and law breaking is allowed.
they will
be strongly represented in 2 weeks
our fans will sell their tickets at high $$ like always just to pay for their season tickets
November 14th, 2021 at 9:18 AM ^
Brace yourself. Travel north is always going to be more likely than travel south because it means more to them. (MSU is the same.) All they need is enough money to buy a corner end zone seat and gas for the hoopdie. They'll sacrifice rent, electricity, and trips to the dentist if necessary.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:22 AM ^
It's not so much that it means more to them (take a look at how many visiting fans we'll have in Maryland next weekend) but that they can come to Ann Arbor without fear of physical intimidation, vandalism to their car, and so on.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:25 AM ^
Like they even have a dentist.
November 14th, 2021 at 10:07 AM ^
As a UM graduate dentist I can attest that the only OSU fan I ever saw had meth mouth.
November 14th, 2021 at 10:25 AM ^
It doesn’t mean more to them so much as it does that they’re confident they can come to town, watch their team win, and not be harassed in the process.
Michigan fans can’t say the same for themselves on any account.
November 14th, 2021 at 10:44 AM ^
I don’t think it’ll be that much this year now that Michigan will likely have a lot to be playing for, but I’d be naive to say there won’t be a sizable contingent of OSU fans in town. Probably 20-25%
November 14th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
MSU losing to PSU is more likely to happen than you think. Clifford is going to carve that defense up
November 14th, 2021 at 11:00 AM ^
I think they lose both games.
I see a blowout loss to OSU in the vein of 42-20.
And an ugly, close, maybe even OT loss to PSU...something like 21-20.
November 15th, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
Problem is Panasiuk and Slade will likely cause a lot of problems for Clifford. I don’t think they can dominate quite like M did, but they might not be able to spring Dotson as much as you’d think. That offensive line is brutal
On the other side, PSU’s tackle situation is a bad weakness to have against Walker, and if they try to crash the middle like they did against us Walker is capable of making them pay.
I do think MSU is overrated but PSU has a crippling weakness right now
November 14th, 2021 at 8:11 AM ^
F them both and their delusional JoePa loving fans
*whisper*
I was informed that we’ve already won that game…meteor.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:11 AM ^
Easy call, Ohio State needs to win, preferably in a horribly ugly game that is immediately followed by Stroud, Olave, Wilson, Henderson and Master Teague all entering the transfer portal to focus on getting ready for their professional careers and/or playing for Mel Tucker at LSU next year.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:12 AM ^
Let's just hope that OSU doesn't pull a 2015 ('cause they played with a attitude in The Game thst they would not have had if they had beaten MSU that year...and that damn windmill!)
November 14th, 2021 at 8:14 AM ^
If MSU wins against OSU and loses to PSU, we still need to win both games.
If MSU loses to OSU and to PSU, we still need to win both games.
If OSU loses both games, we will need MSU to lose to OSU.
If OSU wins against MSU, then we have to beat them.
I just don't see a good scenario where we want MSU to win. May be my logic is wrong in the morning. LOL. Of course I want both to lose if possible, but given what we have here, I would rather see MSU lose but expose OSU. Imagine OSU settle for 5 FGs against that secondary. So, I would prefer a 15-12 OSU win.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:21 AM ^
>> If OSU loses both games, we will need MSU to lose to OSU.
Wut?
November 14th, 2021 at 9:40 AM ^
Typographical error, author meant PSU, not OSU. (It was a trick to see if we could get past a simple / common mistake.)
November 14th, 2021 at 8:14 AM ^
While the correct answer has to be State, I'm rooting for a cholera outbreak.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:43 AM ^
So you want State and not Staee to win?
November 14th, 2021 at 8:18 AM ^
That’s easy we want state to lose period that way when we play Ohio provided we beat Maryland we control our own destiny
November 14th, 2021 at 8:18 AM ^
This is indeed a stoopid question.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:20 AM ^
What I want: OSU wins in an exhausting, come-from-behind 8-overtime slugfest that leaves them physically and psychologically depleted.
What will happen: OSU blasts MSU 56-21 and rests their first-stringers after the first half.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:29 AM ^
...or if they win in overtime, their confidence is boosted. Not whar Michigan needs.