andrewgr

June 13th, 2019 at 10:23 PM ^

Urban Meyer won on recruiting and motivation.  His X's and O's actually crippled Ohio State for his last 4 years there.  His nepotism in allowing disasterously bad assistant coaches to keep their jobs year after year cost Ohio State at least one playoff appearance, maybe two.  (Trivia question: Who is the only assistant coach Urban Meyer ever fired during his entire career? Answer: Zach Smith, who was demonstrably incompetent, but only because the administration made him due to obvious reasons that had nothing to do with said incompetence.)

It is entirely possible that Ohio State will have better game plans and better play calling under Day than they had under Meyer.  It's not a given, certainly, but it's not far-fetched.  The question is how well Day will be able to recruit.  Both Tressel and Cooper consistently recruited top 10 classes, but very rarely approached classes comparable to what Meyer brought in-- those extra 3-4 first-day NFL draft pick athletes every year only moves you up in the class rankings from, say, #8 to #2, but they make an enormous difference on the field.

TL;DR: If Fields stays healthy, I predict Ohio State to be undefeated coming into The Game, and if I had to handicap the game right now, I'd favor them to win.  The question is what they're going to look like three years from now when he's relying on his own recruits.  It's very unlikely he can recruit as well as Meyer did.   Of course, if Fields gets injured, they're looking at 9-3 or even 8-4, depending on how early in the season it happens.

Joined: 11/15/2013

MGoPoints: 3059

Perkis-Size Me

June 13th, 2019 at 2:21 PM ^

Sure hard to do that when you can't beat your rival and win your own damn division. Much less your own conference. 

You want to predict us beating MSU, ND, Wisconsin, PSU, or anyone else on the schedule? Fine. But I'm not getting fooled again. Until I see us actually beat OSU (a good, non Luke Fickell coached OSU), that game is an automatic loss in my book every single time. That means no Big Ten title, no playoff, no national championship. 

I know this is said almost every year, but this year really is the most important OSU game of Harbaugh's tenure here as coach. Meyer is gone, and Day is (relatively) unproven as a HC. Yes I know OSU is stacked with talent regardless, but Meyer's presence on the sideline counts for a lot. If Harbaugh can't beat OSU this year, at home, with a proven QB and a modern offense that should finally have its shit figured out, then I don't think we'll ever win a game as long as Day is there. And with him being such a young guy, he's going to be there a while.

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 106268

mitchewr

June 13th, 2019 at 6:16 PM ^

If your horrible prediction comes true, then it would be dependent on how long Harbaugh stays with us, not how long Day stays at OSU. Too many times in college football we’ve seen new coaches come in and beat established powers...so it’s not like Day would be invincible in this nightmare scenario...it would just be that Harbaugh would be incapable. 

Joined: 08/29/2016

MGoPoints: 13774

Human Torpedo

June 13th, 2019 at 2:50 PM ^

About time. I get we haven't in the past warranted his trust under Hoke and Rich Rod since he's suppose to be the most accurate magazine previewer in America. But under Harbaugh you'd think he would have picked us to at least win the Big Ten before 5th year, even if it was not deserved

Joined: 01/15/2016

MGoPoints: 2195

RXwolverine

June 13th, 2019 at 6:37 PM ^

If we are left out of the playoff I will be furious but I wouldn’t blame Harbaugh for that. Top priority is beating Ohio state it’s way overdue. He still has a lot of supporters including myself but another loss and that support will start to dwindle 

Joined: 05/22/2019

MGoPoints: 13018

Ty Butterfield

June 13th, 2019 at 7:33 PM ^

It is like the people who predict that this is finally the year Tom Brady drops off a cliff. They figure at some point they will be right. 

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: -81685